With the great success of Motorola’s first low end music phones in the W230 and W270, Motorola has unveiled a slightly upgraded version for 2008 Q3 release, the Motorola W388. This phone will be priced higher than the W230 and will cost roughly PHP 3,200.00 or roughly USD $80.00. Note that this is an estimated price based on the press conference and not the real SRP. The main difference between the W388 and the W230 is the inclusion of a VGA camera and a bigger memory bump.

We must note that the VGA camera does not come with video capabilities. Phone memory has been increased to 7.5MB for 750 SMS and 1,000 contacts to be saved on memory. There isn’t really a huge upgrade to the previous phone and quite frankly, Moto may have a make or break for this particular model. It really depends on how much more people are willing to pay for a camera and bumped up memory when the previous model already served them well.

Other features:

FM Radio
2.5mm audio jack
MP3, MIDI, imelody, AMR compatibility
VGA camera (no video)
CrystalTalk Technology

Post from: Cellphone9

Motorola’s “el cheapo” line of mobile phones is generating a lot of buzz with interested buyers. The W230 in particular is popular but has been reporting issues of not being able to do file transfer. Kiran from the community has a fix, which implies upgrading the firmware:

The problem with the fone is that file transfer is possible only when fully charged. I too had this problem. Here’s how to fix it:

Step 1: Install this file

Step 2: Charge the phone fully(the battery image should be green)

Step 3: Restart the Computer.

Step 4: Plug in fone and install the driver.

For more features and photos of the W230, click here.

Post from: Cellphone9

Skeptical as I was, I did try it and boy were my reservations put aside. The W230 is the cheapest mobile phone with good (read: LOUD) MP3 audio playing capability. The W230 is capable of playing up to 2GB of music via microSD card. Perhaps the closest reservation I had was the fact that it doesn’t use a 3.5mm audio jack for audio. Instead it used a 2.5mm jack for audio accessories. I realize that the inclusion of a 3.5mm slot is reserved only for the ROKR series, the latest one being the ROKR E8. Hence, this is why it is called the “W” of “wow so cheap!!” series.

More features after the jump!

The special feature of the W230, apart from the very loud and crisp audio is sharing your FM radio station via SMS to others. You can also record 1 minute worth of FM radio and turn it into your alarm or SMS alert.

Oh and last but not least, the Motorola W230 is priced at PHP 2,490.00 or roughly USD $50.00. That’s without a subsidy plan!

Though it may look a bit cheap (heck it really is cheap!), it still delivers in terms of performance. Motorola’s consumer studies show that in terms of features, the camera has been moved down to number 3 with a preference for music as the second most important feature on a phone. First of course is the calls and SMS.

Features:
MP3 Player (Motorola MP3 player)
FM Radio
128 x 128 65,000 color screen
Long 10 hour battery life with 19 days of standby
File transfer Drag and Drop software
WAP 20 Dual Stack / GPRS Class 10

Post from: Cellphone9

2009 UPDATE: Motorola has announced for 2009 the new Motorola W233, an eco-friendly version of the W230.

UPDATE: Motorola has announced an upgrade to the W230, called the W388. It is an incremental upgrade to the low end phone, now sporting a VGA camera and a little bit more memory.

As an aside, the “W” naming scheme is a bit of a throw off as one might think that this is a Sony Ericsson phone. Motorola has released a new line of entry level phones in the W230 and W270. No fancy bells here compared to the RAZR line. Both phones stress a relatively high memory expansion bundle of 2GB but cut down on other features. Essentially, both phones are entry level handhelds.

Do you like the W230? If you’re opting for a higher end music phone, you can check out the Motorola ROKR E8 with ModeShift technology. Motorola has released a cheaper version of the ROKR E8 with a better user interface and real estate, the ROKR EM30:

If you’re looking for a high end cameraphone from Motorola, you can check out the Motozine ZN5 that comes with Xenon flash, wireless Internet and Kodak imaging technology.

Post from: Cellphone9