Why? I'm so tired. Please. (Motorola Timeport L7089)

Member Name: geoffcampos

Product:	Motorola Timeport L7089
Date:	21/02/01 (185 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Feature packed

Disadvantages: But you won't care

I'm not looking forward to writing this review as I can feel tears welling in my eyes already. I live in the UK, where you are chained to a handset for at least a year - the only escape is paying £10,000,006 to upgrade or throw the blasted thing to the monkeys and use two cups and a piece of string till the end of your contract. I bought a 7089 to replace a Nokia (no, really) because I wanted the vibration feature (ringtones are for 12 year olds -sorry). I didn't realise that by purchasing a Motorola, I would be tweaking the nipples of the God of Ergonomics. Holy Macaroni what a poor interface! At first, the myriad design flaws seemed unfortunate, now it is clear to me that they have been deliberately engineered to unbalance my already shakey footing on reality (I'm also a Microsoft Windows user).

Hardware.

The buttons are spongey. Why? Why sow the seeds of doubt at the outset. Did I press that button? Why not have clicking buttons, with a clear, unidirectional action, not a wobbly, round, rubber teat with an ambiguous movement. It is also difficult know which button I've pressed, as the paint is peeling from most of the keys.
The phone comes with a belt clip.
The phone is quite well built structurally and will withstand quite a knock when tumbling to the ground after having been jarred out of the inadequate belt clip.
The charger socket is wide and exposed, so whenever I keep the phone in my front pocket (I can't seem to feel the vibration when in my back pocket - could be something to do with too many Chocolate Hob-Nobs) and there's a coin in there, 'zzzzzzzt' off it goes - shorted out - that's when the socket is not stuffed with crumbs and lint.
The display seems clever at first, with its quasi-reflective backing, but actually, it's a pain and muddies readability in lower light levels.
The keypad is too close to the bottom of the phone, to press them with my thumb ala one
handed use, I'm forced to have very little purchase on the smooth casing - although to be fair, this is a problem with most phones - one that I can't believe is unavoidable.
Other than these points, the hardware is adequate. Sort of.

Software.

Oh dear. Why? Motorola is responsible for manufacturing the brain in every Apple computer. With this consideration, you'd think that their design department would have an inkling to intuitive interface. Perhaps, but they don't bring it to work.
To lock the keys on the keypad, you must press the asterisk and the hash simultaneously. Try doing it with one hand.
The phone is quite well built structurally and will withstand quite a knock when tumbling to the ground after having been jarred out of your hand by inadequate software.
I have a text message. The screen indicates this and asks: 'read now?' over the 'yes/call' button. Ha Ha you loser - the keypad is locked. Doh! unlock the keypad by dangerously swiveling the phone with one hand and hey presto - the read now? is gone. Grrr!
menu system configurator and programmable hot-keys. Why? Why not just make it optimal in the first place? Do we really need to spend xhours trying to figure out optimum settings ourselves?
To add a new number It takes me (from keylock) 10 keypresses. That sucks. Every one I add it asks me for a voice activation tag - even when I've used them all up. [The voice tag limit may not be true, but it's SUCH a chore to find out]
Whenever I receive a text message, it doesn't tie up the senders number with his/her name. So I have to trawl through my address book and play match-the-last-two-numbers (not that I have many friends).
When I want to reply to an email, I can't I have to type in the reply and then send afresh - but this could be a service issue.
You get 3 minutes of digital voice recording. You can only wipe all voice notes or nothin
g.
The menu key does not select items, so to navigate the menu, you must use 4 buttons.
When in the menu system, you cannot lock the keypad.
To find a number, it's quite easy - press the side voice calling button, then speak the name or press the letter key. You can only call when the name is selected. Why is there no editing features here?
I mean, isn't there hundreds of people working on these products? Surely, some bright spark comes up with the initial concept, a few drawings are made, then it goes into development, prototype, testing - the usual sequence of events for a consumable. I don't want to believe it's down to incompetence. These are smart people for Chrissakes! It's like Microsoft products, sometimes I think that the programs they produce are deliberately flawed, not just for obsolescence, but because they know they'd be stepping on someone else's copyright (e.g. Apple) if they designed everything correctly.
Sorry Motorola, but you might think that the user interface isn't the most important feature but I'd beg to differ - I believe in good ergonomics and function over form for essential items like phones. I don't want using a phone to be stressful. I want it to be quick, intuitive and durable. Am I asking too much?

Summary: