Motorola announces MC55 handsets
Yikes. Here at BGR, we’d like to think that the days of having to sacrifice looks and form to have a truly “business-oriented” handset are long over. Handsets like the Nokia E71 and HTC Touch Pro are fine examples of sexy business gear and it would be hard to argue RIM hasn’t stepped up its designs significantly. From the looks of things however, not everyone agrees that business phones for certain industries can be as attractive as they are functional. Case in point: Motorola’s new industrial MC5590 and MC5574 handsets. Looking like a cross between a 10-year-old Globalstar GSP-1600 satphone and the Alcatel Lego Phone, the MC55 brothers sport ruggedized cases and just about nothing else worth mentioning. Basically, the only way either of these handsets is going to be desirable is if you like to pretend you’re the boss of a Colombian cartel in an 80s movie. These puppies will drop some time in Q2 and your dreams will be one step closer to a reality.
looks like they are going backwards my dad wouldnt buy this and he is 62
lmfao
hey @jbannach how’s your Ford Model T running these days?
@Zach Epstein.
Why are you trying to act like you understand the market this for when you don’t know anything about it?
You’re a blogger. That does not give you marketing credentials.
One of the real-world reasons why these indutrial-spec’d phones are not spit-polished is because, as any employer knows, these things sprout legs and disappear. The more high-polish applied, the more likely and faster they disappear. No manufacturing, warehousing, inventory, construction, etc business willingly opens up liability unnecessarily. Get real.
Think I’ll go play Dope Wars on my Palm Pilot
Columbian cartel!? wow, i had no idea Canada had drug cartels to in B.C.
i mean with the ColOmbian cartels and the Mexican cartels……we dont need a ColUmbian cartel to.
@nick They get crazy up north… (fixed, ty)
just gotta say HAHAHA dang that thing is interesting
I know it’s clunky, but I need a tough windows mobile phone.
@Zach Epstein. Apologies for insulting you and the work you do. I was rude and took it way too far. Sorry.
This will never be offered by carriers like Sprint or AT&T so its not even comparable to Touch Pros or Blackberries. And the customers who will actually buy this (not you or I) determine the specs and look. So if they really wanted a Touch Pro, they would get one.
Not faulting all your reporting but this one is obvious and shouldn’t even be on BGR.
@Zach Epstein. Apologies again. On the internet I sometimes forget that people have feelings and take their work seriously and professionally. Hope my comments and rashness about this one post does not discourage you in what you do.
Zach this post is completely ridiculous. It (and your response in the comments) show that you have zero understanding of the purpose of this type of device and WHY its designed like this. These aren’t designed for the blackberry crowd, not remotely. These are designed for the FedEx types, or the freight running types. People that need rugged devices that won’t fall apart after a few drops. They’re also intentionally designed to be ugly; would you try and steal something like this from your workplace? Businesses that use these devices don’t need, nor do they want, any flashy consumer-wannabe devices for their operations.
Hey, here’s something shocking; at my work we have distant relatives of this device. We routinely drop them on the floor (3-5ft, sometimes as much as 20), and have yet to break one. Try doing that with a blackberry numerous times and see what happens.
These devices are meant for industrial applications, not consumers.
A place where function comes before form, a lot of this function stems from having gigantic batteries so they have an actual functional runtime.
You need to understand the market before making assumptions that they’re somehow meant for consumers.
Someone in a factory would never use a Nokia E71, it would break in 5 minutes.
@Zach
LMAO i think you have found yourself a moto fanboy!
@backbeat
Symbols have bar code scanners… i dont think these even do.
Man, these are nice. I love the ruggedized look!
Before give comments. Read first, understand about product you want give comments, think use your brain about what you want give comments.
Most commentator doesn’t use brain.
guys… this device is obviously a niche device that is made for tough environments. this is not something a regular joe would buy and use everyday as his personal phone. this device is actually pretty good, atleast from a size perspective. it replaces the MC70, which is a LOT bigger than the MC55. this is an ideal line busting device for retail (mag stripe reader attachment), gets a full shift battery life and is going to take a beating.
Again, great device for what it is meant to do. Motorola/Symbol is known for offering best in class rugged devices. Walk into any Target, Walmart (newer Walmart, older ones have old Telxon guns) or Kroger owned store and they all have Motorola handheld scanners. Give them some credit in the space which they are doing well.
Ditto. My first impression was some kind of TI or HP calculator from the late eighties…..
Good luck Moto.
@DavidA: There is no mention of a barcode application, but given the intended use of these units, it’s a reasonable expectation that they would fully support it. Especially given that simplistic WM pdas support 1D/2D barcode reading apps.
@David A
It has already been said but to repeat, Motorola owns Symbol. So yes, Symbol devices have bar code scanners and so does this one. Same company.
Why is BGR even reporting on this device? It isn’t a consumer phone, or even a business phone (the Blackberry/HTC comparisons are stupid). It is an industrial phone.
Zach, I am sure you are a fine writer, but before you critize a phone why not do some research and find out about the market it is for. None of the other phones reported about on this website can work in the environments the MC55 works in. Did someone actually suggest the E71, please it would last about 20 minutes tops.
The Boy Genius Report famous because the writers is Motorola Haters. BGR try and try to make peoples think Motorola always doesn’t have good product.
@Zach
Why you delete my post about explanation about Motorola MC55. You want make peoples in here to be stupid? So they agree with you comments and comparison with BlackBerry, Nokia, and more.
It was deleted — again — because it is the press release linked within the post itself, twice.
@Zach
If you delete again. I will tell to everywhere blogs, forums and more about how stupid you are.
Motorola Empowers the Mobile Workforce to Work Without Boundaries with New Enterprise Digital Assistant
Innovative MC55 delivers a new level of flexibility and functionality with real-time access to voice and data in a compact and rugged design
March 09, 2009
HOLTSVILLE, N.Y. – March 9, 2009 – Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced the MC55, the newest, smallest and lightest addition to Motorola’s family of Enterprise Digital Assistants (EDA) offering a 3.5 inch display.
Designed for mobile workers inside and outside an organization’s four walls and leveraging Motorola’s mobile computing platform architecture, the MC55 EDA combines the power of a cell phone, two-way radio, bar code scanner, digital camera, and mobile computer into a compact and lightweight design. The new MC55 EDA enables mobile workers to improve productivity, customer response times and customer service levels by bringing business-critical voice, data and applications to the point of business activity.
The sleek and size-optimized MC55 EDA increases the effectiveness of mobile workforces—solving customer pain points in retail, healthcare, field service, government and public safety, while giving Motorola PartnerSelect partners a versatile solution to meet customer needs by combining a multitude of communications tools into one robust business class device. The MC55 mid-range EDA supports the GSM/GPRS/EDGE standard for wireless wide-area networks, offering voice and data services to provide the information needed for better decision making and business results. With an array of features, like integrated GPS, the new MC55 EDA supports a host of real-time location-based applications, including directions for drivers and real-time fleet location, geo-fencing and bread-crumbing for dispatchers.
To best meet the requirements of a diverse set of mobile workers across multiple industries, the new MC55 EDA is available in two models and multiple configurations. Sporting a monocoque housing, the MC55 is not only rugged to withstand the rigors of everyday use, but is the smallest Motorola mobile computer offering a 3.5 inch display with full keyboard for ease of use. Motorola has also developed a rich ecosystem of accessories for the MC55, making the device highly scalable to meet diverse business needs. Motorola PartnerSelect partners now have more flexibility to provide enterprise customers with the right feature set for different types of workers – instead of all features for all workers – reducing capital expenditures and the overall cost of a mobility solution.
“As a leader in the handheld mobile computing market, Motorola constantly innovates to provide customers with the most versatile enterprise mobility tools for improving productivity and streamlining operational efficiencies,” said Bob Chen, vice president and general manager of Mobile Computing, Motorola Enterprise Mobility. “The MC55 illustrates Motorola’s ability to help mobile workers work without boundaries, with robust connectivity to mission-critical business applications in a compact business-class device.”
Each of the MC55 models is designed to meet the needs of a specific type of mobile worker – those inside the four walls, those outside, and those that work in both environments. The MC5590 EDA offers wireless 802.11a/b/g LAN (WLAN) and Bluetooth® connectivity for workers mostly inside the four walls – including healthcare workers in a hospital environment, as well as retail or hospitality associates. The MC5574 EDA comes equipped with wireless WAN (WWAN), wireless LAN (WLAN) and Bluetooth to support workers in the field, including maintenance personnel and postal and delivery workers. In addition, the MC5590 and the MC5574 EDAs are VoIP enabled offering the capabilities of Push-To-Talk (PTT), as well as the ability to support soft phone clients and integration with installed IP PBXs.
“Motorola continues to demonstrate its high standards for product quality with the introduction of the new MC55 EDA — uniquely designed for mobile workers inside and outside the enterprise,” said Chuck Dietrich, vice president of Mobile, salesforce.com. “Our relationship with Motorola provides salesforce.com enterprise customers with rugged solutions for accessing data and applications through Salesforce CRM Mobile and ISV applications built on the Force.com platform. And with the MC55, we are able to provide our customer-base with an incredibly powerful option for boosting field service productivity in any vertical market.”
In combination with Motorola’s recently introduced Total Enterprise Access and Mobility (TEAM) Express solution, the MC55 enables customers to further improve operational efficiencies and employee productivity by providing associates with virtually instant communications. The TEAM Express solution provides Push-To-Talk capability between the MC55 and other enterprise mobility devices including Motorola’s CA50 VoIP-enabled wireless bar code scanner, the 3G MC75 premium EDA, TEAM VoWLAN smartphones, and Motorola two-way radios. By leveraging an existing WLAN infrastructure, this server-less solution provides a fast, easy to deploy path to basic interoperable voice communications inside the enterprise.
The MC55 is based on the Marvell XScale PXA270 520 MHz processor and Microsoft® Windows® Mobile 6.1 operating system to provide increased interoperability with existing enterprise infrastructure, enhanced security features, a flexible development platform and improved mobile messaging. The MC55 EDA family of products also offers a variety of data capture options to provide increased flexibility among mobile workforces, including a 1D laser scanner or 2D imager. A 2-megapixel auto-focus high-resolution digital color camera can be added to either the scanner or imager to allow for easy capture of a signature (document capture) or a photograph (image capture) for proof of condition or delivery.
To help customers maintain peak performance, Enterprise Mobility Services recommends Service from the Start with Comprehensive Coverage for the MC55. From the first day of the hardware purchase, customers can rest assured that no matter what is damaged — from broken displays, keypads, and internal and external components to select accessories — the repair is covered. This significantly reduces unforeseen repair expenses while providing investment protection and service peace of mind.
The MC5590 and MC5574 EDAs are available worldwide through Motorola PartnerSelect members and Motorola sales.
For more details about the MC55, please visit http://www.motorola.com/mc55
Source: http://mediacenter.motorola.com/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=10856&NewsAreaID=2