Motorola rolls out new phones
The company is launching a GPS-enabled phone designed to work with Nextel's "push to talk" service, plus two handsets designed to allow for faster downloads.
Other new models include handsets that allow for faster downloads and data processing.
With the GPS model, named the i830, Motorola is targeting the 13 million people who use Nextel's International Direct Connect "push to talk" service. The inclusion of GPS (Global Positioning System) technology means that the phone can be used in conjunction with location-based services, such as enhanced 911, or E911.
The flip-style phone supports 65,000 colors and is about 3 inches long, the company said. It weighs 3.6 ounces and features a voice recorder, a phone book that can accommodate 600 names, voice-activated dialing, and games. It comes with up to 2MB of memory.
The i830 costs $299.99 and comes with a two-year service agreement. It is available through Nextel distribution channels.
Motorola's two other new handsets, the V260 and the V265, are both CDMA phones. CDMA, or Code Division Multiple Access, is the cell phone standard used most widely in the United States.
Both the V260 and the V265 are based on the latest version of Qualcomm's BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless) software. The software, which allows consumers to download data such as ring tones and games, was unveiled by Qualcomm at the BREW Developers Conference 2004, which began Monday in San Diego.
The V260 has multimedia-messaging capabilities and is WAP-enabled. WAP, or Wireless Application Protocol, is a standard for connecting to the Net wirelessly. The phone also offers location-based service capabilities to consumers with certain types of subscriptions and network access.
The V265, meanwhile, has an integrated camera, digital zoom capabilities and voice dialing. The phone also has enough memory to store downloads.
The CDMA phones are expected to hit the market in the fourth quarter. Pricing information was not released.