Motorola SCPL

Motorola mobile devices overlord Ron Garriques unveiled the first of the company's new SCPL (that's "scalpel") line of phones today, the successors to the RAZR platform. The MOTOFONE is targeted at "high-growth markets," which is Motospeak for the third world where many people don't already have cell phones.

SCPL changes the cell-phone game in even basic phone performance, Garriques says. The MOTOFONE is super-thin, features two antennas for superior reception, "enhanced audio" that's super-loud and super-clear (think Nextel), and a screen which you can see "in unbelievably bright sunlight as well as no sunlight as all," according to Garriques. It'll have 450 minutes of talk time and 400 hours of standby -- you'll be able to go weeks without a charge. And it'll be really cheap.

The MOTOFONE is just the first in a long line of SCPLs which will hit every price level and every form factor, including clamshells, QWERTYs, and sliders, Garriques said. And the higher-end "SCPL Broadband" platform, to be unveiled early next year, will come to "all of our HSDPA and EVDO Rev A customers across the world" -- which means, at the very least, Sprint and Verizon.

Read my full story on PCMag.com for the SCPL's release date, the future of Linux on Motorola handsets, and more.