Like the wise have said, saying good things about a good product is a waste of time and space, but I’ll say these good things none the less (in a concise manner of course !)
Going by Motorola’s philosophy, this phone was made to revolutionize how a mobile phone looks. The first time I saw an advert of the product, I went bonkers! I simply could not comprehend the amazing form-factor of the phone. This is exactly what the phone is all about, ’Shock Value’.
The feature set, though not the best, is adequate enough. You get a WAP browser, Bluetooth, VGA camera (not very impressive though) for stills and 3GP capture, to name a few. The kit contains a headset (wired), software CD (’mobile phone tools’), charger, battery pack and the phone itself.
The screen is good and large which displays 8 text lines, 1 header line, 1 function line and one omnipresent phone status line. On the side of the screen are function button that assist in operations such as ‘volume control’, ‘voice dial’, ‘Bluetooth menu access’ etc. The ‘smart key’ is very handy here. The outer screen is pretty good too and comes in handy when taking a ‘Self Portrait’.
Like many have said before the keypad is marvel with a very stylish blue backlight. It has dedicated keys for WAP browser access and the ‘Messaging Centre’. The speaker and the receiver are decent, but I personally think that the earphone and the speakerphone could be a little louder. Reception quality of voice is crisp and clear.
I have one qualm about the firmware, it’s simply slow, not as snappy as Nokia or SE. The user interface too is not very user friendly, and one glaring example of this been the switch between the traditional location of the soft keys. The phone does not have many user interface customization options like some of the SEs, it comes with only 3 themes. Even though I have read over the net about new UIz developed by the modding community, I simply could not find instructions on how to install one!
I have one more qualm about the applications, since the phone is made to appeal more to business users, it should have applications like the ‘Valet’ you find on a Nokia to hold protected information, I make do with the quick notes in the messaging center.
The mobile phones tools software is real handy when you are using your mobile phone as a modem, which I very often do. The program itself is not perfect but is functionally sound. One big issue I have with ‘mobile phone tools’ is that it simply won’t detect the inbuilt Bluetooth adapter on my laptop, but the phone as an independent device happily connects to the laptop on the same adapter.
The battery has decent amount of juice in it, I get by a 2 days without charging it, but I’m not a heavy user. The build quality of the phone is fantastic, all metal, I have dropped it a couple of times which made the screen go blank and the firmware hang but no real damage as such.
Bottom line -> This is a ’SHOW-OFF’ phone, a kickass style and fashion statement. The geeks would definetly be disappointed but u can easily impress the babe next door.
So, there ya go. A quick ‘from the top of my head’ review of the product, hope you find it helpful.