Motorola PEBL
Encyclopedia
The Motorola PEBL is a series of clamshell
/flip mobile phone
s from Motorola
, and is one of the series in the 4LTR line. It looks like a small, crystal stone, hence the name 'PEBL'.
," which has been worn smooth over time.
The U6 sold 15 million units.
The body of the PEBL U6 is primarily made out of metal, although everything other than the hinge has a colour coating which makes it matte rather than shiny. The external texture is polished but not quite smooth, resisting finger prints and smudges. Buttons and connectors are kept flush in order to maintain the phone's smooth appearance. In contrast to many other products with a one line external display, the external screen is mounted vertically, rather than horizontally.
The unit is held closed by magnets, and can be opened with a single hand by pushing the lid of the phone away from the hinge mechanism. The hinge itself is spring-loaded, so that when cracked it actively swings fully open.
Initially, the product was available only in black, but in the second quarter of 2006, Motorola launched four additional colours. It is now produced in black, blue, green, red, orange and pink, although the exact colour selection varies per country. Shortly before the new colors became available, Motorola commissioned photographer David LaChapelle
to capture the new PEBL phones in a colourful photo shoot.
and worse screen pixels.
Clamshell
The flip or clamshell is an electronics form factor which is in two or more sections that fold via a hinge. If the hinge is on a long edge the device is more likely to be called clamshell than flip phone ....
/flip mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s from Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
, and is one of the series in the 4LTR line. It looks like a small, crystal stone, hence the name 'PEBL'.
U6
The PEBL U6 was announced in early 2005. PEBL is named for its small and sleek appearance, as well as to evoke comparisons to a "pebblePebble
A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of 4 to 64 millimetres based on the Krumbein phi scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered to be larger than granules and smaller than cobbles . A rock made predominantly of pebbles is termed a conglomerate...
," which has been worn smooth over time.
The U6 sold 15 million units.
Design and appearance
The unit is held closed by magnets, and can be opened with a single hand by pushing the lid of the phone away from the hinge mechanism. The hinge itself is spring-loaded, so that when cracked it actively swings fully open.
Initially, the product was available only in black, but in the second quarter of 2006, Motorola launched four additional colours. It is now produced in black, blue, green, red, orange and pink, although the exact colour selection varies per country. Shortly before the new colors became available, Motorola commissioned photographer David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle is a photographer and director who works in the fields of fashion, advertising, and fine art photography, and is noted for his surreal, unique, sexualized, and often humorous style.-Early life:...
to capture the new PEBL phones in a colourful photo shoot.
Additional features
- Java MEJava Platform, Micro EditionJava Platform, Micro Edition, or Java ME, is a Java platform designed for embedded systems . Target devices range from industrial controls to mobile phones and set-top boxes...
MIDP 2.0 compatible - MMSMultimedia Messaging ServiceMultimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length.The most popular use is to send photographs from...
, Wireless VillageWireless VillageWireless Village is a set of specifications for mobile instant messaging and presence services. It is intended to be a standard for cellphones and mobile devices to use these services across platforms....
instant messaging and e-mail - Motorola SCREEN3SCREEN3SCREEN3 is a technology used and designed by Motorola to push news and information to mobile phones.-Functionality:The SCREEN3 feature functions by downloading headlines and displaying these to the user as part of the contents of the idle screen...
push technology for dynamic news and content - MPEG-4MPEG-4MPEG-4 is a method of defining compression of audio and visual digital data. It was introduced in late 1998 and designated a standard for a group of audio and video coding formats and related technology agreed upon by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group under the formal standard ISO/IEC...
video and JPEGJPEGIn computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
still image capture - Speaker-independent voice dialing
- WAPWireless Application ProtocolWireless Application Protocol is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network.A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol.Before the introduction of WAP, mobile service providers had limited opportunities to offer...
2.0 web browser - Integrated speakerphone (handsfreeHandsfreeHandsfree is an adjective describing equipment that can be used without the use of hands or, in a wider sense, equipment which needs only limited use of hands, or for which the controls are positioned so that the hands are able to occupy themselves with another task without needing to hunt far...
)
U9
Three years later, the U9 was released. It features a better display, an improved camera, a microSD card slot and touch-sensitive music keys.U3
December 2008 saw the release of the U3. This was a more basic version - it did not have a memory card slot, no BluetoothBluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
and worse screen pixels.
See also
- Motorola RAZRMotorola RAZR V3Motorola RAZR is a series of clamshell mobile phones by Motorola, and is one of the series in the 4LTR line. They were first developed in July 2003 and were released in the market in the third quarter of 2004....
- Motorola ROKR
- Motorola SLVRMotorola SLVRThe Motorola SLVR is a series of mobile phones from Motorola, and is one of the series in the 4LTR line. The first phones were out in early 2005. They are designed to be very thin and lightweight.-L2:The SLVR L2 was introduced in 2005...
External links
- Motorola PEBL - Page on Motorola's website detailing the PEBL
- Super Bowl commercial - Ad for the PEBL on Google VideoGoogle VideoGoogle Videos is a video search engine, and formerly a free video sharing website, from Google Inc. Before removing user-uploaded content, the service allowed selected videos to be remotely embedded on other websites and provided the necessary HTML code alongside the media, similar to YouTube...
that aired during the 2006 Super BowlSuper BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather... - Motorola's PEBL Pond
- Motorola PEBL U6 - Mobiledia
- Motorola PEBL U6 Review - PhoneRev