Motorola Mobility unveiled its first handset created purely under Google’s auspices, the long-awaited Moto X. A series of leaks had crushed earlier speculation about a high end superphone, and the X is not designed to take on the Galaxy S4 head-to-head. Instead, it aims t o carve out a mass market for Google’s own implementation of the Android user experience, and maintain distance from the Nexus range.
The search giant may have protested about keeping its hardware unit at arm’s length, but the launch of the new smartphone shows that Motorola now has a clearly defined place in the overall Android strategy. Google is attempting a double whammy ‘ a high impact flagship for the brand, but with the accessible price and feature set to suit its primary goal, of getting web access, via Android, to the masses.
The product will aim for broader reach than the rather exclusive Nexus models but, like them, will place the Android experience firmly under Google’s control rather than that of its sometimes wayward licensees. It will not compete directly on feature sets with the top end Galaxy, Optimus or Xperia Android models, but will aim to bring a friendly, somewhat aspirational experience to the mass user base, and so remain clearly differentiated from Nexus.
However, Google is, of course, going after the same sweet spot ‘ first or second time smartphone users who are still open to influence over their mobile web experience ‘ as most of the Android vendors, notably ZTE, HTC and the lower end Galaxy variants from Samsung.
The Moto X’s differentiation attempts revolve around fashion and design, more than raw features. It is firmly aimed at people with no interest in the specs, but who want a simple, fun mobile experience ‘ something Apple could deliver too, if it decides to bring out a lower priced iPhone. This is clearly Google’s attempt to replicate the emotional relationship that Apple creates with its fans, and which has generally eluded Android vendors. And while Apple dithers about a cheaper handset, Google insists there will be a lower cost X coming along soon.
The X will launch with all the major US carriers for $199 with two-year contract and will then roll out in other markets. One of its key features is Moto Maker, an application which allows users to customize the color and other attributes of their handsets when they order. This app will be available first at AT&T and Best Buy in the US and offers choices between two front colors, 18 back colors and seven accents. The supply chain challenges of customization will help Motorola to stand out from the crowd in a design sense, for the first time since RAZR, and if it can deliver, it will go some way to justify its much-touted decision to make the X in the US rather than ship them in from Asia.
Perhaps the oddest feature of the X is that it does not run the latest release of Android (it has Jelly Bean 4.2.2, while Samsung and Nexus are already offering 4.3). This seems to deny Motorola the key benefit of being part of Google, early access to the latest software. Perhaps this is a way to reduce conflicts of interest with other close Android partners, particularly those in the Nexus program, which does involve early releases of new OS updates. But again, Google is probably gambling that the non-teccie users it is targeting will be less interested in the most up-to-date OS than in usability features like extensive touchless and voice-activated controls.
A key element of the X strategy is to push Motorola out to broad markets once again. Its Droid range, especially the RAZR Maxx, have become too heavily focused on a single carrier, Verizon, and outside that operator, the vendor has failed to make their undoubtedly solid specs shine against the S4’s marketing machine, while its own brand has been effectively subsumed into Verizon’s Droid label. That was the old Motorola ‘ strong on engineering, poor on consumer marketing ‘ and the one Google believes it can change.
The Moto X is all about ease of use. It features a rounded back with a soft-touch finish, somewhat like the Galaxy S4, and is designed to fit easily into the hand. Its 4.7-inch OLED screen has resolution of 1280×720 rather than full HD but increases its impact by sporting a very thin bezel.
The handset runs on the same electronics as the latest Droid models, Motorola’s ‘X8 Mobile Computing System’, which is based on a Qualcomm 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with quad-core Adreno 320 GPU. Motorola also adds two additional low power cores to offload two key repetitive tasks – one for contextual computing and the other for analyzing spoken language. It comes with 2Gbytes of RAM.
One area where the X does far better than the Droids is in imaging. The new handset sports Motorola’s first serious camera, a 10-megapixel ‘Clear Pixel’ device with LED flash. This claims to capture 75% more light than competing smartphone cameras. There is also an upgraded camera app, Quick Capture.