Motorola DVB-H

Year: 2006
Prototype level: Platform
Codename: N/A

Overview

The Motorola DVB-H prototype was an unreleased Linux-based smartphone developed to demonstrate Motorola’s approach to mobile television using the DVB-H standard. The handset was closely related in design to the Linux-powered E680i, while also incorporating elements of the A780. It featured a large touchscreen display, stylus input, 5-way joystick and side jog dial, together with a 1.3-megapixel camera, mini-USB and headphone connector. Contemporary reports also described GPS functionality. The exact display resolution is less certain, so I would leave the 352 × 288 figure out of the final text.

The prototype was first shown at 3GSM in Barcelona in early 2006 and was subsequently demonstrated as a working device at CommunicAsia 2006 in Singapore. Motorola also showed the same unnamed DVB-H handset at CTIA later that year, and subsequently used DVB-H-enabled devices in a mobile-TV trial with PCCW in Hong Kong. 

The phone never received a commercial model designation or reached the market. With its combination of Linux, touchscreen smartphone hardware and integrated DVB-H receiver technology, it represents one of Motorola’s early attempts to combine a full smartphone platform with broadcast mobile television.