If you're intrigued by the mid-range Moto X4, you're about to get a lot more options for buying this sub-$400 smartphone. And this time, the voice-powered Alexa assistant will come with Moto's new phone.
The $399 X4 was already available through Google's Project Fi wireless service. It not only expanded the wireless service beyond Google's own phones, but also offered a lower-cost option for people who wanted to try out Project Fi without paying up for a Pixel phone.
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But the Android One version of the X4 available at Project Fi lacked one crucial feature. It shipped without built-in support for Amazon's Alexa voice assistant, leaving Google's own Assistant as the sole digital helper on the phone.
It's an understandable omission: Google wants the phones on Project Fi to offer a pure Android experience, and for a lot of users, one digital assistant is more than enough. Still, Alexa support was one of the X4's marquee features when Motorola unveiled the phone in August.
Now that marquee version will be available in the version of the Moto X4 that's arriving at a number of retailers this week. Starting Oct. 19, you'll be able to preorder the phone for $399 at Best Buy, Fry's, Jet.com and Newegg. Motorola is selling the phone unlocked at its website. And discount carriers Republic Wireless and Ting will offer the Moto X4, too. The phone becomes available a week later on Oct. 26.
You can save $70 on the Moto X4 if you buy it from Amazon, where the phone is joining the ranks of Amazon's Prime Exclusives. There are two catches: You'll need to have a $99-a-year Amazon Prime membership, and like other Prime Exclusive phones, the discounted Moto X4 will feature ads and offers on its lock screen. Alexa support comes with this version of the phone, as you might imagine.
The Amazon Prime Exclusive edition of the Moto X4 goes on sale at 1 a.m. ET on Oct. 19; the phone ships Oct. 26.
Besides Alexa support, the Moto X4 features a 5.2-inch 1080p display. It runs on a midrange Snapdragon 630 processor with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. You'll get two 12-megapixel rear cameras, which is a feature that's finding its way to more moderately priced phones. The X4 runs Android Nougat 7.1, though Motorola has promised an update to Android Oreo before the end of the year.
