Overview
Introduction
As soon as I pulled Motorola’s new effort combining a typical GSM phone with CDMA capability out of the wrapping I knew this baby could be onto a winner. The Motorola A840 handset combines 800/1900 CDMA, CDMA 1X and 900/1800 GSM, GPRS modes with seamless network switching - a long awaited and welcome sight considering the lack of GSM network coverage in rural areas here in Australia. The A840 is perfect for people travelling to remote places on the planet which have not yet been graced with GSM coverage – you can simply switch providers on the fly.
New/outstanding features
The most significant feature of this phone is its ability to use both 800/1900 CDMA and 900/1800 GSM at the flick of a button. Change of network is done by accessing the “Phone mode” menu option at the bottom of the main screen and then selecting either GSM or CDMA. After selection the phone will attempt to connect to the chosen network. A simple affair.
This setup requires connection accounts with each network meaning that you will have two numbers. It also means that if you are connected to the CDMA network, then people calling the GSM number will hit your mail box unless diverted and vice versa. The next logical step for Motorola in a future phone could possibly be for a handset to roam for the best receiving network and maintain one number whether on CDMA or GSM ensuring the user is always connected. However, that would require service providers working together and some network upgrades. That’s asking for too much, isn’t it? That said, the A840 is a big step forward, removing the need to carry a second handset and is sure to make people who travel between country and city very happy.
Another aspect of the phone that requires mention is the brilliant main screen. While only having 176 x 220 pixels, the A840 screen is large, clear and nice to look at. However, while there might be no comparison to a 240x320 pixel screen, it does its job well, as does the external 4096 colour 96 x 64 display which shows the time, date, coverage and battery. Again, it is large so everything is nicely visible, but the screen is nothing out of the ordinary.
The A840 does include a 1.2 mega pixel camera with an LED flash to take happy snaps. The quality of the camera is typical of the current generation of camera phones. In other words, it’s not crash hot but it’s a nice gimmick to send photos to friends and it’s a tool which is convenient to have around in times of need. Unfortunately there is no video recording on the A840, a shame as it has the potential for heaps of memory in the microSD card slot to utilise such a function.
Physical aspects
In general the physical build of the A840 is good. The curves of the handset are rather pleasant to look at and the construction of the phone feels very solid and well put together. The buttons on the side of the chassis are a little difficult to push but this is a good design feature as they are less likely to be pushed by accident while the phone is travelling in your pocket.
A major feature of the phone’s construction is the plastic of which it is built. It feels great to hold and gives the phone an aura of quality about it. The only problem with the overall fit out is the front black window panel where the camera, screen and logo are embedded. It is just asking to have finger marks smeared all over it and although it does look great, give it a few weeks and it will be damaged and dirty. In terms of practicality, the front panel is an area that will need to be looked after and cleaned on a regular basis to keep it looking good.
The A840 also has an extendable antenna which helps improve reception. The antenna does protrude however, even when it’s retracted so this might be annoying for some users. There is a microSD card slot at the top side of the handset but there is no Infra-red port which is a shame since it’s a standard feature these days. At the underside of the phone are the typical power and data ports. The left hand side of the phone as volume control and display/speakerphone buttons. On the right hand side are the camera and voice action/recording buttons.
Flipping the clamshell feels good and solid but the A840 is missing that nice click when the clamshell is fully opened. When opened, the user is greeted with a nicely sized 2.2 inch screen and aesthetic keypad layout. There is a circular directional keypad at the top surrounded by two menu options keys, one key to get into a menu, a key for quick access to the camera, a clear button and the typical pickup/hang-up keys. The keypad is fairly flat, however the keys are elevated ever so slightly making them feel tactile beneath the fingers. The phone can be switched on/off by pressing and holding the hang-up button.
The only real gripes with this phone are that it is rather large (94 x 49 x 24 mm) and heavy (115 g) so when placed in your pocket it makes your pants sag. The other small problem is opening the back panel to access the battery and SIM card. The little latch at the back is a good idea but prying the panel from the rest of the chassis is a bit flimsy and feels like the back panel might snap. But these are only very minor problems and apart from these it is a well designed and built unit.
User Interface & display
The Motorola A840 features two displays due to its clamshell factor. The internal screen is a large 256k colour 176 x 220 pixel affair. However, for a 2.2 inch screen a resolution of 240 x 320 would be desirable. The external screen has a lesser 4096 colour display at only 96 x 64 pixels which is just used for displaying vital information about the phone. Both screens can be customised and wallpapered for personalisation.
While not being remarkable, the user interface in the Motorola A840 is functional and gets the job done for most common tasks such as making phone calls/messaging and also makes taking photos a breeze. Most functions are intuitively hidden away from the user and can be accessed using the “menu” button at the top of the directional key pad. This is a good design feature as it un-clutters the options available to perform common tasks which are performed using the directional key pad making these tasks a breeze.
The main menu is launched by pressing the “menu” button from the desktop. The main menu is a 9-element board with small animated icons, with a text label at the top of the screen. It is possible to open each menu selection by pushing the middle of the navigational key. The Motorola A840 has a number displayed at the top of the screen for each option when selected. It is possible to quickly access menu options by the assigned number for the function without having to scroll around. For example to access the MP3 player the keys, ‘6’ and ‘3’ could be pressed.
The desktop in the A840 displays all the necessary read-outs and while not being anything particularly extraordinary, it is functional. A section at the top of the screen shows the reception level, alarm clock, time, service type, service operator and also the battery level. In the middle are four icons which represent shortcuts to functions and can be accessed using the four directions of the directional pad. A section below displays only the date. Everything on the desktop screen can be customized through the phone settings menu. The wallpaper can be selected from the photo manager for both the main LCD and mini-LCD.
The mini-LCD at the front of the unit can be used to take self portraits using the camera and does the job well. To take a snap there is a button on the side of the phone to do this. In a bit to conserve power, the A840 turns off the backlights of screens too quickly. This is incredibly annoying when trying to jot down a phone number, get distracted for a moment and turn back to find the screen switched off.
Unfortunately, the applications on the Motorola A840 were not tested as the phone was not able to access Telstra Mobile Loop which is necessary to use the applications on the phone. The A840 does include standard utilities such as an alarm clock, calculator etc.
Making and receiving calls
Making and receiving calls on the Motorola A840 is a standard affair. Either scroll down the phonebook and press the call button or key in the number yourself. To switch between networks is simple; just press the phone mode button in the desktop screen and select the network type using the direction keypad. GSM or CDMA… easy!
The call quality of the A840 is nice and clear and this is helped by its ability to gain good reception. The phone was tried in a phone black spot where usually one bar is achieved with a Sharp GX-30 handset. The Motorola managed 3 bars with the antenna retracted and full coverage with it fully pulled out.
In terms of calls, a standout feature of the A840 is its speakerphone capability. The quality during calls is excellent with little or no distortion from the little speaker. The speakerphone can be activated at any time by pressing the button for it at the side of the phone. And for such a small phone, the speaker sound quality when listening to MP3’s is quite good. It is about the equivalent to that of a set of laptop speakers.
The Motorola A840 also features a photo-phonebook that comes standard with up to 500 contacts. They can be assigned with the ability to attach multiple numbers to each contact. A small photo can be captured with the VGA digital camera for each contact. Contacts can be assigned a defined user group and an icon is displayed on screen next to the name during a call with a particular contact. There are a total of four user groups, and different ring tones can be defined for each user group.
In terms of calls there were not many problems except for the fact that the volume control keys on the side of the phone were difficult to press when holding the handset to the ear. However this is a design feature so that they would not get pressed while the phone is sitting in a pocket.
Messaging
The A840 supports all the standard messaging formats including SMS, EMS, MMS and e-mail messaging. The handset comes with T9 predictive text support with several languages and as always the ability to add words to the dictionary is supported. 11 MMS templates and 11 SMS quick notes are available so that if a quick birthday or cheer up message is needed, then there are ones pre-made to quickly send off.
Motorola claims to be able to do email messaging. However, this is a little misleading as the email is not performed on the phone itself unless a java application to do so is downloaded. Motorola include a software package on CD which handles and integrates SMS and email into one inbox. So effectively all that this does is use the handset as a modem and connects to the internet for you. About the only thing the software is good for is to download contacts/calendar off the phone otherwise it is a waste of time to even install it.
Typing messages on the Motorola A840 is great. The interface is intuitive and makes the user feel right at home from the word go. The keys on the handset are nice and large and allow typing a message in no time at all.
Connectivity
In terms of connectivity the Motorola does lack in a few areas. The handset does not include any Infra-red or Bluetooth capabilities. Am I still in the 20th century or what? Again, these are two features that would be a standard feature on a handset these days, yet they were omitted, greatly diminishing the appeal of these phones to many people. So throw away those Bluetooth headsets and the in-car hands-free systems because they will be useless if you purchase this handset.
Motorola do try to compensate for the lack of connectivity by including a USB cable with the phone to use instead of Infra-red. But this means another cable to worry about loosing instead of placing the handset next to the computer and letting Infra-red or Bluetooth worry about transferring data. The USB cable allows the phone to be used as a typical modem and for transfer of user data. The PC software included with the handset is mediocre and tries to create a front end for some of the Windows menus. To me it seems more like it is doubling up on standard features already available in Windows. It is functional and does the job for transferring photos, music and contacts.
One nice addition to the phone is the microSD card slot which allows memory expansion for music, photos, messages etc. The card itself is extremely small and the phone package comes with a SD card adaptor so that it can be plugged into a conventional SD card slot.
The main feature of this handset though is that it can connect to both GSM and CDMA networks and this will be by far the main factor in deciding to purchase this phone.
Battery life
Motorola’s website claims that the A840 can stay on idle for just over 5 days and has a talk time of about 3 hours. Unfortunately, we were unable to get past two days of standby time. And if you play around with the phone during the day, the handset batteries will barely last out the day. It is not clear if this is just a faulty battery but the battery life on this phone is appalling.
There is almost no excuse for the short battery life as the phone isn’t highly outfitted with features which would use power such as Bluetooth, Infra-red or a high resolution screen. The screen even has an annoyingly short “on” time and switches “off” quickly to conserve power and still the battery life is not very good. It is recommended to keep a charger or spare battery handy with this phone as it will die within a day with some use.
The A840 can connect to a computer via USB cable. However, connecting through USB does not charge the handset as is becoming a standard feature with most portable devices these days. This would be a handy feature since the A840 is such a power hungry phone. On the upside though, the handset does have a reasonably fast charging time of about 2 hours.
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Overview (Page 1)
