This may be a whole line of customizable phones, not just a single flagship device. Unnamed sources within Motorola claim that the rumored X Phone project is indeed real, and will encompass multiple devices, not just a single high-end flagship iPhone and Samsung Galaxy killer.
According to the sources, the first product is expected to ship by the end of July, and won't focus on hardware specs and software gimmicks. Instead, it will focus on connectivity to upcoming wearable devices like Google Glass and Google Watch. Google and Motorola are supposedly working on a whole line of "X" gadgets.
Building a Google Glass-friendly phone makes sense. After all, if the consumer is willing to dump over $1000 on the tech specs, why would they want to dump even more into a phone? Thus, Google Glass would be the central input device whereas the X Phone would serve as the cheap, secondary compliment. The same could be said with a Google Watch.
Sources said the idea behind X Phone is to provide an ultra-affordable device with a possible starting retail price of $199 or less without the typical two-year ball-and-chain contract and embedded crapware. Even more, there's talk that this entire X Phone line will allow consumers to custom-build their phone just like a computer PC.
The supposed prototype shown last week reportedly featured Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC, 2 GB of RAM, a 4.65-inch display, and a 2,200 mAh battery. That's similar to what the Nexus 4 offers, and could symbolize a base high-end configuration, following in the footsteps of PC manufacturers like Dell, HP and other desktop OEMs which offer several base tier configurations.
As Android and Me points out, Dell revolutionized the PC industry with its "built-to-order" and direct-sales model approach to manufacturing. That's what Google and Motorola are supposedly doing with X Phone, but what about other Android partners? Wouldn't this type of build-to-order method undercut their products?
Of course, X Phone may merely be Motorola's flagship iPhone killer launching later this year, and everything else is just fluff and speculation. Still, an unlocked, cheap customizable phone could put a severe hurting on both Samsung and Apple. [IS]
