Digital Trends

Motorola MA560 September 19th, 2004 | by Ian Bell

Testing and Performance

Setting up the MA560 is easy to do. The instructions are easy to read and the menu settings are easy to follow. The microphone built into the base works very well and does not require you to put your mouth close to it while recording a greeting or a memo. Recordings left by callers are loud and clear when being played back. The buttons on the handset and the base work very well and are not mushy when pressed. Some phones have mushy buttons that overtime can stick to the phone instead of depressing when they are pushed — the MA560 has nice solid buttons that light up when in use.

We found the volume on the handset to work very well. We were not forced to push the volume all the way up in order to listen to someone on the other end. We also found that the microphone in the handset worked well and we were not forced to speak louder in order for people to hear us. Accessing calls remotely is easy to do and does not require a lot of button pressing or long pass codes.

In some large cities you are required to dial the area code plus the person's number when calling someone, even local numbers. One thing we liked about the MA560 was that when you wanted to call a number stored on your caller id, you simply pressed the format button on the handset and it will change the number to include the area code or a 1+ next to the number for you, allowing you to change it from a local call to a long distance simply by pressing this button.

The operating range of the MA560 is better than some other phones we have tested. Unidens new 5.8GHz phones received considerable interference when the handset was more than 30 feet away. This was not the case with the MA560. We were able to walk 2 houses over before we experienced any sort of clipping or interference. We also did not experience any interference from our wireless networks or other 5.8GHz and 2.4GHz phones. The overall performance of the MA560 is above average. Keep in mind that you will still get more range out of a 900MHz DSS or 2.4GHz phones, but you will most likely receive interference on 2.4GHz phones.

One thing we have noticed with cordless phones are that while they may be advertised as 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz digital phones, these bands are usually only used in one direction (typically when you are talking) while the other direction (typically what you are hearing) is still operating at a lower frequency band or even an analog band instead of digital. We have no confirmation from Motorola that the MA560 uses 5.8GHz in both direction, but we are pretty confident that it does since there is no mention otherwise, even in the small print on the box or in the manual.

Battery life was surprisingly long and we were able to use the handset close to 6 hours before the battery life started to dwindle. Keep in mind that this is a new phone and because of its Nickel Cadmium battery, you should expect battery life to lower considerably over the life of the phone. We have yet to see a cordless phone with a Lithium-Ion or NiMH battery, so you will probably build up a memory with this battery over a period of time.

Conclusion

The MA560 is not a particularly advanced phone when it comes to some features. It does not have a large rolodex like address-book capabilities and you cannot add multiple handsets to it which allow you to expand the phone system more affordably. But it does have the most commonly used features and it allows you to use them easily and intuitively — which is what counts.

The physical look of the MA560 leaves something to be desired, especially since we put a lot of emphasis on both design and technology here at Designtechnica. But if you can look past its dark demeanor, the MA560 is a very rugged and solid performing phone, and one which we will certainly will compare future cordless phone too. With its rugged design and long lasting battery the MA560 is highly recommended for heavy use.