On The Go With Moto X And fitbit flex

For the past month, I have been playing with a couple of new tech toys from Sprint – the Moto X and the fitbit flex. New phones are always fun to play with, but it was the fitbit that took me by surprise. 

Moto X

The Moto X is the first (and currently the only) smartphone to be fully designed, engineered and assembled in the U.S.A. Now that’s cool. 

The best thing about this phone is that it is durable. I know because I have incidentally tested this on several occasions. I’ve dropped it — a lot, and there isn’t a scratch on it (even without a protective case). While I don’t recommend testing this feature yourself, I can also personally attest to the quality of the phone’s seal.

My Moto X survived a dip in the toilet.

About a week after I got it, I had it in my back pocket and when I slipped my pants off to go potty – PLOP! I fished it out in seconds (no, I had not gone yet) and it still works! I think it helps that it went in top first and that it was never fully submerged. But this experience revealed an interesting fact about the phone, the battery is not replaceable. In fact, the back of the phone is not made to be removable. 

Since the phone isn’t meant to be opened, it is sealed tight. And again, while I don’t recommend taking any electronic for a dip. I am happy to say mine survived. 

The Android based Moto X has several unique features that are just plain cool. My favorite feature is the Quick Capture. With two flicks of the wrist the camera is activated and ready to take pictures. For a mom who is always taking pictures on the go, this feature is fantastic! Every phone should follow suit. Accessing my phone with a quick motion s the most convenient feature I can think of.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the camera itself leaves a bit to be desired. While the activation is instantaneous, the camera is slow to focus, the shutter speed lags and the zoom is difficult to use. Activating “touch to focus” within the camera helped, but the camera still needs improvement. Although with practice I have been able to get used to its quirks. 

Another feature that has won me over is the Active Display. From time to time (or you pickup your phone) the Moto X quietly displays information on the screen. This battery-friendly feature makes it easy to check the time and see if you have a new message (which I almost always do). 

Currently the Moto X is available to Sprint customers in black or white. But hopefully Sprint customers will soon be able to use the Moto Maker to customize the phone with 18 color choices and even add text. 

One more super cool feature unique to the Moto X is Windy Day. On October 29, Motorola quietly pushed the augmented reality short cartoon Windy Day. Featuring a red hat that suddenly began blowing across my screen, clicking on that hat opened up a whole new world of smartphone technology.

I sounded like a crazy person when I called to ask my husband about the strange mouse chasing a hat all over my phone. But one quick Google search revealed the origin of this cool app. It appears that this is the first of more to come, and I think it is so very cool. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

When the package arrived and I discovered the FitBit, my first thought was, “What am I going to do with this? This is so not right for me. How am I going to review this thing?” My husband even offered to wear it for me because he was sure I wouldn’t wear it. I decided to try it out for a few days, to learn enough about it to write a post and then I could pass it along to my hubby. One month later, I haven’t taken it off and I am obsessed with it.

I am not athletic. I don’t count calories, and my workout routine is… ummm… severely lacking. But what I am is goal-oriented and results-driven. For that reason, I love my FitBit. 

What is a fitbit flex?

The fitbit flex is basically a super-duper fancy digital pedometer and health monitor. By day, it tracks my steps (and calories burned). By night, it tracks my sleep patterns graphically showing me how long I slept and how restful my sleep was. It also has the ability to track your water and food intake, and because staying accountable is important it also has the social functionality to share your results with fellow fitbit buddies.  

Did I mention that it tracks everything wirelessly? It’s so neat. It syncs with my laptop via a tiny USB dongle (that I just leave plugged in) and it also syncs automatically with select smartphones including, iPhone 4 & 5, iPad 3 & 4, Samsung Galaxy SIII and more. For phones not on the list (like the Moto X), you can still sync up your fitbit via the computer. Any time my computer is on and in proximity to my fitbit and my phone (which is a LOT), everything syncs up.

Since donning my fitbit bracelet, I have noticed so many people wearing the fitbit flex. I feel like I am in the cool club. 

In a million years I would not have thought this would be something I would want to have. But now I get crazy excited when it vibrates to tell me I reached my goal of 10,000 steps for the day. In fact, I am so obsessed with wearing my bracelet that I even wore it on the red carpet for the Thor and Delivery Man premieres. Yes, even with my gold sequin formal dress! My fellow fitbit buddy Kas from Southern Belle Ways and I even snapped a picture of our fitbit on the red carpet. 

The fitbit flex is surprisingly fun and here to stay. That’s why it makes the top of my list of gifts to give this Christmas!

The fitbit flex and the Moto X are both available from Sprint.

I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for Sprint. I received product samples to facilitate my review.