Moto X in Walnut: Hands-On With a Piece of Art

Moto X in Walnut: Hands-On With a Piece of Art is a post by Cory Gunther from Gotta Be Mobile.

After months of waiting Motorola is finally ready to start mass producing smartphones made of wood. Yes, the Moto X is available today with an option for a Bamboo back, but now Walnut, Ebony, and Teak finishes are coming January 21st. It first launched with 18 colors and accent options, but now we have a lot more to choose from.

As of today the customization options are finally available from all major US carriers, the Moto X is about to launch in the UK, and you can get a completely customized Moto X for $49 from Verizon with a 2-year contract. It’s a compelling option running stock Android, and it just got better. How? It’s made with real wood, not a cover or a case, but built-in. Below is our hands-on and first impressions of the Moto X in the newly revealed Walnut (previously Rosewood) finish. Hint: It’s awesome.

Motorola dropped its new smartphone with 18 different color options, custom accent colors for the buttons, and even let users select a background to be added before it gets shipped right to their door. Sadly the wood options shown off back in August were delayed and only just last month did Motorola start offering the smartphone with a Bamboo back instead of plastic. Yes, a phone made partially out of Bamboo.

Next up is Walnut, Ebony Finish, and Teak Wood, which all bring a completely unique and awesome look to your smartphone. Since it is wood, no two devices will look exactly the same. Although we’re hearing it isn’t actually Walnut, but a simple wood with a Walnut finish. Same goes for all the options available, except Bamboo. Thankfully we were able to get our hands on the Walnut finish, as the grains and colors had the most promise if you ask me, and I couldn’t be happier. It looks awesome, and you can see plenty more of it yourself in the hands-on video below.

Is the extra $100 you’ll pay for customization options with a wood finish worth it? Don’t worry, because Motorola just announced it will now only cost $25. Personally this is one of the best looking phones I’ve had in my hands for a long, long time, and I’d have to wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s a piece of art, very unique, and just sweet looking. Not to toot Motorola’s horn, but this is a nice idea, and I’m a fan already.

Being made of wood no two will be the same, and that’s pretty cool when you think of the millions and millions of people walking around with an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S4.

Again this is the exact same Moto X released last year. You’ll enjoy a 4.7-inch 720p HD display, a 1.5 GHz processor with Motorola’s X8 computing system, Android 4.4.2 KitKat is thankfully on board, and the 10 megapixel “clearpixel” camera is of course included.

The Moto X is $99 with a new 2-year contract from all carriers but Verizon, and can be purchased outright for just $399 with customization features included. Remember though, getting wood isn’t quite as easy, and you’ll be paying an additional $25 for that option.

So what do I think? I love it. If you couldn’t tell from my earlier comments. The wood has a very odd feel to it. It’s smooth, but in an odd way because it’s wood, lightweight, and looks great. There’s an edge near the camera lens where you can obviously see the wood grains where it was laser cut, but it’s not an issue if you ask me.

Read: Moto X vs Moto G: 6 Key Differences

The Motorola, AT&T, and FCC symbols all seem to be neatly printed on the back, but may come off from usual wear and tear more than other devices, but I’m ok with that too. The speaker grill has been precision laser cut into the wood, and sound is still excellent. So far I’m seeing no signs NOT to buy this option, aside from we’re not yet sure how durable it actually is, and I won’t be doing a drop test anytime soon.

Again, all four of these beautiful and unique wood “finishes” will be available starting tomorrow, January 21st from the MotoMaker site for an additional $25 fee.

Moto X in Walnut: Hands-On With a Piece of Art is a post by Cory Gunther from Gotta Be Mobile.