Motorola has now dropped the $100 premium price it was charging when designing a Moto X through Moto Maker and choosing a wood backplate. The price is now $25.
When details first started to surface regarding Motorola's first smartphone designed under Google's wing, there were reports that users would be able to design the handset to their liking. When the company finally unveiled the Moto X in August, we were introduced to what the company called the Moto Maker customization service. The website would allow AT&T customers to customize certain parts of the smartphone at first. Users could choose between several different colors for the back plate of the handset, white or black front panels, and different accent colors. Motorola promised it would offer wood back panels in the future and the company finally delivered on that promise in December.
When Bamboo was added as a choice for the Moto X's back panel, the company charged a hefty $100 for the privilege. Motorola has come to its senses and has now slashed the price to a much more reasonable $25. Motorola posted the news on the company's blog.
"Moto X is now available for the everyday starting price of $399 off-contract. We want to make the upgrade to a wood finish just as accessible to people, so we're making it available for just $25 more. Bamboo will be available with this new price on Moto Maker starting today and Walnut, Teak and Ebony finishes will be available starting January 21st," posted by Lior Ron, CVP Product Management.
As a reminder, the Moto X features a 4.7-inch 1280 x 720 720p HD AMOLED display and runs Android 4.4 KitKat. The smartphone is powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with Motorola's X8 Computing System on board and an Adreno 320 graphics processing unit (GPU). It includes 16GB or 32GB of internal storage, 50GB of Google Drive space for two years, and 2GB of RAM.
Motorola has packed in a 10-megapixel CLEAR PIXEL rear camera with autofocus and LED flash, with the ability to record 1080p HD video. You'll also find a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat, which has the ability to capture 1080p video as well. The smartphone's wireless connectivity options include 4G LTE radio, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 with LE and EDR. The handset ships with a 2,200 mAh non-removable battery, which will provide up to 24 hours of talk time and 10 days of standby time.
Interested customers can now purchase the Moto X with a Bamboo back for $25 extra, while Ebony, Teak, and Walnut will be available starting on Jan. 21.
