Moto's U9 Music Phone: the PEBL, Redux

Remember the sleek Motorola PEBL, that smooth, rounded clamshell that doubled as a four-ounce worry bead? Well, it's back: now dubbed the U9, this redo of the PEBL packs in a music player, Bluetooth, and a groovy, touch-sensitive external screen.

Slated to arrive in Asia, Latin America, and Europe before the year is out (and I'd be shocked if it didn't make landfall here in the States), the U9 looks pretty much like the PEBL of old, complete with a pebble-shaped (natch) shell and a flattened keypad beneath the flip. What's new this time is the 128 x 160-pixel external OLED, which replaces the narrow, low-resolution display on the old PEBL—and the new screen also features "floating" animated screensavers and touch-sensitive music controls for the U9's music player.

And about that music player...it'll play MP3, WMA, AAC, and DRM-protected music files, and stereo Bluetooth headsets are supported, while a slot for microSD memory expansion handles up to 4GB of tunes (good for several hundred songs). The quad-band GSM phone lacks 3G data access, so you won't be able to download songs; however, you'll be able to transfer your tunes over with the help of Windows Media Player. Rounding out the U9's features are a two-megapixel camera (versus the VGA snapper on the old PEBL), voice commands, and solid messaging options (including SMS, MMS, IM, and e-mail).

I had a bit of a phone crush on the original PEBL (that was back in 2005, mind you); I just liked its curved, strangely soothing shape, and the U9 looks like an enticing update. I'm guessing that we'll see it on a GSM carrier like T-Mobile (which carried the original PEBL) before the year is out.

Related:
Press release [Motorola]