Motorola says no to phablets; promises stock Android phones later this year
Motorola has confirmed that its upcoming smartphone will not be a phablet. It will have a display with a "Just Right" size and will run on stock Android.
It’s been nearly a year since the search giant, Google, acquired hardware maker Motorola. We have all been wondering as to what the smartphone maker has been working on. Information circulating the Internet for the past few months suggests that Motorola is working on the X Phone, and a lot of information suggests that the X Phone could be the next Nexus smartphone. Some leaked specifications also suggest that it could be a phablet.
However, the phablet speculation goes against a recent statement by Jim Wicks, Motorola’s design chief, who told PC Mag that the company would follow a philosophy of “better is better” rather than “bigger is better.”
Lately smartphones have launched which boast of some really large displays. Not all the consumers are fascinated or feel the need to have such large displays on their mobile devices. Motorola wants to hit the sweet spot when it comes to the display size of the smartphone.
Jim Wicks goes on to say, “It comes off as kind of weird to anyone who hears it for the first time, but there have been follow-up discussions and there’s no issues with that at all. We’ve been spending the past eight months on this next generation of phones, and we’ve all seen positive feedback and collaboration around things.”
After the acquisition by Google, Motorola has worked on a bunch of Razr devices, without releasing them, but the masterminds at Google have reportedly said said that the smartphones lacked the “wow” factor. Smartphones made by Motorola after the acquisition will reportedly start hitting store shelves in the second half of 2013.
“Consumers love what the Android OS can do for them, and they want to have the most recent releases faster,” Wicks said. “From a software and UI perspective, our strategy is to embrace Android and to make it the best expression of Android and Google in the market. It will be the unadulterated version of Android, and I feel really good about our embracing Android and being the best Android experience.”
Wicks confirms that the UI of the upcoming smartphones, as has previously been speculated, will be stock Android too. There will be no Motorola bloatware, and the interface will be like what we have come to love from the Nexus series of devices. The upcoming smartphone will also have a thin bezel and Motorola aims at making it an attractive smartphone. The last flagship smartphone for Google was the Nexus 4 and the device is an eye catcher.
Source: PCMag