12-14-2004, 07:00 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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MobileBurn Previews Motorola's MPx
"Thanks to Wireless Imports, I had the chance to play around with a pre-production Motorola MPx for a few days. As pre-production unit, there were a number of things that were not finished or working correctly. This is to be expected. The bootup screen clearly states that this is not a final product. The software that our MPx was running was from the middle of November, so it is fairly recent. But before I get into my thoughts on the MPx, first some background. The Motorola MPx is a GSM/GPRS device that runs Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2003 SE operating system designed for phones. That means it is a full blown PocketPC PDA with phone support. The MPx's gimmick, if you will, is it's unique double hinge clamshell design that allows the phone to be opened up as would a normal clamshell, or shifted 90 degrees so that it opens into a more communicator friendly mode with the display being wider than tall. Throw WiFi, Bluetooth, a SD slot, and a 1.3 megapixel camera into the mix, and you can see why people are so anxious to get their hands on one. I certainly was."
The review doesn't dwell much on the memory, and gives an overall positive look at the MPx. The one worrisome report, memory aside, is that the review points out the MPx preview unit's poor battery life. Um, Motorola? I thought the 32MB was a compromise to improve battery life? Let's hope the production units resolve at least that issue.
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12-14-2004, 07:08 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,768
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At first I was dissapointed because 1) Motorola told us something different about the memory configuration last year at the MDC. 2) I would not be able to use it as my power PDA. Then I started to think about it a little more. The way I use my current phone (SE T610), I do not really use it for much and have to use my Pocket PC for anything other than talking on the phone. As a phone, the MPx will probably be awesome and at the same time, sync/push/pull my email, browse the web and be a general purpose good phone. It definately would be a huge step up from any non PPC phone. I may still carry around a powerful PPC when I need one, but for day to day business uses, the MPx will be a step up for most people who just have a basic Symbian phone today.
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Jonathan (JonnoB)
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." -Edmund Burke
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12-14-2004, 07:23 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 174
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Bah. I just bought a Motorola v400 because it's still primarily a phone (doesn't pretend to be a PocketPC) with some PDA capability. I chose the V400 because of the following:
1. I could put an MP3 of the Futurama theme on it as a ringtone
2. Out of the smaller phones that are primarily phones, the camera seemed to be the best one, and is even IR-sensitive (no electonic IR cut filter when in night mode!). If I HAVE to accept a camera with a good phone, I want a good one.
3. I can sync the contacts with Outlook.
The only reason I didn't go with the V600 to get bluetooth is that Cingular isn't offering that phone in my area.
I purposely avoided the Smartphone-based phones. I already resent the way PocketPC vendors are treating the devices as disposable (they're actually more expensive than home desktop PCs now!), and convergence is only going to make the matter even worse.
"Oh, bluetooth doesn't work? Sorry, we're not releasing a patch, you can buy a new phone."
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12-14-2004, 07:41 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 307
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by JonnoB
At first I was dissapointed because 1) Motorola told us something different about the memory configuration last year at the MDC. 2) I would not be able to use it as my power PDA. Then I started to think about it a little more. The way I use my current phone (SE T610), I do not really use it for much and have to use my Pocket PC for anything other than talking on the phone. As a phone, the MPx will probably be awesome and at the same time, sync/push/pull my email, browse the web and be a general purpose good phone. It definately would be a huge step up from any non PPC phone. I may still carry around a powerful PPC when I need one, but for day to day business uses, the MPx will be a step up for most people who just have a basic Symbian phone today.
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i see your point. but then wouln't it be better to get a keyboar equippe smartphone like the Voq? (if they were only available in Canada, where they are ironically made.)
the problem with 32k is that you would run into frequent crashes i think with many of today's programs.
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12-14-2004, 09:12 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 351
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by JonnoB
As a phone, the MPx will probably be awesome and at the same time, sync/push/pull my email, browse the web and be a general purpose good phone. It definately would be a huge step up from any non PPC phone.
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Hey dude,
did you ever look at the SE P900? I ditched my 2210 last year and have been using this gem for the past year. (I have a T610 as a backup phone).
I just got an ipaq 4150 so I can surf using WiFi mainly. The P900 is easy to use one handed.
I'm thinking of a V600 for a replacement for the P900.. only thing is the predictive input is iTap and not T9.
B.
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iPhone / iPod(s) / Mac Desktop & Portables.. yet I'm a Windows/MS Platform Dev ;)
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12-14-2004, 09:20 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,768
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by kiwi
Hey dude,
did you ever look at the SE P900?
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Yes, I have considered many alternative devices, but I need the following functionality. Missing even one of these makes it a dead device to me.
1) Server activesync support (currently using PPC via BT on phone)
2) Keyboard/thumboard
3) MSN Messenger
4) .Net Compact Framework support
5) Web browsing
6) Media player
7) Voice activated dialing
8) BT profile for my Jabra Freespeak
9) WiFi
10) SIP based softphone to connect through my SIP gateway
11) slip comfortably into my pocket
Of course, I would love to have all my PPC power features, but this is what I need in my phone to take me away from my current combination. I am looking at the PDA2k, but I think the MPx will be more pocketable even though I would give up CPU performance and memory.
__________________
Jonathan (JonnoB)
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." -Edmund Burke
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12-14-2004, 09:47 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by KimVette
I purposely avoided the Smartphone-based phones. I already resent the way PocketPC vendors are treating the devices as disposable (they're actually more expensive than home desktop PCs now!), and convergence is only going to make the matter even worse.
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But the regular cell phones are even worse in that regard. At least with converged devices there exists the possibility of user-installed ROM updates... and I get real Outlook sync.
--janak
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12-14-2004, 10:27 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 545
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Used to worry....now, not so much...
I used to be worried when I heard this. While it would be nice to have more ram, if i have a large enough SD card, it won't matter. If I install everything I can to the SD card, I can just use the 32 MB (or as much of it I get after installing the idiot apps that won't run right if installed to SD) for execution, it would be more then enough. I remember using my EM500 and it only had 16 MB of ram and as long as I kept the ram for ram it ran at a pretty good clip. Installed everything I could to the SD card. 32 MB may seem constrained, but if you put everything onto a SD card, you should be fine.
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12-14-2004, 10:42 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 540
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Re: Used to worry....now, not so much...
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Originally Posted by gorkon280
32 MB may seem constrained, but if you put everything onto a SD card, you should be fine.
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I think you'd be fine for "storage", but still low on "program memory".
It seems like every feature (WiFi, BlueTooth, the phone) requires a utility to be running in the background. Then you're probably going to have the Inbox and IE open. Press the Camera button (which loads the camera app into memory) and see how long it takes.
I think that if people use it like a cell phone, it'd probably do well. Power users are probably going to be disappointed.
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12-14-2004, 11:13 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,734
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Re: Used to worry....now, not so much...
Quote:
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Originally Posted by gorkon280
I used to be worried when I heard this. While it would be nice to have more ram, if i have a large enough SD card, it won't matter. If I install everything I can to the SD card, I can just use the 32 MB (or as much of it I get after installing the idiot apps that won't run right if installed to SD) for execution, it would be more then enough. I remember using my EM500 and it only had 16 MB of ram and as long as I kept the ram for ram it ran at a pretty good clip. Installed everything I could to the SD card. 32 MB may seem constrained, but if you put everything onto a SD card, you should be fine.
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Only about 5-6Mb is free for execution AFTER a soft reset, not 32MB or even close.
The Mpx is a lame duck.
Surur
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