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Motorola MicroTAC SC-720 Prototype

PostPosted: 2017 Apr 20, 05:19
by loblolly986
Discussion about Motorola MicroTAC SC-720 Prototype. Click 'Postreply' to write a comment!

Re: Motorola MicroTAC SC-720 Prototype

PostPosted: 2017 Apr 20, 08:20
by loblolly986
Hi Thomas:

Happy to see that you ended up with the SC-720 prototypes as well. I also like the dot-matrix LED displays on these; I had not known that Motorola made a CDMA phone with a display like that until these showed up. Some of the prototypes shown in the auction had dedicated menu icons present on the display module; do those units make use of the icons when you power them up and enter the menu?

Motorola announced the SC-720 on September 19, 1996, so it seems that it was marketed. http://web.archive.org/web/199703030324 ... _cdma.html

Not sure how long it was available, but one wonders if it was discontinued around the time the SC-725 came out or not long after. The SC-725 and SC-925 were announced on March 3, 1997. The press releases for both make note that they use CDMA chipsets designed and manufactured by Motorola themselves, something not mentioned in the SC-720 press release, so that could be a factor. I didn't find the SC-720 listed in the archived versions of the products section of the website (the SC-725 was eventually listed). Evidently not a common model to find, in any case.

http://web.archive.org/web/199706170627 ... sc725.html

http://web.archive.org/web/199706170627 ... sc925.html

Zachary.

Re: Motorola MicroTAC SC-720 Prototype

PostPosted: 2017 Apr 24, 08:58
by loblolly986
Update: Noticed this press release dated February 23, 1998, announcing the commercial availability of the MicroTAC SC-725, SC-725CV, and DMT-8000 models, nearly a year after the above SC-725 press release (which was taken down by the time this was archived). http://web.archive.org/web/199902021813 ... _cdma.html

I've also done some searching in the old alt.cellular and alt.cellular.motorola Usenet discussion groups via Google Groups. The discussions there substantiate that the SC-725 didn't become available until early to mid 1998 after the February press release. The SC-925's 1997 press release is apparently also misleading, and it also didn't come out until at least 1998. As for the SC-720, according to some posts, it was marketed in Hong Kong through Hutchison Telecom for a time, but never in the U.S. It apparently wasn't well-received, factors including reportedly short battery life (up to 7 hours standby time with a standard-capacity battery!), the fact that it only had an 8 kbps vocoder, and the LED display. (The SC-725 -- which has a 13 kbps vocoder -- had a more favorable reception.) Needless to say, this is quite a rare and interesting phone!

Re: Motorola MicroTAC SC-720 Prototype

PostPosted: 2020 Sep 25, 09:41
by Esperanzo
Hello, Thomas!
Please, upload photos of CDMA prototypes in high resolution!
And as far as I remember, in ebay lot with them (we competed with you in beats;)) was several units, can you sell some for me?

Re: Motorola MicroTAC SC-720 Prototype

PostPosted: 2020 Sep 26, 10:53
by Thomas
Hello,

I have uploaded a few new pictures. Currently I am not selling any phones from my collection. Sorry!

Cheers
Thomas

Re: Motorola MicroTAC SC-720 Prototype

PostPosted: 2020 Sep 28, 09:09
by Esperanzo
Thank you for images!