US$ 217 US$ 159.00

The Motorola A1600 succeeds the world-famous A1200 (also known as MOTOMING) with the same unique design and operation. Everything has got better in the A1600, but does it have enough to survive in the smart phone sector? Let’s find out now.

The package comes with the phone, battery, charger and a handsfree. It also has an USB cable, a CD-ROM and User’s Guides. It only comes with one stylus so be sure not to lose it.



Like its predecessor the A1600 has a strong semi-transparent cover to protect the screen and house the speaker. As you may notice the A1600 has only the Answer and Reject buttons and a joystick. It does not have a keypad.



The A1600 uses a modified version of Linux as its operating system. The interface is a little bit dull even for a smart phone but it has a lot of useful applications hidden in the menus!



Since the A1600 relies heavily on the stylus for operation, the number of keys is kept to a minimum. In fact there is almost no need to use the buttons or joystick most of the time.



The built-in English-Chinese dictionary can recognise the words captured by the camera and give a Chinese translation quickly. The phone can also pronounce the word loud and clear. It is definitely one of the best dictionaries currently available on mobile phones. The phone also has MOTONAV software for use with the built-in GPS.



The 3MP camera can focus objects from as close as 10cm afar so it is easy to take pictures of name cards and books for use with the business card reader and dictionary. The phone also comes with software to create Panorama and GIF animation images with the camera.



The phone can recognise English or Chinese handwriting. The handwriting software is mature enough to give accurate recognition most of the time.



The A1600 comes with a Barcode reader that can recognise the kind of barcode shown in the image below, which is quite common in Japan. The A1600 does not recognise the more popular “product barcodes” that have columns and numbers .



The picture shows the SIM card, microSD and battery slots. Unfortunately the microSD card can only be removed by opening the cover.

The A1600 was designed for businessmen/women in mind. The construction is solid and the operation is fast. The camera integrates nicely with the fully-functional dictionary and barcode reader. The MOTONAV software gives useful directions for drivers. Since the phone is targeted at Chinese customers, Motorola may be forgiven for not including 3G capability in the A1600.

 

The video preview below gives you a peek at the interface, and notice how fast the phone operates.