Mar 08, 2007 12:04 AM
6347 Views
Motofone or the
Motorola F3.
The phone**:
This phone is made at Chennai, South India. And this is exclusive(not mentioned officially) for the developing third world countries. Like India. How maruti 800 goes for the car buyer, the same motofone for new phone users. This phone has features and accessibility designed so that everyone(including your milkman, your butler, your cobbler etc.etc to my never gone to school farm workman) can
operate it comfortably.
The success of invention is not in pleasing a section of the society. I have never seen rural illiterates operate a mobile comfortably. If you say I am exaggerating you may try hands-on by explaining even a nokia 1600’s working to them.
The phone is priced at 1650 INR.
The package:
Surprising, the phone is packed in a cardboard box, a cylindrical one, a smaller version of a farex box. Plastic top and bottom lid. It has
The phone
Charger-3 plug charger; finish not upto nokia standards.( Nowadays Nokia sets are made in India; and the charger in them is also not upto the earlier imported standard)Manuals-English and a couple of local language. Simple explainations.Warranty statement and service locations throughout India.
The handset:*
Considerably larger than the nokia 1110 sets. Yet it is compensated by the slim nature of this phone. Sleek design; number pad designed to last longer than any other sets. Also easy feel of numbers by rubber raisings in between. Cover on the rear side is small, when compared to the phones size.
Sim card has to be slided to fit in its place.
The screen:
The screen is a double edged one; it means some like it much and others hate it.(they describe it as a calculator. Ironically, there is no calculator provided: It should have been provided. It is a 3 line large display and numbers appear larger. My grandpa, 72, can see it at a 3 feet distance what the number is. Text display is poor. They should have provided uniform sized display for all letters.( say, HoME calling.)
The wonder here is, the letters are visible in direct sunlight. Clearly. Time wont say AM/PM and you can use your senses to judge the meridian. Or choose 24 hr clock.
Menu:
Menu is simple, icon based. It moves horizontally from left to right as icons.
Write messages
Read messages
Calls
p>Ring tone select
Alarm
Set date/time.
This makes it hassle free operation for our countrymen. Also you can have voice assisted in a local language description for every activity. Even blind people can use this, if it is preprogrammed with contacts.(Speed is there. you have double digit, there is the number then # and dial button.)
7 ringtones are there, but I didn’t find a way to add more. Maybe it was pre-loaded on a separate chip.
The phone uses memory from simcard.(hence one no per contact)Hence limited message storage and older messages gets deleted for new ones.
Advanced settings is through # # and ok button. The nos have function like disable voice assist, show balance after each call, etc.
Senting messages is tough. It has no dictionary and so the old style. Also very few words on screen makes it difficult. Messaging i.but not pratically.
