Too Much Motorola Bashing?

Jerry Raia · Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:00 pm Post subject: Too Much Motorola Bashing?

Perhaps it is time to clear the air here about a few things. It is true I have fun bashing Motorola for its poor quality phones. What readers might not know or surmise from what I write on this board is that I am a huge Motorola fan. Now before you choke on your saliva hear me out. I have been told to give it a rest by some of you. The reason I am so irritated with Moto is that they used to make such great phones. I have lost count of how many handsets of theirs I have owned.
The whole time with those phones I noticed a gradual decline in quality. Little things at first like hinges wearing out faster. Later internal problems like the v600 and v710 had. If the Q ever sees daylight on Cingular I will probably get one. I want it to be good. I bash Motorola because they CAN make good quality devices and don’t anymore. I hope that changes. I will be the first one to write how great the Q is (if it is). If it isn’t or doesn’t even show up then I will continue to bash them. They can do better! Your thoughts are welcome.
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Pete Paxton · Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:23 pm Post subject:

I think the problem is that Moto needs to get serious about the smartphone market. And now with this whole "Q" delay, I don't know. Others are catching up so fast that the Q is going to get left behind if they don't release it soon.

Kris Kumar · Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:28 pm Post subject:

What have you done to our Jerry? Laughing

I don't have much of experience with Moto, but I agree with your thoughts. MPx200 was the first Moto phone I owned and it had awesome build quality. The software was the limiting factor but that was because of Microsoft.

Like you I too had high expectations from Moto for their MPx220. But I believe after 3 returns in the span 3 months or so, and still not being satisfied, Moto was not high on my charts. The news about MPx100 and MPx300 being cancelled, and their new found craze with the RAZRs drove me nuts.

Motorola needs to learn to fix its mistakes. Making phones is no longer a big deal, HTC can do it better and faster. All they lack is the marketing arm and muscle of a established company like Motorola.

Rocco Augusto · Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:33 pm Post subject: Re: Too Much Motorola Bashing?

Edgar · Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 10:36 pm Post subject:

Jerry

Looks like Chandler stole your access - change your password.

My experience is much as Jerry's - going back before the microtac and hitting bag phones. yes, I am that old! I count probably 12-15 models personally and professionally over nearly 20 years.

I agree wholeheartedly with Jerry especially with my enterprise experience. I was responsible for more than 250 cell phones for my enterprise utilizing AT&T. For five years we always used Moto until the V60 and beyond. Support started out ok 7 years ago, but migrated to horrible, devices were breaking right and left (antenna, hinges, screens, battery covers). We weren't getting replacements; when we did they were refurbished and broke within 2 mos and then wouldnt be replaced. But it wasnt just the hardware. Software got more and more cumbersome, more problematic calls, more failures. AT&T were as frustrated as the end user - but they had contracts. But they reduced their buys in Moto.

In 1998, I got the chance to be the IT director for an AT&T partner in the east. The Engineers that tested and approved phones hated the Moto's - not so much for design but because they said that Moto support had their heads "where the sun doesn't shine" they thought themselves superior I guess. And the failure rate was huge. So what happened? More and more Nokia's were approved for sale. Ask any cell engineer that has been in the business for more than 6 years, they'll confirm it.

As much as I am not a Moto fan I do have to say the DESIGN of their latest models are innovative and market leading. The MPX220 design was great, flip phone/smartphone - huge market in flip phones, the RAZR - flashy, thin, "cool" - the Q - nice, thin, good declared features. They just need to either stop showing cool devices, or actually release them when they say they will. The 220 took forever and slipped numerous times - then released with crappy volume, tons of bugs, scratched screen, poor battery life.

How is that possible? Delayed for nearly a year and have those basic problems? Do they test in a sound vacuum.

Ok, I'm moving to a rant. Anyways, I agree with Jerry - I want them to succeed - I like their designs, just hire a couple more QA and a couple UI testers. I think you all use non-moto phones - eat your own dog food - then you'll experience the flaws first hand.
In the interim? SUCK DIRT MOTO - Step up and lead again. Win us back.

Mike Temporale · Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 7:21 am Post subject:

Jerry Raia · Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 10:00 am Post subject:

You guys have convinced me. I should have named this "Not Enough Motorola Bashing" Laughing

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SassKwatch · Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 10:51 am Post subject:

Kris Kumar · Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 11:39 am Post subject:

Edgar · Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 12:34 pm Post subject:

Actually its not illegal. Just not distributed in North America.

It's Moto again. They release different ROM's across the world - fair enough, there are different needs and different styles across the world.

But to release "worldwide english" ROM's in Panasia and Euroland but not NA is just stupid. Anyone can get the Panasian releases if they want them. They do correct some things, or so the forums say.

I, too, am using the last official North America AT&T Moto release - even though my device is unlocked. Mostly lazy, no other reason I haven't upgraded. I also felt the newer ROMs don't made that big of a difference. I'm not dieing - no dropped calls etc - just lousy camera, reboot twice a day and no speakerphone. The problems lie below the software - inferior speaker that when made louder it breaks up - the speakerphone is useless unless in a silent area - )yet Moto makes awesome speakerphone capability for the Nextel/Sprint line!). Not enough memory, a useless camera, etc. I was so excited about the possibilities of the MPX220 that I bought one even when I knew it had issues, expecting software to fix it. Remember the MPX220 is a second generation handset. Yet it is riddled with many of the same issues of the MPX200.

Why? There is no reason besides lousy QA and a drive to make quick money. Perhaps the marketing machine is running the engineering team - ala Dilbert. Who knows, but it is the consumer that loses and they drop confidence in a company, as shown here.

Yes Moto makes some great devices. Cable router - solid device, cable tv boxes, infrastructure systems, chipsets for everything from computers to toasters, tv's etc. A phenomenal technology R&D shop. All pretty solid. The problems aren't systemic to all of Moto and I don't want to infer that. It IS systemic to their mobile line up.