Amazon.com Product DescriptionNeed one gadget to do it all? The Motorola A1200 "Ming" phone is the answer. This Linux-powered PDA phone sports a 2-megapixel camera, a huge display, quad band support, plus all the bells and whistles you'd expect on a high-end handset, including Bluetooth, a music player, a document reader, and much more. And when you want to get down to business, there's even a business card reader for rapidly capturing contact info.
The A1200 Ming combines eye catching style with Linux-powered PDA substance. See it in more detail: Front and rear. |
Design
The first thing you'll notice about the Ming is that its design is definitely groundbreaking. While the transparent cover might look cool, it also serves a purpose, as the phone's speaker is cleverly embedded in the cover. Flip the phone open and you're greeted by a huge 2.4-inch touchscreen that sports 240 x 320 resolution and support for 262,000 colors. There's also an included stylus so you can control the unit's onscreen menus and functions. And speaking of menus and functions, the Ming's operating system offers an easy-to-use, Linux-based interface that makes navigating between entertainment, contact, document and other functions a breeze. You'll also find two control buttons, as well as a navigation joystick, below the display. The Ming also supports MicroSD card expandability, which allows you to add up to 1 GB of extra storage to the device -- plenty of room for games, movies, and documents. There's a standard 2.5 mm headset jack, and a built-in mini-USB connector makes it easy to connect the Ming to your computer or other devices. Bluetooth wireless technology lets talk freely on a wireless headset or sync up seamlessly with your PC and other compatible Bluetooth devices. You can even print your favorite pictures wirelessly with the Ming's Bluetooth printing capability.
Calling Features
The Ming has all the latest calling features folks have come to expect from a high-end handset. The built-in speakerphone makes it easy to talk without having the phone to your ear. Voice activated dialing makes calling your friends, family and associates as easy as saying their names. As mentioned, the phone's Bluetooth connectivity means that your favorite Bluetooth headset is fully compatible. Plus, you can connect a stereo Bluetooth wireless headset and listen to your favorite music without any wires. Meanwhile, the ringer and picture ID system makes it easy to identify your most common callers. And last but not least, a vibrate mode allows you to receive calls in silence.
Messaging, Internet, and PDA Tools
The Ming covers the messaging bases with support for text and MMS messaging, as well as IM-based communications with MSN Messenger. There's also a complete email client that allows you to receive and view PDF, Word, Excel, and Powerpoint attachments. The email client supports POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP protocols. An integrated browser lets you view complete HTML pages or surf the wireless Web via WAP 2.0.
On the PDA front, the Ming comes with a powerful calendar and contacts system that makes it easy to stay in touch with your important contacts while organizing your schedule. And because the Ming supports the SyncML synchronization standard, you can easily sync your PC-based contacts and schedule with the Ming's personal information management system. Other tools include an integrated business card scanner, a calculator, an alarm, a voice memo recorder, and a to-do list. You can use the Ming's advanced handwriting recognition to quickly and accurately enter information.
Entertainment
The Ming's 2-megapixel camera features a macro mode for getting great closeups. You can also capture video clips; capture length is limited to a staggering two hours. Use the built-in RealPlayer application to view your videos, as well as videos you've got stored on a memory card. The integrated music player supports MP3, WAV, AMR, WMA, and AAC+ digital music formats. There's also a stereo FM radio.
If you're into mobile gaming, the Ming has you covered there, too. The phone ships with one game, Extreme Air Snowboarding.
Vital Statistics
The Motorola A1200 Ming weighs 4.30 ounces and measures 3.77 x 2.04 x .85 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 7.4 hours of digital talk time, and up to 170 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.
Almost perfect (Rating: 4 out of 5) The phone and its capabilities are perfect and then some but the few options that are not compatible with our(US) network is a slight downer. For what's it's worth though it is still definitely a great buy.
The Best Cell Phone Available... If Only They Would Change A Few Things... (Rating: 4 out of 5) Let me start out by saying that I got this phone just under a week ago, so I'm a new user and I haven't tried everything out yet. But overall this is the best cell phone I've ever seen. I've owned a few dozen phones over the years, got my first when I was 16 in 1996 and have upgraded over and over again. This is the third time that I bought a phone over the internet from a place other than the cell phone companies page and the first good experience. The other two were on eBay, and I know you can get it cheaper there but the first one turned out to be a refurb and the second had problems and neither lasted 6 months. Amazon is a good place to buy because they will take it back and issue a refund if there is a problem, they pay the shipping on broken returns so you don't have to worry about paying anything if you get a dud.
I have Cingular, and yes this phone did work immediately without any problems. I do not have the data service (I don't use text messages, e-mail or web) because my work phone gives me that for free, so I can't comment on those features or on how you set the phone up to work with them.
First impression: The phone looks great! Not as great as the picture though for one reason: The speaker, which I was assuming was charged by a EMF and worked without wires, is wired through the clear part. However, the wires look like a frame drawn on the clear part so it doesn't look bad. The phone functions great, and comes with everything I need except games (I'm looking for some good card and skill games for it now). It came with an international charger, which I don't trust so I tossed it in a box and kept using my old phone charger (which was the same). It also came with a sync cable, which is a growing trend in Motorola phones that have any PDA functions and one which I am pleased to see.
The software functions very intuitively. When I open the screen it brings up a dialpad with a redial button. If I clear that, it brings up my last call. If I clear that, it takes me to my various call lists (missed, dialed, received). If I clear that I get to a home screen. I can also just hit end and it goes to the home screen. The home screen is nice, but it has 4 hotkeys that you can program and it would be nice if it could have more or less depending on your needs. It also has a grayed out background which, if tapped, overrides the screen for you to see it, then goes back when tapped again. Cleaning the screen is a problem because I keep hitting keys, a key lock button would have been nice to relieve this.
The settings menu is well laid out, except it took me forever to figure out how to set the clock (it didn't download the time from Cingular, perhaps because of the lack of internet settings). Look through all the menus, you'll find it. I forget where I did, but I was standing in a line for 10 minutes and in that time I set everything up including the elusive clock...
I haven't tried music or videos yet, I'll update my review when I get around to that, and when I get some games on it.
I took the phone to Disney (my old phone broke 2 days before we were going, thanks Amazon Prime overnight shipping for $3.99!) The battery said 100% for two days including at least 3 hours of talk and 2 hours of playing around with the menus. Then it suddenly dropped to 50% (I guess it isn't such a great meter) and stayed there until the night when I decided to charge it, so I can't say how long it lasted but I think that is pretty good for a phone (my last needed a daily charge to make it). I'll charge it daily anyway, since I'm used to it.
Overall, I would reccomend this phone to everyone out there, but I like being the "only person on my block" to own it, so I'll tell you not to buy it instead :-)
More details to come in a month or so when I have really tested everything out!
Mortorola A1200 (Rating: 5 out of 5) This is my best phone yet!!! It's sleek, lightweight,has all the features you could need, like memory card, playlist for your tunes etc... It connects to the net, email, the whole works, everything a blackberry can do and more. Really soft on the eyes not bulky at all!!
All my friends are in love with it!!!
So am I!!
Great phone (Rating: 4 out of 5) I love this phone, I'm on my third one, unfortunatly they can't take the abuse I dish out. The computer like interface is so much more intutive than the razor I used to have. The size and feel of this phone is perfect. The only thing that could make it better is wifi and US warranty.
Excellent phone (Rating: 5 out of 5) Everything about this phone is excellent since i had it i never had a problem with it. It's easy to use the sound is excellent and the touch screen is perfect one tap and it open's the link that you want when other touch screen phone's you have to tap a couple of times for it to open. I don't need to talk about the look of the phone yall can see that for your self.