Motorola has announced its investment in VirtualLogix - a company that specialises in virtualising mobile operating systems.
Virtualisation allows entire operating systems to run on virtual machines. This can allow you to run multiple operating systems at once, but can also be used to allow several different operating systems to run on the same hardware, without having to rewrite them.
With the coming of Android, the mobile OS wars look set to begin in earnest, so this could be a really smart move for Motorola.
By going down the virtualisation route, Motorola can keep its options open, potentially licensing several operating systems or even developing their own. What could emerge is something like what we have with PCs - you can buy a commodity bit of hardware, and have the choice of running Windows, Linux or one of the minority platforms like BSD or SymphonyOS.
Hey! Got a mobile and want to know what the weather’s like? All you have to do is leave your phone in your pocket and look at the sky. It’s failsafe.
Enough flippancy though. What if you want to get actual weather forecasts on the go, from anywhere in the world, in Celsius OR Fahrenheit, hmm? This is where Motorola hopes to tempt you, having signed a deal with Paragon Software Group to preload its Handy Weather application on the MOTO Z8 and Z10 handsets.
You pick a location, and then set how often you want the application to update its forecasts (for example, every four, eight, 12 or 24 hours). Worried about data charges? They’ve thought of that - it only uses 7kb of data per city forecast. More application makers should provide this kind of information.
There is a caveat, mind. If you buy a Z8 or Z10, you can use Handy Weather free for three months, but you’ll then have to subscribe for a year for “an additional fee”. Looking on the application’s website, I think Paragon charges $10.95 for subsciption renewals, which over the course of a year isn’t too bad.
Well it’s happened, Motorola has been split down the middle. The board of directors have decided to split Motorola into two independent, publicly-traded companies, one called Mobile Devices and the other, Broadband & Mobility Solutions.
The mobile side of Motorola’s business, which has been hemorrhaging capital over the last year, has been a bit of an anchor around the neck of the company’s more profitable divisions, prompting the chop. As you might expect The Mobile Devices company will focus on the design, manufacture, and sale of mobile handsets and accessories while The Broadband & Mobility Solutions business will cover, government, public safety, home and network business.
From a consumer point of view, this may not mean much in the short term, especially with Motorola’s impressive 2008 handset line-up. Still, the changes will filter down at some point and if The Mobile Devices side of the business continues to under perform, Motorola’s future as a handset manufacturer could be bleak. You never know however, this could revitalize Motorola internally prompting a financial comeback. Let’s hope Moto doesn’t go the way Palm is currently headed.
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After Motorola’s leaked 2008 product line-up video a short while back, there has been plenty of speculation as to the mysterious Motorola Kodak camera phone that popped up in it. Well, thanks to some sterling sleuthing from the folks over at Unwired View, a few more concrete(ish) details about the device (and a lovely pic) have been confirmed.
The handset is to be dubbed the MotoZINE ZN5 and by the look of the pic, will be a pretty sleek candy bar with one end being mildly bloated to accommodate what we are hoping will be a pretty high spec camera lens. Apparently the ZN5 will be 2.5G with GSM/GPRS connectivity and will runs on Montavista Linux 2.6.1 OS. It will also include a 320×240 QVGA display and a 5 megapixel camera (hopefully with flash and some sort of fancy zooming capabilities).
There are also reports that the ZN5 will have a 3.5mm headphone jack, will be able to record Mpeg4 video and will have some sort of TV-Out function (handy for looking at all those videos and snaps). Obviously this is all subject to change until we get the official press release from Motorola, but as a first pass at the spec sheet the MotoZine ZN5 is looking like a pretty nifty camera focussed handset. More details as soon as we have them.
(Via Unwired View)
It really looks as though the N95 is going to have its work cut out holding it’s own throughout 2008 what with all of these new high spec handsets coming out of the woodwork.
We caught the scent about Motorola’s Skarven Z12 handset all the way back in October last year, but new details about the handset have been scarce ever since. A new leaked picture of the device seems to confirm that it will be a slider with at least some touchscreen functionality (perhaps just the bottom half of the 16M colour 2.8 inch VGA display) and a similar form factor to the other handsets in the Z-series.
The picture above (where the Z12 can be seen on the far right) seems to have originated on the Mobile-Review forums where it appeared briefly before being swiftly removed. The appearance of the Z12 now suggests to us that it is likely that it will make an official appearance at the Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona next week, which we will of course be attending. Stay tuned for any updates.
(Via Unwired View)
It looks like the rumors about Motorola throwing in the towel that have been doing the rounds lately are true. The handset manufacturer has just issued a press release stating that it is
…exploring the structural and strategic realignment of its businesses to better equip its Mobile Devices business to recapture global market leadership and to enhance shareholder value. The company’s alternatives may include the separation of Mobile Devices from its other businesses in order to permit each business to grow and better serve its customers.
Sounds like corporate speak for dumping an under performing division and putting it out to tender for the highest bidder. What is interesting is that usually when this sort of thing happens, who has bought the company is usually the first thing that the public gets to hear. Just to follow our wild speculation through to its conclusion you might forgive us for assuming that perhaps there have already been negotiations about a sale but without an agreement on price, prompting Motorola’s announcement.
Either way the brand will no doubt be snapped up sooner or later and in the meantime it looks like it is time to shed a tear for the RAZR, a phone that once looked like it was the start of a bright future for Motorola. It’s a funny old world innit…
(Via Unwired View)
It seems that Phillips isn’t the only company looking to muscle in quick on folding display technology for phones. A patent has cropped up revealing that Motorola has been pondering the idea too.
The interesting thing about the tech detailed in this patent is that the coiled screen would become solid when fully unrolled. More intriguing still is the fact that the patent also details foldable screens as keypads which suggests some sort of touchscreen element.
Although there are no guarantees that this will come to market, it is exciting to see a proven handset manufacturer dabbling with folding screen technology. Could the touchscreen’s days be numbered?
(Via Unwired View)
Motorola has followed Sony Ericsson’s lead in going handset crazy at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
There are the mid-range W230 (candybar) and W270 (slider), but the headlines will surely be grabbed by the new touch-screen E8 and the long-delayed Z10.
The ROKR E8 (right) might only have GPRS/EDGE, but its selling point has got to be the ability to switch between camera, music player (including Windows Media Player 11 compatibility), contacts and phone calls at the touch of your fingertip, using a haptic vibrating touchpad.
The other handset, the slider Z10 (below), is being pitched as a “mobile filmstudio[sic]”. Aside from the dodgy spelling, it does at least have HSDPA connectivity and 3.2-megapixel camera. Oh, and it runs on Symbian, which is a good alternative to Motorola’s infamously Marmite-like OS.
However, the ‘mobile filmstudio’ aspect comes from the phone having the ability to let you instantly upload photos and videos to YouTube, Google, Yahoo and Shozu. So it’s not quite a proper ‘film studio’ but its still an appealing new handset.
Motorola has fired a broadside at Nokia’s DVB-H mobile TV products with its own Mobile TV DH01 ‘personal media player’.
DVB-H is the EU-backed mobile TV standard and Motorola’s DH01 will be compatible with it. Like Nokia when it launched DVB-H products, Motorola’s first device (to be unveiled at the CES show in Las Vegas) won’t be a mobile phone.
Motorola’s DH01 will be a paperback-sized device with a 4.3-inch screen supporting up to 16 million colours, and running at 25fps. It also has Secure Digital/MultiMediaCard support capable of storing 90 minutes of TV video on a 256MB card. And you don’t have to worry about running out of juice as the DH01 has four hours of playback time.
As a bonus, to get round that annoying lag in images you get with most mobile TV services as the streaming is buffered, Motorola’s solution will offer a five-minute memory buffer.
Mobile phones with some high-profile, non-mobile branding seems to be all the rage with manufacturers and retailers at the moment, what with Samsung’s Armani phone, and Carphone’s Ted Baker and phones. Now Motorola’s got in on the act with its new Ferrari phone.
While most deals like this feature new or original handsets, Motorola’s gone for the easy option and basically slapped a Ferrari badge on a reasonably-old handset, the Z8 RIZR.
To be fair, the Z8 isn’t actually that bad a phone but this new limited edition isn’t exactly going to set the world alight. As well as a Ferrari logo plastered on the side, the Moto Z8 Ferrari Limited Edition, comes with two pre-loaded Ferrari videos, registration to the official Ferrari website, custom Ferrari wallpapers and ringtones and direct internet links to magazines like Top Gear, Auto Express, GQ, Esquire and Autosport. And like the standard Z8 release, you also get a bundled copy of The Bourne Identity movie.
Sadly, this won’t even be out in time for Christmas either, as it’s not going to be out until early next year from Ferrari and Motorola’s main retailers. Oh well…
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