Motorola A1000 mobile phone
- Reviewer
- Stuart Miles
- Review Date
- 17 November 2004
- Manufacturer
- Motorola
- Price as reviewed
- £price dependent on contract
- Latest price
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Reader review
User: David, New Zealand
Date Posted: 28 June 2006
Review: This phone is rubbish, I have thrown it out it was that bad.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Ben, London
Date Posted: 28 March 2006
Review: Hi, I just got a new Motorola A1000. Does anyone know whether I should get it unlocked, and where I can get it re-flashed. Thanks!
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Johnny, Canada, Ontario
Date Posted: 9 March 2006
Review: Ok.... when I first purchased it... it worked perfectly fine.... less then a year later if started to have no reception plus the connection from PC to phone didn't work! I mailed it back to the Hong Kong manufacture to see what had gone wrong and the answer they told me was "Due to the fact that this is a 3G phone, the network that the phone is set to search for is 3G network first then the local one. If this process continues for a period of time, the phone will have weaker and weaker signal" Now this explanation might seem ridiculous, but it might be true... my girlfriend's cousin bought the same phone 3 months before I did and his phone died 3 months before mine.... weird eh? I hope this helps others.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Anil K Solanki, Leicester, UK
Date Posted: 5 December 2005
Review: I have recently left 3UK, and decided to flash my A1000 with the generic Motorola firmware (software for the phone) available online after reading that the 3UK firmware was the cause of the phone constantly dropping calls. Which it did with alarming regularity, but now, WOW, it is an amazing phone. It connects to my new network to make calls within 2 seconds, so if I call someone I don't have to wait 10 seconds to connect as I did before I flashed my phone. Before the flash I would have given my A1000 4/10, after the flash 10/10.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Carl Smithson, Portsmouth
Date Posted: 4 December 2005
Review: I think the a1000 is rubbish, at first I was really happy about the PDA but I have nothing but problems since. It shuts down and reboots itself all the time, it lost all my data and numbers three times and picture downloads and now it won’t even turn on properly, it just flashes on to a blank screen with 3g then to a completely blank screen then starts again with the 3g screen and that’s it. No useable screen.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: QueenNYdiva, New York, USA
Date Posted: 23 November 2005
Review: I purchased this phone unlocked in December 2004. The PDA features all work very well. I have had no problem loading programs and finding them. The web browsing is amazing when it works. I added an additional memory for storage and everything works well. The major problem is the PHONE features. I get horrible reception. Most of the time I have no signal at all. The phone seems to be permanently on emergency service. I am currently using a Nokia as my standby phone to make calls. I sent the A1000 to Motorola and they sent it back to me with a note that although the phone is still under warranty, they are not equipped to repair the phone because it is not supported in the US. As a PDA the A1000 is great, as a PHONE its rubbish. I have been told that Motorola internal antennas are notoriously weak. Motorola needs to redesign their internal antennas or get out of the mobile phone business.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: FatBoy Fudge, Poole, England
Date Posted: 13 November 2005
Review: Fantastic, excellent, wicked phone! After a little play about it’s great. I have managed to put a whole DVD film on to the phone after I converted it to a MP4 and it plays crystal clear. The process takes a while but the end result is great to show your mates! Very cool indeed. I also found a way of dragging anything from my PC be it videos or Mp3's to the phone, which again is very impressive, by the way I had to have a 1gb transflash card to store the film as the file size was at the end of converting it 303,987kb so quite big but still good results, all in all a very good and show odf phone! If you know what you’re doing.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: James Gibbs, UK
Date Posted: 2 November 2005
Review: Well I got my new phone today!! I turned it on expecting a lot of gizmo gadgetry and confusing instructions but it helps you every bit of the way from the beginning! I've found Bluetooth connectivity very easy to use unlike a lot of phones I've tried lately. I would say this phone should be aimed at someone who knows PC's...That's what it basically is, a P.C!! Connect 2 PC's and share the world of information between them!!
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Rute Loureiro, Worcester, UK
Date Posted: 2 November 2005
Review: I purchased an A1000 a couple of weeks ago and I find the phone a delight. I find everything easy to find and that it has a brilliant MP3 player, although the camera could be a bit better.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Oliver, London
Date Posted: 31 October 2005
Review: This phone is absolutely rubbish. Once you past the loading sequence, flashing lights and embarrassingly loud loading screens it’s hopeless as a mobile phone, you can’t text on the move, only sitting down with the dexterity of a ninja poking at the impossibly small keyboard with the supplied pen. The calendar is rubbish for this sort of device with inadequate views, the software support is small and the phone has huge design faults. It can only vibrate or ring, not both, the keylock switch gets stuck and subsequently turns off the phone on unlocking, the pen end comes off leaving the pen stuck in the phone, the battery life is useless, the ability to search numbers and actually use as a phone is lost for those on the move - fortunate really as you’d need a wheelbarrow to carry it anyway. Give it up, give me a Nokia – it’s for geeks who don’t like to text (or make calls).
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Teflon1961, Mansfield
Date Posted: 26 October 2005
Review: I've had my A1000 since last Christmas (04) and apart from one factory reset which I had to carry out myself; I've had few problems with it. The unforgiving can find many a fault with this but let's face the facts that it can't be all things to all men. I think it copes fairly well with everything it tries to do, regarding the phone I find the picture quality a little grainy and the video quality poor. Regarding the network (3) I find there service coverage dodgy and their back up service nearly unusable. After that I have no faults with this. The contact list format is excellent and ease of use is brilliant, I don’t know if I've had more practice than most but I find it hard, even after 9 months, to imagine being without this. My only advice to all is to make regular back ups (once a week) to your PC and when it starts to gradually slow down, expect a crash. It's fairly easy to recover everything and be back up rocking and rolling. Don't forget folks, after all, it's NOT a laptop! Only expect what it can offer, which actually is a hell of a lot!
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Dr Narasimha Rao, India
Date Posted: 15 September 2005
Review: The hearing volume in my A1000 Mobile is too low I just can’t work out why this is, or how to change it!
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Rajesh, Maidenhead
Date Posted: 13 September 2005
Review: I recently bought this phone and as Jompy of Derby wrote " Now here’s the real problem ...My A1000 locked up, the screen completely froze and I couldn’t turn it off to reboot so the only option for me was to remove the battery" The above issue happened to me as well (luckily I didn’t loose my contacts) whilst making a call and I couldn’t cancel the call, the keys got frozen and I had to remove the battery to switch the call off. The operating system is quite complex initially, but when you have understood how to move around the screen, then you will never complain about the functionality. Otherwise, it is a cute phone with lots of features.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Stuart, UK
Date Posted: 28 August 2005
Review: I have had the phone for a week now and I love it. Even though not being able to save my downloads on my computer is irritating, the phone is a great buy. I did not realise it had full html browsing as 3 never mentioned it. I have never had such as good a phone since the first Nokia Communicator. 5/10 is too harsh I reckon 8/10.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Jimmy Gee, Portsmouth
Date Posted: 26 August 2005
Review: I have used a1000 for about 7 months now, but I’m on my 6th phone. Says it all really!
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Jompy, Derby, UK
Date Posted: 25 August 2005
Review: I have liked this phone from the start, but I’m not a tech-head so it’s not always easy to use all the options. Yes full internet access would be nice but unlike most others, isn’t 3's internet free unless you want to download music & programs? Now here’s the real problem ...My A1000 locked up, the screen completely froze and I couldn’t turn it off to reboot so the only option for me was to remove the battery. Finally after reinserting it a lot of times the phone finally turned itself on and reformatted itself but loosing ALL my contacts and my email account details in the process!! I phoned 3's customer services which I believe is in India and is free to call from the handset but national rate from landlines, luckily my 3 advisor was very clearly spoken and very helpful. I was offered a new handset which is a different model to mine (E1000) I have kept my A1000 for now but have been advised that if I am not satisfied, 3 will send me an E1000 instead. Before I got the A1000 working I had a look on a few forums and found out that if the internal memory on the A1000 fills up the phone will shut down and fail to reboot! It is also said that the only people that can fix this problem are Motorola and 3! If this post helps just 1 person then my job is done :0)
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Luke, London
Date Posted: 19 August 2005
Review: I found the operating system easy to use once I familiarised myself with it. Finding saved stuff represents no problem whatsoever and this is overall an excellent phone/PDA.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Adrian, Glasgow
Date Posted: 26 July 2005
Review: I’m surprised no one has mentioned the GPS, this phone has an inbuilt GPS chip so if you add some software you’ve got a handheld GPS / PDA / Phone / high bandwidth data modem for £50+contract which fits in your pocket. Get it unlocked, ditch ‘3’ and you have decent internet access too.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Pinco, Essex, England
Date Posted: 4 July 2005
Review: Excellent phone! This is the best phone you could ever get. It has the best combinations between a PDA and mobile. Also the camera takes very good pictures - 8 out of 10.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Antony, Tavistock, England
Date Posted: 2 June 2005
Review: I've had this phone for a month now and find it brilliant. The camera is good enough to be my main one, calls are clearer than ever before and I actually use a diary (calendar) which I have needed to do for a long, long time. The only problems are with the network (gave me a £25 discount for late delivery, added £25 instead). 10/10. I only hope they release the new phone quickly so that when I get a new upgrade I only pay £40 again!
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Roland, Sydney, Australia
Date Posted: 13 May 2005
Review: I’ve had the A1000 for the past 3months and it just does not compare to any other phone that I have had so far. Learning to use the interface efficiently only takes a few days and integrating it into your mobile working lifestyle is a breeze, it’s a perfect business companion. Although it is not a 'TRUE PDA' it is definitely unique and performs perfectly in its own individual way.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Ben, Australia
Date Posted: 8 May 2005
Review: You made a complaint about the stylus taps being registered off-target and that there was no way to fix it! This is not true, there is a screen calibration option that fixes this. For anyone who has had the phone for a week or so, the menus become very easy to navigate. This phone is the best I have ever had, the battery life (for me is fantastic). I charged it to full, 2 days ago and have made around 15 minutes worth of calls on it today alone, as well as mucking around with the camera etc. 2 days later, the battery still has full bars. After having owned an A920, this phone is a real step up, it seems Motorola have addressed most of the complaints about the a92x series, and produced a phone that is smaller, quicker, has longer battery life, a higher resolution screen... the list goes on. I'd have to give this phone a 9/10.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Jason, Midlands
Date Posted: 29 April 2005
Review: I have had an A1000 for 5 months and have no complaints, I had a P800 before and this phone is much better. I couldn't see the point of a P900/910 as it wasn't better than the p800 for the majority of uses. It would be great if 3 opened up the browser like they do in other countries, but apart from that it is a fantastic phone for the money.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Kevin, London
Date Posted: 16 March 2005
Review: I have had the A1000 for a few weeks now and have had no major problems, the only trouble is that my pc will not communicate with it! Apart from that this is an excellent phone, well recommended.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Kevin, Taunton UK
Date Posted: 22 December 2004
Review: This is the best phone ever, 10/10. You won't be sorry, I just can't wait for the A2000
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Peter, Sweden
Date Posted: 16 December 2004
Review: I have used the previous Motorola (925), the processor in this is much faster than the SE p900 p800 (really slow in menu responses), the A1000 has an efficient processor as well, going wireless in 3G demands size of screen, a good interface (touch screen) and a strong processor the A1000 is the only device that really addresses 3G, I would say it gets 8 out of 10, 1 minus for battery capacity and 1 for slow loading of the text input application.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Baz, Manchester UK
Date Posted: 15 December 2004
Review: I think this phone is great, the 3 network seams okay to me for the price I pay and the minutes I get its the best deal around. The screen size is fantastic, the video is good and clear and anyone who complains about this phone needs to get out and get a life, itís the dogís danglies.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Nemesis, London UK
Date Posted: 14 December 2004
Review: I've had the phone for nearly two weeks now and have found it to be one of the best phones I've used. Iím amazed that they haven't brought out a case, considering the size of the screen and the possibility of scratching it. Iíve had problems connecting via Datasuite to my laptop, also when how do you know when itís disconnected from the web? This should be clearer on the display, but on the whole...an excellent phone!
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Ben Mesollko, Stratford
Date Posted: 10 December 2004
Review: Iíve been using the phone for about a month now. All was well apart from the calibration problem, and I have noticed that the screen is getting very scratched. It seems that the pen maybe scratching the touch-screen. I Phoned 3 but they flatly refused that this was a problem. I have looked at a few Google groups and it would seem that other people are having a similar problem. I doubt Motorola or 3 are ever going to admit to this FAULT but I would not recommend the phone for this problem alone. I only wish I had gone out and bought a screen protector when I first got the phone - at least it wouldnít have got scratched.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Anonymous, n/a
Date Posted: 10 December 2004
Review: With regard to the other reviews - I would really consider this phone to be a Findus crispy pancake of the phone world. Itís a nice idea but the reality is very, very disappointing.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Anonymous, n/a
Date Posted: 10 December 2004
Review: I would like to leave a review but I canít because Iím using an A100, which has limited internet capability - POOR show. Buy a Nokia
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Johnathan, North Linconshire UK
Date Posted: 5 December 2004
Review: Iím getting this phone at Christmas, my colleague has one and it is fantastic. Yeah 3ís network is a pain at times but still what do you expect. The walled garden is a let down but most of the content on 3 is good enough anyway. The phone itself is fantastic, 9/10
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Derek Albright, Swansea Wales
Date Posted: 5 December 2004
Review: I love this phone.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Sarah Briyteman, Gyle
Date Posted: 3 December 2004
Review: I have read all of the above reviews and I have to say, I agree, this phone sucks. The technology is not mature enough. Why did Motorola release this phone, leave Sony to it - they know what they are doing!!! This phone is as LIMP as a Lettuce. Buy a C500 or a P910 instead, thatís my advice.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Paul, Switzerland
Date Posted: 3 December 2004
Review: I like the phone but in the specs I read that you can stay on the call for only 2 hours maximum.... nowadays it is a bit ridiculous.... isn't it?
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Camelia Frumperton, Reading UK
Date Posted: 3 December 2004
Review: I would rate this phone as the pot noodle or cuppa soup of the phone and pda world.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Scott Jote, Liverpool UK
Date Posted: 3 December 2004
Review: Itís a mediocre phone with a limited market.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Peter Jakobd, Swansea Wales
Date Posted: 26 November 2004
Review: I love this phone. It offers the functionality that should be in all phones, BUT has one major drawback. You canít get the pen out when you are syncing in the cradle. Who thought of that design then? Itís looks are like Sheryl Crow, warm and pleasing to the eye with a slight tinge of sexiness. I love this phone so much I got my boyfriend to buy one and heís a big built brickie. He will be the wow of the construction site! I thoroughly recommend this phone. Itís the perfect gay accessory.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Geremy Williamson, Dunfermline
Date Posted: 26 November 2004
Review: I too found the calibration very bad. I am on my fifth attempt to calibrate it and itís still off. The phone looks cool and acts cool, so cool itís SUB ZERO. Itís a good mp3 player but has limited internet capability and canít use most, symbian software. WHY I ask. I prefer my old P800 to be honest. Like RONSEAL it does what is says on the tin - its a phone. Letís not get all wrapped up about what it can or canít do. A phone should primarily be a GOOD phone and this certainly is NOT. Itís screen is smaller than the P800 ñ itís battery power is POOR and itís usability, being restricted to 3's network is AWFUL. I wouldnít recommend this phone at all. At least I have 6 months contract before I can DUMP it in the river somewhere. The only thing I like about this phone is the OFF BUTTON!
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Moon Man, Belfast
Date Posted: 26 November 2004
Review: The A100 is a complete waste of time and technology. MOTOROLA - STICK TO WHAT YOU ARE GOOD AT...
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Derek William, Herts UK
Date Posted: 25 November 2004
Review: Iíve just got the A1000. Itís great, my girlfriend was immediately jealous. I sparked it up and was met by a nice glowing 3 logo, NICE, or so I thought. The screen stayed on for about 4 minutes then I was hit with the words - Firmware 1.02v - please load incorrect version. I spoke to the supplier who suggested that I get a replacement, so I did and again sparked up the phone and this time it worked a treat. I then went to send my first SMS and would you guess it another problem. Apparently if you end an SMS to the second contact in your list it can sometimes error out. Iíve got around that problem by putting in a temporary contact and it seems to work fine. Has anyone seen the GPS features, itís great, but itís only accurate to 600meters, and it costs you 25p per minute. Itís a gimmick ñ buy a Navman.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Matthew, Bingley West Yorkshire
Date Posted: 25 November 2004
Review: Firstly I'd like to say I agree with Cam - 5 out of 10 is a bit harsh, in fact its more than harsh! As a standalone phone I found that the call quality was well above average in terms of clarity and loudness of the speaker. When dialling a number there is no need to use the stylus, you can certainly get away with using your fingers (although you should be careful with your fingernails). Iíd also like to make a correction to the verdict, it quotes "but the screenís preciseness was slightly off-sync with the stylus resulting in the frustration of wrong buttons pressed, what made this worst, was unlike PDAís we couldnít find a setting to correct it." This statement is incorrect, go to launcher >Control Panel >Screen, then click on the Calibrate button. For further info go to section 3.2 of three's A1000 user manual or page 64 of Motorola's A1000 manual. As for the preciseness of the screen I found that it was more than adequate and was not only, very precise but responsive e.g. when signing your signature (thus moving the stylus much quicker over the screen than normal) the screen captures every line with out any breaks.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: From:</b> Russell, Edinburgh
Date Posted: 25 November 2004
Review: I agree with Cydex, there are lots of bad points for the phone. Its 3G is great when it works. Iíve found that mine consistently looses connection, and I was informed by the manufacturer that this was a persistent problem in the early models. The handwriting recognition is great, has anyone noticed the Easter egg if you write the work babooN (note the upper case N in the word). I generally like the phone but have some major misgivings about its ability to operate as a phone. Itís more of a gadget. Stick with the Sony Ericsson P900+ thatís my recommendation.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Mehmood, Reading UK
Date Posted: 25 November 2004
Review: I think A1000 is a brilliant phone. I wanted to get a PDA phone and I think I couldnít have made a better choice. 5/10 is a bit unfair for this cool device and perhaps the reviewer should have spent a bit more time looking at the phone. Just like the reviewer I found that the screen's preciseness was slightly off-sync with the stylus. However, this problem can be easily rectified by calibrating the screen using the following function. Control panel > Screen (under Handset tab) > Calibrate.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Nicolas, Leeds UK
Date Posted: 24 November 2004
Review: I agree with the three previous comments. It is a great phone. Itís a shame though that 3's limitations prevent us from using the most exciting features of the handset. Surely by unlocking the handset and using it with a Vodafone or Orange sim card, one can then benefit with all the phone has to offer, and in particular, open wap and web browsing. Am I wrong?
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Vanessa, Southampton
Date Posted: 24 November 2004
Review: I brought this phone the day after it came out and I think itís brilliant. I read your review about the wrong buttons being pressed but that only happens to me if Iím not looking what Iím doing or Iím in a rush so I donít see that as a thumbs down!!! The only thing I see that could be improved is the size of the phone but all in all I think itís great
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Cam, Brighton
Date Posted: 23 November 2004
Review: 5/10? is a bit harsh. I recently switched from my P800 to an A1000 and it's defiantly an upgrade. This phone is on par with the P900 maybe even the P910i. Sure it has some shortcomings like the position of the memory card being behind the battery. It also has some design decisions that I'm not sure are better then the SE phones. The handwriting recognition has it's advantages over the SE system for example it's much easier to navigate a page because the phone doesn't think you are trying to input text, the Motorola way takes an extra screen tap and a little delay to start text entry, but for longer length input it's actually faster. Where the A1000 has the P900 beaten is in the camera, GPS and 3g connectivity. Sure 3 UK may have a walled garden, but in Australia the A1000 will happily connect to the Internet at 3G speeds. So this is not a fault with the phone just the network. The phone is also much cheaper then the P910i or P900 so if you want a UIQ phone then this is the best deal by far. So the P800 gets 7/10 the P900 gets 9/10 and the P910i gets 8/10. With the same basic OS as such high scoring phones how does the A1000 score so low? "Poor design, bad interface, restrictive" is this the same 'bad interface' as the P series? What is poor about the design? It's smaller then previous UIQ Motorolaís, in my opinion it looks good, the battery life is reasonable, you even get neat features like a sliding screen lock, which is a much better solution than the P910i system. The restrictions are purely network based and should not be blamed on Motorola who have produced a great phone. As for loosing downloaded videos, they're in c:documentsmedia filesvideounfiled... Just load up the video app and point to 'Unfiled' on the internal memory.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Cydex, Edinburgh
Date Posted: 23 November 2004
Review: The A1000 is a very cool device, OK, I broke it in the first day :o( by installing the wrong software and then the thing wouldn't reboot (Not a good thing to do). Iíve now got my second one and things are looking good ... I fitted it with 128Mb of storage and got some tracker software to completely customize its interface. It takes good shots for a 1.2 mp camera and video play back is also great, thanks to the DVD2mobile software. The BEST part about this phone is that it has a FREE GPS receiver in it, so you can use it as a full gps map unit, which is VERY cool. Ok there are some down points, 1. The wrong software crashes it and it has no reset button for that (donít install the wrong software). 2. When itís in the cradle for syncing you cant get the stylus out. 3. The Internet is locked down to 3G network pages only in the UK. :( Besides all that itís a great phone and it wipes the floor over the se p900s with a bit of extra software. Note to Motorola -- stop building phones that do not have a reset button on it, we users do dabble :)
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Anonymous, USA
Date Posted: 22 November 2004
Review: Is this a review of the phone, or of 3's network? Most of your complaints seem to be about restrictions imposed by 3. I agree with you, but that's no reason to ding an excellent phone like this.
Rating:
1 person has rated this review helpful
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