Motorola C350 (AT&T)

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Reviewed by: William Flanagan

Reviewed on 5/30/03    Release date: 3/18/03    Small phones present somewhat of a catch-22. If they're too compact, they're difficult to use, and if they're too large, they lose some of their appeal. Price is often an issue, as well. Enter the Motorola C350, a color version of an already popular mobile. With its color display and an expected sub-$100 price, the upgrade to Motorola's monochrome C330-series phones strikes an impressive balance between size, price, features, and functionality.

Design of Motorola C350 (AT&T)

At 2.82 ounces and 4.2 by 1.8 by 0.9 inches, the silver and blue Motorola C350 is an attractively styled phone that weighs just enough to feel good in your hand, but it's not so heavy that it loads down your pockets. Its five-line, 4,096-color display is on a par with the Motorola T720's. Though it isn't large enough to impress the masses, the screen gives you a crystal-clear view of the settings.

Bite-sized: The C350 is one of the more compact candy bar-style phones.

As for ergonomics, the C350 fares well overall, save one flaw: the volume control isn't located on the side of the phone. The mobile's buttons are raised enough that they're easy to dial on the fly. But as with most candy bar-style phones, you'll want to activate the keypad-lock feature; otherwise, you might find yourself accidentally launching the browser or making calls when the Motorola is in your front pocket. A four-way rocker switch sits below the screen and gives easy access to menu items such as the Media Center, where you can access the Picture Viewer and the MotoMixer (more on that in Features).

Following the C330-series trend, you can change more than the color of the C350. Motorola takes a step beyond simple customization by letting you reconfigure the phone using a smartly designed casing that changes the mobile's shape--not just the color.

Features of Motorola C350 (AT&T)

The C350 has the usual bells and whistles, including caller ID, voice dialing, a calculator, a call log, a calendar, and a few games (Astrosmash, MotoGP, and Snood 21). You can store 100 phone-book entries in the mobile's internal memory or add an additional 250 names with a SIM card. This is especially useful if you have more than one favorite phone or if, for example, your company has a pool of GSM phones.

On the small screen: MotoGP now playing.

The Motorola also has a vibrate mode and supports as many polyphonic tones as you can download into this model's 200K of allotted memory. Like the C330-series phones, you can customize or remix tones on the C350 using the aforementioned MotoMixer, which allows you to add bass or drums to a tone and mix your own beats. Since this feature is particularly appealing to budding DJs, we enlisted DJ Skip to mix a tune on the company's Web site. You can listen to it here. But that's not all; you can download additional ring tones, wallpaper, and screensavers.

Performance of Motorola C350 (AT&T)

Shrinking size: The C350 comes with a smaller than average charger.

We tested the phone (GSM 850/1900) in New York City and San Francisco using T-Mobile service and found call quality to be quite good. We always managed to get a signal, and callers said they could hear us just fine.

In our battery-life tests, the C350 gave us 116 hours of standby time, which is in the 110-to-250-hour range that Motorola touts. But we squeaked by with only 90 minutes of talk time--well short of the 190-minute rating but on a par with that of other color-display phones. We should note that we tested it with the mobile's power-draining animation feature turned off.

Basic Specs

Smartphones Basic Specs:
Carrier: Cingular
Weight: 3 oz
Style: Candy bar
Messaging Services: Yes
Product Basic Spec:
Cellular technology: GSM
Band / mode: GSM 850/1900 (Dual Band)
Talk time: Up to 270 min
Analog roaming capable: No
Internet Browser: Yes
Bluetooth enabled: No
Short Messaging Service (SMS): Yes
Multi-use / PDA phone: No
Included accessories: Lithium Ion battery , compact wall charger
Body Color: Silver
Width: 1.7 in
Depth: 0.7 in
Height: 3.9 in
Service & support details type: 1 year warranty