Moto X Rises: Motorola to Launch a Smarter Smartphone Against Apple & Samsung?
What do you get when you have a phone that can predict what you want, have a longer battery than most in its class, and priced lower than the average smartphone?
It has to be Motorola's flagship phone for 2013, dubbed Moto X. And one of its supposedly better benefits is its contextual awareness.
Daily Mail reports that a phone that is contextually aware is able to detect what's going on around it, and anticipates the need of the user.
Furthermore, interaction between user and device is amplified, thanks to sensors, accelerometers, and gyroscopes that are integrated into the phone, to avoid the usage of unnecessary power and conserve the overall energy of the phone.
When it comes to more groundbreaking technology, Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside adds that the camera would activate in a manner that is unexpected or unseen from any other smartphone. Woodside failed to go to any details, keeping most of the Moto X's function close to the vest.
It did, however, reveal that there may be more in store for Motorola this year besides Moto X. Mashable reports that an interview in the D11 revealed that aside from an October release for the Moto X, other devices, most of which would be low-end smartphones, will be launched for Motorola.
Features and release dates
So just what will make the Moto X smarter than the average smartphone? Woodside adds that there's continuing research for Motorola in terms of a more organic way to passwords in computers, the most concrete of ideas being electronic tattoos and authentication pills, reports Daily Mail.
While these identification alternatives may seem groundbreaking, they are a tad into the territory of invasive developments, and given how Motorola is just on the brink of rebuilding its brand and unless other smartphone giants go the way of the alternative passwords, they may not be the best way to improve on the smartphone.
Some of the hardware features that have been leaked include a 2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU, the Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie, a 4.7-inch 10800p display, and a long-lasting battery life, better than most.
Tom's Hardware reports that the phone will be manufactured in Texas, in a facility formerly owned by Nokia. The report also adds that some of the materials include OLED screens from Korea, and SoC from Taiwan.
One thing to take note of is the confirmation that, despite Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, there won't be any priority stands for the brand, being merely a licensee for Android instead of owning the product.
More than just specs: What Moto X needs
Motorola's aim to break through the smartphone industry already shows one thing: it's a brand name that's fairly new to consumers--and new in the sense that they either have not been as familiar compared to long-standing brands or have already heard about them, but did not expect this kind of progress in terms of competition.
Know Your Mobile reports that the Moto X, despite the rumored features that it has, may not have an easy time, selling, if only for the fact that the brand's history can play a major role in the lagging of sales and movement of units.
According to the report, the Motorola name does not ring well in Europe, a part of which can be attributed to the return rates for the Motorola Atrix in 2011 and the non-impressive follow-up phones.
"The Motorola brand, nowadays, is not associated with quality," said IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo to Know Your Mobile. "Operators push Samsung, HTC, Apple, and Nokia because they're confident in those brands--because consumers relate to those brands. I'm not sure simply having an association with Google would change this for Motorola."
Even the low price point, which can be an inviting feature, may not even come to pass, considering that Google's partnership with other sources may be affected because of a similar offer done with the Nexus 4.
Still, Woodside remains positive this time around for Motorola, and if the planned features and offers for the Moto X do come to pass and prove itself worthy of competition, it may be Motorola's shot at getting back in the game.