Verizon Wireless today announced that the Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX will be available starting January 26. It will cost $299.99 with a new two-year contract. The RAZR MAXX is nearly identical to the RAZR, but packs a 3300mAh battery and boasts 21 hours of talk time. It runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread and has a dual-core 1.2Ghz processor. Tweet Vote on HN ...

Motorola has filed a new lawsuit against Apple regarding smartphone patents, this time in Florida. Motorola has identified six patents related to wireless antennae, software, data filtering, and messaging that it believes Apple is violating in the iPhone 4S and iCloud. Earlier this month, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that Motorola did not violate certain Apple patents, and in December Apple was found guilty in a German court of violating one of Motorola’s patents. Apple is battling its smartphone competitors in courts around the ...

The European Union will make a decision regarding Google’s acquisition of Motorola on February 13. It was scheduled to make a decision earlier this month, but postponed while it waited for additional materials from Google. Google has since supplied the requested items. Google announced plans last August to purchase the handset maker for $12.5 billion. The deal has been awaiting regulatory approval. Tweet Vote on HN ...

Motorola Mobility Ventures today announced that it has made an undisclosed investment in an Israeli start-up called Shaker, which recreates social experiences online. Shaker’s service hooks into user’s Facebook accounts and “allows people to meet around mutual friends and shared interests.” The service is currently only available in Israel, but is launching in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2012. Motorola’s investment will help Shaker bring its service to U.S. smartphones. ...

The European Union will make a decision regarding Google’s acquisition of Motorola on February 13. It was scheduled to make a decision earlier this month, but postponed while it waited for additional materials from Google. Google has since supplied the requested items. Google announced plans last August to purchase the handset maker for $12.5 billion. The deal has been awaiting regulatory approval. Tweet Vote on HN ...

The DEFY MINI is a new, smaller version of Motorola’s rugged DEFY smartphone. It was announced the week before CES started, and it features the same tough body, Corning Gorilla Glass, and water-resistant body of the larger DEFY. We caught up with it at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. Tweet Vote on HN ...

Motorola’s MOTOLUXE, which was announced the week before CES began, is a device that will not get as much love as it probably should. That’s largely because it will get slammed for having an 800MHz processor even though it has a nice suite of otherwise high-end specs. Tweet Vote on HN ...

Today Motorola issued a statement on the favorable ruling it received in its International Trade Commission battle against Apple. The administrative law judge in the case found that Motorola did not infringe upon any of the three patents named in Apple’s suit. Scott Offer, senior vice president and general counsel of Motorola Mobility, had the following to say: Motorola Mobility has worked hard over the years to develop technology and build an industry-leading intellectual property portfolio. We are proud to leverage this broad and deep portfolio to create differentiated innovations ...

Motorola is not infringing on three Apple patents, according to a preliminary ruling issued today by the U.S. International Trade Commission. Apple sued Motorola in October 2010 over three patents it believed devices such as the Droid, Droid 2, and Droid X were violating. Motorola later responded with a suit of its own, covering 18 patens related to smartphones. Today’s preliminary decision in Motorola’s favor will need to be reviewed and approved by the full Comission. Apple had asked the ITC to file an injunction and prevent Motorola from importing the offending devices into ...

Motorola is working on a next-generation version of its Webtop mobile application that will add support for Google’s Chrome browser. In an interview with The Verge, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha said, “What we call the next generation of Webtop will have more capabilities,” adding that the switch to Android 4.0 will lead to a smoother user experience. Webtop allows Motorola phones to connect to a lapdock device and use a full browser and Android applications on the larger screen. The first generation supports Mozilla’s Firefox browser instead of Chrome. Jha also revealed ...