Motorola Goes Retro with New Startac III MS900 Phone

Instead of looking to the future for inspiration, it appears Motorola is taking a slightly less conventional path with the introduction of the new Startac III MS900, which is curiously reminiscent of mobile phones circa 2001. You know which ones I am talking about. The cool flip phones with the big, clunky antennas and no external display or any of the fun features we've all now been spoiled with. Fortunately though, the Startac only looks retro (minus the lack of a big antenna), and is fully featured with all of today's modern perks.

The phone was announced today in Korea by Motorola and features an awesome 260K TFT QVGA screen (2-inches, 240x320 pixels), an MP3 player, 128MB built-in memory, and GPS. From there, the features of the phone get even more interesting, with the inclusion of mobile banking, an e-book reader, biorhythm function, and a Korean-English dictionary.

Sadly, the phone does not have an external display. I for one would never buy another phone again without an external display. I want to know who's calling me before I pick it up. The other thing this phone is missing is a camera. Perhaps Motorola is trying to target older adults and those who don't want all kinds of frills?

The Motorola StarTac III MS900 weights 92g, and has dimensions of 89x48.5x19.6mm. It features 160 minutes of talk time, and 300 hours of stand-by time. It is available only in Korea at this time. No word on pricing.