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An inside look at how Motorola makes mobile devices

Motorola threw open the doors to its new downtown Chicago headquarters, offering a peek at everything from its 3D printers to mock-ups of the Moto 360 smartwatch.

Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
Expertise Mobile, 5G, Big Tech, Social Media Credentials
  • SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.
Roger Cheng

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Motorola takes pains to ensure that you can make a crystal-clear call. Pictured: A room designed to project background noise and a dummy head that can make voice commands and phone calls. Sarah Tew/CNET

CHICAGO -- Motorola Mobility held a belated housewarming party on Thursday, throwing open the doors to its inner sanctum of mobile-device development.

The headquarters, based in downtown Chicago's historic Merchandise Mart building, is very much a statement of the new Motorola. The company was previously based in Schaumburg, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, but moved over the last of its employees to the new facility in April. The splashes of color and open space are indicative of a more nimble company that shares a bit of heritage with Google.

It doesn't have much time left as a unit of Google. Motorola is slated to be taken over by Lenovo by the end of the year.

Rather than just hold a simple product launch, which it did do Thursday with the unveiling of the new Moto X and Moto G, Motorola opted to do a full-blown tour of the facility, offering a look at various labs and development facilities. From its 3D printers to mock-ups of the Moto 360 smartwatch, the company pulled back the curtain on its development process.

Motorola Mobility shows off its mobile-development labs

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