MotoSummer 2004
Jul 30, 2004, 6:00 PM by Rich Brome @richbrome
Info and photos covering Motorola's new phones announced in late July 2004. Hot info direct from Motorola, and exclusive live photos and hands-on reports.
Earlier this week, Motorola breathed new life into its portfolio with the announcement of several major new phones. The announcements were made at Motorola's annual analyst meeting in Chicago. On Thursday, the company held another event in New York City to show off the new models, and Phone Scoop was there.
There are several phones featured in-depth on the following pages - ones that caught my eye and I felt deserved extra attention. But there are also some less dramatic phones announced this week that are worth covering.
First, the V551 (V555 in Europe and Asia) is a new model in the popular "triplets" series. The big new feature is EDGE high-speed data. Motorola had one previous EDGE model - the T725 - but it was mostly just a test platform for carriers, making the V551 Motorola's first EDGE phone that will see serious mass production. Video capture, in the form of 15-second clips, is another new feature compared to previous "triplets".
Yet another upgraded triplet is the V620, which also adds video capture. The casing has also been updated to a sleek black color:
The V620 doesn't have EDGE, but at the analyst meeting on Wednesday, Tom Lynch, the head of Motorola's phone division, let slip that a V635 model is in the works, which will include EDGE. Not much else is known about the V635, except that the styling will again be updated compared to the V600 and V620.
Also announced were the C975 and V975, two similar 3G phones for Europe and Asia. The only major difference between the two is that the V975 is a clamshell model with a color external display, while the C975 is a bar-style model. No American version has yet been announced, but it the possibility was not ruled out, either.
Both models include a long list of features, including dual cameras, live 2-way video calling, TransFlash memory card slots, MP3 player, and more. Yet both models are designed to be the low end of Motorola's 3G lineup, implying that forthcoming high-end models, such as the long-rumored V1000, could truly raise the bar for 3G handset technology.
About the author, Rich Brome: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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Comments
Wha' happened to the V600?
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More tidbits - A630 and V3
1. During a call, the A630 automatically switches to speakerphone mode when you open it. Very handy if you're talking to someone and need some info from email, the phone book, calendar, etc.
2. The bottom of the V3 (the bulge below the keypad) houses the antenna, Bluetooth module, and polyphonic ringtone speaker. It's also the only plastic part of the case (since metal tends to block radio signals).
Even though that's normally where you would put your hand, and flesh also blocks radio signals, Motorola engineers swear up, down, and sideways that it gets great reception - as good or better than any of their other phones.
So even though it's counter-i...
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Thank you for a terrific and professional article. Looks like Moto is really throwing down the gauntlet to Nokia and others. Did Moto have anything to say about their manufacturing capacity and past shipping & delivery issues?
For a Bluetooth phone, I consider voice dialing absolutely essential, and would be both saddened and surprised...
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A780 Huge Upgrade
New Phones in the market!
Also I would like to know if there are available for sale on the Motorola website (or when will they be available) or may be available through other carriers that offer GSM unlocked phones. 🙂
your guess is as good as mine
The v1000 is just a rumor for now, and no one usually knows prices until just prior to release. And no one ever knows when releases will actually be because of te...
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RAZR looks great BUT......
I hope the V3 is more than a styling exercise.
hey Rich
thanks!
question for Rich
I was wondering if you had heard any tentative release times on any of these models, or anything that's a little tighter in than what quarter they'll be in. I've heard that cingular's phasing out the v600 for the v551, this doesn't make sense to me. As far as I've heard the 551 is still pending FCC approval. It would make more sense (to me) to put the A630 in it's place and have that hold them over until the EDGE equipped 551 is approved, tested and released.
I'd also love to hear which, if any, of these phones have begun testing for potential carriers.
Any information you have is GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks a lot!
disturbed1 said:
I've heard that cingular's phasing out the v600 for the v551, this doesn't make sense to me. As far as I've heard the 551 is still pending FCC approval.
It makes perfect sense to me - the V551 adds E...
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A780? EDGE/GPRS question?
a630 for TMo--surprised
signal meters
Great report! Thanks for the details.
One thin I noticed on the A630 photos was the disparity between the signal levels. On the Cingular unit(it hurts me to say) the signal is much stronger.
Were the pics taken in NYC or Chicago?
W
The pics were taken in NYC, in a place about one street block from Madison Square Garden.
But a lot of the phones there had T-Mobile SIMs in them, and they got reception just fine, despite low bars.
great job
I've been excited about the A630 for quite some time and this has definitely sealed the deal for me. When I head to Cingular that's most definately going to be what I grab.
It's nice to see the newer phones in a comparison to a phone that most of us have some experience with, the v600. It really puts things into perspective on the size of these models...especially with the V3.
Very good article overall, four stars. I can't speak for everyone, but I'm excited.
Can't wait to get my hands on my A630.
Thanks!
Very much appreciated!
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