Heads should be rolling somewhere in Schaumburg....this is really a royal screwup.
theregister.co.uk
Motorola plugs mother of all roadmap leaks
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 17/09/2002 at 18:25 GMT
Ashen-faced Motorola supremos have confirmed that the phone giant is acting to plug one of the most spectacular leaks of product information in recent times, after the publication of a long-range handset roadmap spilled most of next year's phones onto the web.
High-end showstoppers include 'Paragon II' (available Q4 2003, a 3G SymbianOS phone with 'haptics' - sound and light sensors - and an SD card); and the A835, a video/cameraphone designed for two-way video conferencing, which features "Bell Keypad Mode and AV mode"…. whatever that means. It's functionally similar to Nokia's 7650 cameraphone, doesn't have pen input, and no release date is given for the device.
In the mid-range, Motorola has gone nuts on digital imaging: two of the phones have built-in cameras, while the others are all capable of receiving and viewing picture messages.
The camera phones listed are the T725 triband/GPRS flip phone with a 120x169 screen, sladed for Q2, and the E360R with a 128x96 screen slated for Q3.
Slated for European/Asian markets in Q1 is the C370 (a 900/1800Mhz/GPRS) model with USB and a 96x65 screen; while the V600, scheduled for Q3, will be the major US model next year for the US market. This is a triband GSM model with the addition of the 850Mhz frequency - a concoction to help TDMA networks transition to proper GSM/GPRS, that was devised for US carriers.
Two more models complete the line-up: the V70i, a hideous colorized version of the beautiful V70 watch phone, and the V300, a successor to the curvy blue model aimed at the youth market and pay-as-you-go tariffs. This has USB and a camera accessory is "under evaluation", according to the blurb.
Wireless to go
Paragon is interesting because it uses the same user interface as SonyEricsson's P800. Applications should be able to run on both devices unmodified. Motorola designed Paragon for Hutchison's 3G network (called simply '3'), and the appearance of a successor indicates that this project is more than a one-off. (The existence of Paragon was first revealed at The Register here, last year.Paragon II looks particularly interesting because the specification lists 802.11 support as an SD card accessory.
Carriers have overcome their wariness of 802.11, and this could be the first device that gives you the option of roaming between cellular networks and wireless Ethernet hotspots. Wouldn't that be nice?
If you're quick, you can see for yourself here but don't shout at us if this has been lawyered out of sight.® |
