Motorola MPx220 review

Again this phone is a Proto-type, but could easily function as someones day to day phone. It just needs some tweaking and polishing of the ROM, especially when dealing with battery life. This phone will never be a 2 or 3 day between charges phone for people who talk 2-3 hours per day....its just got too much hardware for that. But if it gets you through the day with no charging and that kind of talk time you should consider it a modern marvel of communication. I feel so good about this phone that I am going to say it will be my backup phone to my Pocket PC Convergence device for a long time.... It offers everything that is important to me with very few compromises on my part. I LOVE IT!! But a few suggestions for improvements...

Problems...not all related to Motorola.....

1. Bluetooth implementation. You cannot have a sophisticated phone such as this one and still not support voice dial from a bluetooth headset. I have been using bluetooth enabled phones for years now and even the T68i's bluetooth supported voice dial from a bluetooth headset. If MicroSoft won't get its bluetooth stack reported to do this, Motorola has to find a work around. Pocket PC's may be able to get away with this for a little longer, but a small phone such as this "HAS" to support it. Rumor is that it may...time will tell.....

2. SMS and MMS of Contact information. Really, what is so difficult MicroSoft in making this OS support the transfer of a contact to another persons phone via SMS or MMS. How many times have I ended a phone call wanting to send someone my contact information via SMS or MMS and wanted my P900 back in my hands. Admittedly, this is the only time I find myself wanting that....but still...its not a bluetooth stack your reporting...just some code to allow it.

3. Home upgrade service for ROMs. I don't know if Motorola has thought this far ahead or if it will leave it to the carrier to upgrade the ROMs on these Smartphones and upcoming Pocket PCs. But it is a necessary requirement and will make for a much better user experience. I upgrade my iMate ROMs all the time via Carrier Devices, and with improvements and additions occuring all the time a person can't be without their sophisticated cell phone, rolladex, movie and Mp3 player, camera, etc. to be sent away for a ROM upgrade....

4. Bluetooth implementation. Don't get me wrong, the bluetooth on this device works great...unless you've used Motorola's RaZr. The RaZr uses a SuperTooth that cuts out the interference and line of sight issues I experienced with the X220. Really, its hardware is all top of the line with this exception and one other...

5. Construction. Again, this is really a personal gripe I have...and the MpX is nice and all...makes a real cool "CLICK" to notify you by sound that it is locked open or closed....but...again I used the RaZr.....


So why Motorola is your Top-0f-the-Line Little Phone not constructed with the materials, keypad and design of the RaZr???? If this company took its top designed and constructed phone and combined it with this phones hardware (excluding Bluetooth) and Operating System it would have made the single most influential "tiny phone" ever constructed. Something along the lines of the first P800, or the upcoming MpX.... it would be talked about for years to come... I can only hope that the future design and upcoming MpX series phones will combine these elements. Moto Pro... means Moto Best in all areas... So, think about that.... a all metal and aluminum skinned phone using the Smartphone OS with the current features and hardware of the X220....

I'd buy it......what about the rest of you?????

Uh oh....someone's calling me......Gotta Go!!

Credits
This review has been edited and published with permission from the original author - Mark Morrow  
(BengalBoy).