We sent the intern out for ice and he came back with a round-up of last night’s Motorola webcast, including more details about the new Motorola handsets and their new seamless mobility platform. And no ice, I might add.
Last night at 7:00 PM CST, Motorola held the “MOTOMEDIA Webcast,” where in addition to new products, they announced the highlight of the event – the company’s partnership with Apple to bring iTunes compatibility to a new line of phones.
Though the highlight of the event was certainly this new partnership, many people (including myself) cared instead about the new hardware. I was captivated by the new phones Motorola had to offer, including the phone that “swings both ways,” the MPx. Also featured on the webcast was an up close and personal view of the “Razor,” Motorola’s 0.54 inch StarTAC successor.
More after the jump.
Ed Zander, Motorola’s Chairman and CEO, was the host of the event. After a quick welcome to the audience (who apparently got free drinks), Ed got right down to business and began introducing products.
The webcast focused on three different environments in which people use phones: out and about, at work, and at home. Sadly, a fourth environment, “in the car,” was not covered during the broadcast.
Following the “out and about” theme, Ed introduced the first product – the Motorola 398. Its main feature is MP3 playback; though it currently has 128MB of memory (which is removable, thanks to SD cards), it is scheduled to have a 512MB capacity by this time next year.
This was an excellent opportunity for Ed to bring a special guest. Steve Jobs, come on down! Looking for “a way to bring iTunes capability to these exciting new devices,” Steve announced the webcast’s breaking news: a partnership between Motorola and Apple to bring iTunes capabilities to Motorola phones by the first half of next year. Although I at first expected this to mean something like a cable between a phone and an iPod to transfer a couple songs over, I was somewhat disappointed to know that it instead meant you still need a PC (or Mac) to transfer songs. Thankfully, Steve Jobs clarified that transfers can be done by both USB and Bluetooth (which, by the way, all the phones announced tonight have), so at least we don’t need to *completely* connect.
Up next was Motorola E680, with MPEG-4 playback capabilities. The first demonstration wasn’t so successful (this was, after all, a live broadcast); a quick swap and the demonstration was underway. A quick sample from “A Bug’s Life” showed that the phone can also playback video in landscape mode – something that many previous MPEG-4 playing phones failed to include. This also took advantage of the E680’s vertical resolution, allowing for a higher quality video. According to Ed’s technical assistant, a 1GB SD card can hold about four to five hours of this video.
It was soon revealed that Ed likes bowling, and wants to play a game on the go. Using the same E680, “JC” (the technical assistant) demonstrated the 3D graphics capabilities of the unit as well. The E680 should be available Fall of this year.
It wasn’t long before Ed exclaimed that he wants to “have TV with [him] on the go.” Enter the Motorola A780, which uses an application called “Dynamic Portal” to enable users to get text based news, and also allows for the viewing of live TV by way of UMTS. The soccer game shown during the demonstration didn’t show many signs of chop, and from what I could tell, ran at about 20 frames per second.
Continuing on the video phone trail was the Motorola A845. Ed conducted a 3G video phone call with Rich Nottenburg, CEO of Multilink Inc, though it didn’t work so well – I suppose that because this was only a demonstration, it gives Motorola a good excuse for the low (as it appeared) framerate and inaudible sound.
Next, we advanced to the second environment: at work. Ed began to rattle off “office” aspects – mail, calendar, contacts, and support for reading Microsoft Office documents. The Motorola MPX220, to be launched this Fall, has all of these features, as well as the media features mentioned above. During the demonstration, JC showed the phone’s ability to smoothly zoom in and out, pan, and scroll both PowerPoint slides and Microsoft Word files. He continued by accessing Outlook emails, and after some difficulties with a plug, playing MP3s from the same unit. This quad-band phone also features a megapixel camera with flash, so if you decide your work entails photography, you’ll be prepared.
One of the most common complaints about writing emails on normal phones, however, is the lack of a proper keyboard. Motorola’s stunning new “MPx” is a dual hinge (think dual-hinge like a refrigerator, but imagine being able to open your fridge from the bottom) phone that is also WiFi enabled – furthemore, it features an SD card slot. This same phone also can take advantage of VoIP features using WiFi, allowing it to act as a PBX extension for while you’re actually at the office.
Finally, the last environment to be covered during the webcast was reach. The “Ojo Phone,” allegedly used by President Bush himself, is a video phone that ties into a home’s existing broadband connection. Suprise suprise, Wimbledon hottie Maria Sharapova was on the other end of the video phone for the demonstration. The video quality was excellent, and I didn’t notice any lagging framerate.
Another product covered in the home environment was Motorola’s new HDTV set-top box. It features a 120GB hard drive, and three TV tuners; users can record two programs and record still another while watching it.
Though the three environments on stage had been covered, the webcast was not over. JC pinned an RFID tag on Mr. Zander and had him walk to four different stations (remember, the stage broadcast omitted “in the car” as an environment). Using a technology called “Liquid Media,” four monitors at each station would play and stop video or audio content when Mr. Zander walked into or out of their RFID reception zones.
JC was run off the stage, and Mr. Zander himself chose to introduce the final product. Motorola’s “Razor,” made out to be a successor to the StarTAC, is a strikingly thin clamshell type phone. It is a full capability unit, with Bluetooth, a 2.2″ screen, all in a 0.54″ thick package. I suggest you take a look at the images we have posted for this phone, because saying only “thin” doesn’t do it enough justice.
To conclude webcast was a video from the Chinese rock group “Fu Shu,” who happened to select Motorola phones for use in his music video.
