Motorola announces MING A1600, A1800

After months of speculation, Motorola has formally announced two new MING-series phones, the A1600 and 1800. The first has a 2.4-inch touchscreen, with a liftable plastic cover to protect against damage. Also onboard is a three-megapixel camera with the unusual feature of continuous autofocus, something allegedly unseen on cellphones to date. The camera can also be used to produced animated GIFs, or translate text through built-in software.

Other features are said to include a microSD slot, stereo Bluetooth, a micro-USB port and an FM tuner. While the phone lacks broadband, being limited to quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, it should have a GPS receiver, enabling geotagging on photos and real-time navigation.

The A1800 is said to be nearly identical to the 1600, but with the enhancement of two transceivers, allowing it to connect to both GSM and CDMA networks. This comes at the cost of the GSM side however, as it will be limited to tri-band GSM/GPRS.

No prices or release dates have been published, but as with previous MINGs, they will likely be distributed mainly in China.

A1600

A1800

Nokia buys Symbian to form open-source Android killer

Motorola intros CDMA/GSM hybrid MC75 handheld

Apple, RIM claw world share from Nokia

Keynote Jam offers 56 icons for Keynote