dd-mj
02-07-2005, 07:30 PM
I wanted to post my review of my recently purchased MPX220. I have read just about every mpx220 review, but I still think it is worth adding my 2 cents.
On Friday I received two MPX220's, one for my wife and one for me. I purchased them from Wirefly for $299 minus $300 in rebates - so two phones for free - I could not resist. My service is the Cingular in the San Jose/Bay Area. The MPX came with the all the latest firmware 1.30 etc.
Now keep in mind that I have been a MS mobile user for years. (Velo1, Casio e-10, and Compaq 3535 and 3750). So I had a good idea of what to expect from MS.
The out-of-the-box experience was very good. Since I already had Activesync installed, I simply plugged the phones in and whala all my Outlook data was transfered. Now since I had two phones, I needed to do a little web search to find an way to change the phone's names so Activesync could differentiate between the two phones. Thanks to regedit http://www.airfagev.com/downloads1.asp?id=78 for the application.
The reason I purchased the MPX220 was I wanted the following features in this order;
Good quality phone with good receptions (we were using Verizon prior to Cingular)
MP3 player so my wife could excersize and listen to music.
Camera - so we would never again miss that shot.
Pocket Outlook - replacement of our old Pocket PCs.
So what how did the phone do meeting my requirements;
1. Reception at my house is terrible. Now this may be a Cingular issue, but both phones get barely one bar in the Los Gatos area. So essentially I can't use my phone at home. I am in the low-lands so I fully expect a very strong signal at home. I get full strength with Verizon. In general driving around the bay area yesterday, reception and recpetion quality was mixed. Verizon with my Moto T720 was always very good.
2. I was really looking forward to using the Windows Media Player. The audio quality is great, so I immediately ran out and purchased a 256 MB mini-SD card so I could download lots of music. Unfortunately MS WMP 9 does not automatically organize the music into playlists. I fully expected the downloaded albums to be grouped by Album, Artist, Genre etc. If nothing else I expected to be able to sync up the playlists. I use MS WMP10 on my PC. So what this means is that if I download 5 albums, I have no way to quickly select the album or artist I want to listen to. I consider WMP9 a total waste for that reason. I hear WMP10 fixes this, but it is not available for the MPX220. :(
3. I did not expect the camera to be great. Indeed taking pictures indoors is a waste of time, but outdoor well lit pictures are OK. I did not expect - the camera definitely could be better, but it is oK.
4. PIM - the phone is great at an Calendar, phonebook email tool.
Summary:
I am going to send the phone back. Why? Unless I can use Cingular in my house, there is no point is in switching from Verizon. I need to figure out if it is phone or the service. As a complete integrated device, I give it a 2 stars our of 5. WMP is the biggest disappointment. It is fine for one or two albums, but not as an iPod Mini-replacement. Maybe WMP10 will fix this, but I hear there are no guarentees that the MPX220 will get the upgrade.
I would appreciate any feedback. I looked around for a WMP replacement, but did not really find anything which addresses my issues.
On Friday I received two MPX220's, one for my wife and one for me. I purchased them from Wirefly for $299 minus $300 in rebates - so two phones for free - I could not resist. My service is the Cingular in the San Jose/Bay Area. The MPX came with the all the latest firmware 1.30 etc.
Now keep in mind that I have been a MS mobile user for years. (Velo1, Casio e-10, and Compaq 3535 and 3750). So I had a good idea of what to expect from MS.
The out-of-the-box experience was very good. Since I already had Activesync installed, I simply plugged the phones in and whala all my Outlook data was transfered. Now since I had two phones, I needed to do a little web search to find an way to change the phone's names so Activesync could differentiate between the two phones. Thanks to regedit http://www.airfagev.com/downloads1.asp?id=78 for the application.
The reason I purchased the MPX220 was I wanted the following features in this order;
Good quality phone with good receptions (we were using Verizon prior to Cingular)
MP3 player so my wife could excersize and listen to music.
Camera - so we would never again miss that shot.
Pocket Outlook - replacement of our old Pocket PCs.
So what how did the phone do meeting my requirements;
1. Reception at my house is terrible. Now this may be a Cingular issue, but both phones get barely one bar in the Los Gatos area. So essentially I can't use my phone at home. I am in the low-lands so I fully expect a very strong signal at home. I get full strength with Verizon. In general driving around the bay area yesterday, reception and recpetion quality was mixed. Verizon with my Moto T720 was always very good.
2. I was really looking forward to using the Windows Media Player. The audio quality is great, so I immediately ran out and purchased a 256 MB mini-SD card so I could download lots of music. Unfortunately MS WMP 9 does not automatically organize the music into playlists. I fully expected the downloaded albums to be grouped by Album, Artist, Genre etc. If nothing else I expected to be able to sync up the playlists. I use MS WMP10 on my PC. So what this means is that if I download 5 albums, I have no way to quickly select the album or artist I want to listen to. I consider WMP9 a total waste for that reason. I hear WMP10 fixes this, but it is not available for the MPX220. :(
3. I did not expect the camera to be great. Indeed taking pictures indoors is a waste of time, but outdoor well lit pictures are OK. I did not expect - the camera definitely could be better, but it is oK.
4. PIM - the phone is great at an Calendar, phonebook email tool.
Summary:
I am going to send the phone back. Why? Unless I can use Cingular in my house, there is no point is in switching from Verizon. I need to figure out if it is phone or the service. As a complete integrated device, I give it a 2 stars our of 5. WMP is the biggest disappointment. It is fine for one or two albums, but not as an iPod Mini-replacement. Maybe WMP10 will fix this, but I hear there are no guarentees that the MPX220 will get the upgrade.
I would appreciate any feedback. I looked around for a WMP replacement, but did not really find anything which addresses my issues.