Motorola Moto X4 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Motorola wants the Moto X4 to be your Goldilocks phone: not too big or small, not too cheap or expensive, not too fancy or entry-level.

With two rear cameras, Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant on board, and a 5.2-inch screen, Moto is once again reaching to make its Moto X line “just right.”

On paper at least, the Moto X4 has a list of hardware features that skew a little higher-end than you’d expect for a midrange device: those two rear cameras (12 and 8 megapixels, respectively), a 16-megapixel selfie camera with its own flash and a 3,000mAh battery. You can pop in a microSD card. The shiny skin is water-resistant, which you don’t find too often on midprice phones. You’ll be able to get it in two colors: super black or sterling blue. Both colors look great — the X4 doesn’t feel flimsy or cheap.

Although the Moto X4 has a middle-of-the-road processor, it also has a fingerprint reader that supports NFC, which means you can use it to buy goods through Android Pay.

The Moto X4 will sell for 399 euros in September, arriving in other markets in the coming months, including the US and UK. That converts to roughly to $480, £370 or AU$600. (Actual prices in those locales are still to come.)

See full specs in the chart below.

Software smarts

For fans of other Moto phones, the clever software features might also jump out at you. 

Amazon Alexa

This will be the first Motorola phone to get Amazon’s Alexa voice app, which turns the Moto X4 into a voice-triggered remote for thousands of Alexa skills. (Though it can’t do absolutely everything your Amazon Echo ($99.99 at Amazon.com) can do.)

You’ll be able to launch Alexa from the lock screen, using only the “Alexa” wake word. Alexa on the Moto X4 will arrive to users in US, UK and Germany for now, but will branch out to other countries as Amazon makes Alexa more widely available.

Yes, the Moto X4 has Google Assistant, too.

Better Bluetooth

The X4’s other noteworthy feature is the ability to connect to four audio devices (like Bluetooth speakers or headsets) and stream music in sync. It comes through a software overlay from a French startup called Tempow. Though Bluetooth’s standard 30-foot (10-meter) limitation still applies, you’ll be able to listen to tunes with a friend over two pair of headphones or create a wireless stereo system in your home with multiple speakers. It’s a cool and promising feature that Tempow is working to extend to more than just music.

Software of Moto’s own

The Moto X4 will also come with Motorola’s signature software, some of it new this year and some brand new to the phone.

You’ll be able to:

• Open apps by saying “Show me…” For instance, “Show me the weather,” or “Show me Facebook.”
• Remember passwords with Moto Key, which you activate with your fingerprint.
• You can enter your user ID and password for Amazon and so on with Moto Key.
• Moto Key can unlock your PC using Bluetooth. (Not Macs yet, but they’re working on it.)

Motorola on a roll

This Moto X4 is the eighth new phone that Motorola’s announced this year, including the premium Moto Z2 Force with its snap-on Mods, and the budget G5 Plus, which was good enough to win CNET’s Editor’s Choice award.