Rumor: Motorola to launch USD 199 high end Android devices this year

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Sushubh

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The idea is for Motorola and Google to offer devices on nearly no profit basis.
Larry Page recently complained that component prices are so cheap these days but no company is interested in passing on the benefit to the customer.
S4 type device can have a bill of material as low as 180-200 dollars. So a USD 199 high end device from Motorola is something that is quite possible.
 
Are you kidding me 180-200? It is even low. Somewhere i read that when some one ripped apart his iPhone he found out components cost was lower than 100USD. But then Apple is Crap :playful:
 
Galaxy S4 has pricier components compared to Apple iPhone (5). Even if you ignore the costs of R&D, there are costs of manufacturing and shipping that cannot be ignored. And this phone is expected to be assembled in USA so that also adds to the cost of manufacturing.
USD 230 is what the bill of material costs were found to be for the S4.
https://goo.gl/QSuDC
 
That's what the rumor is. The problem is Motorola. So, a launch in India looks unlikely. Of course, imported route is always there.
 
Well. It would have to have a comparable processor. Google is expected to load it with more sensors to allow them to offer features which are otherwise available through third party apps like Tasker.
The new Location APIs would also help as Android no longer requires GPS to be constantly on to have an accurate location of yours.
I am not saying that Motorola would offer a comparable to S4 device at USD 199. But it should still be good enough for the most of us.
 
Google announced 3 or 4 new Location APIs during the I/O event which were rolled out through Google Play Services which means that all Jelly Bean devices (not sure if GB and ICS are included as well) would have them already.
https://goo.gl/iv6s5
Fused location provider
The Fused Location Provider intelligently manages the underlying location technology and gives you the best location according to your needs.
Simple APIs: Lets you specify high-level needs like "high accuracy" or "low power", instead of having to worry about location providers.
Immediately available: Gives your apps immediate access to the best, most recent location.
Power-efficiency: Minimizes your app's use of power. Based on all incoming location requests and available sensors, fused location provider chooses the most efficient way to meet those needs.
Versatility: Meets a wide range of needs, from foreground uses that need highly accurate location to background uses that need periodic location updates with negligible power impact.
Geofencing APIs
Lets your app setup geographic boundaries around specific locations and then receive notifications when the user enters or leaves those areas.
Simple but powerful APIs: Allows batch addition and removal of geofences. Ability to manage multiple geofences at the same time. Ability to filter alerts for both entry and exit or entry only or exit only.
Optimized for battery: Adjusts location updates based on user’s proximity to the geofence and user’s modality (still, walking, driving, and so on).
Activity recognition
With apps becoming increasingly contextual, understanding what the user is doing is critical to surfacing the right content. The Activity recognition API makes it easy to check the user’s current activity—still, walking, cycling, and in-vehicle—with very efficient use of the battery.
Optimized for battery: Uses low-power sensors to recognize the user's current physical activity.
Enhances other services with context: Great for adding movement awareness to location awareness. Apps can adjust the amount of location awareness they provide, based on the current user movement. For example, a navigation app can request more frequent updates when the user is driving.
Features for advanced applications: For advanced applications that want to do their own post-processing, this API also makes available confidence values for each of the activities. It also includes two activities that indicate unreliable measurements: unknown and tilt.
 
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