Aug 22, 2007 09:43 AM
13095 Views
I have been owning the Motorokr E6 since last two months and have found it to be a great phone.
Unfortunately though it has great features and outdoes the much hyped iPhone E6 would unfortunately never be a ‘Classic’ phone.
The reason being – it is definitely much more than just a media phone, but lacks a few features to be classified as a full fledged PDA, hence it is neither here nor there. However it is definitely a geek’s phone, it runs on Linux and is one of the most moddable phones out there. (In case you don’t know what ‘modding’ is – you needn’t even bother to ask!).
Now to the nitty-gritty.
The Motorola E6 (previously known as the 690) is an evolution of the successful Motorola A1200 known as ‘Ming’.
The E6 comes in two packages : The basic version with 1Gb External Memory costing about Rs 13K and the premium version which is the same as the basic but comes with the groovy Bluetooth wireless stereo headphone and 2Gb external memory (SD Card). The premium sells for about Rs.18 K.
The phone can officially support 2Gb external memory but it is known to support 4Gb SD card.
What the E6 features :
Linux OS (I can even telnet to the phone and log in to the Linux shell)
Java MIDP 2.0 support (means I can install Java games / applications)
Full fledged TFT 262 K touchscreen 2.4 in 240x320 pix (no physical keypad !) Only four physical keys for Call Answer, Call End/PowerOff, Browser and one customizable key)
Connectivity : Bluetooth, GPRS, SMS, MMS, POP/SMTP/IMAP email
Multimedia : 2MP camera, Video recording (5 hours) , Photo Editor, Excellent Music player/MP3 Player – RealPlayer with equalizer. Supports MP4, real media, 3gp etc video formats
3.5 mm audio jack – This is a great boon since you can connect ANY standard headphone with 3.5 mm jack to the E6.
Browsing :Wap 2.0 , HTML enabled, touchscreen Opera Minibrowser downloadable. Pretty good Web browsing using GPRS (I subscribe to Airtel GPRS and get pretty decent speeds).
Input methods – Handwriting recognition with stylus (Very quick and effective), Virtual QWERTY keyboard.
FM Radio :Excellent quality with clear and loud reception. The FM radio needs to have headphones connected, but there is a mod available to enable FM to play without headphone connected, through your speaker.
Handsfree/Autoanswer: A decent speaker phone through which you can play music, FM radio, handsfree voice calling. Very sensitive microphone for hands free. Voice reception/sending quality is very loud and crystal clear. You can call/get calls from the Bluetooth wireless headphones too!
Office apps : Document viewer (Office/Excel/ppt/pdf) Only view no edit.PIM Organizer, calculator. Syncs with Microsoft Outlook, syncML enabled (can sync with Google calendar for example), built in email client application.
A very efficient Business Card reader (you can ‘scan’ a business card and transfer the details as a contact on your phone.
BarCode reader (only supports an obscure QR code format not the standard barcode)
Web Cam : Can be used as a WebCam or as a USB device (can charge thru USB) or as a USB modem to connect your PC/Laptop
Ringtones : Assignable ringtones for individual contact or categories. Supports MP3, Poly, aac, mid and host of other ringtones.
Look and feel : Very sleek , chocolate bar look. Easy interface, comfortable to grip. Moddable interface screen/theme. The iPhone theme I installed looks very cool !
:-( Whats not hot :
Quadband not available, no Edge (but these two can be enabled by a simple modding script). Wi-fi , Infrared not available.
Caller Id picture is very small.
Voice dialing not available (This can be enabled by a hack).
Dialling out a number in contact list is a pain, need to click thru a large number of steps.
There is no quick lock/unlock application apart from the 'hardware' switch at the side.However there is are some useful screenlock apps available.
Lousy battery life. Need to recharge almost daily (based on usage of 1 hour music player/FM/ 1 hour phone usage, 24 hr standby.)
PDA :No push email (need to manually retrieve mail)
FM with wireless headphone. For reasons unknown Stereo wireless Bluetooth does not support FM radio. The supplied 'wired' earphones are however of excellent quality.
SMSing : Since T9 is not available, if you are a SMS junkie, this could be a pain since the qwerty keyboard is too small and handwriting recognition needs two hands. This is a major drawback in this phone.
Quality of pictures with this is no great shakes. Moreover no inbuilt flash. so cannot take photos in the dark.
What else you can do with the Motorokr E6 :
Use it as a Game Boy advance Console and play thousands of GameBoy advance games
Use it as a Car MP3/FM player – hook your E6 to a car cassette adaptor (costing Rs.100/-) and you have an instant car MP3 player/FM radio)
Use it as a Burglar Alarm to set the WebCam with a motion sensor application which can raise a loud alert when a motion is detected.
Impress everyone with the Stereo Bluetooth Wireless headphones which are real cool.
There are tons of mods/hacks available on online forums such as https://motorolafans.com , https://modmymoto.com , https://howardforums.com , https://gsmarena.com etc.
All in all a truly great phone, and a good value for money, especially if you are a geek!
