Motorola working on 'X phone' for Google?

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Motorola is working on a sophisticated smartphone to compete with devices like Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy III S, The Wall Street Journal is reporting.

Sources familiar with the effort told the Journal that Motorola, acquired this year by Google for $12.5 billion, is working on a device known internally as the "X phone" to stand above existing phones.

The phone is said to be a key part of Google's strategy for improving the market position of the cellphone pioneer based on quality over quantity, purposely reducing the number of Motorola products.

Motorola makes a number of devices sold by carrier partner Verizon Wireless, such as the "Droid" line of smartphones, but Google is pinning hopes for improved success for Motorola on the X phone.

Motorola is "investing in a team and a technology that will do something quite different than the current approaches," said Dennis Woodside, Motorola's chief executive who was formerly a Google sales executive.

Although Motorola has "fallen under hard times," he said, it "now has the support of a shareholder in Google that has resources to do big things."

However, Woodside declined to discuss specific products under development, the Journal said.