AT&T New Moto X Pre-Orders Arrive Early

With just hours to go before Motorola itself begins taking pretty orders for its new Moto X iPhone 6 competitor, AT&T is wasting no time. Earlier this week Motorola revealed it’d be starting pre-orders for the device today at 12 p.m. EST, but pre-orders for the AT&T new Moto X have already begun on AT&T’s website.

As of right now users can pre-order the new Moto X from AT&T’s website with no problem. Users who do have the choice between a Moto X with a black front and bamboo rear, another model with a black front and black leather rear and a model with just a black front and black plastic rear. All three models only include 16GB of storage.

At full price, AT&T is asking $526 for the new Moto X. That being said, the AT&T new Moto X with a two-year contract costs $99. Of course, AT&T now offers an early upgrade program that lets new smartphone buyers pay for their device in installments. Called AT&T Next, monthly payments of $22 for 18 months are required to get the new Moto X as part of the program. There’s also a 12-month AT&T Next option that’ll cost users 12 monthly $27 payments.

Read: New Moto X Pre-Order Details Arrive

For users who weren’t planning on buying the new Moto X with a two-year contract, moving to pre-order the AT&T new Moto X now might be a good idea. There’s no telling how long pre-orders from Motorola itself will last, so it’s not a bad idea to get in early. AT&T is showing delivery times for the new Moto X as September 23rd.

If that isn’t the case it’s a much better idea to just wait for Motorola to make the new Moto X available on its own site. First, Motorola’s Moto Maker site will be the only place that users can get a new Moto X with 32GB of storage. That in itself is huge, the Moto X doesn’t include a MicroSD card slot so anyone purchasing from AT&T is stuck with 16GB of on-board storage permanently. Second, AT&T is actually charging a bit extra for the Moto X. Motorola’s site will offer the new Moto X at $499, $26 lower than what AT&T is charging – though it’s possible AT&T is including taxes in their figure and Motorola isn’t.

Read: The new Moto X: 7 Cool Accessories to Consider Before You Pre-Order

Buying from Motorola itself is the only way for university students and staff to save $49.99 on the new Moto X. Motorola will let users with a .edu email address get a discount on a new device.

Finally, the AT&T new Moto X will come with locked software plus apps and services that users won’t be able to remove. AT&T Navigator, AT&T Locker, AT&T Live, myAT&T, AT&T Hotspot, YPmobile, AT&T Address Book, AT&T Mail, AT&T Mobile TV and a visual voice mail app are all being forced on users. That’s a lot of extra stuff considering the AT&T new Moto X’s limited amount of storage.

When Motorola does make the Moto X available AT&T users will be able to get a customized AT&T new Moto X for the same price as what’s available on the carrier’s website. That being said, options for additional storage, different colors front and rear faces will also be available. Last year, Motorola allowed users to customize their wallpaper and greeting too.

In addition to the AT&T new Moto X, Motorola will also offer the new Moto X in a Pure Edition. This version won’t come with any carrier extras. Users will be able to customize it to their heart’s content and even flash new software onto if they choose. Best of all, they’ll get updates straight from Motorola and not be forced to wait for AT&T to decide when they get Android L and later large Android updates.

The new Moto X Pure Edition will cost $499 too, but no carrier subsides will be offered.