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.

The Early Years

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.

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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.