Moto X August 1 Release Date Nears: Leaked Specs From Alleged CDMA Variant Hints At Average Device

Google Inc's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Motorola division is set to unveil the much anticipated Moto X, its new Android smartphone, on August 1 at an event in New York City.

Motorola sent out a press invitation for the event on Friday, which itself features the new handset, the first smartphone Motorola has developed since its 2012 acquisition by Google, in black and white with a curved top ridge as different leaks suggested recently. The invitation also displayed the Moto X name in bold letters, confirming the name.

Although there are more than 10 days to go before the Moto X gets official, The Verge came up with a report on Friday, confirming “several of the device's hardware specifications,” which appear to be quite average.

The report, based on information obtained from a tipster who claimed to have used a CDMA variant of the Moto X firsthand, said that the new handset features a screen that measures around 4.5 inches, a dual-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon MSM8960T processor, 2GB of RAM and a removable Kevlar rear shell.

The new smartphone apparently contains 1500mAh battery, while earlier rumors suggested a staggering 4,000mAh battery. However, the source was not sure enough of the exact capacity of the battery as it was not hand-tested.

Based on the specifications of the Moto X, the tipster told The Verge that the handset might lack power even to challenge Motorola’s own Maxx hardware.

The latest tidbit echoes what @evleaks reported about the Moto X in June. The leak over at Twitter also suggested that the new smartphone will have a 720p display, 16GB of internal storage (likely to be expandable using microSD cards), a 10-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front camera and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

According to The Verge’s source, Moto X currently runs a "near stock" version of Android 4.2.2 as the new Android 4.3 is yet to be rolled out by Google. Moreover, the “always-on” listening mode, which is considered to be the device’s killer feature that can recognize commands after the user says "OK Google Now," is not enabled by default. The functionality needs to be activated in settings.

The tipster also revealed some more features of the Moto X, such as:

- Moto X can be trained to better understand users’ voice.

- The phone supports a wrist flicking gesture, which immediately launches the camera app.

- The device features an "Auto HDR" mode.

- Moto X gives a summary of the notifications and the current time when the user picks it up after it has remained idle for some time. The Moto X, entirely assembled in the U.S., is expected to be available in all four major carriers of the country -- Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile -- toward the end of this year, costing $199 off-contract.