Smarter than the average smartphone: Motorola's Moto X to have low-power mode that can guess what you want to do next and automatically turn off unwanted apps

• The Moto X will be built in a factory in Texas and is expected to launch by Autumn
• Motorola's CEO explained it will be 'more contextually aware' than other handsets and can predict its owner's needs
  
• Engineers have also developed new processors for the Moto X to give it a long battery life
  

By Victoria Woollaston

PUBLISHED: 06:00 EST, 31 May 2013 | UPDATED: 09:41 EST, 31 May 2013

Motorola plans to launch a new 'smarter' smartphone later this year that will be 'more contextually aware' than other handsets on the market and be able to predict what its owner wants to do next.

The Moto X will be built in Texas and will be the first handset to launch from the Illinois-based company since Google bought it in 2011.

Speaking at the D11 conference in California, Motorola's CEO Dennis Woodside confirmed speculation that the company would be launching a new handset 'in the fall'.

A new Motorola handset is due to launch 'in the fall' called the Moto X. It will be the first handset launched by the Illinois-based company since it was bought by Google in 2011. The Moto X will be be 'more contextually aware than other handsets' and will be able can guess its owner's needs

SAMSUNG LAUNCHES THE GALAXY S4 MINI

Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy S4 Mini.

It is a smaller and cheaper version of its flagship S4 handset. smartphone.

The S4 Mini has a 4.3in screen, an 8MP rear camera, weighs 107g and will run on Android Jelly Bean.

The Galaxy S4 launched in April and has sold more than 10 million units, according to official figures from Samsung. 

Pictures of the S4 Mini were leaked earlier this week after Samsung accidentally revealed details of the new handset on its own site. 

The handset will be officially launched at an event in June, where pricing details and release dates should be announced.

He added: 'The Moto X is more contextually aware of what’s going on around it.

It allows you to interact with it more than other devices today.

It anticipates my need.'

He explained that the new handset, likely to run Google's Android operating system, would benefit from Motorola's expertise in managing ultra-low power sensors.

He said it would contain accelerometers and gyroscopes  that can sense and turn off certain components when they're not being used, to save power.

And the the camera would 'fire up in a way not seen before'.

Woodside did not elaborate further in regards other specifications or pricing.

He did add that Motorola's engineers have come up with processors that will help save power and make the handset more energy efficient.

Without offering further details, Woodside said the Moto X would change the way users 'engage with how the devices are designed', and that the 'broadly distributed' phone would provide 'experiences [that] are unlike other experiences out there.'

The announcement of the new Moto X handset was made by Motorola's CEO Dennis Woodside at the D11 conference in California. He explained that the new handset, likely to run Google's Android operating system, would contain accelerometers and gyroscopes that can turn off certain components when not required. He continued that the 'broadly distributed' phone would provide 'experiences unlike other experiences out there' but did not elaborate further

The Motorola Droid Razr HD and the Razr i are the company's current flagship devices. The Moto X will be first handset launched by the company since it was bought by Google in 2011

It is expected that the device will sell for less than other handsets on the market, although Woodside did not give any information about costs.

He only hinted that Motorola's margins in selling the device will be less than other products currently available.

The Moto X will be built in a factory in Fort Worth, Texas, which is the same 500,000 square-feet facility that built Nokia handsets more than a decade ago.

Google said it would start to hire 2,000 people to work on the handset in August.

Motorola, which Google bought for $12.5 billion, has steadily ceded market share to Apple and Samsung, with its latest phones garnering a relatively lukewarm reception.

Revenue at the Motorola business dropped by half a billion dollars last year and company posted an operating loss of £178million ($271 million).

Motorola also announced at the D11 conference that it is looking at alternatives to traditional passwords in a bid to make logging into online sites, or accessing mobile phones, more secure. 

Among the ideas discussed were electronic tattoos and authentication pills that people swallow.

The tattoos, developed by Massachusetts-based engineering firm MC10, contain flexible electronic circuits that are attached to the wearer's skin using a rubber stamp.

Another idea presented during the keynote talk at the Wall Street Journal conference with head of Motorola Dennis Woodside and senior vice president for advanced technology and products, Regina Dugan, was a swallowable pill.

The Proteus Digital Health pill has already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration and was given European regulatory approval in 2010.

It contains a computer chip that can be powered like a battery using the acid in the wearer's stomach.

Once swallowed the 'vitamin authentication pill' creates an 18-bit ECG-like signal inside the wearer's body that can be picked up by mobile devices and authentication hardware outside.