The Motorola Accompli 008 is one of the most functional mobile phones I have ever laid hands on. It is a handset to be respected for its advanced features. GPRS. WAP. Touch-screen with stylus. Email Client. Infra-red. Data Cable connectivity. Calendar. Sketch pad for drawings. Note pad for text. Print documents via infra-red. Need I go on?
Table of Contents
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: Form Factor
The Accompli 008 is a clamshell type. Motorola made clamshells popular, but now it seems that Samsung has become the king of clams. The piece is a little bulkier than the average phone – but what do you expect if you want to be able to work on the move? No, this isn’t a fashion phone; it gets the job done! So there.
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: Display
The Accompli 008’s display is large. For me, that is good. It allows for easy reading of SMS, emails and WAP pages.it is a touchscreen that you interact with using a stylus.
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: Text Input
Did you say ‘keypad’? Sorry, but there is no keypad here. There are only 4 buttons on the A008. You input text using your fingers or a supplied stylus on the large touch screen. You can ‘type’ using an on-screen QWERTY keyboard or using handwriting recognition. The handwriting recognition is excellent. Easy and fast. Definitely outdoes the Accompli’s older competitor, the Ericsson R380.
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: Polyphonic Ringtones
Nope. When the Accompli was developed, poly tones on phones was a rarity. There are no polyphonic ringtones in this baby.
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: Battery Performance
The phone runs an average of 2 to 3 days on a full charge. Take note that I was almost constantly doing something with it – writing a note, retrieving and sending email, browsing WAP, playing a game, making and receiving calls.
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: Connections
The infra-red port on the A008 works fine. I was able to synchronize my contacts, calendar and notes with Outlook/Outlook Express on my laptop. Same goes for the serial data cable connection. I also downloaded and installed several java applications via an Internet connection on my PC without problems.
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: Signal Reception
The Accompli has an average performance here. This means that while it is not exceptional in finding and holding on to signals, it certainly is not poor. If you live in a network black hole, like I used to, you may experience dropped signals every now and then.
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: Call Quality
This is where I have minor gripes. The audio from the built-in earpiece on the clam is a little low. In fact it was so bad that I had to carry around the handsfree set that came with it. Audio quality on the handsfree is a zillion times clearer than on the phone itself. In all fairness to the Moto guys, they did put a notice in the manual to the effect that the Accompli was designed to be used with the handsfree set (but they should have put that on the packaging, or the advert!).
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: SMS
Texting on the Accompli is by typing on a virtual on-screen keyboard or by handwriting recognition using a stylus. It is fast and easy, but it is a 2-handed thing: you hold the phone with one hand and tap/write with the other. I wasn’t bothered with this, but then others may be.
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: Email Client
The built-in email client allows you to download mails from your POP/IMAP server, as well as reply to them. I used connection settings from MTECH and it worked flawlessly. I would be at home, at a party…wherever (except a church service!) and check my mails. And where necessary, I sent replies immediately.
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: WAP
The WAP browser worked fine. However, I noticed a problem, which other Motorola users have complained about too. There are certain WAP pages that do not load. Yet other handsets will load them. That figures, as the WAP browser on the phone is in version 1.1! In addition, I never could get the set to download one single java midlet via WAP. HelloMoto, what’s up?
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: Java
This is one feature that totally changes the concept of the mobile phone because it allows you to download applications to meet your requirements (much like you can install software on your PC).
I downloaded (via PC connection) a couple of games – Ninja, Draughts, and one mediocre car race. On the utility side, I downloaded a financial portfolio manager, an encrypted password-protected storage application that allowed you to carry important information on your phone (I believe it was called Safe), and one outstanding midlet that helped my wife and I monitor her periods. It worked fine, and helped keep to our Family Plan 🙂
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: Other features
The Accompli allows you to draw picture sketches, maps and all that. You can also back up all your data to a PC and retrieve whenever. You can print out your drawings and notes directly from your A008 without connecting through a PC. Other useful features include: calculator, currency converter, and a calendar.
Motorola Accompli 008 Review: Conclusion
Considering the technological content of this phone, some may want to know: Did this phone ever hang or freeze up on me? No, not even once. In comparison, the elderly R380 froze up on me till I was black and blue.
This phone is no child’s play. I doff my hat for Motorola on this one. It certainly qualifies as a MobilityArena Pick! and I remember it with fond memories. Business guys, if you like clam shells and need all the whistles and bells this phone has to offer, you won’t go wrong with the Accompli 008.