The Moto X, Google and Motorola’s mysterious love child, has been out and about lately. And now a video from Rogers, a Canadian wireless provider, shows the Android phone’s ambient listening feature, potentially called “Open Mic,” which will allow users to give the phone voice commands without activating the screen.
It’s unclear whether this is going to be a Motorola-only feature, or whether it will be part of Android’s next release, but it sounds a lot like the Xbox One’s passive listening. In the video, the user gives a command by saying “Okay Google Now,” kind of Glass-style, and Rogers claims that you, “Talk to it, and it learns your voice.”
The video, first posted by Ausdroid but taken down at Rogers’ request, also shows an alert system called “active updates,” a take on lock screen notifications, and a wrist gesture that allows users to turn on the camera without swiping or tapping anything. The gesture, two quick wrist swivels, seems like about as much work as waking a phone and tapping a lock screen camera icon, though. It could also potentially cause the camera to come on accidentally if the accelerometer misinterprets other motions as wrist gesture inputs.
According to the video, users will be able to take photos in the Moto X’s camera app by touching the screen anywhere, and will be able to take multiple exposures in succession by touching and holding a spot on the screen. The phone is going to come in black and white, and will be available in a few months. Rogers is apparently getting it in August, but no word on Australia yet. [VentureBeat]
[Ausdroid]