Just another Linux-based slider

Oct 27, 2008 06:42 GMT  ·  By

After the disastrous financial results obtained last year, Motorola is going full speed ahead with new high-end devices. Following the successful Motorola ZN5 5 Megapixel camera phone, that made its sales rise, Motorola emerges from its dormant state with a fresh 'add-on'. Its new challenge is called VE66 and sports the same 5 Megapixel camera but, this time, it seems that the US-based company gave up the collaboration with Kodak for camera lens, although this is uncertain at the moment.

The new product is not official yet, but rumors about it already surfaced the Internet. Thus, some of the slider's technical features leaked and they're looking good. Besides the 5 Megapixel camera, the handset features Wi-Fi support, a Freescale SCM-A11 500MHz CPU, a microSD slot card for memory expansion, Bluetooth with A2DP support and HSDPA connectivity.

As its ZN5 predecessor, Motorola VE66 runs on a Montavista v2.6.10 Linux operating system, which is no wonder since Motorola has a solid background with Linux (Motorola A1600, A1800, RIZR Z6).

On the downside, there is the small 2.4-inch display, which supports 16 million colors, and the lack of a GPS receiver. The latter has become a must lately for every mid to high-end handset. The small display would've made the GPS function unpleasant to use.

It seems that the slider will be available in two versions: a quad-band with no 3G support for the Chinese market, and another one that will support HSDPA for the rest of the world.

There are no official launching date or price available yet, but we will definitely know something for sure before the end of this year.

Photo Gallery (2 Images)

Motorola VE66 front open
Motorola VE66 back
Open gallery