Motorola Moto X: Google Phone Release Date Coming Soon On Verizon, Sprint And T-Mobile, To Coincide With Developer Edition Model

Moto X phones designed on the Moto Maker website have begun shipping to AT&T customers, with no official release date set for Verizon Wireless, Sprint or T-Mobile. While the customization option is currently an exclusive to AT&T, Moto Maker will also be available to Verizon customers “later this year,” according to the carrier.

Motorola VP Punit Soni said a Developer Edition of the Moto X, as well as a release date on other carriers, would be “rolling out in days” in a Google+ post. A release date on Sprint for the Moto X is expected shortly, with unfounded rumors originally reporting the variant would ship around the same time as AT&T's phone.

A Best Buy inventory screen listed the Moto X release date for Verizon as Aug. 29, but the date has not been confirmed by either company. A T-Mobile variant of the Moto X is also expected in the next few weeks, and the carrier has confirmed that it will sell only through Motorola at first, without any in-store availability.

Update: Motorola has announced that black and white versions of the Moto X will be available on Verizon Wireless this Friday, Aug. 29.

The Moto Maker website’s coding confirms that the Moto X will release with additional color options in the future, including the wood variants seen in advertising materials. The four wood options are confirmed as Ebony, Bamboo, Rosewood and Teak. Ars Technica's Ron Amadeo said in a Google+ post that customers looking to use wood backs for the Moto X will likely incur an additional cost. Currently, the option to add a custom engraving on the Moto X is disabled due to "technical issues."

The Developer Edition of the Moto X that Soni referred to will ship with 32GB of built-in flash storage, as well as an unlocked bootloader. The unlocked bootloader will allow the Developer Edition Moto X to run on custom ROMs on its release date, without the need to crack or “jailbreak” the device.

The Skip, a near-field communication (NFC) unlocking device, will ship for free with Moto X phones designed on the Moto Maker website, and will be available for an extra $20 for those phones purchased in retail stores. The Skip will clip to a user’s clothing or belt loop to instantly unlock the Moto X without the need to enter a pin or draw an unlock code. Skip will ship with three NFC stickers capable of unlocking the Moto X, to place in commonly used locations.

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