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Intro 

Motorola this week used its annual Financial Analysts Meeting in Chicago as a launchpad for several new phones. As sometimes happens at these types of events, pressure to paint an extra-rosy outlook for the company for the analysts can lead to the beans being spilled on some things the company technically isn't ready to "announce" just yet. This year, that led to some tantalizing glimpses of some very promising new products. Read on to find out what we saw.

Part 1

ROKR 

Knowing it was the big question on the minds of everyone in the room, the first thing Motorola CEO ED Zander said when he got on stage was basically that there would be no iTunes phone announcement. But he did promise that the phone was still moving toward release, and will hit shelves with major carriers by the end of this quarter (within 66 days).

That was all there was to see or hear about an iTunes phone, but that wasn't the only thing said about music phones. The company also mentioned its forthcoming ROKR line of music phones, including the flagship model, which was on display on stage:

Frustratingly, nothing was said about the phone other than its name. But a simple glance at the phone reveals a PEBL-like keypad, a large scroll wheel, and a front-facing camera, implying it will be a video-calling-capable WCDMA phone. We do know that this particular ROKR will not have iTunes.

Q Smartphone 

The big official announcement of the first evening was the Q, the company's new RAZR-inspired smartphone running Windows Mobile 5.0. The Q stands for QWERTY, referring to the keyboard layout.

This will be the first Windows Mobile Smartphone with a landscape QVGA display. Note that it is the Smartphone version of Windows Mobile, not Pocket PC, so there is no touchscreen on this one.

It's very similar to a BlackBerry, of course, but thinner and much more capable. Like recent BlackBerrys, you'll find an internal antenna, a large display, Bluetooth, and of course the QWERTY keyboard. Also like a BlackBerry, it has a handy thumbwheel to scroll through emails and lists; and a real one, not the fake kind that just toggle up and down.

Where the Q stands apart are features like the MiniSD memory card slot, megapixel camera, and a Bluetooth implementation supporting all major profiles (BlackBerries are so far limited to just headset and handsfree). Plus the strong developer community surrounding Windows Mobile means there should be a great deal more third-party software available for this device than for a Blackberry. A speakerphone and stereo speakers round out the deal.

My first hands-on impression was very positive. It's a great size, and very lightweight. The ergonomics are quite good. The keyboard looks and feels extremely similar to a Treo, with very rounded raised keys. The other keys, above the QWERTY keyboard, are similar to the RAZR in that raised edges help you feel out each key, but the material is regular plastic instead of exotic metal like the RAZR.

The Q is expected to be available early next year.

RAZR & PEBL * 

In yet another frustratingly brief glimpse, Ed Zander also previewed the "RAZR 2" on stage. It will add the main features that one might expect from a RAZR successor, including a memory card slot, megapixel camera, and EDGE high-speed data. It looks almost the same as the original, except for a slightly larger outer display area, and apparently a light-up Motorola logo on the front:

Update (July 28): We added a photo of the RAZR 2 open, showing the simpler, cleaner keypad and speaker lines. It's also worth noting that "RAZR 2" is not necessarily the final name.

RAZR 2 closed

Motorola seems to be ramping up its recent exploration of color variants for its phones.

First, hot on the heels of the black RAZR, a pink version will be coming out soon:

The company is also planning color variants for its upcoming PEBL phone. A shiny dark platinum was the original color revealed, and recently a matte-black version has appeared. In addition to those, the company is now promising a red version as well. It may not end there, though; the company was also showing off other possible colors:

Part 2

A910 

On the second day of the MOTONOW event, Motorola shifted the focus from Windows Mobile to Linux and Asia with the introduction of two new Linux phones and a new mass-market slider for Asia.

Motorola's previous Linux phones have all been PDA-style devices with large touch-screens. These have been aimed primarily as Asia, where stylus input makes more sense with languages like Chinese. The Chinese also love Linux, especially compared to US businesses, who tend to prefer Microsoft OSes. Devices like the new Q - with a QWERTY keyboard and Windows Mobile - are basically the Western counterpart to Motorola's Linux phones for Asia.

But for a year or two now, Motorola has been making noise about expanding its use of Linux to more mid-range phones, and bringing them to the global market. This is finally materializing with phones like the new E895 announced a month ago, and its twin announced today - the A910.

Both phones are based on a new version of Motorola's Linux OS. It combines Motorola's existing Linux base OS with a new user interface that borrows some ideas from Motorola's mainstream interface, but thankfully makes many improvements.

The E895 and A910 really are twins. The body and software are the same. The A910 simply adds Wi-Fi hardware, and UMA software to allow seamless roaming between GSM networks and local Wi-Fi networks.

A910 / RAZR

Some other interesting features of both phones are stereo Bluetooth and a Lumi-LED flash, which means the flash for the camera should actually be bright enough to seriously help brighten those indoor shots. It is quite bright.

The E895 should be out by the end of this year, with the A910 following in Q1 2006, including a version for the US.

A732 

Although it's not headed for a US carrier, the new A732 is a tri-band GSM phone with one very interesting feature, which Motorola calls "Finger Writing Recognition" (FWR). It's a very unique technology from a company called Cirque that turns the normal-looking keypad into a very precise touchpad surface - just like on a laptop. Using Motorola's FWR software, you can simply trace out the shapes of letters with your fingertip to write text messages, for example.

It's a very cool technology, and works pretty well. It does recognize English, and is very fun to play with, but ultimately it's not faster than T9 for English. So the real targets are the Chinese-speaking markets in Asia, where it's faster to draw a character than tap it out.

This is actually Motorola's second FWR phone. The first was the A668, a clamshell model. The A732 is a slight downgrade, actually - it steps down to a VGA camera, from megapixel on the A668. But that's intentional - the A668 has been popular, but limited by price - now Motorola wants to bring the FWR technology to the mass-market with a more affordable model.

The A732 is perhaps more notable for being a slider model, something sorely lacking from Motorola's current lineup outside of Asia. Fortunately, Motorola's President of Mobile Devices Ron Garriques stood on stage and officially promised more sliders in 2006, and even hinted at a slider member of the RAZR family.

RAZR V3x 

Although technically not a new phone, Motorola was showing off the latest hardware of the RAZR V3x. The phone was first announced as the V1150, but has simply been renamed recently to capitalize on the RAZR brand. It's a 3G WCDMA phone intended mainly for Europe and Asia. It's important not to confuse this phone with the RAZR 2 - they're quite different phones.

Although it's not quite as slim as the original RAZR V3, the V3x is still quite slim and stylish, especially for a WCDMA phone. The features are impressive, too, including a 2-megapixel camera with flash, and a secondary camera for video calling.

view article organized across multiple pages

Editor in Chief Rich became fascinated with cell phones in 1999, creating mobile web sites for phones with tiny black-and-white displays and obsessing over new phone models. Realizing a need for better info about phones, he started Phone Scoop in 2001, and has been helming the site ever since. Rich has spent two decades researching and covering every detail of the phone industry, traveling the world to tour factories, interview CEOs, and get every last spec and photo Phone Scoop readers have come to expect. As an industry veteran, Rich is a respected voice on phone technology of the past, present, and future.

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