NEWS: Motorola shows new phones, media partnerships

<http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN1540712220070515>

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Motorola Inc. the No. 2 cell phone maker,
unveiled a slimmer Razr phone on Tuesday and said it was working with
some Hollywood studios to put movies on handsets as it aims to regain
market share.

Motorola, which posted a first-quarter loss and whose shares have
lost about a third of their value since mid-October amid weak sales
of its phones, had been criticized for a lack of advanced phones and
good follow-up phones to its slim Razr.

The company said it signed deals with Universal Pictures, Sony
Corp.'s Sony Pictures and Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Brothers on
mobile movie partnerships. ...

Even as it launched a new version of the Razr, Motorola has said it
is moving away from dependence on the success of one phone and
working to make applications such as mobile video, music and
photography easier to use.

....

Motorola shares closed down 1.3 percent at $17.92 on the New York
Stock Exchange on Tuesday after some analysts said they were less
than impressed with the phones.

....

MORE TO COME

Motorola announced the availability of three phones based on HSDPA, a
high-speed wireless technology that is taking off in Europe and other
parts of the world. These include its Z8 media phone and a version of
its Q smartphone, the Q9. A version of its Razr2 range, which is 2
millimeters thinner than its previous Razr models, will also support
HSDPA.

....

The Razr2 will go on sale around the world this summer in three
versions with the V9 supporting HSDPA and the V9m supporting EVDO, a
technology used by the No. 2 and No. 3 U.S. wireless carriers. The V8
will support GSM, a technology with lower-speed wireless Web links.

....

The Z8 phone, which will be launched in Europe and Asia in June, will
be able to play full-motion movies and will have a removable storage
card with space for 12 full-length movies and will come loaded with
Universal movie Bourne Identity.

The company has yet to announce when it will have a phone with the
capabilities of the Z8 for the U.S. market.

A GSM version of the Razr2 will be available in early July in Asia.
The Q9 will be available in Italy this week and is expected to launch
in other parts of the world in coming months, Motorola said.

[MORE]

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

---

› See More: NEWS: Motorola shows new phones, media partnerships

At 16 May 2007 00:00:15 +0000 John Navas wrote:

> Motorola has said it
> is moving away from dependence on the success of one phone...

I'll believe that when I see it!

The original "brick" handhelds, the original "flip-phones," the Micro-
Tac, the Star-Tac, the RAZR- Moto's strategy, it seems, has always been
to create a unique and popular design then beat everyone over the head
with it until it's ubiquitous, then obsolete. Then they do it again! ;-)

In article <[email protected]>,
Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote:

> At 16 May 2007 00:00:15 +0000 John Navas wrote:
>
> > Motorola has said it
> > is moving away from dependence on the success of one phone...
>
> I'll believe that when I see it!
>
> The original "brick" handhelds, the original "flip-phones," the Micro-
> Tac, the Star-Tac, the RAZR- Moto's strategy, it seems, has always been
> to create a unique and popular design then beat everyone over the head
> with it until it's ubiquitous, then obsolete. Then they do it again! ;-)

The Star-Tac was a keeper. I miss mine.

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To reply by email, remove the word "space"

On Tue, 15 May 2007 19:20:47 -0700, Kurt <[email protected]> wrote
in <[email protected]>:

>In article <[email protected]>,
> Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> At 16 May 2007 00:00:15 +0000 John Navas wrote:
>>
>> > Motorola has said it
>> > is moving away from dependence on the success of one phone...
>>
>> I'll believe that when I see it!
>>
>> The original "brick" handhelds, the original "flip-phones," the Micro-
>> Tac, the Star-Tac, the RAZR- Moto's strategy, it seems, has always been
>> to create a unique and popular design then beat everyone over the head
>> with it until it's ubiquitous, then obsolete. Then they do it again! ;-)
>
>The Star-Tac was a keeper. I miss mine.

Agreed. [gasp]

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

In article <[email protected]>,
John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Tue, 15 May 2007 19:20:47 -0700, Kurt <[email protected]> wrote
> in <[email protected]>:
>
> >In article <[email protected]>,
> > Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >> At 16 May 2007 00:00:15 +0000 John Navas wrote:
> >>
> >> > Motorola has said it
> >> > is moving away from dependence on the success of one phone...
> >>
> >> I'll believe that when I see it!
> >>
> >> The original "brick" handhelds, the original "flip-phones," the Micro-
> >> Tac, the Star-Tac, the RAZR- Moto's strategy, it seems, has always been
> >> to create a unique and popular design then beat everyone over the head
> >> with it until it's ubiquitous, then obsolete. Then they do it again! ;-)
> >
> >The Star-Tac was a keeper. I miss mine.
>
> Agreed. [gasp]

If the Star-Tac were still around today , we might have world peace. :-)

--
To reply by email, remove the word "space"

John Navas <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> NEW YORK (Reuters) - Motorola Inc. the No. 2 cell phone maker,
> unveiled a slimmer Razr phone on Tuesday and said it was working
with
> some Hollywood studios to put movies on handsets as it aims to
regain
> market share.
>

Don't get all excited about this. The carriers will do what Alltel has
done to Axcess TV streams....Every 10 minutes the damned movie will stop,
a popup will as you, "Continue watching this movie?" and you'll press the
YES button, missing 4 minutes of the movie while the damned software
reloads, recaches and FINALLY starts replaying...later in the movie.

You all don't REALLY think any cellular carrier is going to let you watch
a stream for a whole 2 hour movie, uninterrupted, do you? PFAT CHANCE!

Larry
--
Former Axcess TV subscriber........NO MORE, dammit.

It is alleged that Kurt claimed:

> > The original "brick" handhelds, the original "flip-phones," the Micro-
> > Tac, the Star-Tac, the RAZR- Moto's strategy, it seems, has always been
> > to create a unique and popular design then beat everyone over the head
> > with it until it's ubiquitous, then obsolete. Then they do it again! ;-)
>
> The Star-Tac was a keeper. I miss mine.

Sometimes, I miss mine. But there was never a GSM StarTac, and by the
time I switched back to Cellular One/Cingular from Verizon, they had
long switched from TDMA to GSM, and I had upgraded from a basic phone
to a Palm SmartPhone.

I did tell my parents to hold onto their StarTacs as long as possible,
and only switch out if/when they want features or services not possible
with it, or it breaks. Step-mom switched to a WinMob smartphone about
a year and a half ago, Dad's StarTac died about 9 months ago and its
replacement phone has been exchanged three times since. Oddly enough,
it's also a Motorola. Maybe I'll advise him to get a RAZR when his
phone breaks again.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

"Not every relationship has to end like a Klingon Opera." (Lt. Cmdr.
Dax, STS9 "Let He Who Is Without Sin...")

Jeffrey Kaplan <[email protected]> writes:

> Maybe I'll advise him to get a RAZR when his
> phone breaks again.

Not a v3 though. I had one and it was nearly the worst phone I ever
had (GSM, cingular).

The V3xx gets strong reviews and I'm personally thrilled with about 3
weeks of experience with a KRAZR K1, though, fwiw. The Krzr is the
best phone I've ever had.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://toddh.net/

Pegleg <[email protected]> writes:

> On 16 May 2007 23:25:40 -0500, [email protected] (Todd H.) wrote:
>
> > The Krzr is the
> >best phone I've ever had.
>
> Please tell us why!

Better RF (haven't lost a call), better full duplex speakerphone, and
better audio quality than any of my prior GSM phones. The camera and
videos are better than any other phone I've tried, though those are
really just bonuses for me. Bluetooth works nicely, and the software
is fast and responsive.

Nokia 3120b (really liked it, best to that point with audio
quality, speakerphone quite usable otherwise very spartan)

Razr V3 (hated it, though the one I used was inherited. It
was painfully slow, audio was crap, speakerphone was crap,
also dropped calls, and even the addressbook navigation was
ungodly annoying, only with first letter jump rather than
progressive search. Did I mention I hated this phone?)

Nokia 6061 (meh, family member has this and its RF/audio
quality isn't as good as others in identical locations)

Motorola v400 (got it used as a backup, lousy rf and audio
terrible camera)


This is my experience with a GSM model on Cingular. It's been around
Chicagoland, Germany and Austria so far in the few weeks I've had it,
and performed well in all these areas.

--
Todd H.
http://toddh.net/

Pegleg <[email protected]> writes:

> On 17 May 2007 10:00:53 -0500, [email protected] (Todd H.) wrote:
>
> >This is my experience with a GSM model on Cingular.
>
> Hmmmm...insignificant info since I was thinking you were on Verizon
> since it is a Verizon group.
> Thanks anyway.

You must have missed that the original thread was cross posted and my
specific mention of GSM/Cingular that you had to read over when
trimming the quote.

If your 'thanks anyway' is sincere, no worries.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://toddh.net/

It is alleged that Pegleg claimed:

> On 17 May 2007 10:00:53 -0500, [email protected] (Todd H.) wrote:
>
> >This is my experience with a GSM model on Cingular.
>
> Hmmmm...insignificant info since I was thinking you were on Verizon
> since it is a Verizon group.

Check the Newsgroups line... I'm reading this thread from the Cingular
group.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

"I was getting dressed this morning, for a second, I couldn't remember
which I did first. I started thinking about it: does everybody do it
the same way? Is it a left-handed, right-handed thing?" (Mr.
Garibaldi, B5 "Babylon Squared")

Pegleg <[email protected]> writes:

> On 17 May 2007 11:15:26 -0500, [email protected] (Todd H.) wrote:
>
> >You must have missed that the original thread was cross posted and my
> >specific mention of GSM/Cingular that you had to read over when
> >trimming the quote.
> >
> >If your 'thanks anyway' is sincere, no worries.
>
> It was sincere.
>
> I'm starting to look at replacements for my V710 but need info from
> Verizon subscribers so I can know how Verizon has screwed with the
> phone.

Absolutely. Not so much for the carrier dicking with it, but the
design of the radio is different between CDMA/VErizon and GSM/Cingular
I believe, or at the very least uses different functionality within
the same phone.

For instance, all this raving about the Startac in this thread -- I
remember trying one of those for Cingular back in their TDMA days, and
my word that STartac was a piece of crap. It dropped the first 3
calls I made within a 12 minute drive home. And coverage wasn't the
issue--I took the phone back after it dropped call #3, got my money
back, exchanged for the free Nokia one (I was a Motorola employee at
the time and was willing to try to spend $150 to remain company
loyal--if the damn phone worked). The Nokia performed flawlessly over
that same stretch of road on the way home. When asked by coworkers
why the Nokia phone, I told em exactly why.

Meanwhile, folks with Verizon at the time with CDMA versions of the
StarTac were very happy campers.

--
Todd H.
http://toddh.net/

Jeffrey Kaplan schrieb:
> [...] But there was never a GSM StarTac [...]

I may not have been of much use for you in the US, but that doesn't mean
there was no GSM StarTAC:

http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_startac_85-74.php
http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_startac_130-73.php

Andreas

I remember when Pacific Bell had the GSM StarTAC in Califorinia. The SIM
was the size of a regular credit card and the slot was on the bottom of
the phone so it slid up under the keypad.

Andreas Wenzel wrote:
> Jeffrey Kaplan schrieb:
>> [...] But there was never a GSM StarTac [...]
>
> I may not have been of much use for you in the US, but that doesn't
> mean there was no GSM StarTAC:
>
> http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_startac_85-74.php
> http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_startac_130-73.php
>
> Andreas

It is alleged that Andreas Wenzel claimed:

> Jeffrey Kaplan schrieb:
> > [...] But there was never a GSM StarTac [...]
>
> I may not have been of much use for you in the US, but that doesn't mean
> there was no GSM StarTAC:
>
> http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_startac_85-74.php

I stand (or sit) corrected.

"There was never a GSM StarTac in the US."

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

"In terms of timetables, as quickly as possible - whatever that means."
- George W. Bush, March 2005 re: passing Social Security legislation