Ever since Google acquired Motorola Mobility, the speculation about the devices that will come out of the company has been floating around. As days moved on, the rumors grew into leaks and the leaks are now being officially acknowledged by Google and Motorola Mobility.
With just a few days to go for the big launch of the Moto X by Google, the leaks are never ending for the device. But all that would end on August 1st, where Google has invited the press for a special event in New York City to talk about Moto X. I’m sure the company is putting in a lot of effort in making this device a success, and interestingly, the device carries a tag-line, “Designed by you.”, hinting that Google might be doing something different with this device.
Let’s now take a quick look at how the device’s information leaked online and also all the official information that we have until today.
Dec. 21 2012
WSJ first reports about Google and Motorola’s ‘X Phone’
While the entire industry was wondering what would come out from the latest Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility, The Wall Street Journal was the first to break the story of a ‘X Phone’, which both Google and Motorola Mobility are working on. WSJ reported some insightful news about the new collaboration. The report revealed that Google is taking a whole new approach for the business model of the new device. The business model was reportedly been worked on in such a way that it will not affect the existing line of smartphones from Motorola Mobility.
The new team which started working on the new ‘X Phone’ was reportedly headed by former Product Manager at Google, Mr. Lior Ron, and the team was reportedly working to get the device out to the market in 2013 (Which is now. Looks like the team succeeded in sticking on to their schedule).
Feb. 1 2013
Job listing on LinkedIn by Motorola confirms ‘X Phone’
While the media did not have anymore hint about the upcoming Moto X device, the company’s job opening created a buzz in the industry again. First noted by Phandroid, the Motorola Mobility posted a job opening at the company to manage the upcoming product, called ‘X-Phone’.
Moto X did not get an official name back then. But the only thing which came in mind to a lot of bloggers is the readiness of the device for shipping. At this stage, the company was not ready with the phone, and the opening for a Director to head the division pushed the expected release date further ahead.
May 3 2013
‘Moto X’ prototype leaks online.
While the entire media reported that this was just a prototype, looking back now, it looks like this was the final version of the phone that got leaked online. This was probably the baddest leak that Moto X had.
The leak revealed all the featured of Moto X, right from the Android version its running to the hardware features of the device, which we thought we would witness during the official launch of the device. At this point, I was comparing the leak to that of the iPhone 4. But even the iPhone 4’s leak did not get a peak of iOS running on it.
May 28 2013
Motorola: “Phone will be ‘Designed. Engineered and assembled in the US’.”
After the bad leak, Motorola confirmed that the phone which its working on, will be Designed, Engineered and Assembled in the United States, during the AllThingsD Conference. And the company released an official press release of the statement, making things even more official and interesting.
This is not all. The title of the post read Moto X, which officially confirmed the name of the device. And the company’s Dennis Woodside also confirmed that all the devices (Moto X) will be manufactured in the Texas plant in the US, and will be shipped worldwide from there. These are the days where manufacturing electronics or even assembling them in the US are making news.
June 26 2013
Motorola gets a new logo. Has a tag-line: “A Google company”
Changing the logo of the company is not a simple task. And for a company of this stature, changing the logo is a big deal. And that happened to Motorola under Google. The company changed its logo with a tag-line, which said: “A Google company”. There was no official word about the logo change, but the change was evident in events that Motorola or Google supported or sponsored.
The change in the logo also stirred the speculation about the upcoming products that would come out of the company. While this sounded not so convincing for the Moto X’s story, I wanted to highlight this as a sign that Motorola was making itself ready for a whole new face for itself during the big event on August 1st.
July 2 2013
Motorola puts up a dedicated page depicting Moto X
Things got more official as we marched towards August. The company published a dedicated page, which let anyone to subscribe to their mailing list, to keep themselves posted about the launch of the Moto X. The page also revealed some more information about the device. The page said that this will be the first smartphone which the users can design themselves, and the phone will be completely made in the US.
This is where all of my expectations shot up for Moto X. Designing a smartphone by the users themselves is a super cool idea, and I wish the business model works for Google.
July 3 2013
ABC News: “Moto X would come with customization options for its users.”
While we officially know that the phone can be customized by the users themselves, it was ABC News’ Joanna Stern who broke the story about the level of customization that Google is about to offer for the users. The report revealed that the users will be able to choose their own panel, wallpapers and colors.
The report also revealed that the users will be able to customize their phones via a website that will go live when the product gets an official launch. About the level of customization, the users can choose two colors, one for the back panel and the other for the trim that follows through the edge of the device. Also users can upload a picture which will be the default wallpaper of the device when its’ shipped.
This is also the report which revealed some information about the kind of tasks Motorola would be doing with the sensors which would comes alone with the device.
July 12 2013
Eric Schmidt shows off Moto X at a conference
We saw some leaks before. But then, it was surprising to see that Google’s Eric Schmidt showed off the un-released Moto X to the public during a conference, just after the company confirmed that the event which they scheduled with people like Guy Kawasaki from Google, will not get a sneak peak on Moto X.
Eric was photographed in ways that revealed the look of the device, but no one actually got a chance to look at the software running on the device. This literally confirmed that the company is pretty close to unveiling the device to the public. Here’s a picture of Eric Schmidt using the device during the conference.
July 14 2013
Almost complete feature list of Moto X leaks
Like the previous leaks were not enough, all the features of the device, dealing with the sensors leaked online. As Joanna noted in her report about the customization options and the functions that Motorola would do with the sensors in the device, the leak revealed that the device will have an always-on microphone, which will let users talk to the device whenever they need without even touching the device.
The leak also spoke about a new feature called ‘Active Updates’, which would bring some advanced Notification Lights to the device. Now, this got me wondering what’s left for Google to talk about during their official launch of the device. But then, I made up my mind that the company would know what to do with the device’s launch, and I still had the expectations for the device high.
July 20 2013
Google calls the media for a ‘Moto X’ event
Finally, after all the leaks and unofficial appearance of Moto X, the company invites the press for an official launch event, which is scheduled for August 1st at New York City. This official invite put an end to yet another rumor that Sundar Pichai will be talking about ‘Moto X’ during the event on July 23rd at the Google HQ.
But by this time, most of the information about the device has leaked. I’m not sure if this has killed the excitement of Moto X, but I’m sure that the business model Google has for this device is going to be something interesting.
That’s it for now. I’ll be following the event closely, and I’m going to give my viewpoints of the new phone when it comes out to the public on August 1st.
In the picture: Eric Schmidt with his Moto X.
The Unfolding is a feature section which I’m thinking of. This section will have timelines of some lengthy news story that readers like you need to know.