Hands0n
28th July 2005, 05:31 PM
In January 2005 I decided to sign up for a contract with H3 on the basis that I was quite taken with the appearance and function of the Motorola E1000. At that time my local mobile shop sales chappy was using an A1000 and that took my eye also. But for the reason that I wanted a phone and not a PDA I opted for the E1000, and I have not been disappointed with it as a handset.
For the longest of time though I have been keen to consolidate my use of PDA and handset. The choice available has been limited, and in my opinion quite clunky if not borderline functional for my purposes. I watched the XDA come and go, didn't like it. And so have settled for the pair of iPAQ 4150 and whatever incumbent 2G or 3G handset I had.
And still the Motorola A1000 beckoned.
Of all things, it was the acquisiton of a second hand N-Gage that gave me my first taste of the fairly current Symbian OS. It wasn't bad at all, good integration of gamer and handset with the Symbian bringing the two together nicely.
And so, when I found a cheap(ish) A1000 of reasonable quality on eBay I took the plunge. What arrived was a stock 3 branded handset. It worked immediately I transferred the contract USIM into it. After a few minutes of use I was happily (!) surfing the Intranet and downloading or viewing 3's content. Using it as a phone was a bit "clunky" compared to a bog-standard handset, but this is only to be expected I suppose. It is, after all, a different paradigm to what I am used to (more on this in a moment).
Hooking up to the PC was not terribly difficult, two components need to be installed - mrouter which does the actual inter-comms, and Motorola Desktop Suite which does all the clever stuff such as Synch, Install Apps, Backup etc... I found out fairly quickly that the CD-supplied mrouter was flaky at best .... this from an A1000 forum, and downloaded from them the latest and greatest mrouter that solves a host of issues. It does work very well by comparison and is much more stable. Now the fun starts.....
As an iPAQ, Windows Mobile OS and Activesync user I am completly and utterly spoiled by the PDA-to-desktop integration which is seamless. Plop the PDA into the cradle and it syncs up with Outlook effortlessly. No further user action required.
The Symbian-based A1000 was a bit of a shock to me in that department. How difficult can it be made? First plop the handset into the cradle....... then what?........ nothing! It is then necessary to launch Desktop Suite on the A1000 and press it's "connect" button. That gets you connected to the PC, all being well with mrouter. Then it is necessary to press the Synch button on the Desktop Suite program running on the PC. This latter can be overcome by configuring to automatically sync upon connection, but it does not do this by default. And then (!!! yes there is more) part way through the sync with Outlook you have to give permission for the A1000 to access Outlook's databases (this is probably a configurable security feature in Outlook - but if it does not happen with Activesynch then why with Desktop Suite?). So, several button presses later the A1000 actually completes its synching with Outlook. Clunk, clunk, clunk! (checks calendar to make sure this really is 2005 and not 1905!).
Okay enough grumbling and bah humbugging. Any good points? Well, yes actually. Quite a few. I do particularly like the integration [on the handset] between its contacts database and the mobile's functions such as Call, SMS, MMS and EMail. These all work delightfully well. Find a contact, press it's number and the various options present themselves. Select one and the appropriate function is invoked. Easy peasy, luvly jubbly.
The browser is a delight to use compared to the E1000 and other H3 3G handsets. Its huge by comparison, and using the tap-screen to navigate the 3 portal is a breeze.
Videos are superb - quick and clear. Tap the screen and instantly you get full-screen landscape viewing of the video - the only downside is that some video content is not hi-res enough to display without pixellation in that mode, and so I switched back to the tiny display in the viewer application. No harm done.
It is rather odd to be pressing a PDA against the head when making a phone call. And you do get some odd looks from those who have never seen such a thing. But there are two alternatives available - Bluetooth and Loudspeaker, the latter not to be used on a packed train!
Loudspeaker mode is very clear both ways. It is very usable in all but the noiser environments. I even used it as pseudo hands free in the car while driving and it worked a treat.
Bluetooth headset use is straightforward and the same as any other. Quality is clear. Response is quick. I have not figured out voice tags for speech diallling yet, maybe it is not available in the handset ... I can't find it anywhere at the moment. Not a major drawback, but it would be nice to have.
So, does the different paradigm have an adverse effect on usability of the handset? I would say not. It functions well, and does all that a PDA would need to do in standard trim. Things are in different places to Windows Mobile but there is no shortage of standard apps. There is a ton of UIQ software out there in the wild (some series 60 software works in it, some does not), both freeware and pay-for.
I'm not convinced that the PDA is entirely redundant, and the iPAQ still does my GPS work for me (good old Tom Tom Navigator). I do not envisage putting that particular egg into my consolidated basket. But as a place to bring together my Calendar, Contacts and Telephone the A1000 is a good way to go and possibly a hard act to to follow at this time?
Will I migrate completely to the A1000? That is a scary thought. What, for example, follows the A1000? How do I move on in 2006. 2007 etc? If truth be told I really do not need another handset. The A1000 does it all for me. The E1000 is due to be retired as a direct consequence. But what do I do if the A1000 expires? With a PDA I just nip out and buy another. However, the A1000 is old hat now. eBay is likely to be the only source unless Motorola bring out a successor (the A2000?). For now I'm hedging my bets by running the iPAQ and A1000 in parallel.
Edit: I initially unlocked the A1000 from 3 to try Vodafone's network. It worked well, but some settings in the A1000 are locked against being changed fully. So I went for a de-branded version of the operating software (firmware) which has put it back to the factory spec. This is great, all of the menus are now unlocked and the handset is fully configurable as you'd get with a SIM-free. I put all the 3 settings back to use with my contract USIM. At the end of the year, whichever network I change to I now have the option to take the A1000 with me, fully.
References: The A1000-specific forum is here --> http://machman.gotdns.com/
For the longest of time though I have been keen to consolidate my use of PDA and handset. The choice available has been limited, and in my opinion quite clunky if not borderline functional for my purposes. I watched the XDA come and go, didn't like it. And so have settled for the pair of iPAQ 4150 and whatever incumbent 2G or 3G handset I had.
And still the Motorola A1000 beckoned.
Of all things, it was the acquisiton of a second hand N-Gage that gave me my first taste of the fairly current Symbian OS. It wasn't bad at all, good integration of gamer and handset with the Symbian bringing the two together nicely.
And so, when I found a cheap(ish) A1000 of reasonable quality on eBay I took the plunge. What arrived was a stock 3 branded handset. It worked immediately I transferred the contract USIM into it. After a few minutes of use I was happily (!) surfing the Intranet and downloading or viewing 3's content. Using it as a phone was a bit "clunky" compared to a bog-standard handset, but this is only to be expected I suppose. It is, after all, a different paradigm to what I am used to (more on this in a moment).
Hooking up to the PC was not terribly difficult, two components need to be installed - mrouter which does the actual inter-comms, and Motorola Desktop Suite which does all the clever stuff such as Synch, Install Apps, Backup etc... I found out fairly quickly that the CD-supplied mrouter was flaky at best .... this from an A1000 forum, and downloaded from them the latest and greatest mrouter that solves a host of issues. It does work very well by comparison and is much more stable. Now the fun starts.....
As an iPAQ, Windows Mobile OS and Activesync user I am completly and utterly spoiled by the PDA-to-desktop integration which is seamless. Plop the PDA into the cradle and it syncs up with Outlook effortlessly. No further user action required.
The Symbian-based A1000 was a bit of a shock to me in that department. How difficult can it be made? First plop the handset into the cradle....... then what?........ nothing! It is then necessary to launch Desktop Suite on the A1000 and press it's "connect" button. That gets you connected to the PC, all being well with mrouter. Then it is necessary to press the Synch button on the Desktop Suite program running on the PC. This latter can be overcome by configuring to automatically sync upon connection, but it does not do this by default. And then (!!! yes there is more) part way through the sync with Outlook you have to give permission for the A1000 to access Outlook's databases (this is probably a configurable security feature in Outlook - but if it does not happen with Activesynch then why with Desktop Suite?). So, several button presses later the A1000 actually completes its synching with Outlook. Clunk, clunk, clunk! (checks calendar to make sure this really is 2005 and not 1905!).
Okay enough grumbling and bah humbugging. Any good points? Well, yes actually. Quite a few. I do particularly like the integration [on the handset] between its contacts database and the mobile's functions such as Call, SMS, MMS and EMail. These all work delightfully well. Find a contact, press it's number and the various options present themselves. Select one and the appropriate function is invoked. Easy peasy, luvly jubbly.
The browser is a delight to use compared to the E1000 and other H3 3G handsets. Its huge by comparison, and using the tap-screen to navigate the 3 portal is a breeze.
Videos are superb - quick and clear. Tap the screen and instantly you get full-screen landscape viewing of the video - the only downside is that some video content is not hi-res enough to display without pixellation in that mode, and so I switched back to the tiny display in the viewer application. No harm done.
It is rather odd to be pressing a PDA against the head when making a phone call. And you do get some odd looks from those who have never seen such a thing. But there are two alternatives available - Bluetooth and Loudspeaker, the latter not to be used on a packed train!
Loudspeaker mode is very clear both ways. It is very usable in all but the noiser environments. I even used it as pseudo hands free in the car while driving and it worked a treat.
Bluetooth headset use is straightforward and the same as any other. Quality is clear. Response is quick. I have not figured out voice tags for speech diallling yet, maybe it is not available in the handset ... I can't find it anywhere at the moment. Not a major drawback, but it would be nice to have.
So, does the different paradigm have an adverse effect on usability of the handset? I would say not. It functions well, and does all that a PDA would need to do in standard trim. Things are in different places to Windows Mobile but there is no shortage of standard apps. There is a ton of UIQ software out there in the wild (some series 60 software works in it, some does not), both freeware and pay-for.
I'm not convinced that the PDA is entirely redundant, and the iPAQ still does my GPS work for me (good old Tom Tom Navigator). I do not envisage putting that particular egg into my consolidated basket. But as a place to bring together my Calendar, Contacts and Telephone the A1000 is a good way to go and possibly a hard act to to follow at this time?
Will I migrate completely to the A1000? That is a scary thought. What, for example, follows the A1000? How do I move on in 2006. 2007 etc? If truth be told I really do not need another handset. The A1000 does it all for me. The E1000 is due to be retired as a direct consequence. But what do I do if the A1000 expires? With a PDA I just nip out and buy another. However, the A1000 is old hat now. eBay is likely to be the only source unless Motorola bring out a successor (the A2000?). For now I'm hedging my bets by running the iPAQ and A1000 in parallel.
Edit: I initially unlocked the A1000 from 3 to try Vodafone's network. It worked well, but some settings in the A1000 are locked against being changed fully. So I went for a de-branded version of the operating software (firmware) which has put it back to the factory spec. This is great, all of the menus are now unlocked and the handset is fully configurable as you'd get with a SIM-free. I put all the 3 settings back to use with my contract USIM. At the end of the year, whichever network I change to I now have the option to take the A1000 with me, fully.
References: The A1000-specific forum is here --> http://machman.gotdns.com/