4 new Motorola handsets are coming to Verizon on 2009

A survivor never gives up, and that's what I can say about the ailing Motorola. BGR got four leaked rendered pictures of what seems to be the new handsets that Motorola is preparing for Verizon Wireless, set to be released on 2009 next year.

Specific time frame unknown, details and prices are also not disclosed yet. The only thing we're informed so far is the code name of the four handsets: Flash (pictured on the left), Rush 2 Calgary and Inferno.

Head on to BGR site to see the rest, and Motorola be best making a handset like that one above to really survive the competition.

Motorola's ridiculously expensive Aura mobile phone

Let's have a toast; for Motorola's brilliant idea to make a come back into the tight competitive market of mobile phone, by releasing a very expensive handset: AURA. Is it very-very pricey? Well, unless you can toss around $1,999.99 for a mobile phone; then yeah it is.

What's so special about this so called 'The Return of Artistry™ and Unveils Timeless, Classically Designed Device' by Motorolla? Moto says in the official press release that AURA has these exquisite features to make up the hefty price tag:

• 16 million colors and 300 dpi resolution on the unique, round liquid-crystal display
• Grade 1, 62-carat sapphire crystal lens
• Stainless steel housing
• Swiss-made main bearing
• The gears composed of Rockwell 50-55 hardened steel and 130 precision ball bearings
• The gear coatings is the same one used in high-performance racing engines
• CrystalTalk™ technology
• 2-megapixel camera
• Quad-band GSM
• micro-USB
• Bluetooth
• microSD slot
• 4.97 ounce weight
• 7.3 hours talk time

Looks like James Bond got a new mobile phone to choose from when he gets back to Q lab... ;-) I think it's time for the 007 agent to ditch that old looking Sony Ericsson handsets he's been using all these time, don't you think?

Sources are from Motorola, via Engadget.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Treo 680 and Moto RAZR V3 sightings in "The Happening" movie

I've just watched "The Happening", a thriller movie directed by famous well-known M. Night Shyamalan. It's not as good as his previous works such as the "Sixth Sense" or the "Village", but thank goodness my dissappointment was healed with Palm's Treo 680 sightings in the movie.

A teacher named Julian, played by John Leguizamo is waving his Treo 680 when he first appear in the movie. Later, he tries several times contacting his wife with it while on the train; the little girl that's sitting on his lap is his daughter within the story line of the movie.

First, he yells and told his wife to text him because the background noise is too loud. And secondly, he indirectly tells the audience that his Treo 680 can do email as well when they all reached a restaurant.

Another noticeable mobile phone that's shown during the movie, is Motorola's RAZR V3 colored in black. The RAZR V3 is used by a character named Alma Moore; played by the innocent-looking Zooey Deschanel.

It's good to know, that the aging Treo handset is still being used in nowadays movies. Although this one is not so popular, nor a box office movie... ;-p

Motorola is gearing up 350 Androids army, while Nokia sniffs around

Android, the mobile platform from Google is currently gaining popularity, and new followers as well.

Not many have taken notice about Motorola these days, like Palm, Motorola also still in search for the right mobile platform for its next handsets. It doesn't come to a surprise when Motorola finally announce to adopt Android, because Motorola has been one of the OHA's founding members, along with HTC, LG, and Samsung.

The first leak of rumor came in when an Android developer approached by a headhunter to join Motorola's Android team, it is said that Motorola already has 50 people in its Android team and is growing that to 350. This same source has also seen people from Nokia and Verizon at a recent Android developer conference.

It's logical for Motorola to begin adopting Android, the company has been looking a way to get back into the game and level up with competitors. One of the biggest advantage for an open platform like Android, is that manufacturers don’t have to worry about paying license fees. Which then make it suitable for struggling companies, such as Motorola, and perhaps for Palm too? Sammy has posted a link to a great editorial at PalmInfoCenter titled "Does Palm Need Android?", which shares the same presumption on whether it's best for Palm to adopt Android too or not.

But as for Nokia, it may seems like the Scandanavian company is trying to play a safe bet: keeping Android at bay, while keep pushing the Symbian platform to the limit. Even after Nokia acquired the rest of Symbian, it's not such a smart move to rely on only a single mobile platform to power up its vast handset line-ups. Who knows, perhaps Nokia is already whispering in the dark about making its own Android handset...?

The confirmation about Motorola is making its own Android products comes from BetaNews, who has been contacted by a Motorola spokesperson; here's the full text of Motorola's statement:
"Motorola is pleased to see the industry enthusiasm and support of the Android operating system. As a pioneer in mobile Linux and a founder of OHA, Motorola believes Android is it promises to be one of the most powerful, flexible and customizable open platforms, enabling truly integrated mobile hardware, software and web experiences. We're excited about the innovation possibilities on Android, and look forward to delivering great products in partnership with Google and the Open Handset Alliance community."

Personally, I'd love to see more Android based handsets in the market. The merrier the competition, is the better condition for consumers/users. But when Motorola finally set to launch its own Android handset, I really-really hope they'll deliver a good looking device. We had our own disappoinment with T-Mobile G1 Android handset, and high expectation for the next 'iPhone-killer' phone.

Can an army of 350 Androids (read: software developers) turn Motorola to the right way this time?. Sources are from BetaNews and TechCrunch.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Live shots of Motorola's V70 Retro edition

Eeeek...! Is that Motorola's new handset?
As if it's not enough for Motorola to amazes us with it so and so new designs, that don't really much different from its old handsets. Now according to PhoneArena, Motorola is trying to resurrect the old V70 and comes up with the brightest idea: relaunch it with an additional name behind it; Retro.
So in short, the "new" handset name is V70 Retro. This successor of the V70 has similar design with swivel form-factor and will be targeted as a fashion-statement model, with the only spec we know of is that it'll equipped with 5MP camera.
[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Live shots of Motorola's RAZR VE20

It's kinda sad to see Motorola's newest handsets nowadays, there's no more 'spark' that can be found in the new design. In fact, they all are looking not much different from years ago when the first RAZR came out.

But nevertheless, I still going to bring the news to you. PhoneArena is saying that the RAZR VE20 will be a Sprint's exclusive and rumored to launch this Sunday. Here are the rest of the details:

The VE20 features a 2.0 megapixel camera, QVGA main display and a touch sensitive strip on the outer display like the V9m has. The device is bright and shiny, with a mirrored front and scarlett accents throughout. The inner display is very crisp, and it will be the feature device for Sprint's upcoming NFL Mobile Live application, which will allow users to listen to live game audio as well as watch NFL Network broadcasts for the first time on a mobile phone.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]