Utterly Infuriating (Motorola Timeport L7089)

Member Name: alyons

Product:	Motorola Timeport L7089
Date:	26/01/01 (75 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Works in most countries.

Disadvantages: Everything else about it.

This is the worst phone I've ever used. I only keep it because it's tri-band and works all over Europe and the US. But I curse it every day. Let me give you some examples (see which functions you might use):

I receive a text message, the phone says "Message received. Read now?" I press OK, but the phone then says "Press * with # to Unlock". Argh! So I unlock the keypad. This is hard to do with one hand (like I can with a Nokia: which is Menu then *) so I swizzle the phone around in my hand and risk dropping it (try doing this with you phone now to hit * and # at the same time). The display now doesn't offer me the same "Read Now?" prompt that got me in here, so I have to hunt through the menus (more of these below). When eventually I read the message it doesn't tell me who it's from, just their number. So I memorize the last 3 digits of the phone number and hunt through EVERY number in my phone book (I have about 200).

Menus. The first option on each menu isn’t the one you use most often, it's the bizarre feature that Motorola want to promote (ie, you use least). Example, first option on the main menu is "Information" which is a way of getting jokes, weather or horoscopes via text messages. The second option is phone book (which most people use all the time). Useful design? You decide.

Calling people. You can get to the phonebook by using one of the 'hidden' buttons on the side of the phone. This is handy but you have to tell your mates this if they borrow it. Ever looked up a number and then realized you got the number or the name wrong? Well you can't change it there and then if you got to the phone book with the 'hidden' button; you have to get to the phone book through the menus to fix the number. This feels so unnatural. Imagine getting up from the TV to make some coffee in the kitchen. The coffee maker is empty but you can't get the coffee b
eans from the cupboard until you enter the kitchen from the dining room (the designers of the house thought you’d only make coffee after dinner). Doh!

Voice Dialling. I tried this once. I put one guy's number in the phone and let the phone record me saying his name: "Will". I then tried to call him using voice dialling. I said, "Will" (in my best BBC accent), the phone says, "Name not recognized". There's only 1 person in the phone with a voice against it!! How hard can it be??

Sending a text message. I use the shortcut menu to go straight to the message editor avoiding the awful menus (I'm glad I spent the time to set that up). I type the message, which takes longer than on a Nokia phone because I have to hold down the keys for a couple of seconds to change from capitals to lower case (Nokia has a quick 'shift' key). And even though all messages use capitals for the first letter of proper nouns, the phone assumes you want to keep the capitals for the rest of the message, so you waste another few seconds changing back to lower case each time. I choose "Send Message", the first option you get is "Phone Number Entry"; now how many times do you text message to people who aren't in your phone book? Never, in my case. The second option is "Find Entry By Name". Using this option, you don't get to browse through your address book (like on a Nokia), you have to type in the first 3 letters of the name under an animated explanation telling you to enter 3 letters (it's quite hard to concentrate under this). You then hit OK, and navigate through a list of matching names. This may sound OK in practice, but you should try it to see how unnatural it feels. Good designers know that humans are better at recognizing names (in the familiar phonebook), than recalling them (especially if your friends have funny names, or you forget if you used their nick-name). Not at Moto
rola, apparently.

Features that I like? I like the shortcut menu (for working around the poor main menus). I like the way it can vibrate first, THEN ring if I don't answer it (but you have to find the menu to set this up, the shortcut menu only supports either ring OR vibrate). I like the way I can turn off the annoying flashing light (tip: it's called "Battery Saving Mode", but you have to turn on "Extended Menus" to find it).

Those friends who have this phone hate it too. I would be really really mad if I had paid for this phone myself (my company did). Next phone I buy will be a Nokia.

Summary: