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Moto X Makes Its Big Debut: First Smartphone Assembled In U.S.

Google

Motorola has finally introduced the Moto X, its high-end, Fort-Worth-produced smartphone -- the first ever built in the U.S. 

You’ll be able to buy the Moto X in about a month at all four national wireless carriers — Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile — starting at $200, according to the Associated Press.

The most unusual feature of the Moto X, apart from the customization option, is that it's always listening for its owner's voice. When it hears the phrase, "Ok, Google Now..." followed by a command like "call Bob," it will wake up from standby and execute the command —provided it understands it. Most smartphones offer voice control, but it's usually activated by pressing a button.

A few other cool features:

Long battery life: the phone’s battery is supposed to last 24 hours.

Voice recognition chip: The chip should be able to pick up the owner's voice even in the noise of a car, according to Rick Osterloh, head of product management at Motorola., said t

[More From KERA News: Motorola Chooses Fort Worth For New U.S.-Made Phone]

Lauren Silverman was the Health, Science & Technology reporter/blogger at KERA News. She was also the primary backup host for KERA’s Think and the statewide newsmagazine  Texas Standard. In 2016, Lauren was recognized as Texas Health Journalist of the Year by the Texas Medical Association. She was part of the Peabody Award-winning team that covered Ebola for NPR in 2014. She also hosted "Surviving Ebola," a special that won Best Long Documentary honors from the Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). And she's won a number of regional awards, including an honorable mention for Edward R. Murrow award (for her project “The Broken Hip”), as well as the Texas Veterans Commission’s Excellence in Media Awards in the radio category.