Recently in Motorola Category

Looking like a blast from the past, the new Motorola Aura is bringing back into fashion the old switchblade design and pimps it out to great new heights. The Aura has a grade 1 62-carat sapphire crystal lens to protect its screen, a stainless steel body that has been electro- and hand polished, and Swiss-made and custom-engineered rotating mechanism with 130 precision ball bearings. Plainly put, this is one well crafted mobile phone for the discerning buyer. Unfortunately, as luxury phones often go, you won't find high-end features on this baby. It only comes with a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, EDGE, and text and e-mail capabilities which is about as standard as it gets when dealing with mid-range mobile phones of today. So, how much will this baby cost? You can land yourself one if you've got $1,999 to spare. Look for it to be released anytime now as its scheduled availability date is in the beginning of the 4th quarter of 2008 which is just right about now. Will it be available locally? I don't see why not though an exact date of its release is anybody's guess at the moment.

Say goodbye to the RAZR days, and say hello to the ROKR era. That’s apparently the message Motorola is sending across to consumers as they unleash a new set of ROKR phones to flood the market.   Inheriting some of the design features of the pioneering E8 model; the EM30, EM25, and EM28 might not offer groundbreaking technology, but comes with most of the music capabilities one would expect from this flourishing line of phones from Motorola. The EM30 probably resembles the E8 the most albeit the absence of a touch-sensitive click-wheel. It does, however, retain the ModeShift feature and is Windows Media compatible. The EM28 is the clamshell variant while the EM25 is the slider version. Both won’t feature the morphing ModeShift keypad, but offers plenty of style to go around. All three ROKR phones are expected to be released this quarter globally.

  It’s been a while since we last heard anything from the rumored MotoZINE series of Motorola, but now, it’s finally official. The MotoZine ZN5 is the first model in this new line and features a Kodak 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and Xenon flash. Aside from the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the ModeShift interface (similar to the ROKR E8), the camera features are probably the biggest thing going for this new mobile phone. It’s not 3G-capable so don’t expect blazing speeds when you connect to the Kodak gallery when you upload your photos. Over-all, it looks like a pretty decent phone on its own, but with more feature-filled mobile devices such as the iPhone and the Sony Ericsson C905 making their way to our country soon, it seems a little bit lagging behind the competition.   Nevertheless, this new partnership with Kodak should be good news for Moto-fanboys who have been waiting for a decent camera phone from the beleaguered company. It’ll make its debut in China next month and is expected to go on tour in the rest of the world for the remainder of the year.

Looks like Motorola is really trying to catch up with the rest of the pack in terms of integrating their handsets with the latest trends in modern technology and convenience. First, there was the announcement of the Mobile TV capable DH02, and now there’s the dual-SIM equipped MING A1800. However, there was no mention whether it’s active dual SIM which is now the current trend with the likes of MyPhone and Verizio making there presence felt in the local market and Samsung having of their own in the D880. The MING A1800 is compact Linux-based CDMA and Quad-band phone that comes with a 3-megapixel camera and the familiar touchscreen interface similar to its predecessor. Thanks to Boy Genius Reports for the heads-up and images on this new iteration of the MING, and hopefully, since it’s making its first appearance in China, it’ll make it our shores sooner than the US or European market.

Nokia and Samsung have released theirs, and I guess it wasn’t long before others followed suit. So it comes as no surprise that Motorola has one of their own in the DH02. Were not quite sure if it really is a phone and if we’ll ever see it come to light in our part of the world, but we’re pretty sure that it’ll support DVB-H media technology which is currently the running standard for Mobile TV in our country. It also has advanced GPS capabilities, Bluetooth, auto-flip orientation for portrait or landscape viewing, microSD card support, HSDPA/GPRS support, touch screen interface, and Emergency call and SMS support. Yeah, Mobile TV sounds good, but looking at the DH02, users will probably judge it more based on its new and unconventional the touch screen interface as opposed to its media capabilities. Oh well, we’re not even sure if it will make it to the Asian region so it’s best to stop nipping at Motorola’s heels until it’s officially been released locally.

Will they or will they not? After spending a great number of years in the handset business, will Motorola finally throw in the white towel and call it quits amidst faltering sales and intense competition? According to Engadget Mobile, if you ask Nomura International analyst Richard Windsor, Motorola would do better refocusing their efforts in becoming an “enterprise and government company” as opposed to staying in the handset industry. After reaping a short-lived success with the debut of their RAZR line, Motorola has failed to capitalize on it which has resulted in their poor performance as of late which has led them to consider bidding farewell to the handset industry as a serious alternative. If anyone from Motorola is reading this post, my suggestion to you guys is to get over the RAZR-design craze and focus on more innovative features. Sure, the RAZR design was a success, but the lack of features combined with poor performance made it a one-hit wonder. Bring something new to the table in terms of features and functionality, and maybe consumers might give you a second chance.

Motorola showcased their two new handset models at the CES 2008 in Las Vegas: the ROKR E8 and the Moto Z10. These two models are a refreshing change from the close-to-be-sickening line of RAZR phones. The ROKR E8 continues Motorola’s line of music-centric phones, but what sets this new unit apart from its ancestors is that it flaunts a touch keypad that does away with the traditional mechanical keys. This new innovation allows for the controls to change depending on the function of the phone: from music player to camera to phone. Haptic feedback is provided for tactile response and employs navigation control dubbed as the Omega Wheel for menu navigation. It comes with a built-in 2.0-megapixel camera and is quad-band, but data communication is limited to GPRS and EDGE only. The Moto Z10, on the other hand, is a kick-slider with a 3.2-megapixel camera and built-in video editing tools that allow you to add soundtrack to your video or even overlay text and directly upload them to video sites such as YouTube. These are cool features for the video freak always on the go. It comes loaded with 8 GB of memory and supports up to 32 GB of additional storage. This one is 3.5G ready which will come handy especially when uploading videos to the web. With 30 fps video recording and a bright 2.2-inch QVGA display, this baby is meant for the budding videographer. No sign of the 5-megapixel Z12, but these two will suffice for now. For more pics, check out the photo gallery of Gizmodo's trip to CES.

Rumor or fact?

 

Well, anything’s possible at this time as this is just a teaser/spy shot of what could possibly be the next line of phones from Motorola. From what we gather, it might carry the MotoZINE name that will represent its new multimedia phone series. Accoring to unwiredview, the Z12, a 5-megapizel shooter in collaboration with Kodak, is expected to be released in the 1^st quarter of 2008. There's still some confusion as to its form factor, but that’s the least of our worries. What we’re really looking forward to is its performance in the imaging category since Nokia, Samsung and LG have all released their own 5-megapixel camphones already. I’d say it’s about time Motorola joined in the mega-megapixel shoot out, but we still have to wait for a few more months before we get the final low down on this phone.

Bummer.

The largely successful Treo is a testament to the growing popularity and acceptance of smartphones despite their wider-than-usual form factor compared to the regular mobile phone. However, most smartphones are relatively expensive beyond the reach of the common Joe. So, to cheer up those who don’t have the dough to buy one of the more well known brands such as Palm or Dopod, we’re glad to let you know that there is one that’s less than P20K. The Motorola Q8 or simply Moto Q GSM is the smartphone that will surely make the budget-conscious geek grin with delight. Sporting a full QWERTY keypad, it runs on Windows Mobile 6.0 and is equipped with a 1.3-Megapixel camera. Unfortunately, it isn’t 3G capable so don’t expect HSDPA to be available as well. For a smartphone that’s priced that low, don’t go looking for high-end features. However, there might be more to the Moto Q than meets the eye. We’ll give you the full review once we get our hands on one in the Mobile labs.

Back in May, we reported that the new line of RAZR phones have been unveiled and now, the first RAZR2 phone has reached our country: the V8. Unfortunately, among the three models, this is perhaps the weakest model. Nevertheless, it’s still an impressive upgrade from its ancestors. Sporting a much thinner and elegant profile, it packs in a fast 500 MHz processor, a large 2-inch multifunctional external touch screen, Bluetooth, EDGE, 2-Megapixel camera and runs on a Linux OS. Due to the improved processor, it should be more responsive and faster, and the external multipurpose touch screen is an innovation that I bet others will soon follow. Specification wise, it seems like a decent upgrade, that is, if you still own the early batch of RAZR phones. This model lacks the now common 3G connectivity and secondary camera which recent RAZR models such as the RAZR Maxx come equipped with. It’s priced a little short of P 20,000.00 and for that price; I feel a little ripped off due to the lack of modern features. I’d rather wait for the 3G-enabled V9 instead.