Product Reviews

Describing the Motorola A920 as a mobile phone is something of an understatement. This device, which runs the Symbian operating system, includes a camera for still and moving images, can be used as an MP3 player and even has Advanced Global Positioning System (AGPS) functions for navigation.

Although Motorola's A835 also supports AGPS - the network-assisted, more efficient version of GPS with enhanced features - the A920 is still unique among the current range of 3G phones. It is the only model that is a true smartphone in that it runs a recognised operating system and provides advanced PDA features. Compared to the other phones available on the 3 network, the A920's 8MB internal memory is pretty stingy, but the bundled 32MB SD card makes up for it.

If you think of the A920 as a phone, the most obvious omission is that of a keypad. Instead, it has a touch-sensitive screen, so dialling a number is achieved through an onscreen virtual keypad, while to type you use an onscreen QWERTY keyboard and a stylus. There's also the option of QuickPrint handwriting recognition, which is a boon for text messaging and indispensable for PDA applications. Unlike the 3G phones that have a physical

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QWERTY keypad, the A920 can accommodate a large screen, which is ideal for viewing video clips. Inevitably, the unit itself is much larger than most mobile phones.

Our use of this product was dogged by problems, and we got through three different handsets. All worked as PDAs and we were able to exchange data with a PC using the supplied cradle and USB lead, although Symbian application support is limited to a small number that have been authorised by 3. Two of the phones failed to provide any communications facilities beyond emergency calls. This is what you'd expect if there was a problem with the SIM card or with billing, but the same SIM card worked in the third phone, allowing us to make calls and download video clips from the network.

However, none of the handsets allowed us to use the AGPS feature to its full potential. The phone could only locate us to within 1km, a level of accuracy achieved from a knowledge of which base station the phone is connected to. We were assured that all these phones were fully operational before they were dispatched, but neither Motorola nor 3 were able to get us up and running. Our best guess of the cause of these problems is poor network coverage in the part of West Yorkshire where we tested - the 3 network transmits at a higher frequency, which limits the range of each base station.

A 28-day satisfaction guarantee means customers can return the phone if they experience similar problems. Even so, based on our experiences and those described on web forums, it would seem to be premature to buy an A920.

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