Motorola Announces Green W233 Renew, Touch-Enabled MOTOSURF A3100

Although many were expecting Motorola to throw its full weight behind Android at CES, it looks like the next great Google phone is on the back burner. However, the struggling handset maker’s latest comeback efforts aren’t totally unexciting. The W233 Renew is an eco-friendly phone made from recycled water bottles, which will be available through T-Mobile in the first quarter, while the MOTOSURF A3100  is a Windows Mobile 6.1 smart phone with a touch screen (available in Asia and China first in Q1). The W233 Renew is about as green as candybars come. Through an alliance with CarbonOffice.org, Motorola offsets the amount of energy required to manufacture, distribute, and operate the phone during its lifetime through investments in renewable energy sources and reforestation. This officially makes the W233 Renew the first Carbonfree phone. Motorola goes the extra (green) mile by offering 9 hours of talk time (to conserve energy) and printing all of the phone’s documents on post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable based inks. Motorola told us to expect this phone to be “extremely affordable,” so we’re thinking sub $50 or even free. At least on paper, we’re a little less enthused by the MOTOSURF A3100. That’s because it’s yet another Windows Mobile touch screen device (2.8 inches) with a customizable interface, joining the ranks of the HTC Touch and Touch Pro, Samsung Omnia, and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 as smart phones that attempt to hide Microsoft’s dated operating system. Then again, if the A3100 works as promised, it should be easy to access RSS feeds, weather, news, and more via Wi-Fi or HSUPA. Plus, Motorola will bundle cool apps like Facebook, Youtube, and Shozu. Motorola includes a trackball and stylus, which is a good thing assuming the resistive touch display is as lame as what we’ve experienced on other Windows Mobile phones. Stay tuned for hands on with both devices.