motorola a920

[JoeKool]

anyone seen it, use it, love it, hate it..etc?

[KYM]

I go through phones every few months, so I get to try new stuff all the time. The A920 is definitely a favourite so far! Got it yesterday and it's full of really neat stuff. The only shame is that it doesn't do full web browsing and doesn't have bluetooth yet. According to the 3 people, bluetooth can be added in the next month or so for the payment of a small fee and a minor alt at a service centre. There is also a problem either in the phone, or the 3 network where message retrieval doesn't always work properly. Sometimes you will press 1 and it doesn't register until you do it again.

[nemity]

Anything on the GPS? Do you need to be online for it to tell you where you are?

Ta

[KYM]

Doesn't come with GPS nor IR nor Bluetooth working - YET. There is a loose sheet in the box that says that it needs a software upgrade to get bluetooth working and that this is due in around 4-6 weeks time. They also refer to the GPS symbol and IR port, but say that these are not operational (they don't say though, if and when they will be able to work). My guess is that they rushed out everything to meet the launch and some bugs that needed fixing. The version of the software installed was dated only 10 days ago - and that was on the CD! So its pretty new stuff. Re location, I am in Australia.

[chrippaz]

I've bought that phone three days ago and I can say that I'm very pleased with it! I thought it was to large to bring with me in my pockets, but i works even though I've got it in the protect case that was supplied in the package. My phone supports full browsing, but not GPS, and if what you said about upgrading it with bluetooth I am going to love even more! Ok, the battery isn't on top but I can use it a hole day before I have to charge it. And that's ok, when you have 2 batteries. My friends thinks it's really cool! The display and the camera is awesome.

Try it, you won't be disappointed.

//Christoffer, Sweden.

[KYM]

Sadly, a couple of weeks down the track (and having used all features and pretty much taken up most of the memory), I have found numerous bugs. The worst one is random rebooting. You could be in the middle of a call, or simply have it in the charger and off and on it goes! Very frustrating. The other bugs are:
* voice tag dialling locks phone and brings up various error messages (esp reason code: ViewSvr, reason no 11)
* backlight has on two occasions stayed on and would not go off until battery taken out
* bottom part of screen occasionally flickers until another button pressed
* call reception poor compared to e606
* video calls often will not show any pics, but the other user will see you
* battery life is pathetic. I am a high user, but even so, I cannot get more than 3 hours out of it max
The 3 customer care people couldn't help as they were only just starting to get logs of issues, due to the phone being so new. Their service agents didn't have the equipment or software for the phone, as it was so new. I contacted Motorola who stated that the phone did have problems and that they were 'rushing' through the next software release and hoped to have it in 2 weeks time. Going back to the 3 store, all they could offer me was another A920. I gave them the phone back and said I will wait until they have fixed the bugs and have service facilities in place for this phone, before I will entertain having it again.

[chrippaz]

I haven't experienced none of the things your talking about, but I've only used this phone for 3 days. My phone has really good reception and doesn't flicker at the bottom of the screen. I haven't tried video calls yet, it must be better than e606!?

[KYM]

Yes...mine was good for pretty much a week. I think it fell over as I was really giving it a full workout. Most of my probs may be related to my particular phone, rather than all of the first batch of A920's? Who knows? But one thing is certain, Motorola are aware of significant bugs and it will be a few weeks before users can get software upgrades to fix them. One thing I would recommend you do ASAP is to use the software that came with it to fo a FULL BACKUP of the phone. This works well and backs up all of your settings and system files. So if your phone has a hiccup, or as in my case, another person (in my case one of my kids) gets to your settings and stuffs things up - you can do a full restore.

[chrippaz]

I'm having some problem connecting it to my computer with windows 2k, I have connected it to an other computer with Windows XP and that works perfect :(
Thanks for the suggestion!

[chrippaz]

I've done a backup now. It was my firewall that messed up the connection to my phone...

But know I got an other problem: My phone can't play mpeg4 (.mp4) videos, it's videos that I've encoded myself but it's nothing wrong with the videos because my friends p800 can play them.
I can hear the sound but the display is grey.

"
Media file formats
Video : MPEG 4 (.mp4) Yes

3GPP (.3gp) Yes

Audio : MP3 (.mp3) Yes

Windows Media (.wma) No
"
Source: http://www.three.co.uk

Is the player limited to somekind of special mpeg4 videos?

My settings:
64kbps video
32kbps audio
resolution: 176x144
mono, 16bit, 22050kHz

//chrippaz

[KYM]

I agree there appears to be some difference with their MP4's. I tried to run a movie recorded on the phone on my XP PC and Windows Media Player didn't like it. Quicktime played it OK (the latest version only), BUT I only got pic and no sound. As you would also know by now, the manual that comes with the phone is very basic and doesn't enlighten you with much, nor does it tell you how to operate many of the features! Motorola definitely rushed this phone out without getting finishing the job. Again, perhaps the upcoming software release will fix things?

[Sid]

Well I tried this phone the other day - and apart from the crappy UI (I much prefer the P800 one), I couldn't even get the camera to start! Whenever I tried loading the camera app it crashed, and once it brought down the whole phone with it.

[the jackal]

I have just purchased one of these and am impressed with it, its a little big but hey. What is the latest software version on these phones? I have 11.11.00.00 A920_U_10.16.01B, is this the latest version for the UK. Is a software update gonna enable Bluetooth? I have heard people saying it needs a software upgrade to enable this, when will this be?

Thanks in advance

The Jackal

[marcwicks]

Hi Jackal,

I purchased my phone 2 weeks ago and have been equally impressed. I have phoned motorola and they have confirmed the bluetooth hardware is in the phone.

My software in the handset says REL 11.06.00.00
A920_u_10.15.00.03P so it looks to me like you have a later version of software than I do.

I hope the bluetooth gets enabled as this would be a good feature to have. I don't think the infra red port is working either at the moment. On two occasions I have phoned 3 CS and am still awaiting a reply as to whether they are working and if not when they will be enabled.

I also hope that the software can be remotely updated as I have been lead to believe. This will save on some trips back to service centres!

Fingers crossed they sort out the bugs shortly.....
Keep in touch

Marc

[chrippaz]

I've got
REL 11.11.00.00
A920_U_10.16.01B

I hope the new software comes soon! Bluetooth and bugfixes and mpeg4 support! I called three (tre) in Sweden and they didn't know when the update will come, and they said that they will call me about mpeg4 support.
So i guesse I'll just have to wait for answer.

[chrippaz]

It's working if you convert your mpeg4 films with PVAuthor!
That's what three told me and it's true, it really works.