The handset, known as the Motorola Droid in the US, is the first mobile phone to run on the Android 2.0 operating system (OS) from Google – also known as the Eclair OS.

Motorola Milestone running on Android 2.0 OS

The Android 2.0 operating system will be the first OS to allow for turn-by-turn navigation when using the Google Maps application. However, this application won’t be available to UK consumers at the time of the Milestone’s launch next week – and neither Motorola or Google have been able to confirm when this service will launch in Europe.

The Milestone will initially be available exclusively through the Expansys website until the end of the year, where it will retail for £449.99.

The Motorola Milestone features a 5Mp camera, a 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen and Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth connectivity. It’s a slide model that when opened features a full Qwerty keyboard. It will come bundled with an 8GB SD memory card, and is compatible with cards up to 32GB.
No turn-by-turn navigation on Google Maps at time of launch

Jon Barrow, Which? mobile phone expert, said: ‘The Motorola Milestone features a raft of attractive features such as its large multi-touch screen, its Wi-Fi connectivity, and its full Qwerty keypad. However, its biggest draw will be the new Android operating system, and so it’s a shame that the Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation that this software can support will not be available at the time of the phone’s launch. We’ll keep you updated with news on this feature’s release, and when available we shall pit it against a dedicated sat nav.’

Credits: which.co.uk

“Our focus right now quite simply is to become a good provider of smartphones,” Jha said. “Internally we will reorganize ourselves to support that mission of ours.”

Jha said Motorola will introduce “multiple tens of products” with Android, with “a second product for the holiday season in the US.” Some of Motorola’s upcoming Android phones will be full-touch phones without hardware keyboards, and others will have QWERTY keyboards, Motorola’s vice president of software applications and ecosystem Christy Wyatt said.

Not all of those Android phones will run MOTOBLUR, Motorola’s new social-networking-focused UI, Wyatt said.

“Our desire is to see MOTOBLUR as broadly distributed as possible … but we have to also allow for the fact that there’s going to be some customization,” Wyatt said.

While consumers won’t be able to install MOTOBLUR themselves initially, Motorola vice president of product development Rick Osterloh said the company could work towards that goal in the future.

Motorola introduced their first Android phone, the CLIQ for T-Mobile, last month. Their second phone is widely expected to appear on Verizon Wireless within the next two months.

Jha and other Motorola execs gave a 90-minute presentation before a full day of lessons on how to design the best Android applications. While they didn’t break much news during the speeches, Wyatt took some time to define “smartphone” as Motorola sees it.

Future smartphones must have a large, high-resolution display, a robust HTML browser, rich messaging and media capabilities, a multi-tasking multi-threaded OS, and the ability to do over-the-air software updates. Windows Mobile, famously, cannot push software updates over the air. But “I’m definitely not going to argue that Windows Mobile today is not a smartphone,” she said. “We have said we were anxiously anticipating Windows Mobile’s next version … [and] we would love to see what they have in the pipe.”

Motorola’s focus on smartphones doesn’t mean they’re ditching their entire line of inexpensive, voice-focused feature phones, Wyatt said. But she said the proprietary small-scale OSes that those phones run on have a limited lifespan, and that Motorola’s R&D was now primarily focused on smartphones.

Wyatt sees the current smartphone market, which has many competing operating systems, consolidating down to just a few.

“We just don’t believe long term it’s going to be sustainable … you’ll see the number go from 10, down to 8, down to 5, down to hopefully 2 or 3,” Wyatt said. She said she didn’t want to speculate as to exactly which two or three OSes would triumph, though obviously they’ve thrown their lot in with Android.

A range of software partners also announced apps for the CLIQ phone today at Motorola’s event. The CLIQ’s apps will include Accuweather, the Barnes & Noble eReader, Midomi music search, MySpace, QuickOffice, and the PrimeTime2Go streaming TV application, according to a press release. Of course, the CLIQ will also be able to use the 10,000-plus apps in the Android Market.

Source: PCMag / Sascha Segan

Motorola this morning revealed a special, Ferrari-badged edition of the RAZRmaxx. Known as the RAZRmaxx V6 Ferrari Challenge Mobile Phone Limited Edition, the clamshell handset not only displays the Italian supercar maker’s logo but also switches to an appropriately red lighting scheme for its backlights. The sound of the V8 engine from Ferrari’s F1 car is timed to play when the phone is turned on or of; custom wallpaper and a collection of 30 photos of the F430 and Ferrari Challenge cars are preloaded as well.

The RAZRmaxx was chosen for the makeover due to its already high speed, Motorola said, which is represented by its support for 3.6Mbps HSDPA broadband. A 2-megapixel rear camera and forward-facing VGA camera remain unchanged from the original model. Motorola plans to deliver the RAZRmaxx V6 internationally on the 29th for €490 ($636) before service plan discounts. A full photo is available after the jump.

Motorola emphasized speed with its introduction of this breathlessly-named RAZRmaxx V6 Ferrari Challenge Mobile Phone Limited Edition, touting its 3.6 megabit-per-second HSDPA wireless broadband connection. Along with that familiar Ferrari badge, the otherwise-ordinary RAZR clamshell handset has that signature red color as its keypad backlight, and makes annoying engine noises when it’s turned on or off, which could get old after about a day or two. Hopefully that can be easily silenced.

Oh yeah, and there’s one other major difference: that Ferrari logo turns a cheap RAZR phone into a $636 status symbol, but that’s before discounts you might get by signing your life away to some shitty cellphone service provider. We’re just wondering what’s up with Ferrari that it needs to pimp its logo on laptops and cellphones. We don’t see Rolex doing that.

Turns out Motorola today unveiled its new RAZRmaxx V6 Ferrari Challenge Mobile Phone Limited Edition. Not only does it come with the longest model name for a cellphone ever, but it packs sounds from the Ferrari F1 car, special Ferrari photos and wallpapers, dedicated music buttons, HSDPA, a 2-megapixel camera, and a front facing VGA camera.

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Article source: Mobbit.info | Electronista | Crunch Gear

Motorola’s new damn hot ROKR E6 has been in the news ever since its FCC approval and it seems that this is one phone you just can’t do without. Much to the delight of all the Motorola fans, this Linux based beauty is now finally launched in China, after rather an excruciatingly long wait. But folks, lets keep our fingers crossed until its made official for the U.S!

The ROKR E6 is a tri-band supporting 900/1800/1900Mhz bands, much to the delight of Moto fans in U.S. But, it makes the ROKR E6 of limited use here in the US as long as you stay within the T-Mobile network. The phone includes host of multimedia goodies, a 2 megapixel camera, a QR code (barcode) scanner, business card reader, and document viewer for PDF and most importantly MS Office applications.

Apart from that you can enjoy the iTunes via Real player which also suggests that it supports MP3, MPEG4, AAC+, WAV, and RealAudio formats. Additional features include Bluetooth stereo audio (A2DP), integrated FM radio, dedicated music controls along the side, a USB 2.0 and a 3.5mm headphone jack. According to sources it is retailing in China for 4,280 chinese yuan, which is approximately around 540$ USD.

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Article source: Mobbit.info | Mobilewhack