My first month with the MPx-200 was not as satisfying as the first 24 hours, entirely due to battery life. While that first day was great, subsequent days had the phone near-death after 12 hours standby and 1 hour of use. It turns out that on the second day I installed the Picture Caller ID application from the bundled CD, and it causes severe battery drain. Since removing that app I have only run out of juice once, possibly due to incorrect placement on the docking base. The battery doesn’t last as long as my former Nokia 3650, which I once tried to drain the battery on by leaving Bluetooth enabled for 48 hours, but the battery life is more than sufficient for my use.
Early battery issues aside, I am in love with this devices as a phone (haven’t done much with data). I’ve yet to experience a “crash” or “lock-up” with the MPx, which gives it a better track-record than my Treo 180 and the slew of Nokias I’ve gone thru (3650, 8290, 8890, 7110, 5100). The “Slow Caller ID” issue that many others have reported has not affected me.
I’m constantly surprised by the little touches from Microsoft that are missing in Symbian devices and non-smartphones, such as the numbered Programs menu items that I’d mentioned before, and the automatic History and Contacts name / number look-up when dialing. I’m sure that I could come up with more if I had the phone in front of me right now…
Not that everything is perfect. I wish that the Softkey buttons were placed closer to the hinge, ala Fitt’s Law.
Media Player is friggin’ worthless. There’s no pause, no fast-forward, and sometimes it stutters like a circa 1988 Discman. And no Audible support.
And then there’s the whole SmartPhone 2003 thing…
