Motorola A630: Cute, But DumbMotorola A630: Cute, But Dumb

I really wanted the Motorola A630 to be a real smart phone. It's cute, but not smart, which may be enough for some users.

With a few exceptions (mainly its MPx line of smart phones), Motorola has been ignoring rabid gadget enthusiasts and, instead, has been packing its phones with cute features that might be popular with normal people. I thought that, with a spec sheet that includes Bluetooth, a speakerphone, VGA camera and a full QWERTY thumbpad, the A630 would be something like a full-bore smartphone. I thought wrong.

The most notably missing features are personal information management capabilities standard in most advanced smart mobile devices.

The A630 is not without merit. Reception on the T-Mobile network was strong and the volume of the earpiece and microphone were acceptable. It also includes a WAP browser, MP3 support, ringtones, photo phonebook, voice dialing, a VGA camera, Java gaming as well as MMS and SMS messaging. It also has three IM clients -- Yahoo!, AOL, and ICQ (but not MSN).

The thumbpad means that you no longer have to multi-tap text on a numeric keypad. The keys are relatively easy to use. My larger-than-average hands had no problems entering text.

The styling of the A630 is cool, too. The size and rounded corners of the device make it look a bit like a an appealing bar of soap. The slate blue and silver casing combined with the blue and black reversed-out LED display, give it a hip look and feel.

Open up the clamshell and things get less fancy and more functional. The screen is a 65K color 176 x 220 pixel display similar to those found on most contemporary Motorola phones -- big enough for phone tasks, but cramped when using the e-mail client.

The A630 also includes support for Bluetooth. It's simple to use. Turn it on and select the device you want to connect with, or tell it to look for nearby Bluetooth devices. Once the connection is made, Bluetooth stays active as long as the other device is nearby. For instance, it kept a strong connection to the Motorola Bluetooth headset from across the room, although once while I was using it in downtown Seattle, the connection was repeatedly disrupted for no apparent reason.

The built-in VGA camera is pretty standard stuff. It takes reasonably clear pictures, and if you really want to futz with the color and light settings, you can do so in a deeply buried menu. The camera operates with the clamshell closed so you can take a quick snapshot. But unless you open the clamshell, it's hard to know what will wind up in the picture.

Once you've taken a picture you can zap it to another device via Bluetooth or send it as an attachment to an MMS or e-mail message.

The A630 comes with an e-mail client for both POP and IMAP, but it's clunky. The e-mail inbox setup is confusing and has to be done on T-Mobile's Web site. Then, after downloading e-mail, the display only shows the e-mail address of the sender, not the full name, subject, and date/time as with most e-mail clients. Deleting or marking a message as read requires you to open up the message, which gets old fast.

Like most Motorola phones, the A630 also gives you the capability to sync contacts and calendar appointments with your desktop Outlook client. This is done with Motorola's Mobile PhoneTools software via a USB cable. However, managing this information on the phone is awkward, particularly compared with the PDAs and smartphones that specialize in this sort of functionality. The phone's phonebook is nowhere near as full-featured and the appointments calendar barely provides rudimentary access to your information. Also, the Mobile PhoneTools pack costs an additional $50.

If you want a cool, usable and affordable semi-smart phone, you might like the A630. But if you're a power user looking for an all-in-one device that can match the fully-loaded smart phones, keep looking.

Motorola A630
 $199.99 with contract from T-Mobile

Sam Haskin is technology director at Fluent Communications, the Seattle office of McCann Relationship Marketing Partners Worldwide. He also is a dedicated gadget geek who drives his IT department crazy with requests to open up the network infrastructure so he can play with his new toys.