Nate Swanner

There’s a lot of talk around the web about automated homes, and that’s a cool concept — but we’re not ready for that. We need to talk about automating that thing you have in your pocket or bag. That’s right, you can automate your phone! Well, if you have a Moto X (2014), that is. Setting up and using Moto Assist is a great way to have your central life hub (yeah, your phone!) do those little things to make life easier. Here’s how to set it up: 1. Open your app drawer tray from the home screen. 2. Find

Here at TheUnlockr, we know we can’t get you to stop taking selfies — and we’re not going to even try. In fact, we support your possibly-a-bit-too-self-absorbed endeavors. Hey, we like you, and whatever you do is okay with us. We’re even going to make it really easy for you if you’ve got a Moto X (2014). With Motorola’s newest, you can take a selfie with your voice. That’s right, you can set up Moto to fire off a shot by using only your voice. Imagine all the selfie trouble you can get into hands-free! Here’s how to do it:

It’s hard to take your eyes off that Moto X, we know. The screen is just so big and beautiful! At 5.2-inches, the screen is a good bit larger than last year’s Moto X, and every bit as beautiful. When you’re not gazing longingly into its pixels, though, we’ve got a tip for saving on battery life. Attentive display may be on by default, but we suggest you run through these quick steps to at least make sure. With our Moto X, only one option was checked — and having both selected made a noticeable impact on battery life. 1.

The always-on display on your Moto X remains one of the killer features for the device. Getting notification icons popping up on your sleeping lock screen make it easy to know who’s trying to get hold of you. Still, you might not want all your apps and services taking advantage. To control which can and can’t alert you to new messages, you just have to migrate into settings. We suggest doing this routinely, especially as you download new apps. Here’s how to do it: 1. Open your app tray from the home screen. 2. Select the Moto app. 3. Click

We’ve all been there, and it’s a bummer. You go to capture the moment, but the moment’s gone. “Quick, get a picture of th — oh, never mind.” Things in life move quickly, so why shouldn’t your camera?! If you’ve got a Moto X, your camera can keep up with you and your hectic, weird life. By enabling Quick Capture, a simple flick of the wrist will launch the camera straight away. All you have to do is wiggle your wrist quickly, and the camera will automatically launch! Here’s how to make sure you have it set up. 1. Open

Bluetooth is a great way to do all kinds of things from listening to music to finding deals in stores that have iBeacon technology. If you’ve got your hands on a Moto X, there’s one more cool thing it can do, and that’s unlock your phone. All you have to do is give it the go-ahead. By assigning trusted devices, your Moto X (2014) will unlock itself when it’s within range of those Bluetooth devices. This is possibly the easiest way to have your device using profiles, and a wonderful way to bypass your pin-lock when you’re at home or

Hands-free voice control on last year’s Moto X was a hit-or-miss affair. Sometimes it heard you, other times it got what you were saying wrong. You could say “Okay, Moto X”, but it rarely picked up on that in our testing. This year, you get a bit more granular control. The 2014 Moto X lets you customize your launch phrase, and call your Moto X almost anything you want. We won’t say it works for every name or phrase (more on that in a minute), but it definitely makes using your phone a much more personal experience. When you start

In a lot of instances, you don’t even need to touch your Moto X to get a rise form it. A simple gesture will sometimes do, and you might even get all the info you need from your device via a few simple swipes of the hand. Moto Actions make all this possible, but how do they work? Here, we’ll show you how to set up Actions so you can get the most from your Moto X. We will warn you, though — Actions might cause you to oversleep: 1. Open your app tray and select the Moto app. 2.