MPX200 Users ?

[toon9]

Having read the reveiw, both here and others dotted around the net - I've come to the conclusion that I must consider the MPX200 when I upgrade my phone shortly.
However - I'd like to hear comments from anyone out there that has actually owned the phone for a while.
Is it all its made out to be?
What is the definative answer as to whether an upgrade to smartphone 2003 will be available from Motorola ?
Has anyone been able to get the official stance from Motorola on this ?
How do the battery life claims live up ?
Whats the max size of SD card it can handle ?
If anyone out there can be forthcoming with comprehensive front end users feedback on the handset it would be most grateful.

cheers in advance....

[Bigfoot]

Battery life of two days max - it really sucks. And if you play the games, it's like a vacuum cleaner to the battery life - I had 70% batt life left - I played a game for at least half an hour, when I finished it told me I had 50% battery left, then next time I looked the phone was dead! No warning or anything... am very tempted to send it back... only other problem I have had is it dropped a call twice. Sometimes a little slow to do things as well.

[toon9]

Cheers Bigfoot.
The battery life is my main concern.
And - the alternative to the Moto I have in mind - the SPV E200 has the same battery life problems !!

[Bigfoot]

Actually now that I have done all the initial 'find out what it can do', I don't think the battery life is too bad - it's just if you play games on it you kill the battery.

I have had it switched on since the last charge 2-1/2 days ago, and it tells me I still have 60% life left... I've only made a few calls, a few texts, a few appointments, but no games, I also wonder if the starting up sucks up battery life as well... I will
buy a spare battery just in case.

Oh I downloaded some wav files to use as ringtones which is a piece of cake - I now have the Borg telling me I cannot resist an appointment, and Homer Simpson telling me I have mail, and Worf telling me when I receive a new text...whereas my ringtone is Yahoo! in a comical voice that has my flatmate cracking up.

[toon9]

Cheers again.
Help has been very valuable. I've finally made my mind up on the MPX200 - as its free, I'm gonna go for it. Just have to wait another 7 days !!!!!!!!

:)

[Bigfoot]

Hey this e-mail notification has stopped working...

I don't think you can upgrade to MS'03

512mb is the largest card size you can use.

I put a signal booster in the back and it seemed to boost the
battery a bit too...(it went from 60% to 67%), tempted to get the battery extender as well, that Mike has reviewed...

[Michael]

Originally posted by Bigfoot
Hey this e-mail notification has stopped working... Seems to be working for me. Anybody else having trouble?

[toon9]

Bigfoot.
Just wondered if you followed Motorola recommendation and charged the battery initially for a full 24 hour period ?.

The Orange UK handbook for the MPX200 only states a minimum 3 hour initial charge with 2.5 hour charges subsequent to that.

The Motorola user guide clearly states a 24 hours.

This is obviously a big difference, and as I don't supppose the Motorola user guide comes "in the box", then there recommendation could easily be missed.

Batteries are funny things - I wonder if this "initial charge" could be the root cause of so many "battery problems" associated to the MPX200.

I'm still not deterred.

[Bigfoot]

Nope - I did do that with my last phone though.

Two reasons why I didn't

1) I needed a phone as I lost the sim card from the other,
and I didn't know that I could've used my Orange simcard in the old Vodaphone phone...

2) Modern chargers do not charge after a battery has hit 100% - otherwise they would overcharge the battery and knacker it...

Ok three reasons...

3) My flatmates have never done a 24 hour charge and they have not had any problems with their batteries...albeit using a variety of different phones.

[Bigfoot]

I did look in the manual, that was in the box, first and couldn't see any mention of a 24hour charge - which is mentioned in Nokia manuals...the manual says a minimum 3 hr charge and that is all...and that's what I did...actually it was more like 10 hrs...

[Bigfoot]

Well, it's stuffed - I pushed the back button after using the calculator and got some menu that looked like a mix of different menus.

The 'airplane mode' caught my eye so I selected it. Now I can't use it for calls - it blocks any signal from and to the phone, and none of the standard menus allow you to change it back to the network!

So I phoned Orange and they said it's faulty - they wont have a replacement until next week. Just as well because the battery was giving up after 24 hrs...

So if you happen to to an 'airplane mode' menu item, then leave it alone...!

[DAN55]

but guys....is it any good?! ie as good as the symbian ones? it looks nice and small though which is good.
orange seem to be advertising it with MS2003, but i heard (on hear somewhere i think) that it is only using MS 2002?

[Bigfoot]

Yep, it is only using MS 2002...

Good phone - just let down by battery and reception...

Can't comment on other symbian models...never tried them...

[DAN55]

thanks Bigfoot.
is the organiser good? does it have things like:
.agenda view
.can you scroll between days using the agenda view
.does it have a date picker when setting alarms

ta

[toon9]

I'd just like to throw my views into the ring.
I've had the phone now for just over a week and so far I cannot fault it.
It is literally a smart phone- albeit in 2002 guise. However check the forums elsewhere and you'll find a guy has an email from Moto saying it WILL be issuing the 2003 software for the MPX200.
Let just keep our fingers crossed for that.
The battery life is the hot topic whenever the handset is discussed..and..it is not as good as some older handsets around. I've changed from an 8310 and before that a 6310. Both of these
I never seemed to have to charge at all.
But put it into context - we have a mini Pocket PC operating a great colour screen in the MPX200, and as such I'm not sure whether anything other than less performance should be expected.
I reckon I get a least 72 hours use between charges,
(I cooked it for the full 24hours- if not more - when I got it), and that is what I would regard medium usage throughout the day, including a lot of reloading WAP pages via GPRS. The signal strength in my prime area of use is very good I might add.

In answer to a specific questions from DAN55 - the calendar does have an agenda view as well as week and month views. It is fully synchronisable with the supplied Outlook on your PC. (Great for keeping track of Ebay auctions !)

As I started by saying - thus far I am pleased with the unit.
I am never too far away from either a USB port or a mains eletricity socket so the battery is never to far from a "life spport unit".

Getting music, ringtones, photos and installing applications onto it is a seamless process. I have found the Moto maunal very useful in the respect of where to put various files - the Orange manual falls short here.

I'll post more findings - good and bad - as time passes.

[DAN55]

thanks Toon9. it does sound good.

does it have decent shortcut functionality? the symbian ones generally have a shortcut screen, and a few user programable softkeys

is it a pain not having an external screen though?

[toon9]

DAN55
Holding the HOME key allows instant access to a "Quick List" which has access to all profiles, power off, device lock, Key lock and Aeroplane mode. I've not found anywhere yet thats says this is customizable.
The menus accessed from the program key, listing all applications installed - these are all numbered 1 to 9, and these numbers represent "Shortcuts" through the menus. The probelm is that the items in the menus alter as and when new apps are installed - I've found this a very minor irritation.
As for the clamshell design - I like it. I know this is a personal choice though - it is not for everyone. However the external screen showing time and date as well as signal strength battery life and GPRS availabilty seems adequate for me. I would like to be able to see the current profile on there - that would be an improvement.
However, the shell opens and closes with a very re-assuring 'click' - which is a good enough reason to open it anyway - trust me - try it out and you'll know what I mean.

[DAN55]

thanks Toon9

big pitty about the no user def shortcuts. i use em a lot on my SL55.
so does it have an external screen then? the pic im lookins at doesnt appear to have one? might be a bad pic though.

does MS mobile allow third party apps? im assuming it not as it is MS! ;)

ta again

[Bigfoot]

Toon9, Thanks mate! I got to that menu accidently, and didn't know how to get it back!(after selecting airplane mode) Useless Orange people didn't have a clue either.

Dan, there are heaps of apps you can download to the phone - but it's better to store them on the SD card as you only get about 10mb of space on the phone...

I was supposed to get a free trial of mobile word/excel etc but good old Orange didn't send it to me... I think I'll go back to Vodafone next year...

Come on GX30...! :-)

[toon9]

No problem BIGFOOT.
Yeh - there are an absolute multitude of 2rd party apllications that have been developed for the SmartPhone platform.
I will add though, DAN55, there are no where near as many as are available for the Symbian operating system. I've owned a few variations of the PSION series organisers - and know from experience that this platform is vastly populated with 3rd party applications - and more encouraging, a lot of it is absolutely free. Not so much of the free stuff for the smartphone.

One other thing to remember about the MPX200 is - it is a really really good music player. Excellent quality from the supplied Moto headphones.

Hope this all helps.......am now off to call Orange customer services about the "free" music and travel memory card that I also never received.