[omniusovermind]

I just posted this on Android Central as well you guys need to see this!

My jaw just hit the floor today, if these leaks turn out to be true. For those who don't want to read the full story here's some clips followed by my thoughts on it:

Imagine a world where you buy your smartphone first and then pick your wireless carrier. Picture a fantasy land where you can customize your phone�s hardware to your liking, similar to how Dell or Lenovo lets you build a PC. You can laugh and say I�m full of it, but I�m here to tell you this could be reality sooner than you think.

According to several anonymous sources within Motorola, the �X Phone� project is real, and the first retail device will go on sale this summer. Our original source said the first �X Phone� product might ship in June, but another fact checker tells us the target date is the end of July.

This is serious. Nobody has done this on android let alone Apple, MS or Blackberry. Order your phone, custom built to specification by you? Holy crap! I just had a nerdgasm when I read this!

Google is not focused on specs or software gimmicks (like Samsung) for their upcoming products. Instead they want to produce an ultra-affordable mobile device that connects to a bunch of wearable accessories they plan to release later this year. Google Glass and Google Watch are two examples of these accessories, and we are told more are in the works.
And when I say �ultra-affordable� mobile device, I�m talking a starting retail price of $199 or less. Google and Motorola will sell smartphones for the same prices that people are willing to pay for today�s flagships, but these devices won�t be tied to a two year contract.

Multiple nerdgasms. Google's flexing their considerable muscle here by subsidizing the phones themselves rather than the carrier. What does this mean for us? To sum up what I read there as well as some other articles about this, is that you could possibly buy this straight from Play Store this summer, choose your specs and hardware like you can currently do with PC's that you buy online, and receive your phone at reduced cost without carrier bloatware, carrier unlocked right out of the box, (both of which could possibly mean carrier-free updates) and at costs far below what you would pay for a similar phone from a carrier for a Samsung, HTC, Sony, etc. That's... mind blowing to say the least.

There of course will be other features as well I haven't listed but are talked about in the article, such as a tablet lineup to match, and this is basically the first of a wave of leaks, there will be more to come leading up to Google I/O in May. The first thing that occurred to me was, How might Google pull this off and make this a carrier-free world phone without the X Phone being non-LTE like the Nexus 4 ? Good news which I suspect might just tie into this if not the first batch but the next: Qualcomm outs global LTE chip, claims a world first Hardware made with the RF360 isn't expected to arrive on shelves until the latter half of 2013 which places it damn near the X Phone release dates.

In my not so humble opinion this is going to blow the doors off of the whole smartphone industry, including Apple's iPhone

[raino]

If they include a microSD slot, deviating from "Nexus specs," I would buy it. But first, I'd like to know will all hardware configurations be $199, or is that the price for a base model?

[omniusovermind]

If they include a microSD slot, deviating from "Nexus specs," I would buy it. But first, I'd like to know will all hardware configurations be $199, or is that the price for a base model?

My guess would be base, with price increases depending on what features you add. I could easily see the success of this depending on what you get starting at base

[katesbb]

I'm just as intrigued by, "connects to a bunch of wearable accessories they plan to release later this year. Google Glass and Google Watch are two examples of these accessories, and we are told more are in the works."

Borg Collective, here we come. Interesting times to be alive, no? "Wearable" items will then become "implantable items," and then... who knows?

[howarmat]

i cant say much other than this could really turn mobile industry upside down if they do this.