Motorola MPx200 Review

Overall Rating

Great looking phone
Colourful, bright, clear, large screen
Great built-in speakers for MP3s
Purchase a camera to get superb photos or mini-movies
Easy-to-use and has many practical features
You can expand its memory to extraordinary levels, allowing you to store loads of stuff on it

A little slow to start
Has Microsoft Windows installed on it
You need to plug a camera in; it doesn't have a built-in camera like some phones. Blessing in disguise? Maybe...

I got my Motorola MPx200 free as I'm on an Orange contract, and I also got a free plug-in camera worth £60. So I guess I have no right to complain about anything. Not that I've found much to complain about.

It's nice to look at. Real nice. Black with the gloss of a grand piano, it has chrome effect highlights and a gorgeous, full-colour screen. The buttons are fairly easy to get at (with the exception of the power button, though this may be a good thing) and glow blue. The screen is worth its own paragraph, really, if I was a good writer. It's 65,000-odd colours, bright, large and very clear. You couldn't ask for better with current technology levels.

The phone is capable of taking photos and even recording small movies. However, it doesn't incorporate the necessary equipment. The necessary equipment being a camera. This is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that the camera you can slot into the side is very high quality so far as mobile phones go (although it obviously doesn't match a true digital camera), and this also allows for some surprisingly decent movies to be recorded. However, the curse comes in the form of a big camera sticking out of the side. Because the part you plug in is just as thin as an SD card, you can hardly leave the camera plugged in while you carry it around -- you could snap it fairly easily. And it wouldn't be too comfortable in your pocket. So you have to keep removing the SD card, plugging the camera in, taking some pictures, then putting the camera back in its case and putting the SD card back in. It's a hassle that could've been solved with a built-in camera.

The afore mentioned SD card is where the phone gains a lot of credit. I've got a 512MB card in mine which is housing many MP3s and images, and is barely a quarter full. Thanks to its USB connection to a PC, you can upload or download these files easily.

The speaker on the phone, the MP3 speaker that is, is surprisingly good for something that small. Don't expect bass boost or amplifiers or anything, it's a tinny speaker. But it's loud and clear. There's a headphones port on the side if you want better, or private, sound.

The afore mentioned connection to your PC, by the way, allows you to synchronise your PC with your phone, and vice versa. If you have MS Outlook installed on your computer, it will download any e-mails from your inbox into your phone, and down/upload any appointments too. The phone incorporates a portable version of Microsoft Outlook, which is responsible for storing your SMS messages AND e-mails.

The phone also incorporates MSN Messenger and Internet Explorer, which makes it very versitile indeed. Though, these can rack up your expenses very fast. I was surprised at how similar these two programs are to the PC versions.
It should be noted that the MPx200 only has a stripped-down version of the standard portable Windows. Don't expect to find Microsoft Word or Excel installed on here.

There are some games though. I'm not sure what other networks provide you with, but mine came with several puzzles, a tennis game, and 'Lemonade Tycoon', which can provide some degree of fun. They are all full colour and with sound effects.

Some drawbacks: Windows has a reputation for a reason. This phone has frozen on me twice; one time I had to switch it off and on again, another I had to pull the battery out. It is also fairly slow to boot up initially. If you've been in an accident and you need to switch your phone on before you can call anyone for help, you might want to start looking for a phone box while you're waiting -- you may find one sooner. It also lacks Bluetooth, which was disappointing but I can live without it.
All in all though, it's a good phone with a lot to offer if you can overlook its minor flaws. I vote 10 on 'Value for Money' because I got it free :D, but otherwise I would say it was an 8 or a 9.