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Thursday, June 16, 2005

My Review for Motorola A768i


I recently purchased Motorola A768i phone. I wanted to use it for some time before I gave a review so now the time may be perfect, I have used it for around 2 weeks.
[update: The volume issue is solved, the side keys do change volume, thanks vishnu, although I had learnt that already from the manual.]
To make is easy to read I categorize the review in to these categories.

(holding it like those TOI images;-))
Design & Hardware:

Merits:
  • I liked the design mostly. Considering the device has a weight of 120 grams, its packed quite well in to a slim body.
  • The flip works well. It automatically switches off the phone display on closing it.
  • The display screen size is quite good for most practicle purposes.
  • One of the side buttons allow you to see the time/battery/signal strength keeping the flip closed. That is a cool nature.
  • The loudspeaker functionality is great.
  • The memory(58 MB user space) look sufficient for most practicle purposes.
Demerits:
  • The worst thing with this phone is the BATTERY. It drains out very fast.
  • I feel the hard reboot key is not suitably places at there are chance of it getting pressed accidenly when kept in your pocket.
  • Although I haven't felt the need of a key pad. I read somewhere that application requiring key board input are not usable with this phone.
  • The camera looks excessively bad in quality. Not only its resolution is small (320x240) the photos look dark( for some unknown reasons). For any photography freak this sucks.
Software:
Merits:
  • This phone host Linux which was one great reason for me to buy it. I wanted a Linux PDA for long.
  • Supports Linux/JAVA applications. ( I have tried neither of them)
  • Bluetooth/Ir/USBLAN based sharing are great feature for sending data to and fro from PC to phone and phone to phones.
  • Music formats supported are : amr and mp3 (default player), Video Formats supported are: 3gp
  • Moreover you can set any music file as ringtone. So you can save money you had to spent for downloading ringtones from your service provider.
  • Full screen display is supported with video. and Audio player works well even after flip is closed(this is intitutive but even then it is good).
  • Some usefull apps like File manager, Calender, Alarm, Notepad, and most importantly Pixcel browser are provided. Picsel browser may not have a very intitutive GUI but the functionalities are great, I can easily read HTML files with western-characters.
  • Contact book is more or less good.
  • Multitasking works well, you can open many apps at same time. You can note down something while talking to someone on the same phone!!!
Demerits:
  • The default media player application is not good. Real player should have been a great replacement.
  • Again Real Media format support would have been great.
  • I am not sure but sometimes I feel the speakers don't work well. (something is buggy will verify and write it in details),
Overall I am satisfied with my cellphone, except for its battery. I would like to see motorola improving its reputation in terms of battery power.

1 comment:

  1. I have been a A768i user for a couple of months now.I took it because of the same 'Linux PDA' interest as you.Even i wanted to post a review in the blog,but missed it down the line.Wanted to put in a few points as comments,OTOH.

    # The volume thingie.When you are talking,you can actually reduce the volume by pressing up/down buttons on the left exterior of the phone.The same can be used when you listen to music.Strangely
    this works only when the flip is open,but is useful neverthless.

    # You can actually record what you are talking by pressing the right exterior button.Discovered this accidentally!

    # Regd Java applications.They have given some sample java games with the cd.They are basically .jar files which you can copy to the phone (via USB).Then you got to install it by right clicking and selecting 'Install'.Worked without an error.Now,the sad problem is that 99% of the java-gaming applications are developed for a keypad.So you got to hack the code to make it work for a touchpad.Have never tried it.

    # When you connect the phone to USB,you can actually telnet to the system.But the IP Address that you get with a ipconfig is not the one which you should telnet to.You should refer the manual and see a IP Address being specified there,thats the one to be used.By the way,you get a 'root' login to the linux system with no password ,if you do that :-)

    # Actually,there is no need to use the Motoapplication to browse through the phone,when you are connected via USB.You can directly ping it with a \\[ipaddress]

    # The entire frontend is designed using Qt-Embedded,just in case you didnt know.Iam not so sure whether we can hack the system and put our own Qt programs.I doubt we can do that.Let me know whether you manage to do some serious hacking :-)

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