The Motorola brand will phase out soon

Motorola, the company credited with the first cellular phone, the blockbuster Razr, and the endearing Verizon Droid line will soon be organized quite differently than it is today. At the Consumer Electronics Show on Thursday, parent company Lenovo announced that it will begin phasing out the iconic brand later this year as it moves to unify its products under a single, discernible roof.

The move comes more than a year after Lenovo acquired Motorola Mobility in 2014. In an interview with CNet, Motorola Chief Operating Officer Rick Osterloh said that Motorola’s high-end Moto line of smartphones and wearables and budget Vibe brand will live on for the foreseeable future. “We’ll slowly phase out Motorola and focus on Moto,” he said.

The aesthetic changes will be palpable. Future Motorola phones will still carry Motorola’s familiar “M” logo, but also feature Lenovo’s blue logo “prominently,” according to Osterloh. It’s a dilution that runs counter to Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing’s promise following the company’s purchase of Motorola in 2014. “It’s our treasure,” he said at the time. “We plan not only to protect the Motorola brand, but make it stronger.”

But the rebranding isn’t exactly unprecedented. The Motorola brand may carry less influence than it once did — in Brand-Finance’s 2014 list of the world’s most valuable brands, Motorola Mobility ranked 219. And the firm’s struggled to stay abreast of the competition in terms of sales. According to market research firm ComScore, the company commanded just 5.3 percent of the global smartphone market in November behind LG, Samsung, and Apple.

But the news isn’t all bittersweet. As was announced in August of last year, Lenovo employees under the Motorola umbrella will soon assume operations of the parent company’s phone business. Specifically, Lenovo intends to introduce the Moto brand as a premium line in countries where it’s well established, while the Motorola division will compete with low-cost smartphone makers in developing nations with its Vibe handsets. Osterloh told CNet that the Vibe line will likely extend to the U.S. in the next few years.



Source: Digital Trends

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Motorola's new Moto 360 brings customisation and style to Android Wear

Let's start with how it looks. The original Moto 360 was always the best-looking smartwatch around, and it's successor seems to follow on in that tradition.

The new case design features extended lugs to improve fit and comfort, and there are now two sizes, a 46mm and 42mm case diameter. Each Moto 360 is manufactured from aircraft-grade 316L stainless steel and scratch resistant Corning Gorilla Glass.

There's also a new collection designed specifically with women in mind. The case features smaller, more elegant lugs, the peak-shaped bezel is jewelry-like, and the new double-wrap band creates a very fashion-focused aesthetic.

Bands can be swapped in seconds, and customers will have the option to completely customise their device with the Moto Maker program.

Next up we have hardware. The original Moto 360 was criticised for its low-powered guts, but the new model shouldn't have that problem.

With Qualcomm's Snapdragon 400 chip, with 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU and 512 MB RAM, navigating the Android Wear OS should be a silky smooth experience.

The 42mm watch has a 35mm screen with 263ppi, and the 46mm watch has a 40mm screen with 233ppi. Motorola claim this has the highest screen to case ratio of any smartwatch on the market, there's practically no bezel in sight.

Battery life also looks set to improve, with a 300mAh in the 42mm and a 400mAh on the 46mm. This provides around 1.5 or 2 days use respectively, the devices also feature wireless charging similar to the previous model (but chargers are not compatible).

To round things off the smartwatch has two mics, WiFi, an optical heart rate sensor and an IP67 dust and water resistance.

Not content with going after the style market, Motorola has also targetted the fitness-focused consumers with the Moto 360 Sport.

The Sport variation is very similar to the other model, however it features both a heart rate sensor and GPS. It runs Android Wear on a LCD display that combines a traditional backlit transmissive screen with a front lit reflective technology.

Both watches will benefit from the recent Android Wear update that brings iOS support and interactive watch faces.

Motorola has also announced that all devices will be available in the UK later this month, with prices starting at £229.


Source :T3

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