A blur of launches
Motorola has been justifiably criticised for losing its way in recent years, having been the world's biggest mobile phone maker a decade ago. It has identified Android smartphones as the way forward now, however, and you certainly can't criticise it for not committing 100 percent.
We spoke to Motorola UK mobile devices marketing director Tom Satchwell at MWC 2010 and he impressed on us the sheer number and diversity of Android handsets we can expect to see from Motorola in 2010.
The only launch of the show was the Quench - a 3.1 inch touchscreen device, apparently targeted at the younger users, which features the Motoblur content delivery service. Satchwell (pictured with the Quench) explained that Motoblur aggregates a lot of the data you might have stored in the cloud - like social networking contacts - and aggregates them automatically on the handset.
Among the fun features of the Motorola software installed on the Quench was a swipre technology on the soft keypad. As well as having the kind of predictive technology we've come to expect, this allows you to type without lifting your finger/thumb. There is also technology to allow you to geo-locate your phone and/or remotely lock it, if you leave it lying around.
Satchwell told us that there will be a total of 20 Motorola Android launches in 2010 and he clearly expects to have his work cut out. While it's likely to get pretty confusing for the end-user, not all will be available in all geographies, and they can be loosely subdivided into youth-oriented leisure phones with Motoblur, and grown-up, professional ones without it.
Among the other recent launches he was keen to bring attention to were the Backflip, which uses the full width of the phone for the slide-out QWERTY and even allows you to flip it over, tablet style. Motorola has also recently launched the first Android phone in Korea - the Motoroi.
