Motorola teams up with Ferrari for MotoRAZR MAXX V6

Although it's passing the checkered flag quite a few laps later than the McLaren-branded handsets we've seen of late, Ferrari has utilized that long-standing partnership with Motorola to kick out a flashy limited edition MotoRAZR MAXX, dubbed the V6 Ferrari.

Although it's not like Ferrari to stop with just six cylinders, this handset sports a sleek, black finish, an unmistakable yellow Ferrari logo, two-megapixel camera, VGA webcam for video telephony, 50MB of internal memory, microSD expansion slot, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, USB 2.0 connectivity, and "OTA PC syncing" to boot.

Additionally, you'll find HSDPA, EDGE, and GPRS options, and for that extra luxurious touch, you'll hear an F1 "roar" each time you switch the device on, images of the Ferrari F430 engine on the mini external display, and a Ferrari automobile on the internal display.

So if you've been scouting the perfect mobile to accompany that newly-purchased piece of Italian engineering, you can snag the MotoRAZR MAXX V6 Ferrari in five undisclosed (but fairly easy to guess) continents starting tomorrow, and while the €490 ($633) pricetag might turn off the average joe, at least you get a swank red leather carrying case to keep this thing in tip-top shape. Click on through for a wide open shot.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/

Motorola Moto Q9h

Let’s face it, not the snappiest of names. In fact, the Moto Q 9h is only beaten by the OQO e2 for names that seem to be created using a random collection of letters. But that’s not the end of its problems...

Having been landed with a dubious moniker (that’s a dodgy name to those who haven’t swallowed a dictionary), the Moto Q 9h needs to draw people in using its other charms. Not a great follow up, then, that it looks like something Texas Instruments might cook up.

Clearly aiming to be a Blackberry-style phone, it never really captures that device’s angular features. But can the smartphone’s inner workings break through those starting issues to become the device of choice for your pocket? As we say on a daily basis, “good luck with that”.
We have to admit, the Motorola phone gives it a damn good shot. For starters, its fat-but-flat frame hides a 325MHz processor, 256MB of Flash ROM and 96MB of RAM. That beats the BlackBerry 8800’s 312MHz processor by a smidgen and helps keep Windows 6.0 happy for most tasks.

Motorola Moto Q 9H

Looking for a smartphone that will grab your email on the go? Your choice just got tougher - or maybe easier, depending on how you look at things.

The BlackBerry still delivers mobile email par excellence but we won't pretend that it's as strong in other areas, such as being a PDA or, for business users, providing seamless no-cost connection into an Exchange email system. Nor does it have a wide range of third-party software to add features and functionality to the basic device.

Motorola's MOTO Q 9h, however, ticks all those boxes and then some. This slim black beauty is built around the Windows Mobile operating system - not great news if you're not a fan of Windows but appealing for those who appreciate the extra features it brings to the device (such as a solid organiser) plus the familiarity and easy hook-up to your desktop or laptop PC. And being the first smartphone packing the fresh-baked Windows Mobile 6 edition means you get better email searching and smarter shortcuts.

The Q 9h has one of the best smartphone Qwerty keyboards we've ever used, along with a nippy navigational wheel on the front and a dial on the right side that's cleverly adaptive to the screen. The longer you hold the "up" or "down" buttons while in your address book or inbox, the faster the scroll speed. This is one of several touches Motorola has introduced to the operating system.

The two-megapixel digital camera is now mandatory for any decent smartphone but the inclusion of a 256MB microSD card for storing photos, music and video is a welcome surprise.
It's just a shame that the high-speed coverage of Vodafone's 3G network on which the smartphone runs is still a little patchy in places, even around Sydney. You won't lose your connection but you won't always get the mobile broadband speeds of which this device is capable.

Moto's Z8 hero handset snubbed

One of the summer's biggest mobile launches, and Motorola's hero handset for the year, the Z8, will not be taken on by three of the networks at launch. Orange, T-Mobile and 3 will not be featuring the device in their portfolios on the handset's launch.

An Orange spokesman said: 'The Z8 was one of a number of handsets reviewed by Orange. However, it has not been selected for our final range.'

The device may become available through T-Mobile later in the year as the network is still confirming its range for the second half of 2007. A Motorola spokesman said: 'T-Mobile, like Orange, has not committed at this stage.'

The device was shipping this week and is expected to be in Vodafone stores this Thursday, available on all monthly price plans. Vodafone said it will be free on 'higher end' tariffs on both 18 and 12-month contracts; however, customers will lose out on extra-value offers if they buy the phone on a 12-month plan.

The Z8 will also be available from O2 next week and Carphone Warehouse soon after. Phones 4u said the Z8 is expected to be in stores this weekend, starting with a two-week exclusive on Vodafone. It is unknown which networks the phone will be sold on after the Vodafone exclusive finishes, as devices sold at Phones 4u must be network approved.

Motorola marketing manager James King said: 'With regards to our other partners who are currently not taking the product, hopefully they will look at the success of the product with a view of maybe taking it at a later stage or certainly looking at products that follow on from this leading video phone.

'King said Motorola is confident of the Z8's success. 'Vodafone, O2, Carphone, Phones 4u and distributors 20:20 and Brightstar – they've all been in for this product right from the beginning and we are really excited about the progression of the product,' he said.

The handset was praised in Mobile's Retailer Review.

Motorola has been plugging the kick-slider phone heavily in the run-up to its release with a £5m marketing campaign, describing it as 'the biggest push of the year'.

© Copyright 2007 : Noble House Media Ltd

New Motorola: Moto RIZR Z9 prototype revealed

Slider addition to the RAZR 2 family

Apparently "scored" from Motorola headquarters, an American blog has managed a hands-on with an unreleased "early prototype" Motorola mobile. It's a 3G phone and looks set to be released on the AT&T network in America.

It runs the Motorola Synergy OS, there's a 2-megapixel camera with flash and microSD card slot. That colour is sadly not some kind of Moto in-house way of identifying prototypes, and is a prominent colour in the RAZR 2 series of phones, of which this appears to be the coming-soon slider.

Via - The Boy Genius Report

iPhone Could Hurt Palm, Nokia, Moto; Poised To Tie RIM

If sales of Apple's iPhone can match the device's pre-launch hype, it's liable to hurt Treo smart phone maker Palm the most and affect BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) the least, analysts say.


Apple's AAPL combination smart phone, video iPod and mobile Web browser will appeal mostly to well-heeled consumers at first. That's a market now served by high-end smart phone maker Palm PALM.

"Palm will be taking the hit going forward," said Paul Carton, an analyst at ChangeWave Research.

Palm already is reeling from bad news. Its sales hit a wall last year, and its user satisfaction ratings have dipped, Carton says. ChangeWave's surveys of tech-savvy consumers and corporate IT buyers also show a pronounced drop-off in planned purchases of Palm phones, he says.

The surveys also show RIM RIMM increasing its smart phone market share among corporate buyers and holding its lead among consumers.

ChangeWave's surveys of corporate tech buyers show RIM increasing its market share in smart phones sales to 65% in the next 90 days from 61% last quarter. At the same time, Palm's share looks to drop to 19% from 22% last quarter. And Apple is expected to grab 9% market share, taking sales from Palm, Motorola (NYSE:MEU) (NYSE:MOT) MOT and Nokia (NYSE:NOK) NOK.

Among tech-savvy consumers, Apple is poised to tie RIM in sales of smart phones in the next 90 days. Apple and RIM each got 26% share of planned smart phone purchases in the next 90 days in the most recent ChangeWave survey. Palm's share is forecast to fall to 10% from 14% last quarter.

Motorola and Nokia also are forecast to see market share declines in consumer smart phone sales, ChangeWave says. The share of smart phone buyers looking to get Motorola devices is expected to fall to 5% from 14% last quarter. Nokia's share is projected to drop to 3% from 8%.

RIM targets corporate and enterprise markets with its BlackBerry devices, which emphasize e-mail rather than voice communications. A successful iPhone launch would put a damper on RIM's recent efforts to expand into the consumer market with phones like the BlackBerry Pearl and Curve, says Avi Greengart, an analyst with research firm Current Analysis.

RIM's core business of providing secure e-mail devices to corporate and government customers is safe, Greengart says.

"It's hard to imagine corporate IT departments giving out $600 MP3 players for any reason other than a reward for a job well done," Greengart said. While the BlackBerry is seen as a business tool, the iPhone is seen as an entertainment device, he says.

The iPhone goes on sale nationwide Friday evening with models costing $500 and $600, depending on storage capacity.

The first wave of iPhone buyers will be made up of tech early adopters and Apple loyalists, analysts say. But it's the follow-on buyers who will determine whether the product is a hit.

That second wave of buyers will wait for word-of-mouth reviews and for a chance to touch and feel the iPhone themselves.

The product has been demonstrated in TV commercials and Web videos, but hasn't been available in stores for potential buyers to give it a test drive.

"There's only a handful of people without the word 'Apple' on their business cards who've actually used this," Greengart said. "It is one of those things where you've got to touch it to believe it."

The iPhone features a multi-touch user interface that Apple and early reviewers have described as revolutionary. It doesn't have a hard button keypad like most cell phones. Instead you use your fingers on a glass touch screen for dialing, tapping out messages and navigating. Users scroll and zoom in on Web pages with their fingers, and flick through album cover art to find music.

Potential follow-on buyers will be influenced by the reaction of early adopters to the touch-screen interface as well as the speed of AT&T's TT Edge data network.

Early reviews have criticized AT&T's Edge network as slow. But the device also can access the Internet from much faster Wi-Fi hot spots. AT&T is the exclusive wireless carrier in the U.S. for the iPhone launch.

"A lot of people will wait on the sidelines" until the price of the iPhone drops or until it's available from carriers other than AT&T, said Michael Greeson, an analyst with the Diffusion Group.

In the meantime, cell phone makers will have to respond to the iPhone with high-end products of their own, he added.

"It raises the bar on the Nokias of the world," he said.

Originally published in the June 28, 2007 version of Investor's Business Daily.

Copyright (c) 2007, Investor's Business Daily, Inc.

Motorola Announces MOTO W218 for Hong Kong

Motorola today announced the availability of the new MOTO W218 for the Hong Kong market.
Stylish and packed with features, MOTO W218 makes everyday communication easy.



MOTO W218 features a stylish and compact exterior that fits perfectly in the palm of your hand. Equipped with a built-in FM radio allows you to instantly access music, news, favorite radio stations and weather forecasts, keeping you up-to-date wherever you are. The handset’s VGA camera with 4x zoom provides still photography on the go. MOTO W218 also sports a high-resolution 65k color display designed to make screen viewing easier on the eyes. With a storage capacity of up to 500 contacts, and equipped with a built-in calendar and event reminders, MOTO W218 makes it simple for you to manage your daily schedule. MOTO W218 is the winning handset for those who aspire to live with style and simplicity.

The Motorola W218 is available at Motorola authorized retailers today.