Philippine Cell Phones

With it’s impressive 62-carat sapphire crystal lens which highlights its circular display, it’s safe to say that visually this phone does not disappoint.

Yet, this high-end phone does a lot less than what should be expected from it, especially as it carries a hefty price tag.

Its 2-megapixel camera takes a not-too-great picture, but let’s face it, what attracts us to the Aura is not its ability to take pictures.

The menu button, which once pressed reveals a circular clock-like face looks striking, but unlike more practical phones on the market, requires a more lengthy selection process. However there’s a shortcut key that will save a lot of time and endless keystrokes. And if you don’t have perfectly manicured nails, the texting process may prove to be a little tedious.

Specifications
2G Network             GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Dimensions             96.9 x 47.6 x 18.6 mm
Weight                 141
GPRS                 YES
Bluetooth             Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
USB                 YES
Internal Memory         2 GB
Camera                 SINGLE
Camera Resolution         2 MP, 1600×1200 pixels
Camera Resolution Search     2M
Display Type             TFT, 16M colors
Display Size             480 pixels diameter, 1.55 inches
Type                 SWING
Messaging             SMS, EMS, MMS
Browser             WAP 2.0/xHTML
Battery Type             Standard battery, Li-Ion 810 mAh
Stand-by             Up to 410 h
Talk time             Up to 7 h 20 min
MP3                 YES
Video Support             YES
Speaker             STEREO

With the world’s first circular display is set against a stainless steel case, which apart from being heavy, it’s sleek, stylish and impressive to look at. Motorola’s eagerly awaited Swiss-made 200 part slide mechanism glides effortlessly, which certainly contributes to its luxury style.

And as for applications, web access is fast, reliable, and after you get over the feeling of reading through a ship’s window, its circular face becomes rather charming. Reading through a web page does involve constant scrolling as the display is small in comparison to the likes of the Apple iPhone or the T-Mobile G1, but the sapphire crystal lens makes this a breeze.

Overall the Motorola Aura ticks all of the luxury boxes. It’s sleek, timeless and is the perfect phone to show off with. Yet, we can’t help being slightly disappointed in the lack of attention to detail in its applications, camera and layout. We think it’s best to think of the Aura as the trophy-wife of the phone world, it’s great to look at and bring to social occasions, but that’s about it.

The ZN5 is on the High-End segment of Motorola’s portfolio, the device offers a 5 Megapixel Camera with Kodak Technology, Auto-Focus and Xenon Flash. The device itself is advertised as a Kodak Camera combined with a High-Quality phone. With the Kodak branding all over the ZN5, it is obvious that Motorola wants to advertise its phone as ”A Kodak Camera”, in my opinion this strategy gives positive results.  To prove it, I took a N95 8GB and the ZN5 and showed it to 15 people, I did not give information about the phones, just handed them so they explore them and play for a while.  The results were as expected, the well-known Kodak branding stole the attention from the N95 8GB.

FEATURES
CAMERA

Display: 2.4” 240×320 262k TFT
Memory: 350MB available memory4, optional removable 4GB memory card
Imaging:

* KODAK 5-megapixel Camera, auto-focus, low light optimized with Xenon flash
* Multi-shot mode
* Capture and edit modes: panorama, grayscale, sepia, negative, reddish, greenish, blueish
* Focal length: 5.86mm. Aperture: 2.8/5.6.
* Digital viewfinder

PHONE

Dimensions: 50.5mm (W) x 118mm (L) x 12mm (T) (16mm at bump)
Talk Time: up to 349 to 574 minutes5
Standby Time: up to 310 to 579 hours5
Weight: 114g
Battery: 950 mAh
Bands/Modes: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, EDGE Class 12, GPRS Class 12
Phone Features:

* Sliding the lens cover open transforms the device from phone to camera using
ModeShift technology
* CrystalTalkTM technology for clear-sounding calls
* SMS, MMS, IM, personal e-mail1
* Full HTML open source browser
* 3.5mm A/V jack, FM radio6,7, music player
* Wi-Fi1 enabled/ WLAN: 802.11 b/g/i
* Optional external memory supports up to 4GB capacity
* Microsoft® Windows Media® Player 11 support
* Stereo Bluetooth wireless technology (A2DP)2
* Video –C/P 15fps, MPEG4, H263
* TV out3

ZN5 puts image capture first, with a high-resolution landscape screen and one of the fastest click-to-click times available. To launch the camera, simply slide open the Kodak lens cover to transform the phone into an ultra-fast 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus, a Xenon flash, 4GB of optional external memory3 and optimized settings for low-light environments.

The MotoZN5 is a light phone, it is also very slim but with a thicker upper part where the 5 Megapixel camera is located. It uses a Violet color scheme mixed with Violet-Metal-dark colors which in my opinion make the phone look actual and modern. The device is a blend of rubber parts with metal parts.

The keypad of the ZN5 is very special, it is all covered by a flexible piece of plastic. The keypad has multiple functions, right after taking a picture all the numbers disappear and a trash icon, a ‘’share” icon and a gallery icon appear.  The ergonomics of the device are standard, keys are comfortable enough and give a good feedback.

The Motorola A1200, better known as the Motorola MING, is the latest Linux-based smartphone from Motorola. With a very attractive transparent flip design, 2.0 megapixel camera, and a handy business card reader feature.

On the front, the transparent cover houses the Motorola emblem and the back of the earpiece, which is coated in chrome. On the back of the device, the camera lens is enveloped in chrome. The macro mode switch just above the lens is a pin sized piece of black plastic, and I worry that it could break after extended usage. The stylus silo is located at the back of the phone to the left of the camera lens. I like the feel of the MING’s stylus; it has the appropriate weight and the length is just about right. The loudspeaker is located on the lower part of the back of the phone.

On the right of the phone, the dedicated camera key is located alongside the voice recognition key. The miniUSB port is located lower down this side of the MING. To the left, the volume keys flank the shortcut key, which also works as the select key when accessing the few menus available with the flip closed. The headset jack is found just below the shortcut key. Both the miniUSB port and headset jack are protected by rubber flaps to keep out dust.

General     2G Network     GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Announced     2005, December
Status     Available
Size     Dimensions     95.7 x 51.7 x 21.5 mm
Weight     122 g
Display     Type     TFT touchscreen, 256K colors
Size     240 x 320 pixels, 2.4 inches, 36 x 48 mm
- Handwriting and speech recognition (Chi & Eng)
Ringtones     Type     Polyphonic (40 channels), MP3
Customization     Download
Vibration     Yes
Memory     Phonebook     Advanced, Photo call
Call records     30 dialed, 30 received, 30 missed calls
Card slot     microSD (TransFlash), buy memory
- 8 MB user memory
- 3.5 MB phonebook memory
- Intel XScale 312MHz processor
Data     GPRS     Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
HSCSD     No
EDGE     No
3G     No
WLAN     No
Bluetooth     Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port     No
USB     Yes, miniUSB
Features     OS     Linux
Messaging     SMS, EMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
Browser     WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML (Opera)
Games     Extreme Air Snowboarding, order now
Colors     Black, Red, Silver
Camera     2 MP, 1600×1200 pixels, video(QCIF)
- Java MIDP 2.0
- Stereo FM radio
- MP3/MP4/AAC+ player
- PIM functions
- Picsel document viewer
- Photo editor
- Voice dial/memo
- Built-in handsfree
Battery           Standard battery, Li-Ion 850 mAh (BT50)
Stand-by     Up to 200 h
Talk time     Up to 4 h

PDA functions and menu navigations are slow and confusing. Motorola mobile Phone Tools for synchronization with Outlook do not always work, and tend to load Outlook Calendar (on your computer) with many repeat entries, with no rhyme nor reason. If you have Outlook entries with alarm ON, the phone will sound an alarm even if it is OFF, so be aware of it when you set events. Contacts sync works fine.Good camera if you need one.