Motorola Moto X
The Motorola Moto X will go on sale in the UK from 1 February, prices from £380. Motorola

Motorola's flagship smartphone, the Moto X, will be coming to the UK from 1 February, priced from £380 SIM free.

The first smartphone to be launched by Motorola since it was taken over by Google in 2012, the Moto X is already on sale in the US, but will soon be available to UK consumers - complete with its Google Now integration and always-listening microphone.

Described as "the ultimate wingman", the Moto X's unique selling point is the ability to control the phone without touching it. Say "OK Google Now" and the phone will start listening - the user can then ask questions about the weather forecast, their diary schedule for the day, send text messages and emails, and perform other tasks, similar to how Siri works on the iPhone and iPad.

Other intelligent features of the 4G smartphone include launching the camera application by twisting your wrist twice; once open, the camera takes 10-megapixel images, and is joined by a 2.1-megapixel sensor on the front.

As for other specifications, the British version of the Moto X is identical to that on sale in the US; this means a high definition 4.7in AMOLED screen, dual-core 1.7GHz processor with 2GB of RAM, and will be offered with 16GB and 32GB storage options.

The phone has 4G, NFC, Bluetooth, and will come bundled with 50GB of free Google Drive online storage space for two years. Design-wise, the phone is similar to the budget Moto G launched in the UK late last year.

"At Motorola our roots are deep in mobile hardware – we invented mobile communications," says Andrew Morley – Vice President & General Manager, Motorola Mobility UK. "Now, as a Google company, we've become the kind of company that can build a 4G smartphone like Moto X. It fuses our history of mobile innovation with the best of Google mobile services."

A key feature of the Moto X which won't be coming to the UK at launch is Moto Maker, which lets buyers customise their phone with a wide range of colours for each component - the company is hopeful of launching the feature in the UK later this year, however.

The Moto X will be available from 1 February in black from Phones4u, Carphone Warehouse, O2 and Amazon, while Phones 4u will offer a white version exclusively for the first three months.