Camera Phones Plaza

Motorola is one of the most popular communications companies in the world and its role as a pioneer in the development of this industry is recognized worldwide. It all started in 1928 under the name of Galvin Manufacturing Corporation a company that was producing power adaptors that were allowing the electrical devices that were running on batteries to operate at the outlet.
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
From walkie-talkie’s three kilograms to tiny transceiver stations today, Motorola was one of the leading providers of communications equipment for critical sectors such as police, rescue or construction.

In the 30’s and 40’s Motorola has brought entertainment in American homes with radio and then TV. Also, Motorola processors were the basis for development of computer company Apple and for other devices that use microchips. With the first DynaTAC in 1983, Motorola has participated in writing the history of mobile telephony.

In 1936, Motorola Police Cruiser is released and it was working as a modified radio receiver to capture a single frequency. Next year marks the company’s entry in the segment of households with the launch line of home appliances phonograph and radio. The company launched Handy-Talkie SCR536, a transceiver station that would be widely used in the Second World War in 1941, Galvin Manufacturing launches the first commercial radio in two frequencies, AM and FM. FM transmission technology allowed a much better sound than the PM. The first FM system is installed in Pennsylvania. In 1943, Daniel Noble, chief technology of the company, made the first FM transceiver System, weighing over 15 kilograms and having a range of 20 to 30 kilometers. The station was for the U.S. military.

Later on, Motorola launches a paging service which transmitted a radio signal to a person. Pagers start replacing announcement systems in hospitals and factories. In 1985 the company introduced the first completely transistorized radio, Motrac, which, because low consumption, can be used in the car without the need to start the engine. In 1960, Motorola sales are approaching 300 million dollars. Also this is the year when they release the Astronaut TV which measures 19 inch, the largest diagonal of a television until then.



Towards the end of the seventh decade, the company is expanding abroad to Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Taiwan, Britain and West Germany. In 1969, Neil Armstrong’s first words are brought to Earth By Motorola transponder. There were sent two-way audio files, video, telemetry signals and guidance. In the eight decade, the company’s sales were approaching one billion dollars. Motorola continues collaboration with NASA, providing a radio transmitter that is installed on the lunar module. The receiver is 100 times more sensitive than a portable radio, although weighing only 680 grams.

Late 80’s showed a big step in radio based on chips made by Motorola and Maxon, which facilitated the way to the hand radios and then appeared the old motorola radios maxon. The old motorola radios maxon are extremely rare.



Maxon Australia was founded in 1989 and is a private company. Since 1990 they are focused on solutions and wireless data development and they progressed passing through the time of synthesized RF data modems and crystal controlled modems, the time of CMDA circuit switch and packet data technologies. Nowdays, they are among the few companies that develop hardware functioning on wireless networks.

Lots of costumers from various harsh environments used for more than 30 years Maxon 2-way radio. Even they are reporting that when somebody ask them about the Maxon 2-way radios they can describe it in two words: “dependable” and “trusted”.

On www.radioshowcase.com you can find an antique Motorola radio from 1950-6X12U model. It costs $199.95 and it’s a plastic radio in an excellent shape. This radio plays, and it has its paint is the original factory one. It has no problems or cracks. Even if today Motorola company is known for the mobile phones or other electronic devices, in the 40’s and in the 60’s it was known for its great radios.



At Radio Showcase you can also find other old radios, like an antique Arvin Hopalong Cassidy Radio from 1950 in a great condition with no damage, cracks or dents and it works. It’s cabinet is red metal with silver foil front depicting William Boyd on his famous horse. The price for this radio is $995.00.

Another Antique radio that you can find on the internet is Emerson Radio Model 176 Ingraham tombstone from 1938. It is an unusual and beautiful radio that doesn’t come up for sale to often. The case of this radio is made of walnut and selected veneers with wide wood striping. The cabinet is in very good shape and is the original one. The price for this radio is $ 699.95.

Philco 1931 Antique radio is another old radio that you can find on Radio Showcase which is a piece of History and is real, not a replica. This radio that was designed by Edward Combs plays and in 1931 it sold for $69.99. Today you can buy it for $1495.00.



The “racetrack” as the collectors know it is also available for $249.95. Zenith H511 Antique from 1951 has shiny brown Bakelite. The Zenith literature names this radio as the “tournament” and it’s without any cracks or chips. It is accented beautifully by the brass trim with a great deco-modern styling and very geometric. You can buy this radio for $245.95.

The Philco 66 B that was released in January 1934 has a deco styled grille and there were produced only 15.000 including the production of 60 MB and 66B tomsones model which is similar to 66 B. This radio is a great Art Deco radio that receives AM and also shortwave bands and it still plays good. It has been restored and you can have it for $399.95.

The Olympic Radio and Television Corporation made a radio in the year 1949 and that is Olympic table radio 7-421. This radio was restored and had some interior parts changed so it could play. It has 5-tube and it plays great with more than ample volume. Price: $249.95.

Even if it reduced its staff to the lowest numbers in the history of the company, the mobile division from Motorola is still alive and so, a new terminal sees the light of the day. Motorola ROKR U9 is a clamshell with an average cost, which has as a target the people who remained faithful to this brand. Small, sleek, and above all, incredibly aerodynamic, Motorola ROKR U9 has been launched in an effort to limit the disastrous financial results registered last year.
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
Announced in October 2007, Motorola ROKR U9 was released in February 2008. The phone is available in several colors such as gray, red, pink and gold.

Motorola ROKR U9 shines in many chapters, when it comes to design. Even from the first sight, the aerodynamic shape of the device will draw attention in a particular way. The second asset of the phone is the glossy plastic used in its manufacture. While the front side of the clamshell, which includes a secondary display, is fully covered by the glossy plastic, the back of the phone is covered by a plastic housing shaft, which feels great when held in hand. On the right side of the phone, we found a key, which opens a voice recorder that allows the user to call a contact simply by saying its name. On the left side of the clamshell, there is a dedicated photo / video camera button and a volume key.

The proprietary microUSB port was placed at the bottom of the device. The 2-megapixel camera can be found in front of the phone, and is covered by a thin colorless plastic that protects it against possible scratches. You will also be able to use the touch music keys located just below the external display, but only if the music player is on. The phone keyboard layout is standard, and the keys are quite large. They have an average response time, which means that it must be pressed a little harder. Otherwise, they provide a better experience when using the SMS.



The menu can be controlled easy with the D-pad button and the two contextual keys. Besides the usual keys back (Delete), Motorola has also included a multimedia key, which opens the music player when pressed. Immediately above the keyboard, in the upper left corner, there is a small ambient light sensor. The phone’s backlighting is exceptional, so there will be no problems if you will decide to use the phone in dark areas. The 2-inches main screen s does not touch the keyboard due to a thin rubber band placed on the bottom of the keys. Motorola ROKR U9 measures 90x48.6x16.4mm and weighs just 87.5g (including the battery). The clamshell mechanism is quite robust, which makes the phone stronger. Even if it is a little more difficult, users will be able to open the clamshell with one hand. Overall, the Motorola U9 is pleasant with its shape and its design lines, but let us see what is under these beautiful clothes.

Motorola ROKR U9 includes a TFT (240 x 320 pixels) supporting 262,000 colors. The picture quality is above average, the colors are very well defined and the contrast is extremely vivid. The screen is visible even when exposed under sunlight. The OLED secondary screen supports 65,000 colors and a resolution of 128x160 pixels and it is visible in the sunlight.



The 2-megapixel camera placed on the front side of the clamshell has no special features except the 8x digital zoom. The photo / video camera can be initiated by pressing the dedicated button found on the left side of the phone. You can also set the D-pad button to initiate the camera. The preview image cannot be seen in full screen. There are no additional settings for the camera, so once you open the module, you will be able to take pictures. Saving photos is easy, but requires extra handling of the menu.

The games category contains only Java compatible software, such as Sudoku, Motorola text, Motorola Setup and Backup. The WebAccess category, as suggested by its name, provides users with access to Internet through different access points, which can be set in advance or installed by the network operator. You will be able to choose which access point is used by default if you want to connect to the Internet.

The integrated browser (Symphony 1.1) is mediocre and can be replaced with Opera Mini if you want a better experience. The multimedia category will give you access to the Media Finder, Camera, Camcorder, Voice Recorder and Google. The phone gives users four connectivity options: Bluetooth, USB, voice networks and data Connections. The last of the nine main categories, settings, is the largest and from here, you can do the most important things. There are seven Subcategories: Profiles, Themes, Home Screen, Call Settings, Phone settings, and Network Security.

Motorola ROKR U9 includes Java MIDP 2.0 CLDC 1.1, with 900 KB of free memory. This will allow users to install other Java applications within the low memory.

Because it is an average budget phone, Motorola ROKR U9 includes only technologies like EDGE and GPRS Class 10, which is more than enough for its price. The tests showed us that the phone has an average speed for data transfers: 120 kb / s download and 70 kb / s for upload EDGE. The integrated browser, Symphony, can format any web page on the entire width of the screen, but can also display the image in full screen. Users will be able to save any favorite site directly on the phone’s memory. The user can stop the displaying of images or Java scripts. The clamshell also includes Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support.


In terms of messaging, the phone accepts standard text messages, MMS, Flash and audio messaging, and Email. The e-mail client usually accepts mail POP3, SMTP and IMAP4 protocols. The quad-band phone (GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900) has a good reception of the GSM signal. The sound, during conversations, has a quite low clarity.

Motorola ROKR U9 is most likely powered by a Freescale i.MX31 processor, which runs at speeds up to 532 MHz. Even if it is a powerful processor, I noticed that the phone is a bit slow, especially when running more than one application. Motorola U9 includes 34.5 MB of internal memory, but only 25 MB are available to users. The storage space can be expanded up to 4GB thanks to the microSD slot. The slot was placed near the SIM card slot, under the battery.

The integrated music player supports a wide range of formats such as MP3, AAC, AAC +, WMA, OGG and AMR. It can be minimized and can run in the background while other applications and phone functions can be accessed. Several settings can improve the sound quality: Equalizer, Audio Space, Shuffle, Auto-Repeat and bass boost. The music player can also be controlled with the touch keys below the external display. The sound quality is average, like the music player interface. Moreover, the phone comes with headphones in the sales package and it does not contain a 2.5mm jack or 3.5 mm jack port. I noticed that the phone also has a lag when the music player is running in the background and you try to navigate through the menu or open another application.

I was pleasantly surprised by the design of the phone, but I was also impressed by what it has to offer in terms of features. Even if it is only a medium budget phone, I expected more than it actually has. I hope that the design will be more important to the Motorola fans than the features, otherwise I do not think that the phone will have a great success.

Motorola has made a big step forward by launching the device RAZR and now they continue to exploit the success they had. The sales of the original RAZR increased, and have forced the company to reconsider the current announced models. For example, Motorola v1150 has transformed miraculously into Motorola V3 RAZOR. The people that are buying this phone are most interested in this phone because of the functional component of the phone. It is the first 2 Megapixels camera found on a Motorola. It is the first GoForce family representative of the new Nvidia graphics accelerator. The RAZR has an ATI accelerator but is hard to believe that the user will feel any difference both in games and in the phone's behavior. The device addresses to the 3G operators and is supposed to become one of the cheapest phones with a formal set of characteristics. Its design is very interesting and has nothing in common with the old RAZR. The 99x53x19.8 mm dimensions are normal for the modern phones. The phone's most important features include the camera, an MP3 player, the memory card and the large screen.

<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->

The CMOS camera coincides with the last cameras from Motorola but offers a higher resolution. The camera program is improved because of the GoForce 4200 chip and now the quality is better. A VGA quality camera is placed on the left side. With it, you can make video calls but you can take pictures that not require high resolutions. Two volume buttons for the volume control are placed on the left side and the traditional Smart-key is below.

A standard mini USB connector is slightly below and it is used to connect the charger. This model is designed with an external display with 65k colors that has a resolution of 96x80 pixels (21.1x17.8mm), but the screen quality is average. When you receive an incoming picture, it is not visible in full screen mode. The picture or the image is rectangular and occupies only a part of the screen. The device can be opened with one hand.

The internal screen of the phone is made by Sharp, which means that is among the best in its class. The clarity and the processing of the details are good and show the particularities of the phone. The screen has TFT technology and supports up to 262.000 colors. The screen resolution is 240x320 pixels (33.84x45.112mm), which allows 7 text lines. On a single line, you can write from 16 to 24 characters.

Motorola V3 has rubber inserts between the buttons, which rise above them and divides them. The buttons are easy to use and the keyboard is large, which is nice. An indicator of the keyboard activates the light only in darkness or low light. On the back side, a metal grille hides the speaker. Behind it, we find the battery, which has 820 mAh and can resist up to 200 hours in standby mode and up to 4 hours in talk time.

The phone has an internal memory of 62 MB and the system can be allocated to 32MB. To make the phone unique, a 120 MB chip was integrated to the camera. The memory for applications is allocated dynamically, 700 names being assured in the phone memory. More than 700 names can be saved in the memory and for the each contact, you can specify a name, a surname, a nickname, an email, an URL, an address, a date of birth and a ringtone can be set for each contact.

Messages :

The memory can store up to 100 SMS. Working with MMS does not bring any inconveniences, everything is easy and can be easily attached. You can attach photos or sounds to the messages. Only graphic, video and mp3 files (which do not exceed the size limit) can be sent.

WAP:

The phone has a browser v2.0 and its possibilities are standard so nothing special can be specified. The GPRS technology is present and the settings are very simple.

Games and applications:

The phone supports Java MIDP 2.0. All applications are located in this menu and are based on this technology. The number and the titles of the games depend on the place you buy the phone. The most common are: Rebels, Asphalt Urban, Block Breaker Deluxe, Solitaire, Flee.

Multimedia:

The phone supports themes. There is a set of wallpapers, color schemes for the menu, sounds and ringtones. You can instantly change the phone's look and that is pretty funny.

Sounds:

Information about the sounds stored in the memory of the phone is located here. The player is similar to the one found on other Motorola phones. Everything is easy to understand. One big advantage is that you can listen to music in the background and you can create playlists.

Display:

Here you can set the display, including color schemes and ringtones. Now you can protect some functions with a password. Bluetooth settings are a little changed. The device is visible after 3 minutes.

Camera:

With an integrated two Megapixels CMOS sensor, Motorola V3 Razor can take photos in 4 resolutions: high (2MP), Medium (1.2MP), Low (480x640) and Low-X (240x320). The timer is also present. You can select the video quality: good, better and best. The maximum duration of a movie reaches 10 minutes. It is curious that the camera interface differs from the camera settings. You can change the settings very quickly. However, the image occupies only a part of the screen. This is caused by the clip resolution (low - 128x96 pixels, high - 176x144 pixels). The video quality is average and you can record without sound too. It has a frequency of 15 frames per second.

Synchronization with the PC:

A list of Mobile Phone Tools version 4.x is included in the package. The program satisfies most of the users because pictures, songs can be copied and messages can be written from the PC.

Motorola V3 Razor has no problems with the connection quality, being a typical modern device. The volume is higher than average, Midi files are in the 64 polyphonic ringtones, which sounds good. The speaker volume is loud enough during a conversation almost all the time.

If you want a classic phone, which has no camera, music player or rockets ready to be launched on the moon and any other offerings which take your attention away from the main purpose, making calls, the perfect device for you is Motorola C139. It is solely built for performing the best function of a phone, making calls. The design is simple, and the interface is user-friendly. It comes with Cingular's prepaid service, and the price is more than reasonable: $29.
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
This phone's design is functional and basic, but it has some style. The basic black color scheme, the rounded corners, both give Motorola C139 an aerodynamic look. It is compact and portable (its dimensions are: 4''x1.8''x0.9'') and it weighs only 3 ounces. The rubberized side parts are very good for a strong grip and the external antenna is missing, which is a pretty cool design aspect.

This phone has a display which measure 1.25'' diagonally, and it is bright and colorful and it even supports 65,000 hues. The backlight intensity can be changed, and the contrast also, but the menu's font is kinda small. The dialing font, on the other hand is rather large, and speaking of menu designs, you should know that this phone's menu is very well organized and it is quite useful. Beyon simple animation, don't expect to see on its screen flash graphics or various menu styles. The order of the menu icons can be changed, and this is one of the cool "features" concerning the menu organization.

The navigation array was designed somehow strange, because the middle part of the toggle opens the menu, but you have to shift the finger up to the left key which selects the items. It would have been infinite easier if the menu button doubled the OK key. The toggle key is rubberized and it is a little raised above the plain surface of the phone.  The soft keys can be set as shortcuts, and the up and down directions of the toggle button open the phone book.



The back button doesn't exist, but you can use the right soft key for that purpose, only when in a menu. The keypad buttons are easy to use, and they are cool because they are covered in a rubbery material. They are raised above the surface of the phone and you can make the difference when you slide from one key to another.

The only cool exterior features are the headset jack, which is located on the left side, and the charger port, on the bottom. There is no volume slider on the exterior, so you will have to modify the volume via the toggle navigator.

This phone has a small phone book, for only 100 contacts and this may be enough for some prepaid users. If you are a popular person, or you intend to use it for business purposes (I doubt of that, but maybe there are people who need something simple for work), it is very small, and it allows you to hold in the memory only one phone number for each contact. The SIM can store 250 additional contacts, but I think it would have been better if you could keep all of them in the phone's memory. You can't create caller groups, and there is no possibility to associate ringtones with contacts. Some features are minimal, but they bring the essentials into attention: vibration, speed dialing, SMS, calculator, calendar, currency converter, alarm clock.

Motorola C139 can be customized with wallpapers and screensavers, but from a small selection. There is no chance of a Web browser or wireless Internet connection on this phone, so if you want some entertainment you can compose your ring tones, and there are also three games, which can be pretty funny when you are bored. Spring Ball, Soccer and Maze are nice games, but the small display will torment your eyes when you will play them. The screen can be used as a light for the moments when you got out in the dark.

Call quality is decent, and even if there is small interference, we can say that the main purpose of this phone is accomplished, so it is ok in this matter. There are no troubles in getting a signal, and the voice sometimes sounds echoed, but the calls were excellent maintained in various environments. The battery lige is quire long: 11 hours of talk time, and on standby the phone can be awake up to 18 days.



Motorola C139 is a phone for people who just need to take it out of the pocket or bag, lookup for a contact or dial the number and call. It has the minimal features, so you can calculate something or you can se it up to wake you up in the morning, but there are no 3G, touchscreen, mobile e-mai or instant messaging. I really like this phone concept, because it focuses on the main utility of a phone: making calls. Its simple design and the solid call quality are some good pro aspects for this phone, but the small address book storage capacity and the confusing navigation keys might be some disadvantages. All in all, it is a good phone, but don't expect too many things from it, like features or extras.

Motorola RAZR series includes all clamshell mobile camera phones created by Motorola. They were developed in 2003, and they were released on the market in 2004. The sales actually started in the following year. In the beginning the products belonging to this series were sold on the market as fashion phones. Withing  year, the price lowered and the company sold over 50 million units until July 2006. It is the most popular clamshell phone series, and they are on the second place in the handeld devices' market, after Nokia.
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
RAZR series was on the market until 2007, July, when RAZR2 was released. The new series integrates sleeker and more stable designs, and the products also have more features and improved audio quality. The display is brand new touchscreen, and it attracted a lot of people's eyes. New models in this series were V8, V9 and V9m. The company relied too much on these series, and they lost somehow on other niches, like 3G products or smartphones. RAZR products started their decline when LG released their LG Chocolate and the huge incumbent Apple released iPhone. Motorola's strategy has changed over time, and now they are focusing on low prices and they cut a lot the margins, and this resulted in heavy losses in the cellular division.

The original RAZR V3 GPRS phone was offered in the USA with AT&T voice plans, but there were some complaints about dust accumulation between the plastic screen and the LCD glass, and this disadvantage added to the peeling of the plastic cover. It was a good phone at that time, and after this version, a black version was released too, and also a pink one. The pink version is involved into a breast cancer program, and this means that $25 of sales go to Rethink Breast Cancer foundation. It is available in USA by AT&T, and also in Canada. This model has a tatoo-inspired design, which was created by Ami James, from the TLC reality TV show, Miami Ink.

The successor, V3i model, has some improvements, a better camera (1.23 Mp, and 8x zoom), an external and internal display, and also an microSD card slot (up to 1 GB). V3i is similar to V365, and it comes in two versions: the one with iTunes, and the other one with Motorola Digital Audio Player. In 2006, Motorola and D&G released a limited edition of gold phones, and this included too a D&G cell phone holder, a signature leather pouch, headphones (via Bluetooth) and earphones. It was available at all major Motorola reatilers, and of course in D&G boutiques. It is available in a large color palette, for example: Dark Blue, Maroon, Violet, Red, Platinum, Chrome Green and Purple, Celery or Lime Green, and many many others.

V3r and V3t are sold by T-Mobile, AT&T and the Canadian Rogers Wireless. They are virtually identical to the previous versions, and the only difference would be that they use Motorola DAP for music playback. V3r offers a Voice Notes feature, and you can forward the audio recordings to the voice mail or to the phone memory. V3t has a 10 Mb memory, including the system files. It is divided in two partitions, A: and C: and on A: partition, the .avr structure can be found, for the Voice Records feature. C: is larger with 5.5 Mb and it can store user data, images, sounds, text, notes and calendar entries, and also phone book contacts.

RARZ V3re is a model which had EDGE and Crystal Talk Technology improvements. It is similar to the original V3, and it has no memory card support and it has only a VGA 4x camera. This phone has a black matter logo on the battery cover instead the silver logo on V3, and the software version is R3442A.

V3c is a phone is which supports CDMA 2000 1xRTT and 1xEV-DO technologies. The internal memory is 41.2 Mb, and only 36 Mb are available for the user. V3c doesn't have a card slot, and there are two color versions: charcoal gray and light pink. The upgrade version is V3m and it features, finally, a card slot, for up to 2 Gb expansion, it has a longer battery life and 40 Mb of internal memory. The newest CDMA model is VE20, and its clamshell is as this as the V3m's. It has a QVGA display, an outer display with touch keys, a cool 2 Mp camera and a microSD slot for up tp 8 GB expansion. Moreover, it supports stereo Bluetooth.

V3x RAZR was formerly known as V1150, and it apears to be a larger V3, but with more enhancements. It has a 2 Mp camera, a different microprocessor, a chipset, Nvidia GeForce 4500 GPU and ICs for radio.

There were several versions after this V3x, with much more improvements, but the most important aspectis that this series become an iconic phone. It has been used in several movies and television shows, and the most well known occasion was the finale of the third season of Lost, when a character used a RAZR mobile phone. Contestants in the Treasure Hunters reality show were given RAZR for communication with the control tower. Oprah launched the Red edition of RAZR series.