Smartphone Thoughts: Clam Shell Beauty: Motorola MPx220 Smartphone Reviewed

Let's Cut The Cords
The MPx220 is a quad-band GSM phone and unlike the MPx200, it has a good RF module. I have not experienced a single dropped call in my three weeks of use. I have not seen the "No Service" message on this phone. My previous phone, the MPx200, would keep showing that message on a regular basis at work and sometimes at home.


Figure 41: MPx220 and MPx200 signal strength meters compared. MPx220 on the left has one extra bar compared to the MPx200.

Improved signal strength has not translated to good call quality. The ear piece and speakerphone volume is slightly lower than normal. It is definitely lower than my MPx200. And I have been told a number of times by the person on the other end that they cannot hear me and that my voice is breaking up. Using a Bluetooth or regular headset solves this problem. This issue seriously impacts the Smartphone’s use as a phone!

As a first time Bluetooth user I was impressed with the convenience but annoyed by the setup procedure and occasional tantrums exhibited by the devices. I was able to use Bluetooth to ActiveSync with my laptop, for GPS Navigation using Socket Bluetooth GPS and Pocket Streets, also for using the Smartphone as a modem for internet access on my laptop and Pocket PC. It was a pain to configure the Bluetooth. But once configured, it worked like a charm. I also used the Motorola Bluetooth HS810 headset. The features lacking are voice dialing using the Bluetooth headset (it's a Windows Mobile limitation) and file transfer profile. The latter can be solved by using ActiveSync.


Figure 42: All these gadgets were able to communicate with the MPx220 using Bluetooth.

While testing navigation applications, Microsoft Pocket Streets 2005 worked with my Bluetooth GPS unit without any problem. But Mapopolis was unable to detect the Bluetooth GPS. I found out later that the MPx220 has a software bug that prevents Mapopolis and ALK CoPilot Live from detecting the GPS signal.


Figure 43: Screenshot of Pocket Streets 2005 using Bluetooth GPS. Pocket Streets is not included on the MPx220, I loaded it to test the Bluetooth GPS navigation.

Wireless data transfer, especially while surfing the Internet with the Pocket IE and syncing emails is good and stable. Previous Windows Mobile OS version and the MPx200 had some problems maintaining the data connection. The newer OS and improved RF module seems to have fixed those issues.

Pocket IE is still limited by the poor download speeds offered on the GSM/GPRS networks. But the page renders faster. And the different page views makes browsing fun.


Figure 44: Pocket IE in default view. The Web page graphics and font are reduced in size but the page layout is maintained.


Figure 45: Pocket IE in one column view. The text and graphics have been squeezed to fit the view. This is probably the best layout.


Figure 46: Pocket IE in desktop view.

Windows Mobile for Smartphone 2003 lets you configure multiple mailboxes. And each mailbox has its own inbox and folders. Smartphone supports Exchange, POP3 and IMAP4 based mailboxes. It also has separate mailboxes for text (SMS) messages and multi-media (MMS) messages. MPx220 ships with some pre-canned mailbox settings for popular E-Mail providers like SBC/Yahoo, Earthlink and BellSouth.


Figure 47: Mailbox screen shot showing the list of accounts.

I configured mine for Cingular Xpress Mail, POP3 and IMAP4 based mailboxes. The ability to have multiple mailboxes, each with its own sync schedule is a major productivity enhancer for me. I wish there was a way to edit the mailbox name after it has been created. The only way to correct the names I gave for my POP3 and IMAP4 mailboxes is to delete them and recreate them. Also I noticed that some mailboxes cannot be deleted, like Outlook E-Mail. And there is no way to empty the unwanted mailbox. These two issues are common to Windows Mobile OS and are not specific to the MPx220. Another Windows Mobile OS issue, the mailbox tries to connect to the Internet in the middle of a voice call to sync email. This was an issue in the previous OS versions also. I wonder why the connection manager cannot sense that the phone is in use.

I am pleased with Cingular’s wireless email sync system called Xpress Mail. It enabled syncing of my work Exchange mail over-the-air with a mailbox titled Xpress Mail on my Smartphone. It claims support for push based email sync. However I could never get push based sync working. I believe it’s because I am on T-Mobile network using Cingular push notifications and the SMS based push notifications are blocked from traveling onto T-Mobile network. But the scheduled sync worked well.