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- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 49 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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9 out of 9 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Excellent all round smart phone offering"
Pros: Styling, applications, cell phone coverage
Cons: US carrier's lack of support
Summary: I previously had a V600, 388 and 388c. (388 and 388C are the earlier versions of the A1200 w/ B&W and color touch screens respectively) and lately a Razr.
I have had the A1200 for a month.
This phone has much better cell site coverage than any of my previous phones. Cingular/Razr combo did not work well at either of my offices, and dropped calls on the way to and from home. This one never does.
The MP3 player capacity is easily expanded with the purchase and install of a larger memory card (comes with 128 Meg, upgraded to 1 G from Best Buy for ~ $70). It easily holds 240 songs now.
The FM radio works well, but requires the headset to be plugged in. I am guessing that the FM radio antenna is built into the headset cabling, else why wouldn?t they let it operate through the speakerphone like the M3 player can.
Love the sound quality through the headset when listening to music or the radio. MP3 player will run the battery down in ~ 3-4 hours of LOUD music
GPRS works well, except the Cingular site is clumsy and not user intuitive like the TMO site (previously I was on TMO, but switched to Cingular to try and improve coverage through Cingular?. (Big Mistake, despite their ads that they never drop calls!).
Touch screen is responsive, the stylus is smaller than my 388 and 388C, so takes some getting used to, but no antenna on this unit, and very small and sleek.
I can?t get 2 of the CMCC specific banner applications moved off the main screen, but that is likely because I got a China Mobile (CMCC) specific version that has their applications hard coded onto the banner at the bottom of the main screen.
The PC tool for syncing is pretty easy to use HOWEVER I find that recurring meetings in MS Outlook do not seem to get captured in my phone, only 1 time meetings.
You can use the phone as a thumb drive as well as an MP3 player. I have not synced using blue tooth, instead, opting for the USB cable.
I use the Razr?s bluetooth ear piece with my A1200, but I am not that impressed with the ?Discovering capability?, nor the sound quality. It could be the Bluetooth headset since the phone works wonderfully without it.
I am page 100 of the 168 page user?s manual and some stuff is a little vague (like using iTUNES with it). I had to forage for the manual (a DEc/2005 draft) since the shipped version was in Chinese!
I have not figured out the voice command part of it yet, and the voice command button often get pushed when I am putting it back into the holder, so I end up with it saying to me ?PLEASE SAY A COMMAND? , but it stops if I ignore it (repeats the question once more than stops).
The Business Card Reader with OCR is also wonderful. I have already used it a couple of times and in general it works quite well. The handwriting recognition is also quite good. It allows you to write letters side by side (2 boxes) to speed up the entry.
Love the phone, love the applications, would cry like a baby if I lost it!
- 1 reply to this review
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GPRS works well, except the Cingular site is clumsy and not user intuitive like the TMO site (previously I was on TMO, but switched to Cingular to try and improve coverage through Cingular?. (Big Mistake, despite their ads that they never drop calls!).
In case you didn't know... Cingular and T-Mobile physically share their cell tower networks. It's cheaper for them to build ONE set of towers (less clutter in the environment as well) and share them. They both share the same frequencies, so it only makes sense. I found this out when I popped my T-Mo SIM into my A1200 for the first time and noticed it said I was on a Cingular network. At first, I thought the dealer swapped my SIM out for another one - but no... My T-Mo SIM was in the phone. It seems that since the A1200's are "unlocked" phones, they've never been programmed to say they're on the T-Mobile network - even when they're not.
At any rate, it's 6 of one half a dozen of the other when it comes to coverage and reliability. Pricing, however, is another thing... It seems most of T-Mo's plans tend to offer more minutes for the moolah.
Where to buy
Motorola Ming A1200 (Unlocked):
$229.99
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$229.99 | Yes |
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