Motorola a835 (Buyers Guide: Mobile Phones)

Member Name: thespurs

Product:	Buyers Guide: Mobile Phones
Date:	09/11/04 (192 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Has 3G Capability

Disadvantages: Very Big, Only Available on the 3

This phone appears fantastic on the face of it. When you first get it in your hand your immediate reaction is, 'how old is this phone? it's huge!' Well the phone has fantastic picture quality and the video player facility is superb. You have easy access to sports news and football highlights as well as a wide range of other WAP services. The premiership highlights that I have downloaded are superb. The quality is amazing, it could give a portable television a good run for its money. The sound is also very good, it makes you feel like you're at the game.


The phone does have a very good memory. I was able to store around an hour of video, including Premiership highlights and music videos. The performance of the phone was in no way effected by the large amount of media I had stored on it. You can store hundreds of phone numbers and text and picture messages. I was also impressed that it could retain all of the original preset ringtones and backgrounds/ wallpapers, along with the videos.


The down side is that the phone is very unreliable. It often freezes and my phone has had to be reapired because of a fault with the camera facility. As a result of the fault, all of my pictures and videos were instantly erased, much to my annoyance. From what I have heard, problems with a835 aren't terribly uncommon. This will be something that Motorola will need to look into in the future, to ensure that the new models don't suffer the same fate. My replacement phone does seem to be OK, for the moment at least.


Also the reception of 'Three' isn't great in some areas the 3G reception is appalling. At times you can't even make a call or send a text, let alone use the WAP service. This is very frustrating, as you have to constantly check you have some reception. If not, you have to move around constantly until you find some. Maintaining any reception is another challenge in itself. There is a feature that does allow you to make an emergency call if you don't have enough receptio to make a standard call.


I came across one really good thing about this phone a couple of weeks ago. You are able to re-arrange the menus and sub-menus to cater your needs. This has allowed me to move my 'messages' option to the top of my list on the main menu. I use this feature more than any other. I have also moved my settings to the second option and demoted the games and application option. You can take this on further by sorting other menus in a way that suits you.


I would reccomend it to anyone who wants superb picture quality but is prepared to cope with unreliability in the long run. The size can get on your nerves after a while, your jean pockets might be too small for it. After all, the a835 does perform the basic functions that you would expect of a mobile phone. So, if you need a new mobile phone now, or in the future, you might well consider this one. If you are sports fan, then you should be very, very attracted by the facility to view football highlights. I would give this mobile phone a very healthy 7 out of 10.

Summary: