Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Using an MPx200...Finally!
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 03:13 PM
Well, I'm only eight months behind everyone else in the Smartphone world :lol:, but I recently was sent an MPx200, and I've been using it for a few weeks now. I wanted to see if it was really all I was hoping it would be before posting comments about it. So, does it live up to my expectations? Yes and no.
The hardware itself is great - amazing design! The difference between the build quality of a consumer electronics company like Motorola, and a "computer" company like HTC, is light years apart (even if it's the same factory in China building them). Motorola knows how to build a phone - the plastic is sturdy, the screen is excellent, and everything about the phone says "quality". The black, high-gloss plastic they chose gets smudged too easily, but other than that I love the way it looks.
I haven't noticed any reception differences between the MPx200 and the Tanager I was using before (both on the Fido network), but I have noticed that the MPx200 doesn't have as sensitive of a microphone - I've had several people comment that it was hard to hear me when using the MPx200. The lack of Bluetooth is somewhat frustrating, but not terribly so - the only reason I want it is to get GPRS access for my Pocket PC so I can use it for email access when I don't have WiFi access for my 4150.
The MPx200 feels much faster in most cases than my Tanager, and doesn't suffer from the "slowdowns" as often (though it still happens now and then). I have noticed that pressing the power button once doesn't bring up the profile screen as you'd think - you have to hold it in for a second or two, but not too long, or the phone will power off. This is irritating because that's the fastest way to put the phone into silent mode.
The biggest frustrations I have with the MPx200 stem from the operating system - Smartphone 2002 just doesn't cut it for me. I was using a Smartphone 2003 phone for a few months, so going back to the crippled Inbox of Smartphone 2002 is frustrating - I find it very irritating to only have access to one email account, and I didn't even get a choice about that because I have the phone set up to sync against an Exchange server, so my one Inbox account is already the Exchange one. I have five other IMAP accounts that I need to check, so Smartphone 2002 doesn't allow me to be as productive as I want to be.
Overall, I've found the battery life on the MPx200 to be quite good - it lasts three to four days, although that depends on how much I use it. I've gotten into the habit of actually powering down the phone when I know I'm not going to be going out for the day, so that obviously extends the battery life. Because of the limitations in the version of Windows Media Player that they put on the phone, I don't use the phone for much in the way of multimedia - WMP lacks a full-screen mode. :-(
Gripes aside, the Smartphone OS still has all the things I love about it - easy synchronization with Outlook, and great third party applications and games. What I'm really looking forward to though is a Smartphone with Windows Mobile 2003 on it, and improved hardware offering Bluetooth and a faster CPU. Hopefully I'll get my hands on an MPx220 faster than this MPx200. ;-)
The hardware itself is great - amazing design! The difference between the build quality of a consumer electronics company like Motorola, and a "computer" company like HTC, is light years apart (even if it's the same factory in China building them). Motorola knows how to build a phone - the plastic is sturdy, the screen is excellent, and everything about the phone says "quality". The black, high-gloss plastic they chose gets smudged too easily, but other than that I love the way it looks.
I haven't noticed any reception differences between the MPx200 and the Tanager I was using before (both on the Fido network), but I have noticed that the MPx200 doesn't have as sensitive of a microphone - I've had several people comment that it was hard to hear me when using the MPx200. The lack of Bluetooth is somewhat frustrating, but not terribly so - the only reason I want it is to get GPRS access for my Pocket PC so I can use it for email access when I don't have WiFi access for my 4150.
The MPx200 feels much faster in most cases than my Tanager, and doesn't suffer from the "slowdowns" as often (though it still happens now and then). I have noticed that pressing the power button once doesn't bring up the profile screen as you'd think - you have to hold it in for a second or two, but not too long, or the phone will power off. This is irritating because that's the fastest way to put the phone into silent mode.
The biggest frustrations I have with the MPx200 stem from the operating system - Smartphone 2002 just doesn't cut it for me. I was using a Smartphone 2003 phone for a few months, so going back to the crippled Inbox of Smartphone 2002 is frustrating - I find it very irritating to only have access to one email account, and I didn't even get a choice about that because I have the phone set up to sync against an Exchange server, so my one Inbox account is already the Exchange one. I have five other IMAP accounts that I need to check, so Smartphone 2002 doesn't allow me to be as productive as I want to be.
Overall, I've found the battery life on the MPx200 to be quite good - it lasts three to four days, although that depends on how much I use it. I've gotten into the habit of actually powering down the phone when I know I'm not going to be going out for the day, so that obviously extends the battery life. Because of the limitations in the version of Windows Media Player that they put on the phone, I don't use the phone for much in the way of multimedia - WMP lacks a full-screen mode. :-(
Gripes aside, the Smartphone OS still has all the things I love about it - easy synchronization with Outlook, and great third party applications and games. What I'm really looking forward to though is a Smartphone with Windows Mobile 2003 on it, and improved hardware offering Bluetooth and a faster CPU. Hopefully I'll get my hands on an MPx220 faster than this MPx200. ;-)
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