| Motorola V.box(V100) |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 |
| Announced | 2000 |
| Status | Discontinued |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 83 X 44 X 25 Mm |
| Weight | 83 G ( Standard Battery ) |
| Display |
| Type | Monochrome Graphic |
| Size | 126 X 64 Pixels, 7 Lines |
| | - Qwerty Keyboard
- Fixed Icons |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Monophonic |
| Amount | 12 |
| Customization | Composer, Download, |
| Vibration | Yes |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | 100 |
| Call Records | 10 Dialed, 5 Received, 5 Missed Calls |
| Card Slot | No |
| | - 25 Phone Book Voice Tags
- 9 Quick Access Voice Tags |
| Data |
| Gprs | No |
| Hscsd | No |
| Edge | No |
| 3g | No |
| Wlan | No |
| Bluetooth | No |
| Infrared Port | No |
| Usb | |
| Features |
| Messaging | Sms |
| Browser | Wap |
| Clock | Yes |
| Alarm | No |
| Games | 3 |
| Colors | |
| Languages | 26 |
| Camera | No |
| | - Voice Memo
- Voice Dial
- Smart Button
- Volume Keys
- Navdisc
- Write And Read Sms Hot Keys
- Ok Button On Outside |
| Battery |
| | Standard Battery, 600 Mah Li-ion |
| Stand-by | 120 H |
| Talk Time | 3.5 H |
|
Motorola - V.box(V100)Motorola v100
It's amazing what comes off the shelves these days. Phones of all manner and designs flood the market, turning into fashion statements and trendy icons. The Motorola V100 Personal Communicator is one such device, and if not the only one that seems intently targeted at a youthful audience. Conjured by Motorola to serve primarily as an SMS and WAP platform, this mobile device is also intended as a phone, although this function seems somewhat secondary in appearance and functionality.
Out Of The Box
PDA this is not. The V100 may be mistaken for a fancy Japanese stationary box (reminiscence of primary school days), with a transparent blue plastic casing. This clamshell design comes with a sizeable 90 x 70 x 25 mm green-backlit LED screen and QWERTY keyboard, making this an SMS maniac's toy. Or is it?
In an effort to keep size dimensions in check, the manufacturers obviously had to do some trade-offs in designing functionality and aesthetics. The keyboard consists of small rubber keys that had my fingers meshing them instead of just normal pushing--like what you would do on a mobile phone. At first glance, the layout of the keyboard gave a very cluttered impression, with certain keys representing two or three different characters; this aspect made it even more difficult to read the characters.
SMS message composition and reading are done via two different buttons. This provides a convenient shortcut to messaging functions, clearly again showing Motorola's intent on making this device a primary text message box. Entering information was a frustrating and painstaking process, chiefly because the phone operating system responded slowly to key presses. Each key press had a noticeable lag, and we're talking about a VERY noticeable lag here. On a number of occasions, it took a second or two before the phone could catch up with earlier key presses. This was further aggravated by the asinine nature of the keyboard caused by having to press certain function keys (like the ALT) to access another character set. As a result, bad keyboard layouts coupled with phone slowness led to frequent inaccuracies in message composition.
For those of you accustomed to SMS composition using one hand, be warned that you'll probably need two hands on this device; that's not because it is faster that way. But to make up for the speed and inaccuracy in typing out the message, I would stick to a T9 dictionary on my trusty mobile phone any day.
Phone? What Phone?
On our first test drive with the V100, we couldn't find a way to make or receive calls. Try as we might, there was no earpiece or mouthpiece (after a while we felt rather silly), only a handsfree jack in the side of the clam case. Much to our chagrin there was no way to talk or listen except via a handsfree kit (we didn't have the manual to tell us this, mind you). Of course, it would look rather odd holding something this size to your ear and trying to talk into it.
Slipped into a jeans pocket or attached to a belt, with the handsfree dangling around your neck, you'd be mistaken for listening to a earphone walkman. These headphones look like your run-of-the-mill handsfree earphones, except that they come in a complementary transparent blue. To take a call, the user has to press an OK button recessed into the side of the device, or by simply flipping open the clamshell and pressing the OK button on the keyboard. Alternatively, an auto answer function is available and configured within the menu of the phone.
Phone call quality was considerably good, except for the occasional "dropout", and the handsfree kit gave no problems whatsoever.
Functions Galore
Pre-packed with goodies, the V100 does not disappoint in this area. You have:
Date, time and alarm clock/alarm
Voice Memo, limited to 3 minutes of voice recording
Voice Dial where you can assign voice tags to ring loved ones
Voice Command to access the principal nine functions
Three games: Bricks, Tower of Hanoi and Baccarat
Ringtone editor for customized composition
Motorola VibraCall, your standard mobile phone vibrating ringer
WAP
It would be a terrible waste if such a big screen did not feature WAP. Motorola did not forget this and gave Internet access on this device. However, the UP browser from Phone.com proved somewhat less than helpful as it does not store its bookmarks locally on the phone but somewhere else.
Verdict
A good concept and design by Motorola, but one sadly failing in many crucial aspects. User experience could have been improved by implementing a better keyboard and faster operating system on the phone. Undoubtedly targeted at younger audiences, it is unlikely you'll find serious phone folks using the V100. |
| Common misspellings on this brand: motiorola |
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