Holiday Gift Guide »

Motorola Gleam: Because the world needs yet another RAZR variant

Categories: Motorola
By: , IntoMobile
Monday, February 14th, 2011 at 5:14 AM

Say the word Motorola and people think one of two things. They either remember the iconic clamshell device, the RAZR, that changed people’s perception of thin a mobile device could be or they foam at the mouth from all the new and cutting edge Android powered smartphones they’ve released over the past year and are planning to release during 2011. The Motorola Gleam falls into the latter category. It’s a low cost feature phone with a 2.4 inch 240 x 320 pixel display, dual band GSM/EDGE, meaning you’re not going to be using this thing in America, a shockingly embarrassing 2 megapixel camera, and an external screen that shows you if you’ve missed a call or received a text message.

How much is this puppy going to cost you? They don’t say, which kind of defeats the purpose of announcing a budget device if you don’t specify which budget it even fits in. We do admit that we love our smartphones, and haven’t used feature phones since … can’t remember … but it doesn’t change the fact that today’s plunging smartphone prices should deter you from considering something so simple. The Gleam is “a little quirky” and allows you to “stand out from the crowd and make a statement” according to Andrew Morley, Vice President of Marketing for Motorola Mobility. That’s one way to sell a device, but we’re not convinced Andrew. Sorry.

What say you? Does the world need another low cost handset running Motorola’s terribly dated feature phone operating system or should we just let Chinese handset makers keep on serving the market, along with Nokia who actually manages to make money off phones they sell for the amount of money you have hiding under your living room sofa? Don’t forget the Indians too, who are eating share from both Samsung and Nokia with their home made handsets.

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

  • WirelessCon

    We have thousands of customers that would love this on AT&T. I think we could sell 10,000 of these in the States within a year (and we’re just an authorized reseller with a few locations). Everyday we get requests for the RAZR. Every freaking day. The RAZR has a dedicated customer base. Believe it or not millions and millions of people still just want to talk on their phone. The demand exists and they won’t bog down data networks.

  • Oferdesade

    just got one for my mom. it’s great: loud, big screen, big buttons. she loves it.
    only thing is when you connect it to the pc, you cant see the files, thus no idea how to upload hebrew fonts so she can read smsses

  • Oferdesade

    just got one for my mom. it’s great: loud, big screen, big buttons. she loves it.
    only thing is when you connect it to the pc, you cant see the files, thus no idea how to upload hebrew fonts so she can read smsses