Motorola X phone existence, what can we expect from it?
You’d be forgiven for thinking that most of the top-end phones of
2013 have already broken cover. The Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, Sony
Xperia Z and Blackberry Z10 are all out in the open. Nokia and LG have
yet to reveal their flagship handsets, true – but considering the rash
of mid-rangers LG unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress, and
Nokia’s tentative Lumia 925 (an incremental upgrade over the previous
Lumia 920 flagship), we think it unlikely that either of the two are
going to break cover and release something dramatic. And Apple released
their iPhone 5 only last September, so we’re not expecting an iPhone 5S
or iPhone 6 until late autumn, at the very earliest.
No, the top-end marketplace looks to be sorted for this year, barring a shake-up courtesy of the Sony Honami
or the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, secondary flagships which are set to make
their appearances later on in the year. But there could be a surprise
late entry for the competition of best device of 2013, courtesy of the
long-overlooked Motorola!
The past few years have been unusual for Motorola Mobility. They went
the path of Blackberry, reigning as a top-tier manufacturer towards the
end of the 2000s, only to fall into financial turmoil
when the smartphone market began to expand. They were bought by Google
in 2011, a deal that was closed for good on May 22nd 2012 to the tune of
$12 billion. As a subsidiary of Google, we haven’t seen much action
from Motorola. But according to industry insiders, Motorola had a
roadmap of products, which they were committed to working on – and now
that they have completed their roadmap, Google are free to use their
acquisition however they like!
And how is that? Well, rumours have been floating around for several
months now about the existence of the ‘Motorola X Phone’, a top-end
handset that may be the new Nexus handset (Nexus devices, if you’re
unaware, are manufactured closely in partnership with Google, and use
basic stock Android software instead of the usual overlays). Though many
pundits also predict that LG are going to make a return for the next
Nexus, heralding an LG Nexus 5, the fact remains that Motorola are
definitely working on a handset.
According to best insider projections, the Motorola X phone will be
equipped with 4.7-inch screen – a suggestion prompted by a discussion
with Motorola design chief Jim Wicks, who spoke out against the trend
towards super-sized ‘phablets’ when it comes to smartphones.
Specifically, he said of Motorola’s design philosophy: “better is
better, rather than bigger is better”, and Motorola’s handsets will be
“… just about right” in terms of size. In terms of internal
specifications, we’re less confident with projecting – but we’re likely
to see a 1.7+ GHz quad-core processor at the very least. Hopefully,
Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 800 chipset will make an appearance, for a
significant boost in power. And making the 4.7-inch screen a full HD
offering would result in some truly superb pixel density, which would
certainly be appreciated.
In terms of software, the Motorola X phone could be equipped with
stock Android; if so, it’s most likely going to be the Nexus handset of
2013. If not, then we could expect to see a refreshed suite of
Motorola-engineered apps, to bring the handset more in line with the
proprietary selection of tertiary features that Samsung phones are
loaded down with. (Or maybe not – Samsung have faced some criticism for
their memory-intensive suite of “S-Apps” lately. Motorola may opt for a
more stripped-down user experience specifically to counteract this
perception.)
It remains to be seen exactly when Motorola will announce or release
the so-called X phone. Though there have been several encouraging
benchmark leaks over the last few months, the disparate Motorola phones
bearing the X moniker have had radically different specifications,
ranging from low-end to upper-mid-range handsets. Some pundits predict
that the Motorola X may be customizable, as a consequence – but the idea
of swapping out components, and designing your phone from the ground up
like a sports car, seems like an outlandish idea to us. We think it
more likely that either these early benchmarks are done with incomplete
handsets, or Motorola are launching ‘X Phone’ as a brand, rather than a
stand-alone handset. This means we could potentially see low, mid and
top-end Motorola X phones before the end is out!
Only one thing is for sure at this juncture; Motorola have excited
the marketplace in a way they haven’t been able to for years. Time will
tell whether they can sustain this excitement, and carry it through when
they actually release their product/s. Make sure to keep both eyes
peeled for any further Motorola news!
Is the Motorola X phone a reality, and if so, what can we expect from it?
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