MOTOSURF A3100

Motorola has been a longtime licensee of Microsoft's Windows Mobile (WM) but it hasn't been too prolific when it comes to making touchscreen phones based on that operating system. On Tuesday, the company announced the Motorola MOTOSURF A3100, a touchscreen handheld with no keypad, putting it in direct competition with products like the ASUS P552w and HTC Touch 3G. Let's have a quick look at what the MOTOSURF offers.

Upside

While some may balk at the liberal use of curves on the A3100, it's actually a refreshing departure from all the predominantly black or silver devices with straight edges. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but will be a good option for those bored with the more serious-looking phones.

Connectivity options on the A3100 are comprehensive and include HSDPA/HSUPA for high-speed cellular data transfer. There's also Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well as GPS for satellite navigation.

Like almost every other WM PDA-phone these days, the A3100 comes with a custom Home screen to replace the default one. The stock images show a finger-friendly interface with large icons and essential informa

tion clearly presented in one screen. That said, we do need to get a unit in our hands to determine if it's as useful as HTC or Sony Ericsson's implementations.

Downside

Even though they cover most bases, the specifications of the A3100 are boring. They are the same as any midrange WM device, so nothing really stands out. The screen has a pedestrian 320 x 240-pixel resolution--VGA or above would have been better appreciated.

Outlook

Motorola will make the MOTOSURF available in Asia in Q1 but no price has been announced. With strong competition from the likes of HTC, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, the A3100 will have to be priced very competitively if it is to stand a chance. That's unless it has one or two compelling features that make it stand out. As of now, it's hard to tell if this Moto has anything special aside from the design. So we are looking forward to getting our mitts on a unit for a proper assessment.

Physical design

Form factor:Pad

Dimensions:110 x 59.7 x 13.7 mm

Weight w/battery:119 g

Primary display resolution:320 x 240 pixels

Phone

Phone type:Quadband

Networks:GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900

Connectivity:3G, HSDPA, HSUPA, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPRS/GSM, USB

Messaging features:SMS, MMS, Email

Multimedia

Built-in digital camera?:Yes

Maximum camera resolution:3 megapixels

Additional multimedia features:Bluetooth stereo A2DP; secondary VGA camera; Assisted-GPS

PDA

Operating system:Windows Mobile 6

Main processor type:Qualcomm MSM 7201A

RAM:128 MB

ROM:256 MB

Rated battery life:6.8 hours

Display

Monochrome or color:Color

Touch screen:Yes