Google didn’t use LTE in Nexus 4 last year, and boy, did they ever hear the end of it? It was considered the Nexus 4’s biggest, most crippling disadvantages, compared to other mobile flagships. But Google sure won’t make that mistake twice. According to a leak by Taylor Wimberly, the Motorola X will arrive with a dual LTE MIMO antenna, which means Google is really taking LTE seriously in their phones this time.
MIMO is a technology usually used for Wi-Fi or for 4G antennas from carriers, so they can increase the bandwidth of the connection, and be able to support multiple devices with a certain speed more reliably. What this means exactly for the phone’s speed, we don’t know, and there hasn’t any identification yet that it’s using LTE Advanced. But it could mean that the speed will be closer to the one advertised (which usually isn’t).
This rumor comes after we’ve already seen other leaked specs, from the same source:
- Specifications – 720p display, dual-core Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM.
- Battery life – “industry leading”.
- Storage – multiple options available.
- Availability – in August, US first, Verizon not likely to get it, other countries to get in Q4. Will also sell unlocked.
- Price – not specified, but around $299 or less.
- Customization – users will get to choose the case material and the color, as well as the wallpaper, ringtone, and apps through a web portal
- Materials – plastic, wood, metal, carbon fiber (based on rumors)
- Contextual aware – always-on listening mode, supported by a standalone language processing chip and a contextual awareness chip that analyzes the input from an array of sensors.
From the leaked ad, to all these incoming rumors, I think it’s clear the Motorola X is going to be officially announced very soon, possibly within the next week or two. I wouldn’t expect it to be a high-end phone, but if the price is right, at say about half what other flagship phones costs unlocked (so about $300), then it could be a very compelling offering. You’d get specs that were high-end only last year, for half the price, and coming straight from Google, who I assume is going to keep updating this phone quickly after the new Android versions are released.
The more interesting question is if this will arrive with Android 4.2 or 4.3. My guess is they will announce Android 4.3 very soon, and then about a month later, release the upgrade for Galaxy S4 GE,HTC One GE, and all the Nexus devices, and also ship Motorola X directly with Android 4.3.