Motorola intros D7 / D8 MOTOLIVN landline phones

Wow, talk about being on a roll. Not even a week after unleashing the awfully-titled TLKR walkie-talkie, Motorola is gettin' even more platitudinal with its new duo of MOTOLIVN landline phones. Both units tout location-free bases, "eco-mode" for saving energy, ten ringer melodies, a built-in speakerphone, and up to ten-hours of talk time (100-hours in standby). The D7 is said to be available in silver with a blue-backlit screen, while the D8 range can be picked up in black or white and comes Skype-enabled for those interested. Both handsets look to be available right now in Germany, and while the D7 starts at €49.99 ($70), the D8 gets going at €69.99 ($97).

[Via Pocket-Lint]

[KazSur @ Sep 18th 2007 9:10AM]

Ugly!! Well, maybe it's this huge because it's got all the eco-mode, 100 hours of battery and all that.. but it still is UGLY! Alright, I'm done ripping on it.

[victor @ Sep 18th 2007 10:05AM]

KazSur, rip away. In the past 4 years we've owned 4 Moto phones (not cell, home phones) and every single one of them, from the $29.99 model to the $119.99 model has been utter and complete garbage. Sad for a company whose products might have given us an edge in communications during WWII and the cold war. Doubly sad for a company who has (RAZR aside) seen their brand slip into the murky depths.

Right now I sit and look at the latest, most expensive atrocity we're stuck with, and here are the flaws:
- when power goes out, the battery backup takes the time to BLOOP every couple of seconds, indicating the power is out. Well, gosh Homer, thanks, I really want to wake up at 2am and have to unplug both AC cord AND phone line!
- when power is restored, it talks incessantly, there is no volume on either of these "features"
- when power is restored, it resets to pick up the answering machine on RING TWO!
And for the best:
- calls suck. Yes, making a simple telephone is beyond the reach of the geniuses at Moto. Hello, Moto? What? SPEAK UP I CAN'T HEAR YOU!
They put in some noise-cancelling hardware that will try to "mute" portions of the convo where someone isn't talking. Sounds good, to eliminate extraneous noise, and it works on a cell phone. But apparently they bought chips from Dell or something, because what it actually does is clip audio below a threshold that just happens to be the human voice making noises other than consonants. So we hear a lot of "T" and "K" sounds, but scant else.

Maybe Engadget can do one of those patented "open letters" to the nimrods at Moto's phone division.

[PK @ Sep 18th 2007 10:13AM]

The best Moto phones I've bought were an unlocked, unbranded RAZR V3i and an unlocked MOTOFONE F3 for places that don't allow cameraphones. I reflashed the V3i and customized it with some decent software, and the MOTOFONE has been solid since Day 1. That being said, I don't think I'll be buying any of their newer phones for quite a while. Their design department seems to be stuck on the same looks and names - lightning hasn't struck again for them since the original RAZR.

[PK @ Sep 18th 2007 10:11AM]

Ugly is right. It looks like the bastard love child of a 1st gen iPod and a 1980s "futuristic" phone.

[Bassnote @ Sep 18th 2007 10:25AM]

i actually like this! does the skype work without a computer? Could be a boon for people like my mum for whom being tethered to a PC is ridiculous to talk to her daughter...

[VayVay @ Sep 18th 2007 11:21AM]

Maybe they outsourced thier marketing department to the Czech Republic or some other former Eastern Bloc country where they haven't invented vowels yet? I can't think of any other rational explanation for their continued use of such a tired naming scheme.

[BAMF @ Sep 18th 2007 12:08PM]

What's a landline?

[Matthew Hilario @ Sep 18th 2007 2:52PM]

it's what they used before landmines.

[Brodie @ Sep 18th 2007 1:43PM]

Motorola promised to change their tired naming scheme as soon as apple starts putting an "i" in front of everyone of their products and thinking its clever.

[Brodie @ Sep 18th 2007 1:44PM]

Motorola promised to change their tired naming scheme as soon as apple stops putting an "i" in front of everyone of their products and thinking its clever.

[Mitch @ Sep 18th 2007 7:52PM]

I look forward to the day when Motorola dumps their stupid naming scheme.

MOTOLIVN - they're kidding right?

[Richard @ Sep 18th 2007 8:48PM]

Every Moto land line phone I have ever owned has sounded like crap. I owned two of them: fool me once shame on Moto, fool me twice...

Moto invented the thin phone with the RAZR. It is/ was a stunning to look at, uncomfortable to hold and impossible to use POS that, iPhone like, was initially priced up in the stratosphere, then fell to below sea-level.

Moto held onto the RAZR as both design idiom and nomenclature idiocy and that mistake is drowning them. Would have been easier had they just slit their wrists with the thing, then sat in a warm bath.

RAZR, ROKR, RIZR...how about a decent phone with a less than cheese-ball name!

[TKWarrior @ Sep 19th 2007 9:14AM]

This looks allot like the V-tech i5871 that came out last year:
http://www.vtechphones.com/vtechui/store/dsp_product.cfm?itemID=1664&parent=215

Usually don't like v-tech stuff, but got one as a home-warming gift last year and it works great.

Looks like the moto has a better LCD though...