When news hit our desks today that so-called "official" pictures of a Motorola SLDR and SCPL were floating around the 'nets, our skepticism was almost immediate. Why would Moto undercut the upcoming release of its RIZR slider with a technologically superior (yet less creatively named) sibling? Why would they officially identify this candybar simply as "SCPL" after previously revealing that the cost-sensitive MOTOFONE was, in fact, the SCPL -- or at least a member of a newly-coined SCPL series? Why do the SCPL and SLDR seem so out of proportion to one another? (Look after the break to see what we mean.) Why do the d-pads and displays look vaguely suspicious? Why is the SCPL's background a recolored version of the ROKR E2's? Add in the fact that Motorola's branding and design DNA are nearly as easy to fake as Apple's, and needless to say, it takes a little more than a couple funky shots to get us to buy that Moto -- with possibly the slowest-changing product line of the major manufacturers -- would drop two utterly new models in a single day with this little fanfare. It was a HowardForums thread, though, that finally sealed the deal for us with a poster noting that the supposed SLDR shares the same display image as one of the KRZR's original press shots. Now, if our good friends at Motorola HQ would like to prove us wrong, well... you know where to send the phones, guys; but in the meantime, consider these things no more real than a US release of the MPx.

Read - NewMobile
Read - HowardForums

[Thanks, Brad]