There is one part of this release that makes me wonder if they left POLYMER out on purpose.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1998 JUL 21 (NB) -- By Steve Gold,
Newsbytes. The company may have been criticized for failing to keep up
with the likes of Ericsson and Nokia, but now Motorola is fighting
back with a raft of new mobile products, including the world's first
Iridium satellite phone and pager.
The Satellite Series 8500 satphone is, of course, the flagship of the
new Motorola range, and has been designed specifically for the Iridium
satellite phone service, which launches commercially on September 23
this year.
Unlike the Inmarsat satphone service, the Iridium service is based on
several dozen low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, which are already
spinning around the earth in a polar orbit, and which will handle
voice and slow speed data traffic from mobiles from almost anywhere on
the earth's surface.
According to Fred Kuznik, president of Motorola's personal
communications operations, "Motorola was there for the first audio
transmissions from the astronauts on the moon and we will be there
first to enable our customers to receive a call or a page virtually
anywhere on Earth."
Alongside the 8500 is the 8501, the world's first Iridium pager, which
receives data at 2,400 bits per second. Like the SkyTel paging
service, the Iridium satellite paging service will eventually be two
way, and Iridium plans to offer two way pagers in due course.
For the time being, however, the Iridium paging service is mainly one
way, but with the pager capable of acknowledging receipt of a paging
message where required.
The 9500 satphone is modular and allows users to clip in modules, or
cassettes, to allow it to access terrestrial digital cellular networks
where available.
In addition to a graphic LCD display, 32-digit number capacity,
illuminated holographic display, multiple language choices for prompts
and 10 selectable ringer tones, the Satellite Series 9500 phone will
provide something no other phone in the world has ever done --
compatibility with multiple technology standards throughout the world.
"This is the first time in history that a wireless phone will have so
many spectrum options," said Kuznik. "Never before has there been a
phone or a pager that gives customers so much freedom to communicate."
The 9501 pager, meanwhile, has four line alphanumeric display that can
provide up to 80 characters and will support a wide variety of global
languages.
The 9500 satphone weighs 16 ounces and will support up to 5.5 hours or
talk time, or 48 hours on standby. Standard features include a
VibraCall facility, as well as one touch dialing to automatically dial
important numbers.
The 9501 pager, meanwhile, weighs in at 4.16 ounces, and can store up
to 99 messages.
For the terrestrial networks, Motorola's phones and pagers look
impressive, Newsbytes notes, and include the world's first wearable
iDEN handset, the i1000, which supports fourth generation iDEN
standard networks.
The i1000 handset measures just 4.5 x 2.2 x 1.2 inches and weighs just
five ounces with an ultra slim Lithium Ion battery. Up to 180 minutes
of talk time or up to 60 hours of standby time, in multi-service mode,
or up to 75 hours of standby time in "phone only" mode can be achieved
with the standard battery.
Of most interest to those mobile phone users with a less then hefty
wallet, however, is the V series mobile phone handsets from Motorola,
which, like the StarTAC series of digital handsets, have been designed
to be "must have" premium products for users.
Versions of the new V series planned include: V3688 (dual band
900/1800 MHz GSM) and V3682 (1900 MHz GSM) with scheduled availability
during Q1 next year. Motorola's plans other versions of the handsets,
to support other digital cellular standards, for release later in
1999.
Kuznik said he anticipates the V series phones will generate as much
excitement as the StarTAC series.
While the industry will have to wait until Q1 next year for the V
series to ship, plans call for Motorola to ship various new StarTAC
digital phones in Q4 of this year.
These include the ST7760 800 MHz CDMA AMPS digital phone and the
ST7790 800 MHz TDMA/AMPS digital phone, which officials say are among
the smallest and lightest digital phones in the world.
According to Kuznik, both the new digital StarTAC phones incorporate a
variety of easy-to-use features. "Demand for digital StarTAC phones
has been strong, and we recognize the need to provide consumers with
the products they want when they want them," he said.
"We can say with confidence that these new StarTAC digital phones will
certainly meet and exceed consumer expectations," he went on to say,
adding that the ST7760 CDMA StarTAC phone provides talk times from 90
to 250 minutes and standby times of between 40 and 120 hours.
Motorola's Web site is at motorola.com .
Reported by Newsbytes News Network, newsbytes.com .
<<Ultra slim Lithium-Ion??????>>>>
Tmoore |
