Deep within the labs of Motorola Mobility (MM) a crack team of engineers has been assembled, a team branded X. Tasked by Google with taking on the top handset makers the X series of phones and tablets will create a new brand and line of products for Motorola and a new standard in high end smartphones for Google.

Google has tasked, nay challenged Motorola Mobility to compete with the likes of Apple, LG, Nokia and Samsung. To achieve these lofty goals Google and Motorola (Googlrola?) both realise they will need to produce something special, then market the hell out of it.

The first of the new products to emerge from the MM labs will be the X Phone in 2013, followed by the X Tablet shortly after. These first generation X products will need to hit the ground running though, the competition isn’t standing still after all.

The team had been given free rein to experiment and test new leading edge technologies in order to launch the X series in spectacular fashion. The WSJ’s leak believes exotic technologies such as flexible plastic displays and a one piece ceramic case have both been tested, little is known of which technology will make it into the first generation X Phones and Tablets though.

Insiders are also speculating that Motorola is concentrating on class leading camera functionality. MM’s recent acquisition of imaging software company Viewdle adds weight to this suggestion.

According to the WSJ ‘Chief Executive Larry Page has told the Motorola team to “think big” and aspire to reach the scale of Samsung’s mobile business, and promised a significant marketing budget for the unit, said people familiar with the matter.’

 “The company is investing in a team and a technology that will do something quite different than the current approaches. While Motorola has fallen under hard times, it now has the support of a shareholder in Google that has resources to do big things,” said Dennis Woodside, chief executive officer of Motorola Mobility, in an interview with WSJ.

While the Nexus has become the must have mid priced phone the X series of phones and tablets will be targeting a different market, aiming to reach popularity from the top of the market down, unlike the Nexus and Razr which are tackling the big names from the bottom up, in respect to pricing not functionality or technology.

Motorola’s current flagship range the DROID Razr HD was the surprise phone of 2012, every bit as capable as the iPhone 5 or Galaxy SIII but with far less publicity and buzz, it was a quiet achiever. Appearing from left field it is the phone many SIII owners wish they had purchased.

Building upon the success, limited perhaps, of the DROID smartphones Moto has a mighty challenge ahead. 2013 looks to be potentially a huge year for Motorola if they can deliver more surprisingly exceptional hardware. Can the X team shoot for the stars and deliver? Will it be the year Larry Page buys his own planet? Later to be called Google Sphere.

Reference: The Wall Street Journal