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Goodbye Razr, hello Linux-based Motofone

linuxdevices.com — Motorola is shipping the first model in its Scpl ("scalpel") line of mobile phones set to replace the ubiquitous Razr. The Linux-based Motofone F3, available today in India, is an extremely low-end device featuring an "electronic paper" display, breakthrough battery life, and usability features for the illiterate.

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  • zip22, on 10/12/2007, -1/+27a correction to the article, the motofone has been approved by the FCC
    http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/11/13/motorola-motofone-f3-gets-by-fcc/
    • mwosh, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4Whatever happened to the Canary?
    • Dewars, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14The Canary was the internal name for the KRZR.
    • noreturn, on 10/12/2007, -17/+5*Yawn*

      Wake me up when Motorola decides to take advantage of its newfound RAZR craze to actually put out some interesting, functional phones instead of just rehashing the RAZR concept and milking it over and over.
    • cameron074, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3The Canary would later be known as the KRAZR or however f'ed up way they spell it. Thinner version of the RAZR.
    • PaulOwen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2When will they learn that a txt l33t name won't make up for a cr@p phone? I seriously hope this doesn't have the same interface/firmware flaws of every other Motorola phone I've ever bought.

      scpl?

      The Motorola Sceptical
      The Motorola Scoopful (of what?)
      The Motorola Scrappily
    • smoothly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0my problem is that i couldnt find dun drivers for the durn thing... after googleing for hours i found some drivers at http://wireless-internet-access-provider.com/wireless-internet-access-from-moto-q-bluetooth-dun-hack.html BUT not sure how to install yet. anybody try doing the wireless broadband dun to a mac book pro?
  • schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12They have also just released the Rokr.

    Motorola ROKR E6 Launched in China

    ,----[ Quote ]
    | 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.
    `----

    http://www.mobilewhack.com/reviews/motorola_rokr_e6_launched_in_china.html
    • skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -2/+34Wht th hll? wh rmv th vwls? ths scks.
    • hobnob, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2because the O and the E aren't vowels...
    • smfullman, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8I'm pretty sure that the RAZR, ROKR, and RIZR all have vowels.
  • goostoff, on 10/12/2007, -17/+8Motorola? E-Paper!? LINUX?!!!!

    **head explodes**
  • m0nk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13I knew I was waiting for something special before upgrading my POS phone. The Razr just didn't "do" it for me, but this is nice....
    • R2-D2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just mod it, that's what I did to my Razr. It makes the phone soooo much better, such as getting rid of the Razr's annoying side key tones. Besides isn't that what everyone is going to do with this new phone anyway?
  • felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -21/+5Usability features for the illiterate?

    I think Rush Limbaugh just found his next corporate sponsor!
    • SpamHater, on 10/12/2007, -14/+7@ felchdonkey

      Yeah, because you have so many more fans than he does.
    • negativefx, on 10/12/2007, -5/+20Just what we need!!! Illiterate people driving and talking at the same time!
    • faranv, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Seeing as how India is a huge target, education there isn't as easily accessible as us fortunate people in the Western World.
    • abertoni, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4I really wish idiots could learn to shut their mouths and find a more useless tool to troll with. Really, hate what you want to, but don't involve it until you provide facts to prove that his fans are illiterate.
  • clinko, on 10/12/2007, -4/+50I'm so conflicted.

    I hate moto so much because of my RAZR. (To give you an idea how bad it is, I don't have to give examples. You either own one and hate it, or know someone who hates one.)

    But this phone has every feature I want.

    1. Phone.

    That's it.
    • edzieba, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23The Razr looked nice (though was too bulky for my liking in all but thickness). However, the UI was pure and utter *****. If they're changed that, then this Scpl might be in with a fighting chance.
    • Gigadafud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15I could not agree more.
    • benadamson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+30This could possibly be the coolest handset I've ever seen. I've been begging for a dumbed down phone for years.

      Screw photos, screw music, screw ringtones. Give me a the ability to make calls, with text messaging, and I'll be as happy as John Stamos on valentine's day.
    • negativefx, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14Moto's have the worst goddamn interface on the planet. Long live the Kyocera's from a few years ago (e.g. Slider)...still the best interface on a cell phone ever.
    • hexydes, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I'll keep my HTC StarTrk, thank you very much. :)
    • op12, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8To all those that say the UI if the Razr sucked, the Samsung "Blade" A900 really was everything the Razr wasn't. It's better in just about every way (resolution, slick and customizable UI, multimedia, etc.). I absolutely love mine.
    • Nodren, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10am i the only one who loves his razr? i heard the complaints and ignored them. i actually like the motorola interface(and if you have verizon you could get the lg interface on your razr, but dont even get me started, i hate verizon)

      but the razr isnt a bad phone, i've had mine for about 6 months, the battery lasts like 3 days with a decent amount of use. i get signal everywhere, it doesnt bulge out of my pocket. and because its so popular, i was able to easily find instructions on hacking it and adding my own themes and other such things to it.
    • iheartbeer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18Wait, it's got a PHONE built into it, too? Holy crap!

      Count me in as one of the people who thinks a phone should just be a damn phone. Or that at least someone should make a phone that works well as a phone before adding on a bunch of other crap that they can't get to work right either. Can you *****' hear me now?

      Look forward to seeing this. Of course, I just bought a RAZR... don't hate it yet, but that's because the bastards softened me up with the piece-of-shiat I was using before.
    • timxpx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3i gave up my razr for a cingular 8525, and all i can say is that as much as i hated the interface, it worked like a charm when all you needed was a phone and probably what i miss the most, it didn't look like i carried a lunchbox in the front pocket of my dress pants.
    • jellygraph, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4the RAZR is wicked. I've owned one for a few months now and I have no complaints. The UI is nice, the features are good and it does everything I need it to do. If you want crap UI, try a Siemens!
    • streetstealth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think the overriding problem is that just about *all* phone UIs are crap.

      Really. Maybe I'm just spoiled by reading design books by Edward R. Tufte, but the state of the cell phone UI today is, from a pure usability perspective (never mind the typography; it's even worse) just terrible.

      They all look like they were designed by programmers while the graphic designers were out to lunch. What we need are programmers and designers working together to build functional, intuitive, and beautiful interfaces -- and if there is an iPhone, maybe that's what the industry needs as a wakeup call.
    • superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Have the RAZR, hate it, waiting for something better. Either the iPhone if it does something really interesting, or this phone since I would love something with really good battery life.
  • vandread, on 10/12/2007, -12/+5The razr still exists? who cares about the razr anymore?
  • danobrien23, on 10/12/2007, -12/+3I like the E-paper function, looks neat but makes the phone look like 3 times the size of a pda.......not too mention this is a low-end device that won't survive in american markets but hey it's linux anythings better than the alternative.....crap my windows just froze
    • buddyfarr, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2ha, windows froze. my boss has the moto Q and it freezes like 2 or 3 times a day. the only way to fix it is to take out the battery, put it back in then let it go thru it's normal boot into windows mobile. what a nightmare. he is going to dl a firmware upgrade to supposedly fix it. we'll see.
  • fordhamwt, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Have they released the actual battery life of this thing?
    • matperk, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4you'd think if the exerpt mentioned breakthrough battery life they would actually tell you how long the damn thing lasts...
    • Misanthrope, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12"Due to its simplicity, the Motofone will offer "extended battery life," Motorola says. Some reports from around the Internet put the expected battery life at 400 hours (over two weeks) of standby, and 450 minutes of continuous talk time -- presumably figures for stationary use. Other reports suggest that the Motofone uses a very small, inexpensive battery that yeilds about 8 hours of talk time."
    • annoia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well, eight hours of talk time is 460 minutes, so let's just agree that it'll probably be somewhere in that neighborhood.
  • growler1, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Ah, the sound of penguin feet on the march. Sweet music.
  • killdashnine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23"...focusing on the basics -- making and receiving telephone calls..."

    Scary!
  • SpamHater, on 10/12/2007, -30/+10Great, so now we can have a cell phone that takes three days to get working, requires you to read 50 pages of documentation and has an interface so primitive and poorly designed that it makes Windows 1.0 look like a masterpiece of usability.

    So, how far will I have to drive to find one of the 450 towers nationwide that it can connect to without recompiling the kernel?
    • Buelldozer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19A quasi-funny rant, but I'm digging you down as a hater.
  • Xyleene, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Last I read this was for emerging markets like India... has anything changed?
    • aalaap, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2I just posted the link to the story on www.tech2.com regarding its Indian launch
  • negativefx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Too bad it's only triband. Cingular customers need 850mhz to get 3G.
  • Jakyll, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9The SCPL is not a replacement for the flip-style RAZR, its a replacement of the SLVR. The KRZR is the replacement for the RAZR.

    SLVR: http://www.motorola.com/motoinfo/product/details.jsp?globalObjectId=86
  • sworoc, on 10/12/2007, -12/+3Linux is taking over, phones and servers and the entire embedded market, one product at at time.... resistance is futile! Someday it'll make it to the desktop audience in mass quantities, and Iceweasel will be the primary app.... resistance is futile!
    • Misanthrope, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3So how, exactly, do you feel about resistance? Would you say it has some merit?
  • trylleklovn, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Am I the only one who thinks the buttons on this one, and the Razr, as well, are ugly?
  • adamkmccarthy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3i bet you there'll be something stupid about it like it wont sync properly with linux desktops or something. theres got to be a catch somewhere.
    • aidanr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1hopefully, they'll release linux software for it, although my v3 works great on ubuntu with moto4lin, moto4lin.sourceforge.net
  • jarvuss, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I love that phone makers are going back to the basics. I love the style and size of new phones, but I don't want to spend $200+ on a phone that plays mp3s, video, and has wireless internet. I want to spend $20 on a phone that makes calls and texting. Also, the E-paper is very nice. I've seen it on a prototype of the Sony Reader. http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/assets/pa/prs/index.html?DCMP=Reader_Google&HQS=sony_ebook Looks great!
    • Canthros, on 10/12/2007, -1/+27Actually, I would be perfectly happy to spend $200 on a phone with good reception, Bluetooth, a usable interface, a decent speakerphone, clear sound, a screen I can read (and monochrome is just fine, thanks), good battery life, and buttons that I can't accidentally activate when it's banging around in my pocket.
    • CrankyPants, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14@ Canthros

      if I could digg you twice, I would.
    • buddyfarr, on 10/12/2007, -5/+17@ CrankyPants -

      if you would have double clicked on the thumbs up really fast it would digg him twice. it is a bug in the software...
    • captinherb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8@buddyfarr

      No, it's client side only, try it and then refresh you're screen.
  • oriondr, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4SCPL is the worst name ever. I would think Shv(shiv) or SHNK(shank) or Sbr (saber) or CTLS (cutlass) or something would be better. :P
  • thejadedmonkey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Where can I get one of these, and will it work with Cingular if I swap my SIM card?
  • growler1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"Linux is taking over, phones and servers and the entire embedded market, one product at at time.... resistance is futile! Someday it'll make it to the desktop audience in mass quantities, and Iceweasel will be the primary app.... resistance is futile!"

    Dude. Why must we fight? Take a nap or something.

  • aalaap, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5They just launched this fone in India for Rs. 1,649 with a plan on BSNL. More here: http://www.tech2.com/india/news/value-mobile-phones/motorolas-motofone-f3-launched/3061/0
    • klawz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Thanks - this is a better written article, and shows better pics than the OPs link.
    • pfunked, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1According to xe.com that's about $40 (USD)
  • Shirokun, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1www.duggmirror.com
  • joecritch, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4http://www.duggmirror.com
  • dogstylee, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3I don't own a phone because I don't really need one, but I never understand why people keep buying new ones - they all do the exactly the same thing!
    • alpha-male, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Because most cell phones are not very durable and tend to only last a year before a hardware failure.
    • triblinator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Ditto to the above... if there was a good, reliable phone then i would use it a lot. there is not such a thing. i loathe my phone and every aspect of it. i just want a phone!!
  • zoom1928, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2Ubiquitous Razr? The Motorola flip-phones and Star Tacs were ubiquitous. Other than in ads, I've never seen a Razr. Most people I know use Treo 600's (Palm rather than the Windows garbage) or the cheaper Motorola ($80 from Verizon) that has a better radio than the Razr. My local Verizon store doesn't even stock the Razr because the radio isn't good enough to work with their extremely spotty coverage.
    • ExSlashdotter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I'm not sure where you live then, because everyone and their dog has a razr here...
    • aalaap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Exactly! The RAZR is so cheap now (at least in India), that it's no longer considered cool. The initial response to the KRZR has also been quite bleak, though I musy say I quite like it.
  • Dewars, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3"Goodbye RAZR"??? This phone does not mean the end for the RAZR!
  • davedekker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2looks like my SLVR.. piece of crapola.. crap I say... a better OS would be sweet... but the hardware is crap

    D
    • rogermudd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The monochrome screen is one reason why I would consider purchasing this phone. It's energy efficient and is a big reason this phone gets almost eight hours of talk time and two *weeks* of standby according to the article.

      P.S. -- Sorry this was a reply to Mississippiman below...
    • zoom1928, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Great point about the battery life. On the Treo's the large backlite display stays on the entire time you talk on the phone. The battery life on those are terrible, and the problem is made worse because the battery is not user-replicable so you can't carry around a spare.
  • mississippiman, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Monocrome eh.

    it won't sell just because of that
    • rudegeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I would. I need a phone that could be used as "second, backup handset".
    • N1XUK, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Hmmm this with my solio charger would kick ass when camping...
  • patto, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0scalpel?
  • ExSlashdotter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3For you guys the hate the razr, you ought to give the Q a try.

    Its pretty nice to have a smartphone without having to deal with all the touchscreen/stylus crap.
    • buddyfarr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1as said above, I hope you have better luck with the Q. we have two and both are crap. we have to keep taking out the battery to reboot it because it freezes. hopefully a firmware upgrade will help but in doing that it will completely erase all data from the phone. contacts, etc.
    • lo0ol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No way. I liked the Q for a couple months when I got it last June- now it's the bane of my technological existence. Windows Mobile, at least Q's implementation, is horrendous. Slow UI, illogical UI (for example, when I'm entering something in the "date" field somewhere it should force me to write numbers, not make me manually switch to numbers for every character), and just really glitchy. It's happened about 3-4 times now that when my alarm wakes me up in the morning I can't unlock my keypad and turn off my alarm. I then pull the battery out and reboot, and it immediately boots into a keypad-locked state with the alarm going off again. It usually takes me another reboot or two before it reboots into something that I can turn the alarm off with. Naturally, this is pretty frustrating when I'm in a sleep-deprived stupor. As soon as I find a suitable replacement (I'm looking forward to January), the Q gets it.
    • MaxPayne3476, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ughh, unfortunately, with Verizon you need to sell one kidney and two children to sex slave shops in Germany just to pay for the monthly "Data" plan. It pisses me off so much. I'm stuck in a FamilyShare plan with... my family... and I want a BlackBerry so bad, but I don't 80 dollars to pay every month for a phone.
  • rudegeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Motorola officials as saying that the Motofone could sell for as little as $50 when it does eventually reach the U.S. -- "even without carrier subsidies." -- FTFA.

    If it would cost $50, I'd get one.
    • aalaap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6It's going on sale in India for Rs. 1,649 .. that's under $40!
    • finkployd, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4No worries.

      We will still have to sign a 2 year contract to get it for $99 if that's the price.
    • iadiggs10, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Actually, that's without the contract agreement finkployd.
  • N1XUK, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Im going to india in 3wks, was planing on getting a domestic simcard for texting whilst im away but i might as well pick one of these up and get it unlocked. Love my SPV M5000 but unless the iPhone can beat it i want a cheap and cheerful phone with amazing battery life i can leave in my locker at work for travelling.
    • shm1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Almost all phones in Asia are sold unlocked.
    • Kash04, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i'm going next week i think i'll pick one up even if its for a good going out phone :) its slim, great battery life :) this should be good, and yeah all/most phones in india are sold unlocked
  • rossbrown, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4Linux based, eh?
    So will it sport KDE or Gnome?
    (joke)
  • pfunked, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The recent LoC ruling makes hacking cellphones for use on other carriers legal. So importing one of these sounds tempting.
  • Drizzit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3No cellular carrier is going to be using the 850mhz band soon. Most 3g is in the PCS ranges nowdays.
  • SeppukuBLUE, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Why does Motorola hate vowels?
  • martalli, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I was in India in June of this year, in the mountains about a days drive from Bangalore. This is not the up and coming silicon valley of India, but just regular folks, farmers and small businesses and such. Even so, it seemed that about a quarter of adults had cell phone access. Cell hone penetration in India is staggering to me - during my last trip (2003) no one in that area had a cell phone.

    I presume that India is not all that unique, and that much of the 3rd world is heading towards cell phones.
    • JamieBarrows, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3There is a big reason for that. the cell phone industry in 3rd world nations is only lightly(in comparison to land lines) regulated. In many 3rd world nation you cannot get a land line due to hugely inefficient and highly regulated government subsidized/owned monopolies. But you can get a cell.
    • Kash04, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1BSNL in india offers mobile landlines :) its pretty awesome its a mobile yet stationary phone pretty awesome best of all you can throw it in your car like the old bag phones
    • martalli, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1JamieBarrows is absolutely right. My family waited for almost ten years to get a landline. In the bigger cities the wait is shorter, but I believe it is still on the order of months. Few bother anymore except businesses.
    • absolut1983, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0There are more than 90 million cell phones here in Brasil and many people buy new ones in eight or nine months.

      The landline service was terrible until the 90's, but nowadays it's pretty easy (and cheap) to get one. That's why I believe this mobile boom is a social thing, like "OMG, you need a cell phone".
  • Loftonian, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I like how every cellphone Motorolla makes has to be named something more intricately miniscule. For example going from Razor to Scalpel...

    What's next? The Motorolla LAZR BEAM ???
  • alf401, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This totally does it for me. The battery life is just awesome.

    I carry around my sonyericsson + extra battery, then a Nokia 1100, two extra battery plus one of those charger things that runs on 4 high capacity AAA batteries - or if i'm really desperate a few duracells.

    Buy this thing and an extra battery and you're good to go. If these figures are correct, or close to being i'll definitely be buying one of these.
    • incongruity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Finally. Back to basics -- if it's reliable, has good reception and good battery life, I'm sold. I'm sick of phones that ditch reliability and build quality and instead pile in the crap I don't want (that's right, if I wanted games, I'd buy a PSP and if I wanted to take high quality photos, I'd bring my point and shoot digital camera)

      Now, please Moto, bring this phone to the US.

  • topio, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I reaLLY HATE THE RAZR
  • Jarasmen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually, I think having this "electronic paper" screen is a more important feature than being Linux-based...
  • ipxodi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I like my Razr. Works great, good reception, convenient size and pretty durable.
    It's the best phone I've had since my original Motorola Startac 10 years ago or so. The Samsung, LG and Siemens I've had in between all were pretty terrible.

    The only weird thing is about once a month it'll get confused when recharging and I'll have to powercycle it.

    But this new SCPL sounds very cool. If they make a flip version, I'll buy it when the Razr gives out.
  • madmac66, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I hate Moto phones, they just look and feel cheap. RAZR is a total fashion fad. The keypads wear out too quick. The software is janky. My Samsungs have served me well and until they let me down I am sticking to their brand. The 509 is an awesome phone.
  • mandarin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Too many Razrs around. I decided to get an LG since it is more functional.
  • macslut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have the RAZR V3i, the one with iTunes. I really like it. It doesn't replace the iPod, or my still camera, but it's nice to have when I don't have either of those with me. For me, the perfect phone would be the RAZR with at least 4GB, no song limit, and full iPod compatibility (file formats, podcast support, etc)...oh, and a standard mini-plug headphone jack.

    It's funny though because these small changes would make the phone worth hundreds of dollars more to me.
  • mutatron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1T28 World phone forever!
    • ssmith2k3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That phone was awesome. It was super slim when everything else was clunky. I thought I was the only person nostalgic for it after I lost mine (assuming you're not being sarcastic).
    • mutatron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I still have one! I got one free one and another one for $25 when I worked for Ericsson and they discontinued the line. I dropped one of them which cracked the LCD, but the other one is still good. For a while it kept turning on and off, but examining the battery I noticed it was somewhat distended. I poked a hole in the aluminum covering. That flattened it out, and now it works perfectly.

      It's so thin and light! Another thing I like is being able to compose my own ring tones. I don't much like to hear "high quality" sound as a ring tone.
  • johnstar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1it looks nice for a low end phone my low end phone looks like a brick with numbers!
  • CharAznable, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Very impressive. I see it appealing to even affluent people in industrialized nations who are sick of carrying around pseudocomputers and just. want. a. phone. I know I'd get one as backup to my Berry or to carry around when I go on vacation and stuff and I don't want to deal with crap from work and stuff.
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