Google's new Motorola smartphones 'very, very impressive': Schmidt

In the past few months, there have been no dearth of rumours regarding Google's Motorola building the 'X Phone'. Now Google Executive Chairman has added a dash of excitement to these rumours by stating that he has seen the smartphones coming up at Motorola and they are "very, very impressive."

Schmidt made this remark while talking at the AllThingsD Dive Into Mobile conference. He further went to add,"They have a new set of products, which are phenomenal." He also mentioned that these smartphones should not be termed as just phones but "Think of it as phones-plus." We're not sure if that's a reference to the size of the phones, or their quality, but Schmidt has definitely added a new sense of anticipation towards the devices.

One reason to believe it is not a reference to the size of the phones are the comments made by Jim Wicks, Design Chief at Motorola. While talking to PC Magazine, Wicks said that the company will be launching stock Android devices. He further exclaimed, "if you like smaller form-factor devices or stock Android, you're going to be excited."

The current trend for smartphones is to have a larger screen size but looks like Motorola will not be looking at having "mega" screen and be more focussed on the Android experience for its forthcoming smartphones.

It is noteworthy, that Google completed its acquisition of Motorola in May 2012. Under the new management, Motorola had launched a line of RAZR smartphones, but Google executives maintain that these smartphones were built under the supervision of old management and they had negligible influence on what was churned out. Google even went out to state that Motorola smartphones lacked the "wow factor".

However, the company now plans to change the same. The company had earlier in the year roped in former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki. Kawasaki is reportedly focussing on product design, user interface, marketing and social media at Google and is expected to fuse in some enthusiasm in the Motorola brand.

Commenting about Android, Schmidt predicted at the Dive Into Mobile conference that in the coming six to nine months, there will be more than a billion devices running Android.

Schmidt also remarked that the search engine giant was "phenomenally happy" with the Facebook's Home app, which replaces the home screen on Android phones and said Google has no plans to block it.