Another, even skinnier Motorola cellphone

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 26 July 2006 11:34

Business IT - Technology

Following its recent announcement of five new cellphones, Motorola says it will launch later this year its skinniest phone ever: the 9mm thick Motofone, aimed at the massive market of those who have never yet used a cellphone.
Motorola points out that, only two billion of the world's population has made a phone call, "and billions more have only just begun to leverage wireless communication." It promises that, with the Motofone, it will "empower these new users to embrace mobile communication with confidence and style."

The Motofone comes with a new interface built on icons and voice rather than text, designed to simplify for first-time users to navigate, place a call, and retrieve messages. It also provides voice prompt instructions in a variety of languages, has a large readable font size, an icon-based menu and extra loud volume to cope with the crowded and noisy environments likely to be commonplace in the emerging cellphone markets.

The majority of new users are expected to on prepaid accounts, and the Motofone automatically reports the status of the user's pre-paid account after each call or message.

A key innovation is the'ClearVision' display, based on electrophoretic display (EPD) technology that, according to Motorola, provides users with a large, high-contrast screen that is viewable even in bright sunlight.

The Motofone is expected to be available in the second half of 2006 in both GSM and CDMA models. No indication of pricing has been given.