Well, I suppose this was some unexpected news (at least it was for me): Motorola has an event scheduled in London on May 13. Motorola has been a hot topic the past year or so, with its first phone, the Moto X, being introduced in 2013 since the company was acquired by Google. Although the Moto X wasn’t exactly the phone it was hyped up to be, the more modestly priced follow-up device, the Moto G, has proven to be one of Motorola’s most popular phones yet. But with the next gen Moto X(+1) not set to be announced until sometime in late summer, what exactly could this event announce?
A lot of eyes will be on this event given that it’s Motorola’s first unveiling since being purchased by Lenovo, a move that many were wary of given how well Motorola was recovering under Google. Motorola was once a very respected manufacturer of Android devices, with the Motorola Droid being one of the most iconic names in Android in the very beginning; so iconic, in fact, that many people still use the term “Droid” to describe Android as a whole - and don’t act like you haven’t done it, because we know you have. However, there was a point in time when other OEMs started stepping up the game. The Droid line remained a carrier exclusive to Verizon, but other manufacturers were starting to drop carrier exclusives with their flagship phones. Motorola had other phones on the market, but their flagship models mostly stayed loyal to Verizon. Motorola Mobility was a much quieter brand by the time Google purchased the company back in 2011.
It took two years for the two to unveil a device, and that was the Moto X. Hyped to the max as the mysterious “X Phone”, the Moto X had an extremely underwhelming launch if I’ve ever seen one. With mediocre specs, decent features but a questionably high price tag, the Moto X was almost nothing like the “X Phone” that people had been dreaming of for months. Still, Google and Motorola rectified the situation somewhat before too long. The Moto X is now a decent buy (speaking of - check out that $299 Moto X sale tomorrow if you’re in the market for a new phone!) and the more recent Moto G is, of course, always a good buy if you’re in the market for a cheap, reliable smartphone.
With the company switching hands in the middle of the year, however, there are a lot of unanswered questions up in the air. Will the next generation Moto X be able to deliver? Will Motorola continue its upward trend from a few years ago, or will it go back to being a quieter company under the (even quieter - stateside, anyway) Lenovo?
The answer likely lies in the hands of this event, at least for a first impression, which as we know is almost always the most important. Still, the question remains: What exactly will this device be?
My first thought went straight to the Moto 360, but that’s more likely to show up alongside the Moto X+1. The more likely scenario, as outlined by this Tech Time article, points to an even cheaper and thinner low-end smartphone dubbed the Moto E. This makes sense with the event’s tagline of, “Made to last. Priced for all.” I mean we’re talking possibly sub-$100 smartphone here, which would be pretty darn awesome if Motorola impresses us with this phone as much as they did with the Moto G.
There’s not a lot of official details, but Motorola is now a company that I really look forward to hearing from again. I’ve definitely got this event marked on my calendar.
What are your predictions for the London event, readers? Do you think that Motorola will release an even cheaper Android smartphone to sell alongside the already affordable Moto G, or do you think they’ve got something else up their sleeve? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Images via Digital Trends, Recombu
