| Motorola A768i |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 / Gsm 1900 |
| Announced | 2004, 1q |
| Status | Available |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 100 X 53 X 21 Mm, 100 Cc |
| Weight | 120 G |
| Display |
| Type | Tft Touchscreen, 65k Colors |
| Size | 240 X 320 Pixels |
| | - Handwriting And Speech Recognition (chi & Eng) |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Polyphonic (40 Channels), Mp3 |
| Customization | Download, |
| Vibration | Yes |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | Yes |
| Call Records | Yes |
| Card Slot | No |
| | - 96 Mb Total Memory, 58 Mb User Accessible
- 206mhz Processor |
| Data |
| Gprs | Class 10 (4+1/3+2 Slots), 32 - 48 Kbps |
| Hscsd | No |
| Edge | No |
| 3g | No |
| Wlan | No |
| Bluetooth | Yes, V1.1 |
| Infrared Port | Yes |
| Usb | Yes |
| Features |
| Os | Linux |
| Messaging | Sms, Ems, Mms, Email, Instant Messaging |
| Browser | Wap 2.0/xhtml, Html |
| Games | Yes, |
| Colors | Mr. Black |
| Camera | Cif, 352 X 288 Pixels, Video 176x144 Pixels |
| | - Java
- Mp3 Player
- Pim Functions
- Voice Dial/memo |
| Battery |
| | Standard, Li-ion 780 Mah (77639) |
| Stand-by | Up To 180 H |
| Talk Time | Up To 6 H |
|
Motorola - A768iMotorola A768i
I've recently gotten my hands on the Motorola A768i, a feature rich tri-band GPRS smartphone that boasts a Linux operating system along with Bluetooth, MP3 player, speakerphone, 65K TFT color screen, multi-function camera capable of shooting both stills and video, and a slew of other hidden features. Do I have your attention yet? Well then, let's find out if this phone delivers on everything it promises.
Design
If you are a flip phone zealot, then the design of this phone will appeal to you. However, if you are drawn more to the candybar or slider type of phone, as I am, then it might take some time to get used to the A768i.
At first glance, the A768i doesn't look much different than your typical Motorola flip phone. Upon closer review, and after opening the flip, you'll notice the absence of any physical numeric keypad and the presence of a fairly generously sized display. From here on out, there are very few similarities to the Motorola of the past. The form factor has been kept fairly compact considering its category (phone + pda = smartphone). The A768i weighs in at a respectable 120 grams. It is noticeably smaller than many other smartphones, but this Motorola model probably will not get any style points when compared to some of the ultra compact phones now on the market.
Back in Black
With many of the new phones donning the oh so popular silver exterior, Motorola went the other way with A768i and chose a dark gray exterior with chrome like accents. However, depending on the light, it often appears to be more black than grey.
On the left side of the phone are a volume rocker switch and a select button for navigating the user interface UI without the included stylus. On the right side is a single button that acts as the shutter button when in camera mode. It also enables the status and time when the flip is closed. Rather than going with a dual screen layout (one exterior and one interior), the a768i sports a clear plastic window that reveals roughly two thirds of the overall area of the main display when closed.
The back of the phone houses the camera lens, with its adjacent mirror for taking self-portraits. The face of the lens is almost flush with the phone, which lends itself to possible scratching. Also on the back, in close proximity to the camera lens, is the external speaker that is used for the speakerphone as well as other audio functions. A noticeable protrusion is the small fixed external antenna, which is obviously seeking function over form in this case.
Display
The a768i's display is quite impressive. Technical specifications indicate a 65k color TFT display. The display really shines is when it comes to internet browsing, where it shows off remarkable clarity and detail even on zoomed out web pages with a lot of images. Viewing the screen outdoors in direct sunlight is better than average; the display remains very readable.
Which comes first, Phone or PDA?
When it comes to smartphones, there are usually two camps: the devices that are more phone and less PDA, or just the opposite with the PDA taking center stage. If I had to allocate a percentage, I would suggest that the A768i is 70% phone and 30% PDA. Let's first cover the phone functionality.
has always delivered solid communication devices, and the A768i is no exception. Reception and voice quality (incoming and outgoing) are both exceptional (using 1900 band in the USA). The speakerphone is also top-notch. Most people could not even recognize that I was on a speakerphone when I was using it.
There are effectively three ways to dial out. The first and most basic is by touching numbers on the TFT screen. While the numbers are spaced far enough apart that you can use your finger, unless you want fingerprints all over your display, it's best to use the stylus. This brings me to a critical concern with this phone. There are a number of steps that you need to complete before actually connecting with someone on the other end. Take out the stylus, open the flip, set the device to phone, and then start punching in your numbers. Compared to traditional numeric keypads, it will take two to three times the amount of effort and time to complete the dialing process. The second way to dial out is through the integrated contact list. This is probably the method that will be used most, and it's fairly straightforward. I'll elaborate more on the contact list later. The third way to dial a number is through voice recognition. An interesting function in the A768i is that you can speak numbers or names to the device. Rather than recording a voice pattern, it actually interprets the number or name itself, but I had only moderate success with this feature. It recognized the correct number or name only about half of the time.
Answering a phone call is a fairly routine operation. You can configure the phone to automatically answer upon opening the flip or set it to use a touch screen menu once the flip is open. One drawback to having the phone automatically answer upon opening the flip is that there is no obvious way to reject the call. I experimented with rejecting a call while the phone was closed and I could not successfully divert the call to voicemail. Since this is a critical function, I am forced to set the call receive option to manual. Not good. Even the included documentation mentions nothing about rejecting a call. When a call does come through, the contact information and picture (if the contact has a picture associated with it) will appear through the clear plastic window.
Profile support is excellent and the phone includes PC software that allows you to edit or add profiles extensively. The A768i supports polyphonic ringtones, including both MIDI and MP3 formats. Above and beyond using profiles, the A768i allows the user to quickly switch between silent/vibrate, audible ringtone, or a combination of both. I found this feature to be quite handy and intuitive.
Can this device replace my PDA?
My subjective answer is that the Motorola A768i will probably not replace your PDA if you are a PDA power user. However, if you are looking for the basics in calendaring and contact management, then this phone is certainly capable. The contact list is fairly complete and easy to work with. Motorola usually gets poor marks in the contact storage department, but this phone is the exception since it is capable of handling eight phone numbers and two email addresses per contact, plus an instant message ID. You can include a picture and notes for each contact as well. In regards to the calendar application, there are some limitations, such as 256 character limit in the notes area of the appointment/task. So, if you are synchronizing with a corporate email system such as Outlook or Lotus Notes, be aware of this limitation, as it will truncate any notes attached to a calendar appointment.
Linux OS
In terms of operating system choices, Motorola definitely chose the road less traveled for the A768i. The obvious choices in the market are the Symbian OS and, of course, Microsoft. However, the A768i operates on top of a Linux OS, giving it a completely different feel than most any other phone on the market. While Linux is somewhat of a mature OS in its own right for a desktop computing platform, it has not yet proven itself as a true player in the mobile market since only a handful of devices are using Linux. Advantages of the Linux platform are convincing: the stability of Unix, the distribution rights of open source software, and the flexibility of easily allowing third party developers to write mobile specific applications. The disadvantage of being a first mover, however, is challenging, as there are not many applications written specifically on this platform for the mobile market, especially when compared to Symbian, Microsoft, or PalmOS. That will change if Linux OS devices become popular in the mobile market space, which I hope they do.
Included Applications
Beyond the standard calendar, contact system, and generic phone services, the A768i comes with a few other applications that are noteworthy. My personal favorite is the Picsel browser. When you see the word browser, you immediately think of the world wide web, right? What's interesting about this particular browser is that it is capable of viewing not only html pages, but also MS Office documents, PDF files, and a variety of other formats. Beyond the mere versatility of this application is its wonderful UI for zooming in & out of web pages or documents with relative ease, as well as scrolling up or down and left or right. This is truly a paradigm shift in mobile web and document browsing. The Picsel browser is a third party application developed by Picsel Technologies and is perhaps worthy of its own full review. Suffice it to say, this one application is one of the most attractive features on this phone.
Other applications include an email client (POP3/IMAP), a traditional WAP browser, and applications that support the many other media and connectivity features of the phone, such as the Camera, MP3 player, SMS, MMS and Bluetooth configurator.
Multimedia
Unfortunately, the A768i is not a megapixel camera phone. It only supports a max resolution of 322x288 for photos and 176x144 for videos. This is disappointing considering the really wonderful megapixel phone choices now available on the market. Also absent is a flash or assist-light for low light situations. However, the camera does support still shots and video (up to 5 minutes in length), as well as digital zoom. Image quality is marginal at best. You are not going to purchase this phone because of its stellar imaging capabilities. Other than the capability of taking videos, it feels like a first generation camera phone. If camera functions rank high in your priority list, you might want to look elsewhere. Also absent is support for an additional memory card. The A768i comes with 98 MB of memory, approximately 52 MB of which is available to the user.
Connectivity and Messaging
Unlike the camera category, connectivity is where this phone excels. Outside of including 3G (or EDGE) communications, this phone has most everything you need: GPRS for web browsing and email communication, Bluetooth for multiple device information exchange or wireless headsets, infrared communication, and of course the capability to send and receive SMS and MMS messages.
Bluetooth
I'm a Bluetooth fanatic, so if I seem hyper critical of this device in and around the Bluetooth capabilities, it's because I have very high expectations. My laptop computer, desktop computer, PDA, and even car all have Bluetooth integration, so as you can tell, my mobile phone must have Bluetooth. Period. In spite of a few minor quips (and one major one), I consider the A768i as having good Bluetooth integration; just not great. File communications between the A768i and my desktop and laptop worked flawlessly and consistently. Regarding audio communications to a Bluetooth headset, the A768i also performed well with good clarity on both sides of the conversation. Where I have complaints are the ease of use associated with toggling the Bluetooth radio on and off and the incompatibility with my car's hands-free Bluetooth profile. To toggle the Bluetooth function on/off, you have to go to the setup and configuration area for Bluetooth, which is buried deep in the menu system. I usually keep Bluetooth on. However, when the phone is turned off and then back on again, it defaults to the Bluetooth radio being turned off. This means that you have to navigate through the setup menu again to turn it back on, a feat that probably takes 20 seconds of menu clicking each time. A real nuisance. Regarding my automobile Bluetooth integration, why the A768i does not want to communicate with my car is baffling and a significant disappointment. My last phone (SE K700) worked flawlessly with my car with zero configuration.
Messaging
For writing messages (SMS, MMS and email), the A768i works very well. It is generally quicker to use than is T9 on a traditional numeric keypad, , especially when using the on-screen keyboard. However, when using the handwriting recognition function, the text recognition is not as responsive as one would expect - even when set to 'fast' text recognition. That being said, the A768i is very accurate and includes predictive text, meaning as you begin to write a word, it will give you a list of closest matches from an internal word list. Additionally, you have the option to use the on-screen QWERTY keyboard, which also works well (but excludes predictive text). My only other complaint is that the space bar is awkwardly placed to the side rather than at the bottom of the virtual keyboard, where one would expect it to be.
In any application that requires text entry, you have a choice of using either the handwriting recognition function in a designated area at the bottom of the screen (much like Palm's graffiti function) or of using the virtual QWERTY keyboard or number specific virtual keypad.
I believe in order for a smartphone to be truly useful, it must have near equality with today's pure-play PDAs in terms of text entry and keyboard. Simply providing T9 or other predictive text on top of a numeric keypad just doesn't cut it for me. The A768i performs well under these criteria. If you use text messaging and/or email on a mobile phone often, it's hard to go back to a numeric keypad system once you've grown use to a system such as the one provided by the A768i. If you are drawn to physical keys (eg. Blackberry or Palm Treo 600), then the touch-screen of the A768i will take some time getting used to. Overall I preferred to use the QWERTY virtual keyboard in most applications. Handwriting recognition in the A768i has some usability issues, in my opinion, and is not as mature as that found in Palm OS or Microsoft Pocket PC platforms.
Battery Life
Lets not forget that last essential component: battery performance. In my own tests, the battery performed well considering the wonderful TFT screen. However, with Bluetooth on, and a lot of active use during the day, I would run out of battery life after about four hours of talk-time and 16 hours of standby time. In low usage scenarios, I achieved about 50 hours of standby time and about 2.5 hours of talk time. Compared with phones with a similar screen resolution and feature set, the battery life of the A768i could be deemed above average.
Conclusion
So, the question becomes will this be my mobile phone of choice for any length of time? Overall, I really like this phone. The A768i is refreshingly unique in many aspects and it does excel in the phone and messaging categories. But will it replace my Palm Tungsten T3? I don't think so. The A768i is not a PDA powerhouse, but it does have a much better contact database than the traditional Motorola OS offers. If I can get over my lack of desire for flip phones in general, then this phone will be a keeper. That is, until I get to try out the A780... |
| Common misspellings on this brand: motoeola |
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