Moto X 2013 at 10: The first Google Pixel in all but name

The 10-year-old Moto X 2013 was a glimpse into the future of Google’s phone strategy

Long before Google started building its own phones, recently going as far as using custom-made processors, back in 2012 the company acquired one of the most iconic phone brands in the US — Motorola Mobility. This marriage was soon explained as a way for Google to acquire key smartphone patents, but there was something else and far more wonderful to come out of the acquisition for a nerd like me: The Moto X.

Following Motorola's slow descent into obscurity, the Moto X looked like a turning point for the trusted brand, marrying the most advanced Android features with solid enough hardware and a fully customizable design. It was an instant hit for enthusiasts around the world who wanted the best phones possible, and even though I had to wait longer than folks in the US to get my hands on the Moto X, it finally arrived in my home country Germany a few months down the road.

Back in the day, a big question on the minds of tech enthusiasts everywhere was: What does Google entering the smartphone market as a manufacturer mean? 10 years after the August 2013 release, it’s clear to me that the Moto X served as a proto-Pixel phone, pioneering many of the features we've come to expect on the Google Pixel 7 Pro and others before it.

The Moto X looked significantly different from many phones on the market back in the day. Motorola, or Google, deliberately made it smaller and partially thinner than many of its competitors, and it was built with the human hand in mind, with ergonomics perfectly sculpted to fit comfortably for one-handed usage. Much like the Nothing Phone 1 last year, the Moto X eschewed the most powerful processor in favor of a unique design and some killer features you couldn’t find on other phones. It certainly was the first phone that got me to think “I need this!,” even though I was perfectly happy with my trusty Nexus 4 up to that point — at least until I got its screen shattered in an unfortunate incident, which is when I pulled the trigger on the Moto phone.

10 years later, it’s clear that the Moto X was the first to offer many of the features we take for granted in smartphones.

The Moto X may not have been the first phone to offer an always-on display, and it technically didn’t have one in the sense that we know today. Its approach to ambient computing with its Active Display was smarter and more interactive than many of today’s always-on screens, though. As long as you didn’t move the phone and you didn't have any unseen notifications, it wouldn’t show anything. Instead, it offered presence sensing via its accelerometer and, at least for some time, via its proximity sensor. When activated by waving your hand over it or wiggling it slightly, you could see the current time, complete with a quick swipe-down gesture to unlock the phone, skipping the lock screen.

Notifications would show up on this Active Display as big app icons, periodically pulsing to make you aware something new was waiting for you. You could tap and hold these to reveal their contents, complete with the option to swipe up to enter the app in question straight away. It was a novel way to interact with your phone, and while it was sometimes buggy, it was still a useful, first-of-its-kind feature.

These days, always-on displays may actually be always on, but somewhat ironically, they’ve become much more passive. On Pixel phones, you can only use the screen to see the current time and check which apps sent you notifications — all without the ability to glance at what exactly they want to tell you without activating the full display.

The Moto X was also one of the first Android phones to feature always-on voice control. In many ways, it was ahead of its time and offered some smarts that Google has long since abandoned. Most notably, you could choose a fully custom hotword to talk to the on-board Google-powered assistant — no need for the impersonal “Hey Google” we have to rely on today when we want to use Google Assistant, which was formally launched only a few years after the Moto X.

Google’s 2013 phone was also one of the first to use intelligent gestures. You could twist your hand twice to quickly launch the camera, and that same gesture to switch between the front and back lenses with the camera app activated. This was later accompanied by a chopping gesture on newer Moto phones, and it’s a staple Moto feature to this day. On Pixel phones, Google took a toned-down but more intuitive approach with its Flip to Shhh gesture, raise to wake the screen, and double tapping the back of the phone.

In many ways, all these great Moto X features foreshadowed many of the advancements Google would later bring to the Pixel series. The idea that a phone should be always active, react to gestures, and offer “ambient computing” is something that Google doubled down on with its Pixel phones, with many more Pixel tips and tricks up its sleeves.

The Moto X went far beyond most other phones before or after it in one more key aspect. In the US, customers could extensively customize their phones due to the fact that the phone was assembled domestically. The program called Moto Maker is probably the differentiator that Google and Motorola managed to build for themselves, allowing you to customize your phone with many colors and materials, with the Moto X being one of only a few phones to ever feature wooden backs.

In total, you could choose between up to 24 colors and four wooden options, black or white bezels at the front, and 10 accent colors for the metal ring around the camera lens and the power and volume buttons. You could add custom text to the boot screen and add a wallpaper to the phone before you’d even hold it in your hands, along with the option to engrave text on the back.

Even though I never had access to it since I’m based in Germany, I remember playing with the tool and dreaming about a customized Moto X that would look so much more unique than the simple black version I could buy (don’t get me wrong — I still liked the one that I could get). Moto Maker later stepped up the customization game with leather versions for the 2014 Moto X, which was already released under Lenovo.

The only company that currently comes close to Moto Maker is Samsung with its Bespoke “Made by you, for you” program that lets you customize the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 with your preferred frame, top, and bottom colors. It doesn’t come close to the sheer number of materials and combinations you could pick in Moto Maker, though — and Samsung didn't even move forward with the program for its new Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Google sold Motorola to Lenovo only two years after its acquisition at a fraction of the price it originally paid for it. The company held on to the patents it bought, only licensing them to Lenovo, and has since focused on its Nexus program and then its Pixel phones.

Given how many features that were first introduced with the Moto X we can now find in Google’s handsets, it’s clear that the company used a lot of the knowledge gained from this device to inspire its future products. Just think of the always-listening Google Assistant that's a key part of every high-end Android phone these days, the always-on display that gives you the most important information at a glance, and the optional routines you can build based on which Wi-Fi networks you're connected to.

Following the sell-off, the Moto X quickly became an afterthought, meeting an inglorious fate in the end. I remember eagerly awaiting the big Android 5 Lollipop update that finally arrived half a year after Google launched it on Nexus phones, and the phone hasn’t been the same since. After installing Lollipop, the Active Display got more finicky to use, but worst of all is likely a bug that caused my Moto X to go through the post-update app optimization process every single time it booted. It would sit for half an hour before it finally became usable. This was so infuriating that I ended up getting my Nexus 4’s shattered screen repaired and switched back to it.

In the end, I'm still left with fond memories of the Moto X. It was a great phone for a long time, and it gave me a glimpse into the future of smartphones, with features that no other handset even attempted at the time.

Manuel Vonau is Android Police's Google Editor, with expertise in Android, Chrome, and other Google products — the very core of Android Police’s content. He has been covering tech news and reviewing devices since joining Android Police as a news writer in 2019. He lives in Berlin, Germany.Manuel studied Media and Culture studies in Düsseldorf, finishing his university career with a master's thesis titled "The Aesthetics of Tech YouTube Channels: Production of Proximity and Authenticity." His background gives him a unique perspective on the ever-evolving world of technology and its implications on society. He isn't shy to dig into technical backgrounds and the nitty-gritty developer details, either.Manuel's first steps into the Android world were plagued by issues. After his HTC One S refused to connect to mobile internet despite three warranty repairs, he quickly switched to a Nexus 4, which he considers his true first Android phone. Since then, he has mostly been faithful to the Google phone lineup, though these days, he is also carrying an iPhone in addition to his Pixel phone. This helps him gain perspective on the mobile industry at large and gives him multiple points of reference in his coverage.Outside of work, Manuel enjoys a good film or TV show, loves to travel, and you will find him roaming one of Berlin's many museums, cafés, cinemas, and restaurants occasionally.