A Symbol by Any Other Name
Pros:
Small size, PDA, keyboard, wireless and cellular capabilities.
Cons:
Does not charge well from the single USB.
The Bottom Line:
So far, would recommend to others. The cell phone should be more dominately featured, since e-mailing and phone activities prevail when on move.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
With Mororola's buy out of Symbol, expect to see Motorola using the Symbol's name. Mine is branded as a Symbol MC35. I did not buy this smart phone. It was issued to me at work for mobile data applications. There is a variation of this product that has bar code scanning too. A factor affecting my employer's purchase is the device's known ruggedness & ability to tolerate outside environments (rain, etc).
About the device: It is a full hybrid cell phone and PDA. It has 64MB of memory and a external SD memory card storage. The Processor is a 416MHZ Intel PXA270 using Windows Mobile 5.0 OS. The out of the box supplies are a USB cable, Microsoft Active Sync software and AC adaptor. Two spare styluses are also supplied.
The AC adaptor is a generic sort of thing, perhaps for use in foreign locations were outlet plugs are different. Therefore, user must attach the correct outlet prong when initially unpacking the product. The various outlet plug types are handy for foreign travel.
Form Factor: The device is approximately 4" long X 2.5" wide. It is about 3/4" of an inch thick and easily fits into a trouser or a shirt pockets. The weight is noticable but not heavy.
Front Display: It is dominated by the color LCD screen and resolution is good. The LCD is bright enough to in direct sunlight without the glare washing out the screen. A keyboard is provided and four programmable hot buttons are present on the front. In many ways, this phone resembles the Cingular Blackjack phone.
Features: The phone has a built in microphone. Sound capture and playback quality is good. Bluetooth and Wifi capabilities are available. The Wifi has not been tried, but the Bluetooth is Type III (extended range). The range is excellent with devices in rooms 40-50 ft away being detected and linked to.
The phone came with ATT Service. It is not known if Verizon or other carrier services are available. The phone is software driven. So far I have not figured out how to use it more like a regular cell phone (dial from the keyboard, etc) and am using the stylus instead. The phone ring and speaker volumes are good. While flat, the product works well when held to the ear for conversations. Wired and Bluetooth hands free capabilities are present too.
The Activesync program works flawlessly between the MC35 and my laptop (using Vista). It is straight forward to sync applications and data files. So far, the established association with my laptop has not been lost, something that I have had recurring trouble with in the past.
The product comes with a suite of programs. Windows Office mobile products are present (Excel, Word, Powerpoint, Outlook, notepad, and Contacts). Other programs are more so utilities, such as blue tooth settings, etc. Device configuration settings (screen brightness, power management, etc) are available too. These work as well as what one would expect for any PDA product.
The battery life has been acceptable so far. When turned off, the device bleeds power off of the battery and the battery will eventually run down. PDAs I have had in the past do this too, so this is not unique to this product. The battery will last about a week if the MC-35 is kept off most of the time. It will last about two days or less if used as a cell phone (& kept on most of the time).
Updates will be provided as more experience is garnered. At this point the product can be best thought of as a internet enabled PDA & e-mailer with cell phone capabilities. It is worth considering if you do not want to pay cell phone store mark up for one of their sponsored less capable e-mail/internet/phone products.
