Test report and technical data Motorola A820
Motorola A820: Interested in an American allrounder?
Plus of Motorola A820: TriBand, messaging features, java technology, extendable memory
Minus of Motorola A820: weak battery
Motorola A820 states once again explicitely that Motorola is the leading manufactorer in the field of 3G: now, due to the Motorola A820, in Europe as well as in the USA. The excellent transmission capacity of data is Motorola A820's most eye catching feature, but listing its other features will demonstrate how it will give way to the next, more futuristic generation of mobile phones.
The launching of Motorola A820 took place in the globale fashion center Milano. Thus, it did not only determine its commercialisation but it identified its target gruop at the same time.
Motorola A820 is stylish, modern. It is not exactly small, but still... With its measures of 136 x 53 x 24.2 mm and its weight of 157 g Motorola A820 lags behind its competitors. But this flaw is made up for by Motorola A820's other performances. These facts make it impossible to compare Motorola A820 to other GSM mobiles at the moment.
The excellent performance of Motorola A820 comes with a mediocre battery that allows two hours of talking time and 200 hours of stand - by time.
This capacity is clearly too poor to support the possible video use of Motorola A820. The possibility of visual phone calls is provided - as long as the battery will play along!
Who ever believes the Motorola A820 is 'only' a 3G mobile is totally wrong. It is more of a mobile phone that integrates GPRS technology of class 8 (with four slots). Furthermore, Motorola A820 runs on TriBand.
In the field of messaging the Motorola A820 features EMS and MMS, both theses functions are completely compatible.
A WAP browser (version 2.0) permits surfing the net with Motorola A820. Of course, the download of GIF, TIFF and JPEG formats is made possible by Motorola A820's java technology. They can be visualized on Motorola A820.
The special feature of UMTS mobiles, such as Motorola A820, is the video feature. So the playback of the video formats AVI, MPEG4 and ASF
is allowed by Motorola A820. This feature is nicely supported by the enormous 7-line TFT screen with a resolution of 176 x 220 and 4.096 colors.
Hardly suprising, one can listen to music on Motorola A820. The playback of MP3, WAV and MIDI is possible.
Polyphone ringing tones, IrDA and bluetooth cut surface and an external extendable memory appear next to this like most primitive standards.
Especially important on Motorola A820's way to the third generation of mobile phones are GSM and GPRS.
So far, Motorola A820 is the best equiped allrounder by Motorola. Under these circumstances it should be easy for Motorola A820 to stand up to his competitors of the third generation in mobile communications.
Sure, purchasing Motorola A820 will cost. But if one is looking for an efficient UMTS mobile phone, Motorola A820 will be the perfect choice. Only the battery of Motorola A820 leaves space for improvement: charge frequently.
Test review of Motorola A820:
Technical features: ++++
Reception quality: +++
Ease of use: +++
Battery stand - by time: ++
Design: ++++
Instruction manual: +++
Value for money: +++
Overall rating: +++
++++/ excellent, +++/ good, ++/ satisfactory, +/ poor
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