Google Plans ‘X Phone’ to Take on iPhone 5, Galaxy S4

A new report suggests that Google and Motorola are working on a device called the ‘X Phone’ that could take on the likes of the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S4 in the next year.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Google and its recently acquired company, Motorola, are working on a phone together to take on rivals Apple and Samsung. The phone is currently dubbed the “X Phone” and details about the device are currently extremely scarce. Apparently, Motorola had been looking at using a flexible display for the device along with ceramic materials.

The materials would allow the device to come in different shapes, colors and also allow it to be more stress resistant. Motorola has long been known for its extremely durable designs as the Droid RAZR series employs a Kevlar backing in order to protect the devices from harm. The company also apparently wanted “wanted top-notch features for the phone’s camera and photo software, such as better color saturation and the ability to take panoramic shots” though it appears that they were too much strain on the battery.

Motorola also evidently wants to enhance the phone with features derived from its acquisition of Viewdle including adding imaging and gesture-recognition software to what we assume will be some version of Android. That isn’t set in stone either it seems because Google doesn’t want to anger other Android partners like Samsung, a company that sold over 30 million Galaxy S3’s since May.

Despite these challenges, Motorola is evidently trying to get this phone out next year to compete with the likes of the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S4 though no release date is mentioned in the report. Motorola previously had not yet had any big name phones for 2013 rumored and it could be that this will be its main flagship that it offers to the public.

This year, Google acquired Motorola but thus far, it has done nothing but load up its management ranks Google employees. So if this “X Phone” is the real deal, it could be the first big collaboration between the two companies.

And given that this looks like it could be a Google branded phone, we can only imagine that this could indeed be the Motorola Nexus X, a device that features superb hardware and powerful software to boot.