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Sony Xperia Z to join the Google Edition club, and Moto X will be a standalone device

sony-xperia-zCheck out our review of the Sony Xperia Z smartphone.

This year, it looks like Google Edition phones are coming out hard and strong, with three editions from three different manufactures expected to hit the shelves – the Google Play Store shelves, that is – this year, according to Android Authority. We’ve already heard about the Galaxy S4 and HTC One getting the Google Edition treatment (meaning that the devices will be loaded with manufacturer interference-free stock versions of Android), but now it looks like there’s another device coming to turn this duo into a trio.

However, what AA’s source was unable to reveal was which manufacturer would be behind the third device, though the company has been regarding both Sony and LG as top contenders. But new information obtained from a trustworthy source has pointed in the direction of Sony’s Xperia Z phone. When will the phone actually hit the market? Well, no one knows for sure, but next month seems to be the best estimate. A Sony event is taking place in Germany on June 25, for which details have not yet been released, so it’s not much of a stretch to imagine this would be the platform to officially make this announcement.

Aside from information about the growing Google Edition clubhouse, another tidbit of interesting news that came up from the same source. Remember how we’ve been talking about the forthcoming Motorola ‘Moto X’ phone, and how it was looking to be a line of smartphones rather than a single device? Well it looks like that may not be so.

It appears that, at least for this year, the so-called Moto X phone will be just one phone, despite the fact that CEO Dennis Woodside confirmed that the company is working on multiple devices. It appears that those may simply be their own standalone devices. (Or a part of a different collection … who knows?)

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