Motorola
W230

The W230, also known as the MotoYuva, was an affordable music phone from Motorola. It had a dedicated music key to access the on-board digital audio player which supported MP3 and other popular formats. It was announced at the same time as the Motorola W270. The phone supported microSD cards up to 2GB in size which could be used to store additional music tracks. At the launch, the president of Motorola Mobile Devices, Stu Reed, commented that the W230 offered “design elements, music features and outstanding battery life that consumers didn’t expect to find” at the price point the W230 was targeting. When it was first available the W230 cost approximately US$75. The W230 also included an FM radio which supported the Radio Data System (RDS). This meant that users could see the artist’s name, track title and type of song playing on the radio at the time. It was also possible to record FM radio clips that could be used as the phone’s alarm. Another feature was support for Motorola’s CrystalTalk technology which helped to reduce background noise. The W230 delivered approximately nine hours of talk time and could store up to 500 text messages and phone contacts. It also offered rudimentary access to the Internet. The phone had interchangeable front covers which came in two colour combinations: liquorice/silver and titanium grey/mandarin (the variant in the Mobile Phone Museum collection).