Google Building 'X Phone' to Rival iPhone: Report

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google is building a "sophisticated" smartphone it hopes will give the iPhone a run for its money. The project is still very much under wraps—it even has a Bond-like code name of "Phone X," according to the Journal's sources. Google is using engineers from Motorola, which it bought last year, to design the smartphone. When it's done sometime next year, a tablet is expected to follow.

Among the features being discussed: bendable screens, ceramics to make the phones especially durable, and top-of-the-line photo capabilities. The Droid product line would continue separately. Google is thought to want its own phone as insurance in case makers such as Samsung stop using its Android software. All of which sounds plausible, writes Devindra Hardawar at VentureBeat. "All of a sudden, Google’s expensive Motorola purchase is beginning to make sense." (More Google stories.)