Bryce Yehl

For the moment I am replacing my Nokia 3650 with the Motorola MPx200. In theory the MPx200 is a loser of a device that was obsolete before it was submitted for FCC aproval: It’s running last year’s SmartPhone OS with no .NET Compact Framework, no built-in camera, and no Bluetooth. On paper I don’t want this phone, I want a successor model that offers at least two of those missing features.

It all changed once I saw one in person. The MPx200 has a sexy look and feels great in the hand. It fits in my pocket as easily as my old Nokia 8000-series phones. The flip design makes possible to prop the phone between my ear and shoulder, something my tiny Nokias could never do. The 16-bit display is stunning indoors and usable in bright sunlight. The two-piece 5-way navigation design is brilliant. Audio quality is better than any GSM phone I’ve used. It’s speakerphone is actually loud enough to use in a moving car… barely.

Where the SmartPhone platform really shines, however, is in performing common tasks. The Home screen is very similar to the Today screen on Pocket PCs and offers quick access to up to five configurable “Favorite” applications. Two soft keys provide instant access to Contacts and the Programs (Start) menu.

The Contacts application displays SIM contacts with Phone contacts, just like every non-smartphone GSM phone I’ve ever touched. Editing SIM contacts requires launching another application from the Programs menu, and this where the “Aha!” moment came.

Microsoft’s Programs menu only provides a list view, which displays one less item than Nokia’s grid view. Each item gets a hotkey, 1-8. Pressing 9 moves on to the next page of items. On a virgin MPx200 there are three pages of items, with the last page having sub-pages for Accessories and Games. From the Home screen it takes just 3 key presses to reach the SIM Manager (Programs, 9, 6). No application is more than 5 key presses away.

Non-smartphones from Nokia had a similar hotkey system (Menu, 4, 1 was a favorite from my European Nomad days). I love the irony of Microsoft improving on a UI innovation that the inventors have apparently forgotten about. If Nokia doesn’t clean up their act when it comes to basic usability, something they currently show no signs of doing, Microsoft is run them out of this business.

Anyways, here’s how I completely drained the batter on my first day using the MPx200: 12 hours off-charger, 70 minutes of regular phone use, 20 minutes of speakerphone use, 45 minutes of MP3s on speaker, 30 minutes playing Lemonade on my dinner break, and probably 30 minutes futzing around with it during smoke breaks. Tomorrow I’ll see how it holds up with minimal use…