Eat your heart out, Samsung. Well, not really, since
Motorola's new MOTOFONE is not only 2.1mm thicker than Samsung's current
record holding X820, but also comes up quite short in the features department. Instead the new MOTOFONE, coming in GSM and CDMA flavors at a svelte 0.35-inches, is targeting first time wireless users, prepaid buyers, and developing countries. Luckily, while Moto was weeding out those "nonessentials" like a camera, MP3 playback and a color screen (The MOTOFONE has instead an electrophoretic display with similarities to e-paper) they managed to lose that unsightly hump Samsung slapped onto the X820. Motorola's thinnest phone does include some niceties beyond size, like local language voice prompts for ease of use, dust and sun resistance, and "extended" battery life. There's no word on price or a release date, but we're sure we can find enough change in our couch for whenever it does come around. Phone Scoop is calling this unit part of Motorola's "Scalpel" platform, of which the
rumored SCPL should be a bit more of an exciting member.
[Via
Phone Scoop; thanks everyone]
posted Jul 25th 2006 6:02PM
This phone should come Stateside for old folks who are adopting celphones, but need a budget model. Not only does it have extras most seniors won't use, but it lacks a flip feature, which I imagine is not friendly to arthritic hands. My wife's grandparents are in the market for a new phone, and I'd get them this model if it were available. BTW, if they want to sell it to seniors, keep the MOTOFONE label rather than SCPL because the Scalpel pronunciation would scare seniors.
First! ha! I like this fone! Simple design, sun and dust resistent. Very practical and of course, no fancy stuff. I'd get one for my backup (currently using W810i and W300i)
Matt, the Moto SLVR L6 is cheap and pretty much the same form factor.
Have you guys seen the MotoKRZR presentation at http://direct.motorola.com/hellomoto/motokrzr/experience/
uh, matt, i wouldn't purchase that for my grandparents, simply because this phone is so skinny. it might be a problem for seniors to hold (or see).
the screen is a nice touch, though.
I see the date on the phone reads 7/26/06. If you follow the link and click 360 deg. view, the date reads 9/03/06. Hmmmm, possible release date?!?!
Yeah, the SLVR is very similar to the FONE, but it isn't available at Verizon, which is most of my family's carrier of choice. As for a Sept. 3 launch date, that would be perfect because my wife's Every2 is available in Sept., so we can use it to snag it for her grandparents. However, what are the odds a U.S. release would occur on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend?
I can break that in half with a karate chop. Seriously......
Jason, of course Moto SLVR L6 will be cheaper, because of its a more older model.
Yeah its more older.
I was at the presentation. Garriques was really positioning the MOTOFONE as a developing-world phone, not initially for established markets like North America and Western Europe. He talked a little about a "SCPL Broadband" platform for high-speed carriers like we have over here. Oh, and the launch date isn't Sept. 3. It's in October. More details in my story.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1994344,00.asp
Meanwhile, I think the SLVR L7c will be coming to Verizon. Definitely Sprint. The Engadget guys would actually probably know more than me about this because they deal with leaks, and I'm forbidden to do so.
I've got a SLVR L7. I'd love to replace it with one of these.
Hi! I have a question about the phone. All the promotional pics show time and date both on the screen, but in real life only the time shows up. Is there another code for this "time and date together" application or smth like that. Plaese help!Thanx!
Otherwise the phone is great!