Motorola's recent smartphones are good, but Lenovo has the chops to make them truly great. How will Lenovo make Motorola phones better? (Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET) Let's face it, Motorola's freshest crop of smartphones is pretty impressive, but still misses the mark. Even with Google's vast financial resources and software know-how, Moto devices haven't exactly sold like hotcakes. Now that Google has decided to hand off Motorola Mobility into the eager palms of Chinese hardware giant Lenovo, Moto could enjoy a much-needed course correction. I know that on the surface Motorola's fate looks grim given the recent turn of events. It's not often pretty when a struggling company gets gobbled up by a competitor. That said, Lenovo has many product-making talents Motorola could truly benefit from. From a similar affinity with stellar design standards, to a demonstrated ability to uphold the integrity of a well-respected American brand, Lenovo's play for Motorola could mightily improve how the legendary phone company makes mobile devices. Related stories Lenovo will juggle two-brand strategy with Motorola Google sells Motorola unit to Lenovo for $2.9B Get a no-contract Moto X smartphone for $329.99 shipped A fresh influx of parts Last year Motorola launched a slew of compelling Android handsets billed to set the world on fire with futuristic features. Unfortunately though, while products such as the company's Moto X and Droid Maxx boast many innovative capabilities, these phone's actual processing horsepower can't stand toe to toe with the likes of Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 and GS4, LG's G2 and Nexus 5, or the lovely HTC One. If Lenovo's recent phone announcements at CES 2014 are any predictor, however, I'll bet that handsets born of this new merger will be quite well appointed. For instance the Vibe Z is expected to pack a top-notch 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU. That's a far cry from the underpowered X8 computing platform Motorola currently tucks inside all its Droid phones on Verizon and its Moto X flagship. The screen on the Vibe Z appears to also put Motorola phone displays to shame. At 5.5-inches and pumping out a crisper 1080p resolution, the Vibe's IPS LCD will likely be brighter than Motorola's current phone screens which top out at 5-inches and lower 720p resolution. Of course I do like the high contrast of Moto's prefered OLED display technology (found in the Moto X and Droid Maxx). Eye to eye design ethos No doubt due to the influx of legacy hardware engineering skills and patents from buying the IBM Thinkpad brand, Lenovo laptops have consistently boasted excellent keyboards. Also key here is that Lenovo has shown a similar reverence for build quality to match the loving craftsmanship of the Moto X. I mean there's a reason why I, like many others I'm sure, salivated over rumors of a possible Lenovo buy out of Blackberry a few years back. No matter how much you might knock the company's operating system and software, Blackberry devices have always featured superb industrial design and a premium feel -- at least until the Z10 that is. If Lenovo could effectively cross-pollinate with Motorola in terms of design, we might very well see a force Samsung, Apple, or even HTC won't want to tangle with. Motorola phone cameras are better but have lots of room to improve. (Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET) Improved camera prowess Motorola has made many attempts to create phones with enviable cameras. Unfortunately its past Droid Razr handsets were a real let down in the image quality department and the more modern Moto X also snapped photos that failed to knock my socks off. I have a feeling that's all about to change. Lenovo's upcoming Vibe Z should arrive wielding a camera with the sharpness of a crisp 13 megapixel sensor. It should be a welcome upgrade to the softer photos captured by the 10-megapixel sensor you'll find in Motorola's 2013 phone lineup. Looking at Lenovo's first-ever LTE smartphone (pictures) 1-2 of 7 Scroll Left Scroll Right A proven history of acquisition I'm sure there are plenty of doubters out there who don't see Lenovo's acquisition of Motorola as one likely to succeed. I on the other hand feel that Google's sale of Motorola to Lenovo isn't as troubling as it might sound. Lenovo's snap up of the phone maker closely echoes a similar corporate purchase it made a decade ago, specifically the company's buy out of IBM's PC business. Like IBM and most notably its legendary Thinkpad laptop brand, Motorola is an American household name. I remember folks were dubious back then about Lenovo's chances of pulling the IBM PC unit merger off. Unlike other spectacular failures such as Palm's sale to HP though, Lenovo has consistently shipped quality portable PCs year after year that I'd argue are certainly worthy of the vaunted Thinkpad monicker. The drive to succeed If its one attribute Lenovo has in droves it's ambition to capture a greater share of the U.S. technology market. The company said in May 2013 though it would find a way to sell its smartphones in America within a year. With this recent gab of Motorola Lenovo appears to be right on track. The fact that Lenovo is the 5th largest smartphone vendor on the planet, with most of its sales in China, and that it just said it would snatch up IBM's server division for 2.3 Billion dollars further speaks to the tech giant's global aspirations with eyes keen on doing even more American business. Apple and Samsung, I think you'd best watch your back.
Motorola's recent smartphones are good, but Lenovo has the chops to make them truly great.
How will Lenovo make Motorola phones better?
(Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET)
Let's face it, Motorola's freshest crop of smartphones is pretty impressive, but still misses the mark. Even with Google's vast financial resources and software know-how, Moto devices haven't exactly sold like hotcakes. Now that Google has decided to hand off Motorola Mobility into the eager palms of Chinese hardware giant Lenovo, Moto could enjoy a much-needed course correction.
I know that on the surface Motorola's fate looks grim given the recent turn of events. It's not often pretty when a struggling company gets gobbled up by a competitor. That said, Lenovo has many product-making talents Motorola could truly benefit from. From a similar affinity with stellar design standards, to a demonstrated ability to uphold the integrity of a well-respected American brand, Lenovo's play for Motorola could mightily improve how the legendary phone company makes mobile devices.
Related stories
- Lenovo will juggle two-brand strategy with Motorola
- Google sells Motorola unit to Lenovo for $2.9B
- Get a no-contract Moto X smartphone for $329.99 shipped
A fresh influx of parts
Last year Motorola launched a slew of compelling Android handsets billed to set the world on fire with futuristic features. Unfortunately though, while products such as the company's Moto X and Droid Maxx boast many innovative capabilities, these phone's actual processing horsepower can't stand toe to toe with the likes of Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 and GS4, LG's G2 and Nexus 5, or the lovely HTC One.
If Lenovo's recent phone announcements at CES 2014 are any predictor, however, I'll bet that handsets born of this new merger will be quite well appointed. For instance the Vibe Z is expected to pack a top-notch 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU. That's a far cry from the underpowered X8 computing platform Motorola currently tucks inside all its Droid phones on Verizon and its Moto X flagship.
The screen on the Vibe Z appears to also put Motorola phone displays to shame. At 5.5-inches and pumping out a crisper 1080p resolution, the Vibe's IPS LCD will likely be brighter than Motorola's current phone screens which top out at 5-inches and lower 720p resolution. Of course I do like the high contrast of Moto's prefered OLED display technology (found in the Moto X and Droid Maxx).
Eye to eye design ethos
No doubt due to the influx of legacy hardware engineering skills and patents from buying the IBM Thinkpad brand, Lenovo laptops have consistently boasted excellent keyboards. Also key here is that Lenovo has shown a similar reverence for build quality to match the loving craftsmanship of the Moto X.
I mean there's a reason why I, like many others I'm sure, salivated over rumors of a possible Lenovo buy out of Blackberry a few years back. No matter how much you might knock the company's operating system and software, Blackberry devices have always featured superb industrial design and a premium feel -- at least until the Z10 that is. If Lenovo could effectively cross-pollinate with Motorola in terms of design, we might very well see a force Samsung, Apple, or even HTC won't want to tangle with.
Motorola phone cameras are better but have lots of room to improve.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
Improved camera prowess
Motorola has made many attempts to create phones with enviable cameras. Unfortunately its past Droid Razr handsets were a real let down in the image quality department and the more modern Moto X also snapped photos that failed to knock my socks off.
I have a feeling that's all about to change. Lenovo's upcoming Vibe Z should arrive wielding a camera with the sharpness of a crisp 13 megapixel sensor. It should be a welcome upgrade to the softer photos captured by the 10-megapixel sensor you'll find in Motorola's 2013 phone lineup.
A proven history of acquisition
I'm sure there are plenty of doubters out there who don't see Lenovo's acquisition of Motorola as one likely to succeed. I on the other hand feel that Google's sale of Motorola to Lenovo isn't as troubling as it might sound. Lenovo's snap up of the phone maker closely echoes a similar corporate purchase it made a decade ago, specifically the company's buy out of IBM's PC business.
Like IBM and most notably its legendary Thinkpad laptop brand, Motorola is an American household name. I remember folks were dubious back then about Lenovo's chances of pulling the IBM PC unit merger off. Unlike other spectacular failures such as Palm's sale to HP though, Lenovo has consistently shipped quality portable PCs year after year that I'd argue are certainly worthy of the vaunted Thinkpad monicker.
The drive to succeed
If its one attribute Lenovo has in droves it's ambition to capture a greater share of the U.S. technology market. The company said in May 2013 though it would find a way to sell its smartphones in America within a year. With this recent gab of Motorola Lenovo appears to be right on track.
The fact that Lenovo is the 5th largest smartphone vendor on the planet, with most of its sales in China, and that it just said it would snatch up IBM's server division for 2.3 Billion dollars further speaks to the tech giant's global aspirations with eyes keen on doing even more American business. Apple and Samsung, I think you'd best watch your back.
