Plemix

The A810 is Motorola’s fresh attempt to bring a budget model to the crowded smartphone sector. Hmm, no body would expect it to earn the gold medal, but the A810 surprises us all with a load of useful features that deserve more than honorable mention. How does it perform? Read on.

The package comes with the phone, a charger, a battery, a handsfree and a User’s guide with a CD. Given the limited battery life of about 210 minutes, Motorola should have thrown in an extra battery, but it didn’t.



The A810 is a pretty small slab phone at 14mm thick and 51mm wide. The front surface was treated specially to prevent fingerprints and give a rougher touch. The white version has a clean and elegant feeling while the black one looks more reliable and serious.



The phone comes with all of the essential business applications: email, English to Chinese dictionary, calendar, enhanced contact that can save multiple numbers for one person and a basic calculator. It also has simple music and video players plus a web browser to spend the time.



The phone groups icons in a logical manner. The Multimedia tab shows only the 7 relevant applications so there is no need to “hunt down” your application by scrolling up and down.



Here is a close up of the specially treated front surface. You can also see the Answer/Reject buttons, the joystick and the microphone. The buttons are NOT touch sensitive.



The stylus is stored in the bottom part of the phone and the back cover is made up of strong steel which unfortunately makes it quite slippery. Unlike the A1600, the phone does not have software to read barcode or name cards. The 2MP camera is hidden in the red rim. This camera does not come along with flash, focus or zoom and so it is purely for entertainment only. But I would not complain about it. Hey it’s a business phone, not a play phone!



The phone lock button returns! Slide the lock button down to release the phone from automatic screen lock or push upward for a manual lock. The camera button lies next to the concealed mini-USB port.



The A810 has a standard 3.5mm earphone jack that can take most earphones without an adapter. The volume keys are large and easy to locate.





The microSD slot is beneath the battery so there is only one way to change card.

The A810 has a lot of “business” applications out of the box to help you manage your schedule and email. It also has some multimedia capabilities to make life more colorful. The only limitation is in the 2.2” screen which seriously affects your user experience. You need to scroll down pretty often when you are viewing email or SMS, and don’t think you can finish your favorite film on this tiny screen – the screen is too small for any prolonged usage.

# posted by plemix @ 7:24 PM