Motorola MPX

There's been a lot of news regarding Motorola's so-called "Nokia killer" MPX phone that opens either vertically or horizontally. Up to this point, there have simply been pictures of plastic mock-ups of the phone, but on this site you can actually view videos of the phone in action. The unique thing about this phone is the hinge system that allows the user to open it in regular clamshell mode (as you would open a regular phone) and in what I would term two-way pager mode (as you would open a two-way pager to type). The phone appears to run some version of Microsoft Smartphone software and the screen of the phone appears to be touch-sensitive, at least in so far as the movies show a person using s stylus and handwriting recognition software.

This phone is made ot compete with the recently announced Nokia 9500 Communicator. The 9500 is an upgrade of the old Nokia Communicator series, but the form factor of the phone does not seem to have gotten much smaller than the older models (i.e., it still looks like a brick). Nokia is touting advanced software and security measures in the phone, but the phone still runs the Symbian operating system, so it won't ever be quite as seamless as a Windows desktop user syncing with a Windows Mobile phone. The projected price of the Nokia 9500 is $1000.00 -- about the same price as a low-end laptop.

UPDATE: MSmobiles has a great bulleted information list of the features of the MPX, and they are already calling it a better device than the Nokia. No word yet on release date or price.