I'm inexplicably bummed about this. I was excited to see what Google would do long term with Motorola, and I thought the Moto X and Moto G was a great start. I thought eventually, a Google+Motorola powerhouse could provide a nice yin to Apple's yang.
After that, I no longer hated working with the laptop and found it pretty decent.
That said, yes, Lenovo is the definition of a company making "boring" and über-traditional devices.
(very personal impression obviously)
I'm inexplicably bummed about this.
A pretty nice pure Android handset with a $179 full price is insane!
I think Google is a lot more interested in pointing hardware companies in the right direction and then supplying software and online services than in being a hardware company.
Particularly, Google isn't interested in weakening relationships with its hardware partners in, e.g., the OHA being a long-term strategic competitor with them.