If there’s one thing that excited us more than anything, it’s word of more stock Android devices. We all know and love the Nexus line, and the Nexus 4 is a stunning device but, the X Phone that is apparently coming straight out of Motorola as the first true product of the acquisition of Motorola Mobility has most of us pretty excited. I know that I’m holding out on the X Phone, whether or not it’s real, I’m waiting until Google I/O before I do anything about my next phone purchase. We’ve heard some crazy things about this device in the past, and with each and every piece of speculation, our expectation grows. What we really want however, is something a little more concrete, something a little more believable.
While we don’t have any firm details of the device, Smarthouse has heard from the Chief Technology Officer for Telstra – the Australian carrier – that the device is a “real breakthrough”. That’s something we already knew really, if Google were going to do something with the $12.4 Billion spent on the Mobility arm of Moto, they’re going to want to do something pretty special with it, or at least we’d hope so. Nexus phones are one thing but, while they might have some design cues from Google, they’re certainly not Google’s devices. Now that they have Motorola Mobility at their disposal they can start to work on something truly their own.
Sources have told the Australian website that the X Phone should be expected to “put pressure on Samsung and Apple”. Apparently, the head of marketing from Australia for Motorola Mobility, Barry Smyth has moved to the US to head up marketing for the new device. The most exciting part of the first-hand recount is the following quote:
“Google has been working on this device for a long time. It has software features and capabilities that are not available on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone or Apple iPhone. The software is really powerful and it pulls together Google services like no other manufacturer has done in the past,”
We all know that stock Android is ahead of older builds on devices from Samsung, HTC and the like but, the idea that the X Phone would introduce radically different software would also suggest that we’re headed for a radically new version of Android. Could this be Key Lime Pie, in which we’re introduced to a whole new build of Android? Google Now already does a pretty good job of bringing everything together but, from the sounds of it, the X Phone is going to be a complete top-down solution. Having Google services heavily ingrained into a smartphone could be a real selling-point for Google, especially if they’re going to solidify messaging and everything else into one coherent and cohesive solution.
If anything, it’s beginning to sound like Google are building the X Phone to be a shining example of what Android can really do, the Nexus phones of the past have come with some serious hardware and software but they’ve always been more of a parts-bin solution. LG sold Google the Optimus G with a different chassis, plain and simple. The X Phone is going to be far more than that, it’s going to be a Google phone through and through and I hope that this is just an example of how Google are going to push Android going forward. This is some exciting stuff, if Google really are working as hard as it’s reported on this project then this year’s I/O should be a whole lot of fun.
Are you excited?