Hello and Goodbye to you, Moto! (Motorola T720)

Member Name: tomshanks

Product:	Motorola T720
Date:	29/12/03 (1281 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Far more stylish than any other previous Motorola phone, Menu system actually fairly easy and fully customisable, Decent specification for the price

Disadvantages: Build quality concerns, Standard games are demos, Text messaging worries

I have not been a fan of Motorola phones in the past. Ever since my mother first had one in 1992, I have known them as heavy and bulky, and when I first actually got to use one, it was the old M3788, which had one of the worst menu systems in the world. The V2288 I used a few months ago for a very short while seemed to have a different menu system, but one which was just as bad, and it was still far too big in comparison with other phones of its time. The Motorola flip family has always been a different story altogether, since I think that the original Startac was the first flip phone ever, and the V50, launched in about 2000, was selling right up until early this year to the style concious, and remains an excellent sized-phone, albeit one that is low on features and still has a dreadful menu system, for the fashion concious. The more recent T191 was astoundingly tiny after Motorola's previous efforts, but it turns out that design and production of this was actually sub-contracted to Acer, which is an Asian mobile phone manufacturer, but this had an irritating built-in fault whereby the phone would sometimes give up charging, and thus become useless. The small keys on this did not help matters for me. Therefore, anything with the Motorola brand name on it would certainly have to convince me that it was not too big, too difficult to use or too unreliable as well as fulfilling all my normal criteria for a phone. I know now, as I did then, that Motorola is just a huge name, which sub-contracts other companies to design and build phones for it all around the world, which explains why some are made in Germany, some are made in China, and some appear to have no provenance at all. It was against this background that I was challenged to get a colour screen flip-phone for a friend for under 90 pounds, which had to have an equal, or better, specification when compared with the Sagem MYC-2. My first thoughts were a Samsung T100, but as these still command ridiculous prices
on Ebay, I was soon able to find an alternative in the T720.

Its big brother, the T720i, has additional features such as an attachable camera, MMS and different games, and is still selling on the O2 website after a year, which is commendable since most phones are only allowed six months on there at the most. It is clear that Motorola, or whichever one of their partner firms around the world who have been sub-contracted to build the pair, must be doing something right at least. Not needing the camera facility, and wanting to save money, I opted for the less expensive T720, which I got for 75 pounds, including a car charger and a SIM card. The phone was also in excellent order. Was it as much of a bargain as the specification on GSM Arena would suggest it is? There was only one way to find out.

Upon turning the phone on, I was greeted with a rather impressive animation. The T720 was the first Motorola phone to be sold in Europe with a colour display, and the start-up animation certainly shows this off. It may take a little time to switch the phone on if the animation is not switched off, but it is a good thing to show off to friends if they do not yet have colour screen phones! Sensibly, Motorola decided to give the phone a 4,096 colour display on the inside, as opposed to the 256 colour screens which were more usual at the time. This has meant that the camera quality of the slighty-different T720i was not compromised by having a limited number of colours on the display like the Sony Ericsson T68i and Siemens S55. It also makes the phone better for showing images and playing games, which is surely one of the reasons why someone would buy a T720 in the first place. I was very disappointed on my particular phone to find that there was only one game pre-installed, and a demo version at that! Moto GP is one of the Java games that should come as standard with the T720, and does make the most of the capabilities of this technology. The game controls are
not particularly responsive in comparison with a game pad or a joystick, as one has to use either the D-pad or the number keys in order to control the motorbike, but there is no doubting the considerable fun-factor of the programme! If the phone was mine, and I was given free games to download by my network, I would be happy to try out some others, but since I would have to pay and the phone is not really mine anyway, I have had to leave it at that. I have, however, been able to use the phone's ringtones.

I seem to remember that this was the first Motorola flip phone to come with polyphonic ringtones, although the technology had been around for a short while already in the C300 series, also made by Acer. This phone has a huge selection of ringtones, both monophonic and polyphonic, and they can be customised to fit an incoming call, the alarm function or a text message. They seem to be loud enough on maximum volume, although naturally the traditional monophonic ringtones are more noticeable than the polyphonic ones in a busy street, and the vibration alert also helps somewhat. One of the excellent things about the T720 is not just the actual ringtones, but the ability to access them easily as well. Both the soft-keys and all four directions of the D-pad can be set to do whatever one wants from the standby menu, which is very useful indeed by all accounts. If one is used to a Nokia, then the phonebook can be put on the right softkey, and the quick access key to the menu can be put on the left soft-key, for example, with a left press of the D-pad leading to the text messaging menu. Of course, this is not actually necessary, as the middle menu button in between the two softkeys will also go directly to the main menu. I was able to access the ringtones, a list of calls, the phone book, the text messaging menu, the main menu, the games menu and the calendar with one press of a button. Such a degree of customization is something which I have only seen in Sieme
ns phones before, and then only by use of the number keys. It is slightly confusing at first if someone has set the phone up to all manner of strange options, as was the case with mine, but once one gets used to it, it seems a wonder why everyone else does not follow suit. The main menu itself can also be changed to whatever the user desires.

It may be easier for Nokia and Siemens users to not have the standard icon-based main menu for this phone, and instead to be greeted with merely a linear list of the main categories for the menu upon pressing the centre key to access it. However, with such a big screen, and such clear icons for whatever needs to be reached, I was soon getting used to the 3 x 3 main menu, although this does mean that the miscellaneous options are hidden on a separate page. There is not a central select key such as on the Panasonic GD87 or Sony Ericsson T68i in order to reach each of the icons on the main menu, so that one's thumb does not move outside the D-pad at all, but this is not so much of a problem when one considers that neither does the Siemens S55. The sub-menus are conducted with standard clarity and consistency which is a welcome relief from Motorola menu systems past. The T191 is the only Motorola with which I could reasonably compare the new menu system, as its main menu was also icon based, which led onto standard-looking sub-menu lists, but it was not nearly as clear as this, since the T720's screen is much bigger and clearer. It does, however, reinforce the case that both phones are made by Acer, as does a 'Made in China' sticker than I found underneath the battery! Fortunately, there is only one other time when this would be apparent, and this is when considering the build quality and changeable covers of the phone.

Upon lifting the back cover in order to take out the battery and fit the SIM card, I was amazed at how flimsy the whole phone appears. I know that it is light, and this is helped by
the lithium battery, but the back cover weighs about a gramme, and is one of the cheapest looking phone parts that I have ever seen. The battery is good and solid, I do not think that it is made in China, but the little clip to hold the SIM card in place also had an air of lightness and cost-cutting about it. This is a real shame, as the other Chinese phone I have owned, a Siemens A52, has build-quality which is identical to the German-made models, such as the C55. If you are not in the habit of constantly taking SIM cards in and out of the phone, however, this should not be a problem. I also doubt that I would like to remove the front cover, although this is possible with the T720, since I fear that I would damage the external display and break something. Unfortunately, the feeling of insubstantiality goes deeper than this. The hinge on which the phone opens seems to have a bit of play in it, and when I was sending text messages I heard various creaks, so I really would not like to drop the phone or start playing football with it, as I am not sure how much of it would be left!

That said, the T720 is rather good as a business tool, so its market appeal goes beyond mere fashion or youth. The calendar application is as good as it needs to be, and there is a large phone book memory for storing contacts. I did not try the feature of copying all the contacts on the SIM card to the phone and vice versa, but I seem to remember that it is there, which is always a plus. The one downside to the functionality of the T720 is the text messaging. On every other phone that I have used, bar none, I have been asked to type the text message first, and then choose to whom I would like to send it. On the T720, I am asked to choose the contact first, and then type the message. Added to this is rather illogical labelling of the softkeys during the sending of the text messages, which can create considerable confusion. Two more problems await when once inside the message editor.
There is no character counter, which is a problem with such a large screen, and although I do not use it myself, Motorola has chosen to reject the industry-standard T9 text input system and stick to their own iTAP method. From what I hear, this is a very irritating way of using predictive text, since the phone asks for every word to be confirmed by the user before it can be put into the memory. Not one of the faster phones for text messaging, I have to admit. Luckily, the T720's reception really is not bad, so it will be possible to send messages in areas with relatively poor signal without too many problems, as experienced when using the range of Trium phones I have had, for example.

The second external display of the T720 has a white backlight, and tells the user all the essential information without needing to open the phone. Normally, it displays signal strength, battery life and the time and date, which is what one really needs to know. Beside this, there is also the normal GSM service light, which flashes green when the phone is in signal, and red when the phone has received a text message or a missed call. It is also worth noting that when roaming abroad, the light will also flash red, not green. Unread messages and missed calls are also on the external display, which makes the T720 a lot more useful than the V50 and V66 overall. Battery life was also quite good considering the amount that I played with it and made calls on it, probably around three days under my heavy usage, which is excellent for a colour screen phone. Downloadable screensavers and pictures are also available, although they will probably never be seen, since the whole point of a flip phone is that it is closed when not in use.

I am not a big fan of flip phones on the whole, mainly because they require two hands to answer quickly rather than one simple movement of pressing a button with a finger, and this did make me miss a call when I was using the T720 which I would
not have done had I been using a normal 'chocolate bar' style phone. However, if you do want a flip phone that looks fairly good and is very well specified for the price then the T720 is certainly worth a look. It certainly ranks as the best Motorola I have ever used, and my estimation of the brand has thus gone up a notch. However, the C350 with its tiny little screen and useless little keys made me think twice before switching straight away. If the new Motorola E365 camera phone turns out to be any good, I may consider buying that as one of the three I keep for myself.

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