Motorola Accompli A008: A Walk Down Memory Lane

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I’ve been using smartphones since 2002. Six (6) years since my first smartphone, and I am amazed at the awesome leaps in the features and capabilities of the devices available then and of those available now. The Motorola Accompli A008 was my second “smartphone”, and I purchased it in April 2003. It was a top-of-the-line device then and was quite classy too.

I currently use the Windows Mobile powered Samsung i780. Here’s a concise comparison of the features of the two devices separated by almost 6 years.

motorola-accompli-008-angle

Motorola Accompli A008 versus Samsung i780

Samsung i780

Display
A008: Monochrome 320 x 240 pixels, 8 lines, monochrome touchscreen
i780: 320 x 320 pixels; TFT touchscreen, 65K colours.

Processor
A008: 33Mhz [Ahem!]
i780: 624 Mhz Fast Marvell PXA3xx processor

RAM
A008: 8MB [What?]
i780: 128MB

Storage
A008: 2MB internal; no external slot [How did i survive with this limitation then?]
i780: 256MB; External MicroSD slot

Browser
A008: Openwave 1.1 WAP
i780: Opera Mobile 8.65 HTML/WAP 2.0

Motorola Accompli 008 open

It is amazing; isn’t it? Just roughly six years, and the Accompli, top of the range in its time, is clearly outdated and outgunned today. Still, here’s a brief review of the Accompli from my archives.

The Accompli sales package came with a TrueSync CD. TrueSync (for PC synchronisation) worked fine for the most part, though synchronisation between the phone and my PC produced a few truncated entries.

The A008 also had the ability to send out documents as fax. It came with “flight mode” functionality, allowing the user to switch off the phone module in restricted areas and still use PDA functions alone.

Because it ran a proprietary OS (Operating System), there’s no support for 3rd party applications except java midlets. The WAP 1.1 browser, naturally, was very limited as to the variety of sites it could load.

Because GPRS was non-existent in Nigeria then, all email handling, WAP browsing and Java downloads that I did on the phone were via CSD (Circuit Switched Data) – and the Accompli performed admirably. The built-in email client allows creating and managing multiple POP accounts. large screen and scheduled downloads. An audio alert notified of new mails.

The Accompli also had excellent and fast handwriting recognition. One let-down, though, was the inadequate audio level of the earpiece. I found it more expedient to use the handsfree earphones for calls, as audio was much better on those. It also did not have text copy/paste functionality.

On the fun side, I had java games installed. The device also had a ringtone composer that I played with regularly, and an application that allows the user to create sketches and drawings.

I remember the Accompli with fond memories. Still, I’d rather be using a Samsung i780, Nokia E71 or Sony Ericsson P1i today. Let’s keep history history please.

Benchmark Tests: Motorola Accompli A008 versus Sony Ericsson P1i

Just to further emphasise the progress, here’s a comparison of the results for Java benchmark for MIDP 1.0 Devices for the Motorola A008 and the Sony Ericsson P1i (which I had before the i780):

Score
A008: 135
P1i: 5315

Text
A008: 51
P1i: 1643

2D Shapes
A008: 58
P1i: 1245

3D Shapes
A008: 24
P1i: 504

Fill Rate
A008: 4
P1i: 176

Animation
A008: 0
P1i: 1753

Credit: Java Benchmark results from JBenchmark

You just might be interested in my Motorola Accompli 008 Review.

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