January 5, 2009 9:01 PM PST

Moto goes green with the Renew

by Kent German

Moto's Renew is kind to the Earth.

(Credit: Motorola)

Last year at CES Motorola dazzled us with a couple of high-end multimedia cell phones. One of them, the Rokr E8, impressed us so much that it won CNET's Best of CES award in the cell phones category. This year, however, Moto is taking a more comprehensive approach with three cell phones that range from simple to complex.

On the simple side, Motorola presents the Renew W233. Its story lies not in what it offers--features are minimal--but in what it is. The Renew is made entirely of recycled water bottles (at least the plastic parts). Moto is calling it the world's first carbon neutral phone--that puts it beyond the Nokia 3110, which is made from 50 percent recycled material. The packaging is also Earth-friendly. Not only does the Renew use 22 percent less packaging, but the packaging that it does use comes from recycled paper and the ink on the manual is soy-based. Moto is also promising that the Renew will use less energy with a promised talk time of nine hours.

Features include support for CrystalTalk feature, a VGA camera, organizer features, and a music player. The Renew will arrive at T-Mobile in the first quarter of this year.

The following product mentioned is available.

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View the latest prices for Motorola Renew W233 (T-Mobile)

Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry. E-mail Kent.
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Best of CES and
People's Voice Award

Since 2006, CNET has presented the Best of CES Awards, given to the top product in 10 categories as well as one coveted Best in Show award. See the gadgets that topped our list for this year, and find out the People's Voice winner, decided by more than 10,000 member votes.

Now accepting submissions for the 2010 Best of CES Awards.


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