Motorola 280 (GPRS) & 270c (CDMA US). (Motorola Timeport 280)

Name: Mnehr

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Product:	Motorola Timeport 280
Date:	18/12/02 (1504 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Full functioned phone at a reasonable cost.

Disadvantages: Far too many features for a casual user.

As my regular readers know, I am lucky to have the opportunity to trial many new phones before they hit the street. Although I normally wait to post my reviews until the actual equipment if firmly on the US market, the uniqueness of Motorola's Timeport 280/270c US prompted me to discuss this phone during its early deployment to the market. Currently there is only one carrier in the country that sells the 280/270c US (Alltel), however, other CDMA digital carriers are soon to follow in marketing this phone to the public.

Unique New Feature
What prompted my interest early on in the Timeport 280/270c US was the use of Bluetooth technology for the first time in a Motorola wireless product. Bluetooth is a new wireless standard that allows your phone to connect to a computer, PDA, or other Bluetooth enabled device. Currently the Timeport 280/270c US requires an additional connectivity kit ($299.99 from Motorola) to enable the 280/270c US to interface with a computer. The connectivity kit and software will allow one to complete any address book, calendar, or contact list on their PC and transmit that data wirelessly to their phone. If anyone has ever attempted to fill out hundreds of address book entries using the numerical keypad on a wireless device, they will understand the need to have a simpler way of entering the data and putting it on their phone.
Currently, Bluetooth devices are rare, and there are very few applications for these devices to make this stand out (not to mention the high cost of connectivity kits), however, application development over the next year will offer a lot of new uses for this wireless standard. I am in the process of developing a phone to phone way of transmitting a 'business card' entry into another wireless device. Although this application seems simple, this is just an example of various ways that this new Bluetooth standard can be used. Companies such as 3Com and Red-M are developing ways to util
ize a Bluetooth device in every day life. With in the next year, expect to see ways that you can purchase items using your phone like a credit card, or wirelessly download all your e-mails on to your phone to read, with out having to log on to the internet with your phone. The Timeport 280/270c US is one of the first devices to bring this new technology to the consumer.

Ergonomics
Normally, I am not completely comfortable using 'open-face' phones like the Timeport 280/270c US as I have become accustomed to using the Startac and Vader series phones from Motorola. Working on a daily basis using both my V60c and the 280/270c US made me appreciate the ergonomic differences between each phone. The 280/270c US is not a very heavy phone at only 4.7 ounces. This actually feels a little lighter than my V60c, and considering that it is larger than the V60c, this makes the transition to the different phone unusual. One thing I have always disliked about ?open-face? phones versus flip-phones is that when you are talking on the call, you have the feeling that the mic is too far from your mouth. Although, with normal use, there is no problem with the other user hearing me, during a long call I have been prone to hold the phone tighter to my face and actually smash the mic into my cheek, causing the other party not to be able to hear me as well. The 280/270c US is not uncomfortable to hold, it is just so light for its size that one becomes unsure of the security of their grip; in my opinion lighter is not always better.

One feature that I feel fits well into the ergonomic category is the hands free capability of this phone. Unlike other Motorola products that require an ?ear-bud? mic to have hands free capability, the 280/270c US is truly a hands free phone incorporating a speaker phone into its functions. (note: the 280/270c US still retains the plug to use an 'ar-bud' Instead of straining your hand and neck to hold the phone
during a long conversation, simply hit the speakerphone button and talk to your party. With the use of the voice activated dialing feature, one could literally never touch their phone. The clarity of the speakerphone is quite impressive. I have used a similar feature on a Kyocera phone and found both the volume and clarity of the Motorola function to surpass the Kyocera. In addition to the ergonomic advantage of the speakerphone, you also will gain a level of safety if you use this feature when you are in your car. Depending on where you place the phone, the background noise does not usually effect your conversation. From experience, I would suggest you place your phone either at mouth level or higher if you are in a vehicle using the speakerphone function. This reduces the background noise and makes the conversation easier to hear. I used the belt clip to clip the phone to my sun visor, placing the phone; in what I consider, the ideal speaker phone position.

Display
Motorola has made a great improvement to the display on the 280/270c US over many of their previous models. Most noticeably, the display is larger (128 x 100), and the indicator lights have been made smaller, reducing the amount of space they take up. Like the V60c, the 280/270c US has the capability to zoom in and out of the text on the display screen. This is quite helpful if you are using the wireless internet feature to read your mail or other long text items. With earlier models like the 7868, one spent a lot of time scrolling when reading any text on the screen. I estimate that using the zoom out feature, you can get up to three times the text displayed on the screen as you would on the standard display setting. For those who may have trouble with their eyesight, you can also zoom in on the text, enlarging to your reading comfort level. The display has indicator lights for the most commonly needed information on the phone. These indicators include: In-Use Indicator
, Roam Indicator, Text Message Waiting, Voice Mail Message Waiting, Battery Level, Clock, Menu Selection, Digital/Analog System, Alert Settings, and Signal Strength.

Hardware Functionality
The 280/270c US can be as complex or as simple as the user wants to make the phone. For simple every day use, the layout of the buttons on the phone provide quick action to send and end a call. For most people who buy this phone, however, the amount of function buttons on the phone can be somewhat unnerving. In addition to the normal numeric keypad and the send and end keys, the 280/270c US also has keys for the speaker phone, a 4-way toggle style navigation key, a menu key, two 'smart' keys, two volume keys on the left side of the phone (facing the phone), and a voice note key on the right side of the phone. Most who are willing to spend the $250.00 + dollars for this phone will be purchasing this phone for one of its many functions, and thus, the amount of 'extra' buttons will not unnerve them. I would not, however, recommend this phone to someone who just wants a phone for simple calling a couple of times a week. The cost to user function is too much for a casual user, although it is low for one who needs all of the features this phone has. For all of you gadget junkies, the 'smart' keys on the 280/270c US provide the greatest function as these can be programmed for any function in the phone. For myself, I have one programmed to switch from ring to vibrate, and the other to switch between auto answer and any key answer for when I am using the speaker phone function. These smart keys are useful to take the place of the prior shortcuts that Motorola built on their phones. Many complained
when Motorola stopped using the Fcn-8 to switch between vibrate and ring, and Fcn-4 for the battery indicator. The smart keys have the capability of replacing whatever short cut you liked in the past with one button to do that function. The
toggle key is also something new for Motorola. This key makes navigating around the menu or internet much easier than using the old up and down keys that most other phones have.

The battery has an average life for most digital phones, giving the user up to three hours of talk time and up to ten days of standby. This lifespan will greatly decrease, however, if the phone is picking up an analog service instead of digital. If all you have is analog service in your area, expect about 30 minutes of talk time and less than a day of standby life.

Service Quality
I would like to make a disclaimer before I write on the service quality of this phone. Anytime that you read a review that focuses too much on the service quality of the phone, please be aware that service quality has far more to do with the service provider and network of the phone, than on the internal components of the phone. Almost all handheld phones transmit at the exact same wattage (6/10th watt), and use the same transmission chips (made by either Motorola or Qualcom if the phone is CDMA). With that said, I will give my impression on the service quality of this phone, again, taking into account that the quality of my carrier has far more to do with the end result of quality.

Based on my area of service and provider, I have not had any problems with any dropped calls, network busy, or other signal problems. Mostly, I have used this phone between New Orleans and El Paso, with most of the usage around the DFW area. I have found no difference between the quality of the 280/270c US, my V60c and my wife's Kyocera 3035. Like the other phones, the 280/270c US is what is known as a 'tri-mode'
phone, capable of working on three bands of service. This means that the phone will work whether it picks up a 800Mhz CDMA, 1900Mhz CDMA, or 800Mhz Analog network. Anytime one asks my recommendation for buying a phone, I always suggest buying a ?tri-mode? phone tha
t will work on these bands, and this will provide the most complete coverage across the country. (This only applies to US citizens. For people in Canada, Europe, or Mexico, the GSM digital standard is currently used more than the CDMA standard. Here in the US, however, GSM is the least used, thus I never recommend GSM equipment or service here.)

Features
The 280/270c US has far more features than most other Motorola or competitor phones. In addition to the aforementioned speakerphone, voice-dialing, Bluetooth, and smart key features, the 280/270c US also has the capability of voice notes, which is a digital voice recorder. Voice notes is capable of holding up to two minutes of recordings, and the 280/270c US has menu functions allowing you to label, sort, and time stamp all of the voice notes in your phone. Like the V60c, the 280/270c US has a built in FM radio that can be used if one has the optional ear-bud mic. I have used the FM radio on a very limited basis, and found that its quality is about average, nothing stood out as either positive or negative in its service. Also like the V60c the 280/270c US has a 400 entry phone book and date book. One can either enter this data using the keys of the phone, use a USB connector to connect the phone to your PC, or use a Bluetooth connectivity kit to wirelessly connect the phone to your PC. If you are going to use the date book on a regular basis, I suggest at the very least getting the USB connectivity kit (about $100.00) for your PC as using the entry software is much easier and faster than entering the data on the phone itself. With
the larger display, using the date book in the 280/270c US is actually a viable option for people who do not want to carry around a PDA in addition to their phone.

Like most other phones, the 280/270c US is WAP enabled, allowing internet access, depending on your service provider. The 280/270c US seems made for wireless internet with the larger displa
y, toggle button, and the capability to zoom in and out on the display. The poor displays have been the main reason that wireless internet service has not taken off as predicted, but it seems that Motorola is taking steps to fix the ills that is hindering wireless internet.

If your service provider has 2-way messaging service available, the 280/270c US is one of the few phones that will work with this feature. This feature allows one to instant message between any other device that has the same feature. Unlike using the instant message feature on your computer, using this feature on a wireless phone is quite tedious as entering letters using the keypad is quite difficult and time consuming. For business, sending out of quick messages to their users makes this a feature that has the potential to expand the range of wireless use beyond its common functions.

Overall
Overall the features of this phone make it stand out beyond most other digital wireless phones. The Timeport 280/270c US is one of the first phones to incorporate Bluetooth technology. This, along with the capability for wireless internet, two way messaging, and voice notes, make this phone a good feature to dollar value. At over $250.00, however, this is not a phone for the casual user. As when buying any phone, it is important to decide what your needs are as to not get over your head in features you do not need. If you are looking for a similar styled phone with fewer functions at a lower cost, I suggest looking at the Kyocera 2035 or 3035. If, however, if you are looking for a phone that will provide similar functions, in a more compact design, I would suggest the Motorola V60c.

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