New SMR Phone from Motorola

While vendors such as IBM and EO are hard at work bringing so-called “smart” cellular phones to the market, Motorola has decided to integrate the most common wireless functions into a single device. Unveiled on April 13, 1994, the new phone called Lingo uses digital transmission on specialized mobile radio frequencies (SMR).

The phone, which is expected to retail between $500 and $700, includes a small screen that can display 16 text messages up to 140 characters in length. These messages can be sent to the device using conventional paging services. In addition, users can connect their mobile computer to the phone and transmit digital data without an additional modem.

Lingo phones also have the ability to receive a voice dispatch by which a dispatcher can speak to many people at the same time. While SMR is currently a distant second to cellular for personal use, companies such as Nextel are actively working to bring nationwide SMR service to the general public.