Here goes …
Upside:
- Great User Interface for Touchscreen
- External keypad for quick calling and messaging
- Linux OS
Downside:
- Battery life is just not good enough
- Speaker output is low
In Detail:
Built and Look:
Released in Q4 2004 the A780 looks very stylish with a silver lining on the side. It is pretty compact for a Phone of its Features. For its features the phone is not heavy at all. It does fit comfortably in your Jeans pocket. There are no squeaky plastic parts. I found the Battery case a bit too difficult to open. The Keypad on the exterior is a well spaced but a little to difficult to press at times. Apart from that there is also a Rocker switch for accessing the Quick Menu. A 5 way joystick is available which though located towards the bottom can be easy used. To Switch on or off the Phone the Flip has to be open. The Flip is easy enough to open. On the backside there is the camera lens along with a tiny mirror. The lens is inset slightly so you don’t have to worry about scratches. At the bottom is the Headset jack and USB cum Charger port. The MicroSD card fits into the slot at the top. All the ports are covered.
User Interface:
Must say I’m impressed with the Linus OS of the phone. The Menu is easy to use and accessible. What the phone lacks is a taskbar. So every new application that you open stacks on top of the other. To view an already open application you have to access the Menu or close the application on top of it. The Music player can be operated with flip close using the 5 way joystick and Rocker Switch. File management is simple and allows for creation of New folders. Also a handy cut, copy and paste function is implemented. The File System becomes slow whenever Thumbnails are generated for Pictures. Luckily you can change the view to List view too. There are 3 Input modes for the Touchscreen.
A onscreen Keyboard, a Number Pad, and Handwriting Recognition. The onscreen Keyboard is handy to use with the stylus. Handwriting recognition works fine too , except for the occasional ‘a’ and ‘d’.
Multimedia:
The multimedia player for the Phone is RealPlayer. RealPlayer has a Library function to create Playlists and and manage them. It takes a bit getting used to it. Full screen mode is supported. The A780 comes with a 1.3 MegaPixel Camera. The frame rate of the camera isn’t too good. The pictures taken look good though the lighting is really bad at times. The camera can be operated even with the Flip closed but you don’t get to see much on the tiny window. The Speaker output is low. The quality of the music is good when listened with to with the headset.
Connectivity:
The A780 is Quad band(850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and had Edge too. To transfer files you can use Bluetooth 1.1. I must say the transfer speed isn’t that high especially with other Motorola Phones. Calls can be made with the flip open and closed. Its easy to make calls with the flip closed by typing the first letters of the contact required. To make calls with the touchscreen a few taps will suffice. A Turbo Dial(read Speed Dial) feature is provided. The Speaker phone has good clarity but low volume. The Opera Browser coupled with the touchscreen provides an excellent browsing experience on the A780. It has an inbuilt email client ,which unfortunately is not GMail compliant. The Phone supports Java MIDP 2.o hence Java Applications can be installed.
Games:
It comes preloaded with 3 games
- SWAT
- Evel Knievel
- Motorola Basketball 3D (haven’t figured out the controls for the game yet)
To play the games you will have to hold the phone sideways giving you the feel of a gaming device. While SWAT is purely touchscreen based Evel Knievel is played with the joystick. When making turns the joystick becomes a bit difficult to use.
Conclusion:
If you need a phone with loads of features and you don’t mind recharging your phone on a daily Basis – the A780 is the Phone for you.
*Anyways I love the Phone.
