Digital Trends

Motorola MA560 September 19th, 2004 | by Ian Bell

Features and Design

Let's get this out in the open right off the bat, the MA560 is not a pretty phone. It is dressed all in black and features a rubber side molding on the phones itself. At first glance you would think this phone was designed for the military or government services. The LCD display while bright, is pretty nonchalant. It has a bright yellow back light and dark contrasting text. The number pad lights up a bright yellow when they are pushed or when someone calls. The base is a little less rugged looking but is painted in the same dark black as the handset. The MA560 is not a particularly ugly phone; it just will not win any design awards. We think the new Uniden line of 5.8GHz phones look a lot more elegant for example. But do not let its look full you, the MA560 has a lot to offer on the performance and features side.

The cordless phone market is really interesting because of the way it has progressed over time. The first analog cordless phones ran off of the 1.7MHz frequency which is located just above the AM broadcast band. Reception was fairly bad and you had to have the phone pretty close to the base in order to use it. It wasn't until cordless phones hit the 900MHz frequency range that technology really started taking off. At the 900MHz band you could take the phone much further away from the base and you experienced better clarity with less interference. More advanced 900MHz phones had DSS (Digital Spread Spectrum) capabilities and up to 80 channels to choose from so you did not get interference from your neighbors phones or other radio devices. Digital Spread spectrum technology takes the digital information that is being broadcast and spreads it into multiple pieces over several frequencies between the receiver and the base. This helps to eliminate eaves dropping from your neighbors while they are on their cordless phones, as well as helps to increase the range between the handset and the base. 900MHz phones with Digital Spread spectrum in our opinion still have the best clarity and range of all cordless phones, even today when 2.4GHz phones and 5.8GHz dominate the marketplace. 2.4GHz phones were marketed as having an even greater operating range because of its 2.4GHz band, but they still can experience interference from other 2.4GHz phones, microwaves and even WiFi routers and networks which all operate on the same band. Enter the 5.8GHZ phones.

When phones operating at the 5.8GHz frequency entered the market, they were touted as having even more clarity than their 2.4GHz brethren and promised not to interfere with home network or other radio devices since there are still few products that work in the 5.8GHZ band. Most wireless home audio speakers operate at 900MHz, while WiFi networks operate at 2.4GHz, so if you get a 5.8GHz phone, this will help maximize the operating performance of all of these devices in the same area.

Motorola's MA560 not only features 5.8GHz technology, but it also has a digital answering machine and a battery which we are told can last up to 6 hours of talk time or 6 days of standby time — this is above average for a cordless phone. Caller ID is built into the phones handset and can be accessed via the caller id buttons located on the handset as well. The digital answering machine can record up to 15 minutes of talk time or up to 59 recorded messages; whichever fills up first. Basic settings for changing the password, greeting, and adding a memo are located on the base, while Caller Id, language, ring tones, and area code settings are accessed via the handset. The volume controls are located on the left hand side of the handset while the headset input and ringer controls are located on the right hand side. The MA560 comes with an optional belt clip which you can put on the phone should you choose to.