motorola

Martin Cooper changed the world when he made the first cell phone call 40 years ago.

The former Motorola vice president and division manager made the call on the company's DynaTAC phone while standing in front of the New York Hilton on Sixth Avenue. His first call: to the head of research at Bell Labs, a company that also was attempting to build the first cell phone.

Cooper's call did more than untether people from their fixed phone lines; it opened the door to true mobility and continues to affect virtually every aspect of our lives. … Read more

Forget all that chatter about how desperately HTC need big things out of the HTC One. Alas, they are not the only hardware maker looking for a hit in the Android space. Motorola, for its part, has been struggling to make much noise for the better part of of two years.

Ever since Google acquired Motorola, the mobile company has slowly faded into obscurity, releasing few phones and generating less excitement than in past years.

To be fair, Verizon has had success with the Droid Razr and Droid Razr Maxx as well as the HD successor. As one of the … Read more

A U.S. International Trade Commission judge has decided that Microsoft's Xbox doesn't infringe on a patent held by Motorola Mobility, reversing his original decision.

Judge David Shaw filed his findings today, Bloomberg reported. The ITC will now review Shaw's findings and make a final determination July 23.

The case began in November 2010 when Motorola,now owned by Google, sued Microsoft over wireless and video coding patents that Motorola said were used in the Xbox and in Microsoft smartphones.

Shaw initially ruled, in May, that Microsoft's Xbox 360 S video game console did infringe Motorola's parents and should be banned from import … Read more

The next generation of Motorola smartphones may allow for custom designed handsets, if ongoing chatter is to be believed.

According to a recent AndroidAndMe post, the rumored X Phone is actually part of a larger brand and approach that includes user-defined configurations for color, storage capacity, ringtones, apps, and more.

If that weren't enough to whip fanboys into a frenzy, a source close to the blog suggests that memory, processors, and carrier support may be customizable as well. Reportedly, Motorola will guarantee one-week delivery for custom devices.

While the casual smartphone observer might find the rumors just a tad &… Read more

What are wired people around the world doing in the living room and bedroom? Consuming content on their mobile devices, according to Motorola Mobility's Fourth Annual Media Engagement Barometer. Consumers globally are watching 25 hours of TV and film programming per week on average, up from 15 hours in 2011.

Fifty percent of respondents said they watch programming on their TVs in the living room, while 40 percent use their smartphones or tablets instead, the study found. The Motorola Mobility (owned by Google) survey of 9,500 consumers in 17 countries found that among the 36 percent of respondents … Read more

Google's Motorola might have had an upcoming smartphone leaked to the Web.

Vietnam-based tech site TinhTe today posted images and videos of a Motorola prototype device that it says could be ready for store shelves in the coming months. The handset has a noticeably softer design than those currently offered by Motorola, with rounded edges and a smooth backplate. The handset also comes with a Motorola's signature "M" logo on the back and above its display.

In terms of specs, it's somewhat impressive. The handset has a 4.65-inch HD display, according to TinhTe, and … Read more

As successful as Samsung's Galaxy S franchise is now, it's easy to forget the Korean consumer electronics giant's first attempt at the American smartphone market was met with an apathetic shrug.

The U.S. launch of the first Galaxy S smartphone took place at a gallery on the west side of Manhattan more than two years ago. When it came time for J.K. Shin, head of Samsung's mobile business, to formally announce the Galaxy S flagship smartphone, a black cloth cover was pulled back to unveil not one, but four different devices with the forgettable … Read more

Google is cutting back at Motorola Mobility again, with plans to layoff 1,200 employees, about 10 percent of the division's work force.

Employees were notified of the cuts this week via an e-mail that said "while we're very optimistic about the new products in our pipeline, we still face challenges," according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the cuts.

Focusing on costs, the e-mail added "we're operating in markets where we're not competitive and we're losing money." The cuts are expected to workers in the U.S., China … Read more

Apple is attempting to revive a patent-infringement claim against Google's Motorola Mobility unit over touch-screen technology, according to Reuters.

Apple asked a U.S. appeals court to reinstate the claim after the U.S. International Trade Commission had earlier ruled that one of the related patents was invalid and Motorola hadn't infringed on the second patent.

Apple contends that Motorola is copying its technology that allows for transparent screens to sense multiple touches in different locations, allowing users to operate a phone by swiping or tapping the screen. The technology is fundamental to the current generation of smartphones … Read more