Motorola prepping "last stand" 8 megapixel phone?
By Nilay Patel 
posted June 23rd 2008 3:29PM
posted June 23rd 2008 3:29PM
While our homeboy Boy Genius may not be quite as well-known for his Moto scoopage as he is for his streak of RIM leaks, we're totally intrigued by his report today that Moto is working on an 8 megapixel phone code named "Alexander" that's being internally described as the company's "last stand." The unit is said to feature an NVIDIA-sourced chipset for video and 3G graphics (Tegra, perhaps?), an integrated GPS chip, and "probably" running "UIQ 4.0 or higher." It's not confirmed whether it'll have a touchscreen or what the final form factor will be, but release is set for October, and BGR says that if it's a flop the Moto brass will give up and sell the company off. That's a lot of pressure -- but with Moto's struggles lately, we can't say there's much to lose by betting the company.
dear motorola,
it's not the size of the photo we have a problem with, it's the quality.
and while i understand you want to develop something like this for the mass market, the fundamental problem you guys are having is that you aren't selling enough phones. developing an 8 megapixel sensor for your phones is only going to drive the price up and even further alienate the precious customers you want to keep.
who the hell brags about the megapixels their cameraphone takes anyway?
enjoy your huge commercial failure,
your friends at engadget
Exactly. A phone with an 8-megapixel camera is bound to be a niche product. Are they really going to save themselves with a low-volume, high-markup phone? Nokia's N-series is great and all, but is that really where they're making their money?
mmmm, i smell death approaching.
How crappy is your life if you spend time working around getting banned from a blog?
And how crappy is your life if a blog actually has to take measures to ban you?
Crazy world we live in.. oh well, it shouldn't be much longer...
;-)
^ useless twat
Your arrow is pointing to your own name, Mr. Twat.
Man, these folks need to really reinvent themselves. I heard the new model is going to be called the LUZR.
as long as it doesn't start with a lowercase "i"...
As a user of Moto phones in the past, I must say that they should focus on improving the UI which is not very user-friendly.
Agreed. I bought 2 RAZRs for my wife and my mom and the menu system is like trying to seperate spaghetti. Seems like the Riddler made the menu hierarchy.
I've been using my Treo 650 for years now and that's because it's expandable(software wise) and the menu system is very user friendly. The only phone(at the moment) that's going to tear me away from my 650 is the iPhone. I don't really like Apple but the iPhone works well and has all the right features - wifi, media player, huge TOUCH screen etc. I don't care what anybody says, the touch screen is the future, of course, coupled with a full real qwerty keyboard hidden somewhere.
I think Motorola has a good chance but they need to take a look at what people like right now and erase the RAZR from there memory completely.
I thought that RAZR2 (in my case, the RAZR V9m) is a big overhaul over the original RAZR. I love the call quality, big front screen, and the excellent speakers on the phone when listening to music. The 2MP cameraphone takes REALLY GOOD quality pictures... I hear everyone bashing on the ORIGINAL RAZR, but not their NEWER razr phones... I wonder why is that?
lowest ranked dude your my hero. i dont think a week has gone by that you havent made me crack up at least once
Motorola won't get this right. They'll do something to screw it up. Always have, most likely always will.
Any phone that would have an 8mp camera stuffed into it would need to be feature-rich in every other area. There would be no point in going ape-wild with the camera and making the rest of it lame. The components need to be balanced out. Real power in one component? Then there better be real power in the rest.
But any time Moto has put out a phone that was designed to compete in this "do-it-all" category, they did something to cripple it. Maybe they'll surprise us, and I'm not trying to be negative - just being realistic and going by history. Based on past performance, and the convoluted and untalented (or just stifled) team they've been working with, they'll most likely fail in some crucial area in the design of this mystery phone, which will demolish their chances of ever grabbing anyone's real interest... or dollars.
I hope they surprise us, but I'm not betting on that, so I'm saying my goodbyes now: So long, Moto. It was fun while it las... No, actually, it never was any fun that I can remember. You won't be missed (not by me, anyway).
Did no one read the article? Take a look at the rumored specs. The reference to Tegra in particular. Now take a look at what Tegra is capable of. This phone has the potential to once again turn the phone industry on it's ear. It probably will be the make or break moment for Moto.