MotoSummer 2004

Intro RAZR V3 MPx Series A780 A630 Discuss

by Rich Brome
July 30, 2004

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:

Click a thumbnail above for a larger view.

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.

Next Page: Page 1  >