Digital Trends

Motorola MPx200

March 2nd, 2004 | by Ian Bell

Setup and Use

We found the navigation and overall phone speed of the MPx200 to be very fast despite its limited 32MB of internal memory. This is due to the powerful Texas Instruments ARM OMAP710 130Mhz processor. We think that 32MB is passable but with today's programs and file sizes, more internal memory would be ideal. Luckily the MPx200 comes with a SD memory card expansion slot capable of holding up to a 1GB SD memory card.

Setting up the MPx200 for the first time is relatively easy, but will require some time and patience. You will want to follow the instructions to the letter. This means installing Microsoft's Active Sync software which will allow you to transfer files and synchronize your phone with your desktop computer and MS Outlook programs. We recommend heading over to Microsoft's website to download the latest version of ActiveSync to make sure you have the newest version.

You can setup your MPx200 phone to use either IMAP or POP3 e-mail support. Downloading e-mail over AT&T's GSM network was surprisingly fast. If you choose to setup your e-mail account using the POP3 protocol you will be able to synchronize the e-mail from your desktop computer to your MPx200 without downloading your e-mails over the GSM service.

However, should you choose to setup your e-mail account using the IMAP protocol, you cannot synchronize your e-mail with AcitveSync on your desktop computer. This means that if you want to take your e-mail on the road, you will have to download them over your phone service, and this can get very expensive.

It would be great if Microsoft's ActiveSync software could somehow download your IMAP e-mail and send it to your cell phone, but the IMAP protocol probably presents a problem to this. In any case it is an issue with the OS and not the MPx200 phone itself. When downloading e-mail you have the option to download the first 5000 bytes, 1000 bytes, 500 bytes or simply the headers. But overall, the MPx200 managed our e-mails just fine without any hardware failures or lock-ups; a huge improvement over PDA phones we have seen in the past year.

The phone cannot receive calls while in GPRS mode (browsing the Internet or e-mail mode), so calls that are received at this time go directly to voice mail. You can receive attachments in your e-mail and can set up what type of attachments you receive or how much you want to receive. But since you don't have Word or Excel on the Smartphone OS, you won't be able to view many attachments anyway. The system does allow you to keep the whole e-mail on the server for download from your computer later.

We liked the ability to add more storage to the MPx200 via the SD memory slot. This means that you can save e-mail attachments, or load your MPx200 memory card up with MP3s and movie files for use on the road.

Motorola was nice enough to include two headsets with the MPx200; a stereo headset for listening to your music and a single earpiece/microphone for hands-free calling. The stereo headset works perfectly with the integrated Media Player program. The only downside is the limited capabilities of the Windows Media Player. You can play movie or music files, but you cannot fast forward through them. You can only skip to the beginning of the next or previous tracks. Again this is a limitation of the Smartphone OS and not anything on Motorola's part. The included Motorola stereo headset does the job, but will not win any awards for sound quality. While playing back music, the overall tone is very flat lacking almost any bass at all. Those looking for audiophile MP3 player properties will most likely be disappointed. When listening to any music file, the volume will quickly fade out allowing you to take any incoming call.

Another good feature of the MPx200 is speech recognition. This allows you to use your voice to dial numbers instead of having to use your hands. This feature works very well and the device had no problem recognizing our voice to dial. Once the call is made, you can easily switch over to the on-board speakerphone or use the included headset for true hands-free operation.

The integrated speaker on the MPx200 can get very loud and is very clear without noticeable distortion. Like other services, this phone has the ability to conference in a 3^rd person while you are already on a call. The call waiting tag will show up letting you know another person is on the other line, then you can decide to conference them into your current call or swap calls so you can talk to them individually. This was very easy to use and can be very valuable for those trying to participate in meetings while on the road.

Lastly we thought it was a great feature to be able to show your calendar and call contact information while you are in the middle of a call. This will allow you to coordinate or look up events using the Outlook calendar while you are on the phone.