Motorola Motoroi coming to USA in March
Well, isn't this a novelty? The well practiced skill of lusting after Korean gear from afar won't be necessary with Motorola's latest Android 2.0 handset, as we're hearing the Motoroi is headed to US shelves this March. Moto Korea head honcho Rick Wolochatiuk was on hand at the Korean launch to confirm that the new handset "will be launched in other markets around the world," with the US specifically confirmed for a March release. The Motoroi, if you recall, is a 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen spliced atop hardware good enough to record 720p video and output it via HDMI. An 8 megapixel camera with Xenon flash should ensure you get pretty decent photos too. But what are we doing telling you about it when there are perfectly good promo videos after the break? Go get 'em!
























Droid killer?
@Almo
Carrier killer?
This phone runs on Koreas IMT-2000 system... "a family of standards for mobile telecommunications defined by the International Telecommunication Union,[1] which includes GSM EDGE, UMTS, and CDMA2000 as well as DECT and WiMAX" - Wikipedia.
If they offer that hardware over here I wonder if it can run on both bands and thus would REALLLY be the universal carrier killer phone.
@Almo
It appears better than the Droid. Time will tell. Hopefully the camera is decent quality. I didn't get the 'hump' until I saw it was for camera controls. I like the hump. The hump is good. Praise the hump, do not condemn it.
Moto is on a tear lately!
The rumors of Motorola's impending death appear to have been greatly exaggerated.
@Why should I have all the fun
Nope, definitely not exaggerating, they certainly had a miracle so enormous I can only imagine it involved a whole bunch of praying, unicorns, star wishing, and quantum leaping to make right what was once wrong.
But this phone is certainly lust-worthy. I'm glad it made such a comeback.
@Almo
Nah. It's too fugly to kill the Droid, IMO.
@derX you forgot leprechauns
@Almo
Did Apple say that Motorola would be allowed to use multi-touch in the U.S.? Otherwise, no multi-touch for the Motoroi, Motofanboy. The Motoroi is a terrific looking handset with great specs. It has a rugged look to it, much better than the Droid. If they'd built this three years ago, it would have been in the iPhone's place, now it just one Android smartphone out of two dozen or so. Google should buy Motorola. It would probably prove beneficial for two American companies.
I really have to see how Motorola is somehow going to mess this one up.
@derX Not really, it only took selling their soul to the Devil ( or Google as we know him).
@Almo This will be like a Droid for the photographer. It's very camera centric which is what I've been waiting for. Upload 720p video directly to Youtube? Yes thank you. 16:9 screen to watch in full screen? Check. 8 megapixel with real flash and onscreen touch to focus? Yeah. 3.7" screen is actually bigger than any dedicated camera I've seen.
No idea if the photo quality will hold up to the potential of a real 8MP camera, and it probably doesn't have a zoom. Still, the wireless and GPS aware and the stuff above would be pretty awesome for a camera that is always always in your pocket. I have a very nice 8MP pocket camera that is pretty much guaranteed to be sitting on a shelf somewhere rather than on me.
@Almo Oh yeah, one more thing: HDMI port. That's awesome and totally unprecedented, another thing a lot of dedicated cameras still don't have. Show your photos and videos in HD on any TV. Love it.
@Aubrey
Umm... IMT-2000 = 3G
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G
@Big Al It seems likely that the majority of the MOTOROI’s specifications will make it over to the US, including the 8-megapixel camera, 720p HD video recording, 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen and high-speed GSM connectivity. However we expect Motorola to strip out the T-DMB digital TV tuner that the Korean market will enjoy..
More details: http://bit.ly/motorola-motoroi-details
@ArtInvent
Actually NOT unprecedented. The Instinct HD does this.
@fr4nk1yn Instinct HD? Not hardly. Half the display resolution and smaller screen, no HDMI, crummy LED flash rather than xenon, 5mp rather than 8. Not really a smart phone, and, oh yeah, no Android. It does 720p video; other than that, wouldn't want one.
nice it's that "DROID HD" ?
This 'phone' could well be the world's first pocket (tele) computer. Other than it's superb specification, if the HDMI port produces good enough image quality at a practical resolution (IE, => 1024 x 768) then except for power users, given some robust Android applications and/or Google web apps (spreadsheet, word processor etc) it could suffice as the ONLY computer for many people. When arriving at your desk (or anywhere with a bluetooth or mini USB equipped full size keyboard and a monitor with an HDMI port), just dock and go.
Why laptop when you can pocket'top'?
Motorola, you may just have changed the world without realising it. Or was this all part of the plan?
Cue Dr. Evil laugh...
@Oflife
Shame there is still no way to connect a keyboard to your android phone
@Oflife: "This 'phone' could well be the world's first pocket (tele) computer"
A few months too late for that.
Basically it's a competitor to the N900 with a better cam but less freedom. Big difference is the N900 being a full-fledged Linux device whereas Android is built on top of Linux but most of its application aren't much more than glorified Java applets.
Doesn't hurt that Nokia's baby is able to run native Linux applications and it takes only a few clicks to gain root access.
@MikeZ
I'd buy the N900 if it supported all the 3G bands. I hope that this new
Moto phone does.
@Zomer Is that so? Pants! Don't you just hate it when vendors knoble their products intentionally to halt our progress towards a utopian lifestyle where humanity moves to the next level that takes us beyond materialism? Tomorrow then. ;)
@Zomer You can "attach" some Bluetooth keyboards. They have to be SPP keyboards though, no hid support yet.
@Oflife
"Time will tell. It always does." -- The Seventh Doctor, Survival
@Oflife
no i think the omnia 2 will take that title. it too does hdmi-out. difference is it runs wimo and is in the US already ;)
@slamEVIL
The Omnia 2 is a piece of crap.
Next gen iPhone, HTC HD2, NEXUS, DROID..and now this!?!?!
Damn it feels good to have choices! Although parting with my old 8gb silverback iphone is going to be hard -__-
@SPENone
Not really, you get to enjoy a whole new phone experience while retaining the old one for the sole purpose of playing around with apps. After all, that's pretty much the only thing it exceeds at, being a platform.
@SPENone
I've been satisfied with my iPhone 3G experience but I likely would not
get another one just because of Apple's tight grip on the device.
I bought it, it's mine. I should be able to do any darned thing I want
with it but can't without having to jailbreak. And iTunes...ugh.
But for satisfied AT&T customers, there's not much in the line up that
can compete (right now).
@dand
Yeah i guess both of you are correct but im just ready for something new.
So far the HD2 is looking like my choice. Im not a HUGE fan of WM, but i can deal with it. The phone is just sexy.
@SPENone
Dont forget about the HTC supersonic!
@dand
Android isn't really that different. In order to do a lot of the "fun" stuff you have to "root" the phone (ie jailbreak). While android is certainly more open than Apple, it's not "totally open" as many would have you believe.
That said a jailbroken iphone (which is much easier than rooting) does about any damn thing I could imagine.
@SPENone So far something not on T-Mobile is my next choice. It's starting to piss me off that all these nice new phones are going to T-Mobile, the network with the WORST 3G in the country. What's the point in coming out with all these new phones and crippling them on a terrible network.
AT&T isn't much better, but I can deal with it, and since I'm in contract with them still, they kind of end up being the front runner for me. I can get an upgrade now, but I can't change carriers until later this year.
Does anyone else think most Android phones are a bit too alike? except being really highly specced I don't see anything which differentiates this phone. :|
@IJustNoticed
We differentiates an hp desktop from a gatway? CHOICE!! Thats what android is about and thats why it will eventually dominate just like windows in the PC market.
Not everyone what a phone that looks and functions the exact same way like an iphone
@IJustNoticed
Actually I think all the iphone models are too alike...
@prowler63 That might be why Gateway was pushed off the market before being resurrected by Acer. They aren't really different from anyone else's product.
@IJustNoticed
But was that bad for the company or the consumer? In the end the consumer wins with this model. It drives down prices, provides more choice and standardizes a platform(android).
Just look at the PC market for example. You can probably find any PC you want (High to Low end) in any shape or form, at the price you want. Thats why the PC market(windows) is so dominant.
If smartphones and android could mirror this, how could this be a bad thing for the consumer?
@IJustNoticed
Really? They're all running the same OS. Of course they're going to be similar, that's kind of the point. Different hardware, offering different choices for different peoples' tastes while still offering the same OS. If they didn't load Android onto each phone, that would kind of defeat the purpose of it being an Android phone, no? People like to feel unique and different people want different phones.
And even on top of that, if you WANT to have a difference in your software (somewhat), then you have the CHOICE to get one of the phones with a different UI layered on top (Sense UI, MotoBlur and now Sony Ericsson's new UI, etc). All on different hardware. They all have Android as a basis but that's what makes it an Android phone... Google is offering the consumer choice, which is a good thing.
So every time I press a button on the phone it's gonna rotate 720 degrees? If it was only 360, I would have considered buying it..
@gargle those ARE 360s.
@evildoer i forgot to add the /sarcasm sign, sorry
AT&T! AT&T! AT&T!
PLEASE!!
I'm a Motorola two-way radio tech and I'd love to sportin' that device.
@dand Yeah really, what carrier can we expect this for? If not AT&T, then I plan on getting an unlocked Milestone when it comes to Telus Canada.
@clift
Thanks for the reminder...I had completely forgotten about the Milestone. I'll definitely consider that one.
@dand
AT&T would be cool....I wonder if it will have multitouch however?
And I'm gonna have to wait to see more of this UI and the browser speed before I make a judgment on it.
@dand
Could this be the Moto Android device with a unique form factor that ATT is expecting in the near future? If so, I will hold off on signing up with the Droid.
@dand Yes, please. AT&T sucks for a lot of people, but it works great for me...where I live. So, yes please. My contract is up in July, and I'd like a reason to stay on AT&T.....this phone could be my excuse.
@TheRogueFFAngel It was recently reported that Motorola will be enabling multi-touch on all it's future devices. So...yes, I'm pretty sure this will be multi-touch capable.
Im with you dand. I want this on the att.
Way to stay relevant, Motorola.
So isn't this just the Sholes tablet? *crosses fingers for t-mo*
http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/02/motorola-sholes-tablet-detailed-sounds-as-tasty-as-wed-hoped/