
Motorola announced its intent to turn around its flailing mobile phone business with the Android operating system some time ago. At the time I wasn’t so sure it would happen, but fast forward to pre-CES 2010 and now I’m a little bit more confident.
Yesterday Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdry, via Barron’s, revealed that Motorola “may announce” two new Android-based handsets at CES. One would head to the AT&T network in the United States, complete with an OLED screen, physical keyboard, and the “Google experiences” (??) software environment as opposed to the MotoBlur version. A second Android handset would be available via Verizon Wireless, also in the US, and have an OLED screen but a soft keyboard.
Further making this somewhat vague revelation intriguing is a picture that appeared on a Chinese website today of a supposed Motorola phone with a huge 4.3-inch display (via BGR). No doubt a phone with a screen of that size would have an optional car dashboard mount to go along with it. It would make the perfect crossover automotive GPS navigator/cellphone, assuming the phone includes a GPS chipset.
The display would have 800 x 484 pixel resolution, the same as found on most standard 3.7-inch screens. Other features of note include an 8 megapixel camera, 1080p video playback, and a thin 9 millimeter form factor. As for a name: Mirage/Shadow is what it’s going by for now.