Motorola has created a combo of all of these and packed it in one unit. And they came up with the Motorola MPx.

The Motorola MPx is a clamshell-type device capable of functioning in both landscape and portrait modes, thanks to its dual hinge system. It runs on Windows Mobile for Pocket PC 2003 Phone Edition SE. Its advanced features has created quite a storm in mobile communications market, which suggests, that it's capable of meeting both telephony and more traditional handheld requirements.

Its design

The MPx sits somewhere in between a handheld and a mobile phone, somewhat like a communicator, weighing 174 grams, and measuring 6.12 centimeters wide by 9.97 centimeters deep by 2.4 centimeters high. One probably won’t want to carry it out-of-town if you're travelling light, but it's less cumbersome than toting all fours that was mentioned in the introduction of this review.

As we all know, there have been handheld/mobile combos before, of course. But what makes the MPx unique in this respect, is that it opens both in the traditional clamshell phone style, with the screen in portrait mode, and in ‘notebook’ mode, with the screen in landscape orientation, making the screen flip automatically. In default mode, the MPx opens in portrait configuration. Hold in a button on the upper right edge of the case (when holding the device phone-style), and the dual hinge system on the opposite edge is released to allow it to open in landscape mode.

The MPx has a full QWERTY keyboard with a reasonable selection of symbols available as shift key options. The keyboard also offers shortcut buttons for accessing various Windows Mobile- and MPx-specific features,including the Start menu, messaging software, context-sensitive tap-and-hold menus and the built-in digital camera. The stylus used for the touch-sensitive screen feels incredibly light, and is oval rather than round in cross-section.

The camera’s lens sits on the front of the device, with an LED-based flash unit next to it. Also on the front is a small color LED screen that provides a range of functions when the clamshell is closed. The SIM slot into one of the long edges of the device (protected by a rubber cover that's likely to be quickly lost, if you’re careless), and can’t be removed unless you first take out the battery. On the other side there's a similarly covered SD/MMC card slot.

Its features

According to Motorola, the MPx runs on Texas Instruments’ OMAP 733 processor running at 200MHz. Tri-band GSM/GPRS communications are built into the chip, which is designed for low power consumption. As far as memory is concerned, there's 32MB of RAM and 64MB of flash ROM, the user having access to 12MB of the former and 14MB of the latter.

The integrated 1.3 MegaPixel camera can capture images with a maximum resolution of 1280 by 960 pixels; it also supports 640 by 480, 320 by 240, 176 by 144, 160 by 120 and 128 by 96. The camera features a 4X digital zoom, a self-timer and a burst mode, while the LED-based flash is useful for taking indoor shots. The camera has several options that can be preset such as the resolution, the mode, ability to zoom. Brightness can be set to automatic or the user can handle these manually. White balance can also be set depending on the conditions of the photograph. It can be normal, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Cloudy.

The small color screen on the front of the MPx has three buttons beneath it that access call-related features such as ringtone selection and missed call alerts, as well as the voicenotes features and profile selection. The buttons are a bit fiddly to use, and you need to squint at the screen to work out what you are doing. The main screen is a 2.8 inches, 16-bit color display with a resolution of 320 by 240 pixels.

Aside from having a tri-band GSM, and GPRS features, the MPx has Bluetooth, Infrared, and Wi-Fi built in. Gotta tell, having Windows Mobile on this device means that media files get their very own Media player. This player can handle most formats of media that one can throw at it, including wmv, mp3 and wma formats.

Another feature for the MPx is something that all in a pocket. It has Pocket MS Excel and Pocket MS Word, wherein a business user can have a mini-office to check e-mail, get the necessary attachments, make any changes and send them to clients. It also has IE, Pocket MSN and MSN Messenger, wherein you can surf, search, and chat. Thanks for the QWERTY keypad, replying to messages and chatting is not that much difficult.

What Technews say about the MPx

Extremely funky looking, the Motorola MPx is state of the art in numerous things. It not just draws attention, it literally creates attention. The object of owner’s pride and neighbors envy would be how one would like to label the Motorola MPx. The Moto people also have made a statement by using the Windows Operating System. All in all, Motorola deserves a big pat on the back.