Hands On With Motorola's Moto Maker

AT&T's version of the new Moto X phone has a special twist: Moto Maker, Motorola's online phone configuration tool. We got early access to Moto Maker and had a lot of fun designing our own phone, but I couldn't help but think about what a game-changer this tool could have been.

First, the Moto Maker experience: if you want to make your own Moto X, you buy a redemption code instead of a whole phone at an AT&T store. You then enter the redemption code on Motorola's website, where you step through the various options. You can pick colors for the back, front, and "accents" (buttons and camera rim.) You can upgrade the phone to 32GB for $50, and add color-matched earbuds for $30. You can choose black or white AC chargers.

The much-vaunted wood and bamboo models were not available in the Moto Maker I tested. Motorola has said the wood backs will be available sometime before the end of the year.

You can add silvery writing on the back, have the phone start up to a custom "hello" message, and set it up so it's logged into your Google account right out of the box.

After you finish your order, the phone is assembled in Fort Worth, Texas and arrives in around four days, although I expect that delivery time to get longer if the phone is popular. If you don't like the phone, you can exchange it within 14 days for free.

Check out the full Moto Maker experience in our slideshow.

What Might Have Been
Motorola's shopping experience is clear, simple, and modern. It reminds me of a much older shopping experience: buying a Nexus One phone. And therein lies the tragedy of the Moto X.

The Nexus One, of course, was Google's failed attempt to sell a carrier-free phone that would work on all carriers. With the Moto X, Google completely gave up on fighting the carrier control of our market. Initially, you'll only be able to get these custom phones locked to AT&T.

The only reason for this, of course, is that AT&T probably told Motorola that it would only subsidize the phone if it got some sort of exclusive. Verizon actually has a strategic interest in making its Moto X look a little less appealing, so it sells more of its extremely similar Droid Mini phones. T-Mobile isn't even stocking the Moto X in its stores.

Our market is slowly moving away from outright phone subsidies, but ideas like T-Mobile's and Cricket's installment plans still rely on the carriers to finance the devices. While a third party such as Best Buy could theoretically step in and offer financing plans as well, nobody has so far found the effort worth it to overturn the carrier control of phone retail.

The Moto X with Moto Maker is a cool step forward in phone customization, and I think people will have a lot of fun with it. It could have been a much bigger step if it was open to more than AT&T customers.