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(More customer reviews)Motorola was floundering in the cell phone market until they came out with the RAZR. Worldwide, it made a fashion and technological statement, which catapulted the manufacturer from a dismal afterthought to a leader in the cell phone market. Then they released a candy bar equivalent (SLVR), and then improved on the RAZR's lines with the stylish clamshell PEBL. This review is for the Motorola PEBL.
After using the PEBL for a few days, the first thing that impressed me was the sound quality. Recently, I have played with Sony/Ericson, PalmOne, Nokia and Samsung phones, and must say the Motorola sounds best. First of all, the volume in the earpiece is loud enough for me to hear while walking on a busy New York city street, with cars, trucks and buses all creating a deafening noise. Second, the volume control button is well placed to allow you to easily adjust the level. Third, and best of all, the phone is intelligent enough to filter out much of the loud background noise, so that the person you're speaking with can hear you without struggling to make out what you're saying. I have found that Nokia is good at this too, while Palm, Samsung and Sony/Ericson phones don't do this well at all, with Sony ironically at the back of the pack. Also noteworthy is the speakerphone. While it's not as loud as an office phone's speaker, it is plenty loud, for example, to participate in a conference call while driving. And with the background noise reduction virtues of this phone, I was impressed. Also, it has voice recognition - based solely on the spelling of your contacts, the phone will recognize what you're saying and be able to voice-dial.
It may seem odd to make such a fuss over sound quality in an age of smart phones, but as a designer recently explained to me: form should follow function. So let the PEBL first and foremost be a good phone. Then you can add the bells and whistles later. Attention to this principle is what earned the PEBL five stars from me.
A note about carriers: GSM is worldwide, so you can use your phone overseas as well as in the USA. However, this limits you in the states to Tmobile and Cingular. Having used both, I feel that Tmobile sounds better, but Cingular has better coverage. It's a tradeoff. Both carriers offer a 7 or 14 day "trial" period during which you can test the network's performance. I recommend use that trial, and don't hesitate to bounce back and forth while keeping your number.
I have four major pros for the PEBL:
1. Motorola is pioneering the cell phone market by making all of their latest models "quad-band" GSM, which means the phone will work well in the USA (850/1900 Mhz) as well as the rest of the world (900/1800 Mhz). Most GSM phones are Tri-Band (850/1800/1900) so while they'll work great here, but performance abroad will be touch and go, with the phone performing poorly indoors. None of the others (Nokia, Ericson, Samsung etc.) offer quad-band GSM as a standard, and until Motorola's recent offerings, you could only find Quad-Band phones in massive PDA smart phones.
2. Battery life: All cell phones give estimates in standby time and talk time. But the realistic factor is how long will this thing last between charges for the average person? My answer: 3 to 4 days. With moderate use (about 10 calls a day, totaling between 30 and 45 minutes), I needed to charge the phone after the 3rd day.
3. USB port: the phone's connection to the world is via a standard mini-USB port. The charger fits this, or you can plug it into your computer with a standard USB to mini-USB cable. This is the same cable that connects most digital cameras or certain mp3 players (at least the ones that don't use overpriced proprietary cables). Chances are you already have one of these cables and if you plug it into your PC, two things will happen: the phone will start to charge from the USB, and the PC will detect a new device. Download the drivers from Motorola (if you didn't get the CD with your phone). In addition to phone drivers, there is a "Phone Tools" application that lets you to synchronize your contact list and calendar with Outlook, or you can simply backup the phone's contents. You can synchronize your photos, ringtones and SMS messages as well. Here's the best part: the phone is also a modem. Make sure you have a data plan before connecting to the internet, and you no longer need a hot spot. GPRS will give you a little more than 2x the speed of dialup, EDGE will take it up to about 4x.
4. The phone has an alarm built in. In fact it has several, and you can name them, and if you turn the phone off at night, the alarm will still work, and ask you if you want to turn the phone on when you silence it.
Other noteworthy items: the screen is good, the camera produces reasonable images and videos, and there is enough memory to snap over 100 shots at the phone's highest resolution. That is a nice touch.
And now, three Cons:
1. For the longest time, I have not cared much for the Motorola contact management interface. Nearly all phones now allow you to have multiple numbers / addresses per contact, but Motorola hasn't caught on yet. If you have a contact with multiple phone numbers, that contact will exist multiple times. This makes dialing slower with Motorola phones because you'll have to scroll through a longer contact list; searching for numbers is not nearly as intuitive as with Nokia or other phone brands.
2. The phone allows you to assign custom ring tones for certain members of the address book; however, for contacts with a custom ringtone, the phone doesn't differentiate between calls and text messages, so if a contact with a custom tone sends a text, the phone might play an entire minute-long song rather than a quick beep beep, which can be annoying in the middle of the night. Just avoid using custom contact/ring tone assignments and you'll avoid that problem.
3. The shiny dialing surface and screen will pick up grease from your face and require regular cleaning if you want to avoid your phone looking "icky".
In conclusion, I was happily surprised with the PEBL. It is a very sexy phone, and it sounds great. It is the perfect phone for the audiophile, or for a person who wants a device that just works without having to cope with all the secondary bells and whistles phones have these days. Historically, Motorola was known for producing good hardware - a virtue that is clearly stated with the PEBL. If you intend to use all the fancy features of modern cell phones (SMS, MMS, etc) - in other words if you plan to use the software features, expect them to be less intuitive than with other brands of phones. As much as Motorola is known for producing excellent hardware, their menus and navigation can be bewildering at times. I think they should get the folks who designed the hardware to redesign the software interface. Then, the Moto range would dominate. In the end, it's a good phone, it's solid, it's small and light enough to fit in comfortablty your pocket, and above all it works.
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Motorola PEBL U6 Unlocked Phone with Camera and Bluetooth--International Version with No Warranty (Graphite Black)Inspired by nature's smooth curves and organic lines, Motorola PEBL is the essence of mobile sophistication and stylish simplicity. Hold it in your palm and you'll understand its mysterious pull. Enjoy both form and function, with complete imaging, video capture and playback, and voice recognition features.Design at its most breathtakingly simplicity, Motorola PEBL reshapes the way you view mobile communication. No hard edges. No fussy lines. Just a sleek and smooth contour with an evolutionary single-touch open hinge.
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