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Motorola introduces the FONE

By Reuben Lee
Jul 26, 2006


Motorola FONE: Mass market phones never looked better
(click for more pictures)
CHICAGO, US--Motorola certainly left the best for last. At the end of his presentation, president of Mobile Devices Ron Garriques, who was the final speaker at the company's 2006 Analyst Meeting, confirmed the launch of a new line of mobile handsets for emerging markets, to be known as the SCPL. While enthusiast sites have been speculating about the SCPL after it was first mentioned some time back, no information had been available on the handset until this latest announcement.

According to the press release, the first offering in the SCPL lineup will be named the FONE, and measures just 9mm thick. This makes it even slimmer than Motorola's own SLVR L7 and L6, putting the FONE among some of the slimmest cellular offerings in the current market. Only the Samsung Ultra Edition 6.9 tops the FONE with its super-slim 6.9mm girth.

Garriques believed the stylishly slim form factor of the FONE will bring to the market to an all-time new cost-effective yet attractive-looking phone category, which will change people's expectations toward mass-market mobiles.


The FONE is part of the new SCPL phone series
(click for more pictures)
The FONE isn't, however, just about a stylish thin profile. Some of its key features include an intuitive icon-based user interface for better ease of use and improved audio performance. The unit will also come with a ClearVision display that promises to provide a viewable screen even under direct sunlight. Designed for the long haul, the FONE is rated for a maximum of 450 minutes of talktime and 400 hours on standby. Its unique dual antenna design (integrated at the top and bottom of the handset) is expected to provide better cellular signal reception.

The FONE will be introduced for both the GSM and CDMA networks, and is expected to start shipping in 90 days, which indirectly points to a Q4 2006 debut. The company was unable to reveal details on where the handset would initially roll out, but confirmed that an order of 500,000 units of the candy-bar phone has been placed on the first day.

Moving ahead, Motorola has committed to introducing new form factors for upcoming SCPL handsets, just like the Razr. The company also plans to launch in 2007 a SCPL broadband series which will incorporate features such as HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access).

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