Motorola L Series+ was probably the most usable phone in the world when it was released around 1999, there may be many similar phone in the market now. Let us get into the ’facts’ now. :-)
What makes it most usable
Motorola L Series+ is a tri-band phone which supports 900/1800/1900 which means that the same phone can be used in the United States as well. From SE Asia to India to the United States, it works every where. (I don’t know about Korea and Japan though). I had requested for this product through MouthPad and have put some details in the description of the product, please check that up as well. Am not putting it here cos’ I don’t want to repeat the stuff.
Serious Phone for Serious People :-)
Motorola phones are great, if you are clear what the phone can do and what it can’t do.
Some of the features I like are :
Voice Notes
Where in you can capture a snippet of conversation either with someone over the phone or just record a conversation you are having with one one while not over the phone :-). I use it to record address, phone number or email ids and I erase the VoiceNote after recording it in my PalmTop. The advantage is that you don’t have to ask the person to wait till you get a pen and paper, just click on a push button, and what ever the person says is recorded. Supports up to 3 minutes fo VoiceNotes
SMS Messages
Reading and writing SMS messages are a breeze with this baby. Has a very user friendly Font and shows upto 5 lines at a time. Writing messages ?? Don’t worry use iTap which helps to key in words without worrying whether they are correct, uses a in-built dictionary. Or change the mode to Tap Mode if you are comfortable typing your own words or Numeric Mode if you want to key in a big number.
Ring Tones
Motorola phones till now had very limited Ring Tone support. This one is bit different in the sense that you can edit the Music tone. The default music tone is quite ok, but you can use the Motorola RingTone Maker and make your own ring tones. But only one tone will be active at a time. Motorola website says that tones can be received as a SMS but I couldn’t try it till now. But editing the Music tone didn’t work that well as I couldn’t correct the pitch. The X-Files tone that I put sounds extremely funny but I still like it. The other standard tones available are German, British , French etc which are quite ok. You can download the RingTone maker from the Motorola Site, there is very limited support available for the S/W though.
Ring Modes
Supports the following, Ring only, Vibrate then Ring , Vibrate only and No Vibrate no Ring. May be available in any other phone, but its a feature so I am mentioning it. I change the mode quite frequently and I find it extremely useful.
Voice Tag
Has Voice Tag storing Capability like any other advanced phone. Voice Tag can be stored for only for those names stored in the Phone, and can’t be stored for names stored in the SIM card.
QuickMenu
Basically a GUI for the standard menu, its quite interesting and can find out a particular item/option fast without going in the Text Menu and keying up and down. Very efficient.
Battery life and others
I felt that the battery life was quite good, considering that its a big phone. It lasts at least 3 days without recharging. Reception is crystal clear as it also has a E.W.I to filter out the static around you. There is a seperate key in the key pad to access your Voice Mail which is also useful. The IR(Infra Red) port is available and usable, also its WAP enabled.
What I feel using this product
I personally feel that its a great phone, Its not that small or cute or ’sexy’ looking, nor does it have cool logos or great games, not does it have 100 Ring tones, but it fulfils what ever I expect from a Mobile Phone, for me the primary purpose of a mobile phone is not games ( I prefer PSOne or PSTwo games :-), not ringtones or logos rather its the clarity, reliability and how friendy and maintenence free the product it and it comes Top in all these criteria.
Hey I forgot one thing, the price!!!, 1 1/2 years back, the phone cost around 500 Singapore dollars. and am still using it. Hope you enjoyed the review.
Rgds Ranjith