Motorola

History of Motorola

Motorola, a company that has gone through a fair amount
of change in its 80-plus-years since it started, and for a company who is
literally the inventor of the Mobile Phone.

Motorola Mobility perhaps somewhat predictable, was
sold to Google in 2012, given the phone maker’s portfolio developed almost
exclusively around the search giant’s mobile operating system, and then
acquired by Lenovo in 2014.

The company is
so big and diverse, if the Mobility wing had not been spun off from Motorola a year and a half prior, the sale
would never have been possible. 

Priced at around $12.5 billion and
rightfully so, this is one of the biggest company sale in history across all sectors.

Probably the biggest change for the company
was when it was divided into two independent public companies, Motorola
Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011 after having lost
$4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, with Motorola Solutions considered to be
the direct successor to Motorola, and Motorola Mobility as just a spin off.

The company made history when it released the world’s
first handheld Mobile Phone in 1984, it was called the M Dyna-TAC. Plus
in addition It was also the first company to release the “flip phone” of which
they called the MicroTAC and the “clam phone” named the StarTAC during the
mid-1990s.

It was actually from 1973, that Motorola seriously
made it’s move towards Mobile Phones technology besides it naturally had all
the prerequisites needed, this is the move that has defined Motorola as we know it today. 

At first showing off the DynaTAC (invented by Martin Cooper of Motorola who
made the first private handheld mobile phone call in 1973)

and displaying the Mobile Phone phenomenon to the
world for the very first time. It was in 1984 that the so called brick-phone
(was actually as big as one) started to make its way into the hands of consumers.

In Hanover,
Germany In 1991, the world’s first working-prototype digital cellular system
and phones using GSM
standard was demonstrated by Motorola. And then went on to ,introduced the
world’s first commercial digital radio system in 1994, suffice to say that the
phrase “The Worlds First” is very much associated with Motorola.

Two thirds of Motorola’s gross revenue by 1998
comprised of Mobile Phones however in the same year, Motorola was overtaken by Nokia
as the world’s biggest seller of Mobile Phones.

The X4 has an array of Connectivity options at the
users disposal including Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth, GPS, USB OTG, Headphones, FM,
3G and 4G with support for Band 40.   Ambient light sensor, Proximity
sensor, Compass Magnetometer, Accelerometer and Gyroscope are some of the
Sensors on the phone.

given time e.g travellers, the Motorola Moto X4 is a
dual SIM smartphone that accepts Nano-SIM and Nano-SIM.

And all this is powered by a 3000mAh non removable
battery.

The phone packs an impressive 64GB of internal
storage expandable to as much as 200GB using a microSD card and it comes with
4GB of RAM.  The cameras packs a 12-megapixel main camera on the rear and
a 16-megapixel front one for selfies, so Motorola did have the selfie-age in mind
when producing the X4.

This is the somewhat latest part of Motorola’s
history in a nutshell, however from the early years?  It is a long and
fascinating story, as for the pre-millennials at best can maybe only
remember as far back as the original StarTAC or
RAZR.  

To say that Motorola had success with the RAZR would be
a complete understatement, the RAZR was yet another giant hit after the massive
hit of the StarTAC, in 2004 when the RAZR was released what stood out the most
is that it further pushed the boundaries of Mobile Phone size, emphasising on
thinness and fashion, at the end of the day yet again, becoming the best-selling
clamshell of all time.

They started in a small section of a rented building.
The beginnings of the company was so humble that the working capital  had
only $565 with just five employees and the first week’s payroll was just only
$63.  Very impressive for a company who became a global telecommunications
player and ended up making history by inventing the Mobile Phone.

Wireless network equipment like signal amplifiers
and cellular transmission base stations is what the firm offered at first
including broadcasting networks and home like digital video recorders and set
top boxes, High Definition (HD) televisions, network equipment to broadcast
videos and computer telephony.

In 1947, the company dropped the name Galvin
Manufacturing Corporation of its founders, and changed it to Motorola as they
fancied a punchier name, which they got from the name of the their early car
stereo — the “motor” was pulled from “motorcar” added to
“ola” to signify “sound in motion,” according to the company tag line.

It was the company’s destiny to become MobilePhone makers as they embraced all
things radio which they produced for home use, police cars

 and the
walkie-talkie, which saw action on the battlefields of WWII.  Starting in
1958, with Explorer 1 Motorola supplied radio equipment for most NASA
space-flights for decades, including
assisting by providing the radio
technology for the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing from where Neil Armstrong

The bottom line here is that with all these
wireless technological innovations displayed by Motorola, the birth of the
Mobile Phone beckoned and was inevitable,but, by no other, only by them.

The present “batwing” logo was introduced
in 1955 created by award-winning Chicago graphic designer Morton Goldsholl in late 1954.

Motorola developed and supplied many products used
by the government, public safety officials, business installments, and the
general public. These products included MobilePhones, computer processors, laptops,  and radio
communication devices.

In 1991, Motorola showed of the world’s first
working-prototype digital cellular system and phones using GSM
standard in Germany.  And then In 1994, Motorola introduced the world’s
first commercial digital radio system. 

The
phone featured a unique high-resolution circular display with 300dpi and an
adapted circular user interfaced based on Motorola’s MotoMagx a Linux kernel-based mobile operating system.  One of the main selling points of the device
apart from its Swiss-made lens screen, was its swivel-like opening mechanism. 

Motorola
Droid (2009)

The Droid did not only get released as a reaction to the iPhone, but
in addition, it’s the phone that showed SmartPhone users the potential of the
Android OS, the droid popularized the Google’s Android operating
system it was launched with Android Eclair (Android 2.0) and represented
Motorola’s proper entry into the SmartPhone era suffice to say that it had to
be done, as one of the most successful mobile franchises in the world. 

First the Atrix was different as it had the ability to
incorporate with a laptop using a docking panel. Also had a dedicated HDMI dock.
 

This Phone at the time of its release, was
the most powerful smartphone, being one of the first with a dual-core
processor, 1 gigabyte of RAM and even had a fingerprint sensor way back then.

The Atrix 4G was a show piece to also show that Motorola wasn’t afraid to
innovate which is in their DNA. The SmartPhone won nine awards after a high-profile
debut at CES 2011, with a powerful processor, Motorola’s focus was on a smart
handset that literally put a computer in your pocket, versatility was a target
so it came with a range of accessories as
well.

Motorola MING A1680
(2011)

This was a must have phone for
Moto lovers. 

As we know how innovative
Motorola are as the Ming being an attempt to bring formats of phones into one.

The Motorola Ming A1680 is quite a rare phone to be found as they were only released
IN Hong Kong and china.  Phone Users and
fans in other parts of the world demanded world release but did not happen.
Unique design and functionality, equipped with a touch screen and transparent
flip cover that provided screen protection.

When Motorola named this phone the Razr Maxx,
They must have known that it would take some doing to fill the massive boots
and success of the original Razr, The bottom line is, Motorola did not achieve
this at all,  The Droid Razr Maxx did not
have the same style as the original device, it was a different form factor all
together it wasn’t a flip phone.

,

What Motorola did resurrecting
the Razr series, with the Maxx, was use Smart software called (obviously)
“Smart Actions” software.  Motorola was
trying to bring back the good old days of RAZR glory.  Smart Actions made it a little easier for the
user. it allowed the phone to do some essential actions within some special
parameters. For instance, you could “Trigger” an “Action” for the phone to
automatically switch to WiFi when you enter your home or office. Or, you could change the sound profile to silent when you’re
sleeping at night. Once you have set the triggers and actions, you don’t have
to think about them again.

First, we feel one of the outstanding features of the Droid 4 is
the edge-lit QWERTY keyboard (keyboardResponsive) The Droid 4 did not only improve
on its predecessors’ keyboards, but also on other SmartPhone brands as well.  Motorola redefined the QWERTY keyboard to the
next level, offering die-hard physical QWERTY fans one of the most refined
experiences on the market back then.

In addition, it WAS the only dual-core LTE smartphone with a
physical QWERTY keyboard that was a unique selling point. So tactile users who
need to feel the touch, feedback and compressions, who need super-fast 4G
internet using a SmartPhone that has a keyboard, the Droid 4 was (and maybe
still is) the only game in town. Everything else was high standards including a
4-inch HD screen display and a Micro USB / Micro HDMI combination
at the bottom left hand corner.

It did not possess the cutting
edge specs many were hoping for from a flagship SmartPhone It wasn’t really
much of a flagship, it didn’t have all the frills and thrills, all the bells
and whistles, meanwhile the Moto X was acknowledged as relatively having
lower performance capabilities with a 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset backed by 2GB of RAM,
in comparison to quad-core 2.3GHz
Snapdragon 800 chips flagship phones at that time had under the hood.

The Moto X seemed like an upper mid rang Phone with
flagship class but didn’t really cut it with mainstream Heavy Mobile Users. Motorola was strategic by targeting more at the mass market and designed
to appeal to everyone that was “mainstream” consumers. It did, however, offer customisation options and some funky aesthetics
thanks to Moto Maker. 

Motorola’s
fundamental strategy and goal was to give users who cannot (or will never be
able to) afford that brand new flagship phone experience price, a chance to do
just that. But the key is that this phone did undercut most other smartphones
in price at the time, while still offering more than enough of every feature
anyone could want in a flagship phone. 
So in a nut shell, it was an upper mid-range SmartPhone with a flagship
spirit that focused on and cared about the unique user experience.

Motorola
followed the same script when they dropped the Moto
G in 2013 while
rivals were rightfully spending big on flagships, Motorola smart-fully did the
opposite, it was different, and there was a big niche in the
market nobody was looking at. 

They
targeted the emerging markets with above average specs. Motorola grabbed a
piece of the pie, by providing Android to users who previously could not afford
not only a flagship SmartPhone, but could not own a smartphone. It presented a great experience at the affordable end
of the market.

Google and Motorola
Mobility came together to develop The Nexus 6 as a phablet co-developed that ran
the Android operating system.  Appropriately named the Nexus 6 (codenamed Shamu) as the SmartPhone was the sixth device in the Google
Nexus series and the successor to the Nexus 5, and carrying on the Nexus
lineage powered by the Android
5.0 “Lollipop” OS that first appeared with the Nexus 6.

Lenovo
launched the Moto Z in 2016.  The Moto
Z was far more than met the eye, it looked like and functioned like a
regular SmartPhone however, it excelled better than the rest when in a
different mode, through exclusive customised attachable accessories assigned to
do a function including improved speakers, printers and cameras and then some more including projectors.  

The
question is was the Moto Z a Flagship SmartPhone or just one that’s stands out
from the rest, allowing PhoneUsers to amplify interested functions and features
on the phone using accessories that work much better than the phones ability.

At last at
last, did Motorola finally drop a PROPER Flag Ship SmartPhone when they released
the Razr back in 2019? However, did this
do something of a service to the overall aims of Motorola as being a pioneer in
the MobilePhone industry as a whole?

It was
August of 2013 when Motorola released the Moto X its first all-new phone under
the stewardship of Google, MobileUsers and rivals were waiting and expecting an
explosive release, it wasn’t that, but however it got good attention.

Then in
2014 The Nexus was released, dubbed as the ultimate Android device, it was
Motorola’s first Phablet.

Did the
Moto and the Nexus series really provide a proper flagship?  Or were they just devices that didn’t just mainly
focus on specs as flagships should, but more about the experience and not about
the bells and whistles.

Well it
looks like Motorola finally released a SmartPhone with a “big bang” plus in
addition, they also brought back their most iconic and successful Mobile Phone
the Razr released way-back in 2004, which was The Motorola RAZR
best-selling clamshell of all time.  This
looked like the blue print for Motorola’s future.  The Razr
was really brought up to date and reinvented with a folding screen, and
familiar clam shell design that allows you to fold your phone in half. 
It attracted a lot of expected due attention.

In
comparison with rival flagships, the specs inside is on a good level, with 6GB
RAM and 128GB storage accompanied with a 15W TurboPower fast charging ability
for the 2510mAh battery powering the phone, however Motorola stuck to an
older Snapdragon 710 chipset.