Motorola MPx

MotorolaÂ’s MPx has been eagerly anticipated since it was announced in February this year. A clamshell device capable of functioning in both landscape and portrait modes thanks to its dual hinge system, and running Windows Mobile for Pocket PC 2003 Phone Edition SE, its advanced publicity has created quite a storm, suggesting that it's capable of meeting both telephony and more traditional handheld requirements.

We obtained a near-final version of the MPx, which is expected to launch later in the year. So does it represent the way forward for connected handheld computing?

Design
Not surprisingly, the MPx sits somewhere in between a handheld and a mobile phone, weighing 174g and measuring 6.12cm wide by 9.97cm deep by 2.4cm high. You probably won’t want to carry it around if you're travelling light, but it's less cumbersome than toting both a handheld and a mobile. There have been handheld/mobile combos before, of course, but what makes the MPx unique in this respect is that it opens both in the traditional clamshell phone style, with the screen in portrait mode, and in ‘notebook’ mode, with the screen in landscape orientation. The screen flips automatically, and you can’t force a change via the Settings dialogue, as you can with Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition running on unconnected handhelds. The mechanics of the dual hinge system are straightforward. By default the MPx opens in portrait configuration. Hold in a button on the upper right edge of the case (when holding the device phone-style), and the hinge on the opposite edge is released to allow it to open in landscape mode. The mechanism felt slightly insecure on our review model, but should hopefully be more robust on production units. There's a navigation button and a standard number pad, as well as buttons that fire up the Windows Mobile Contacts application and the bundled VoiceSignal voice dialing software. There's no need for softkeys or softmenus, as the MPx's screen is touch sensitive. The MPx has a full QWERTY keyboard with a reasonable selection of symbols available as shift key options, although you have to get a '£' sign from the Windows Mobile soft keyboard. You can set the phone to use alpha or shift key symbols in portrait and landscape modes. Although the Shift key switched between the two when working in landscape mode, it did not work in portrait mode. Hopefully this will be fixed when the MPx ships, although finding the right keys to tap out an SMS in portrait mode is more hassle than using the soft keyboard or Transcriber handwriting recognition. The keyboard also offers shortcut buttons for accessing various Windows Mobile- and MPx-specific features, including the Start menu, messaging software, context-sensitive tap-and-hold menus and the built-in digital camera. The camera’s lens sits on the front of the device, with an LED-based flash unit next to it. Also on the front is a small colour LED screen that provides a range of functions when the clamshell is closed. Your SIM slots into one of the long edges of the device (protected by a rubber cover that's likely to be quickly lost), and can’t be removed unless you first take out the battery. On the other side there's a similarly covered SD/MMC card slot. The stylus for with the touch-sensitive screen feels incredibly light, and is oval rather than round in cross-section, making it difficult to grasp. Shipping models will come with a data cable and a docking cradle.

Features
The MPx runs on Texas Instruments’ OMAP 733 processor running at 200MHz. Tri-band GSM/GPRS communications are built into the chip, which is designed for low power consumption. As far as memory is concerned, there's 32MB of RAM and 64MB of flash ROM, the user having access to 12MB of the former and 14MB of the latter. The RAM complement, in particular, may disappoint users of regular Pocket PC handhelds, who are used to 64MB or more. Although our review unit came with a Motorola-branded 32MB SD card, the final retail version is not expected to have extra storage bundled. The integrated 1.3 megapixel camera can capture images with a maximum resolution of 1280 by 960 pixels; it also supports 640 by 480, 320 by 240, 176 by 144, 160 by 120 and 128 by 96. The camera features a 4X digital zoom, a self-timer and a burst mode, while the LED-based flash is useful for taking indoor shots. The small colour screen on the front of the MPx has three buttons beneath it that access call-related features such as ringtone selection and missed call alerts, as well as the voicenotes features and profile selection. The buttons are a bit fiddly to use, and you need to squint at the screen to work out what you are doing. The main screen is a 2.8in., 16-bit colour display with a resolution of 320 by 240 pixels. As well as tri-band GSM and GPRS, the MPx has both Bluetooth and 802.11b Wi-Fi built in. A Today screen icon provides control over wireless connectivity. Motorola has added some of its own software to the standard Windows Mobile 2003 Phone Edition SE bundle. VoiceSignal is a voice dialing application, Jeodek is a Java virtual machine, and Photo Album complements the Microsoft-bundled Pictures application. There is also a profiles manager in the Settings area.

Performance and battery life
We found the MPx occasionally slow to respond to screen taps, which may be down to the 200MHz CPU speed, the limited RAM, or simply the pre-production nature of our test device. When the MPx launches, we will performance-test a production model and report back. Motorola claims up to 180 minutes talktime and 140 hours on standby for the MPx, but we did not test this -- again because of the pre-production nature of our review sample.

Conclusion
There's no doubt that Motorola's MPx is an innovative integrated device, but there are question marks against its ability to handle both telephony and handheld computing needs satisfactorily. When used in portrait mode as a mobile phone, the MPx feels bulky, while the keyboard is not up to much more than tapping the odd email or text message. The screen offers 320 by 240 pixels, but feels a little cramped at just 2.8 in. across the diagonal -- viewing complex information in landscape format was sometimes a little difficult. And as far as RAM is concerned, Motorola would be advised to provide more than the 32MB (12MB user-accessible) on our review sample.

Specifications

Audio
Audio input	microphone
Audio output	speaker, headphone jack
Voice recording capability	Yes
Connectivity / expansion
Docking cradle	Yes
Wired connections	USB
Wireless PAN	infrared, Bluetooth 1.1
Wireless LAN	802.11b
Wireless WAN	GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900, GPRS
Expansion slots	SD/MMC
Display
Display type	TFT
Display size	2.8 in
Native resolution	320x240 pixels
Colour depth	16 bits
General
Built-in devices	camera, keyboard, phone
Dimensions (W x H x D)	61.2x22.4x99.7 mm
Weight	174 g
Input devices
Touchscreen	Yes
Stylus	Yes
Navigation button/wheel	Yes
Keyboard	Yes
Memory
Memory expansion	SD/MMC
Installed ROM	64 MB
Installed RAM	32 MB
OS & software
Operating system	Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC, Second Edition, Phone Edition
Software included	Pocket Outlook (Calendar, Tasks, Contacts and Inbox), MSN Messenger, Pocket Internet Explorer, Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Windows Media Player 9, Microsoft Reader, Picture, Terminal Services Client, Notes Taker, Voice Recorder, Calculator, Games (Solitaire, Jawbreaker), Phone, Transcriber, Letter Recognizer, Block Recognizer; Pocket IE, VioceSignal, Jeodeck (Java VM), Photo Album, profiles manager
Synchronisation software	ActiveSync
Desktop software	Outlook
Host PC system requirements	PC with Windows 98/ 98SE/ME/2000/XP
Power
Battery type	Li-ion
Number of batteries	1
Processor
Processor	Texas Instruments OMAP 733
Clock speed	200 MHz
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