The Moto X smartphone by Motorola launched on AT&T today and is available to users for $199 with a two-year contract subsidy. The last we heard, Moto X would be made consumer available on August 29 on Verizon so needless to say the news is exciting. For those waiting for Big Red to carry the Moto X, that August 29 release is still likely as plans to launch on AT&T just flew under the radar leading up to today.

If AT&T happens to be your cell carrier of choice and you plan on making a Moto X purchase, then you’re entitled to exclusive privileges for the Moto Maker app until November when it will launch on all other carriers. Moto Maker affords users the opportunity to pick from several customization options, including the colors of the back cover, front plate, and accents to personally tailored to the respective user’s sophisticated tastes.

When it comes to specs, the kevlar backplate will be available in 18 different colors or styles and the near-stock Android UI will be tweaked to the slightest to fit the Motorola mold. The biggest draw, from an emptying-my-piggy-bank-to-pay-my-student-loans point of view, has to be the $199 for 16GB of storage price tag and for a mere $50 more can up the ante to 32GB of storage.

The Moto X carries a 4.7 inch 720p display, a Snapdragon S4 Pro Processor, will operate on Android 4.2.2. though the update for Jelly Bean 4.3 will probably come soon, and the device will have cross-syncing capabilities with other Google-made products.

The big draw for the Moto X isn’t what’s running under the hood, but how well it acclimates to the user and vice versa. The top of the smartphone food chain is crowded with all manufacturers creating some kind of high-end device with high-end specs that is really just a carbon copy of the rival next to it with just a different shell. But what happens is that market becomes increasingly saturated with the only differentiator being a handful of gimmicky features that in reality are completely useless.

The Moto X is all about customization,like how the user accessorizes with it or changes colors for occasions. Smartphones are so exposed that they’ve become an extension of the hand that’s carrying it and people want to show off how the Moto X is a round peg fitting into a round hole; a simple, seamless expression of one’s self that epitomizes not trying to be something you aren’t.

For those looking to buy the Moto X or have already bought it, let us know what you think of the device in the comments section below.