Review: Sprint / Nextel Motorola Titanium
After several months of testing, I have finally reached a verdict on the Motorola Titanium. This Android-powered phone is the first push to talk capable phone. Being my first Android phone, I was going app store crazy and seeing just what Android can do. Using this phone since August, I have found out that this phone is geared towards businesses where push to talk and email are essential. As with any smartphone, there are pros and cons…let’s take a deeper look at the Motorola Titanium.
What’s in the Box: You’ll find the phone, a 2GB Micro SD card, a USB A/C Adapter charger, Micro USB cable, wired hands free set (micro USB connection), some extra foam ear pieces, SIM card, and a manual. They even included a bag for recycling your old phone! Good job, Sprint for being green!
Hardware: The Titanium has virtually the same dimensions as an iPhone 3G with the exception of a smaller 3.1 inch HVGA touch screen due to the hardware keyboard. In comparison to the iPhone 3G, the Titanium is also a bit heavier. Exact dimensions are 4.71×2.44×0.53 inches and it weighs 5.2 ounces.
The Titanium has its buttons comfortably laid out. The QWERTY keyboard clicks nicely and is responsive. I do like the way the keyboard is laid out so that numbers and symbols can be quickly accessed. This phone also has flash and takes decent 5MP photos. One thing that does set this phone apart is military-certified durability. I did not think it wise to try abusing the review unit despite the military certification.
The unit sports a slow 504 Mhz processor which limits its gaming capabilities to the point where Angry Birds will not run smoothly and is virtually unplayable as there is a major delay between the game registering your tap, pull, and release. Sadly this unit also can only do 2G data.
OS: The Motorola Titanium uses the older Android 2.1 OS which is a significant disappointment as features such as app storage on removable storage, flash support, and voice dialing over Bluetooth. Being my first android phone, I found some of the placements of soft buttons for email to be very poorly placed. I ended up many a time accidently deleting an email and then trying to tap undo accidentally opening another email. This caused me much grief and it seems to be a weakness of android and not this particular device.
Call Clarity: Superb! People couldn’t tell I was on a cell phone and the speaker phone is quite loud and clear. A very notable feature that it has is the ability to mute the microphone during a conversation and make it walkie talkie style where you have to push to talk. I found this great for Toastmaster teleconferences where it guarantees silence until you wish to talk. On a side note, I left Sprint as a disgruntled customer back in 2002 when all I got were dropped calls to no end. Throughout my testing of this phone on a day to day basis in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex going around Plano, Richardson, Dallas, Mesquite, and a few other areas, I have found that Sprint provides excellent service now for this region.
Battery Life: This area needs improvement. Initially I thought I had a bad unit and Sprint sent me a second phone to test. The Motorola Titanium is rated for 6.8 hours of talk time and 9.8 days of standby time. In my own tests calling one Titanium to another, I was able to get 6.39 hours of talk time. As to standby, this unit must be charged daily. In my testing, I found out that because of my attached GMail account it was constantly using data and thus shortened the battery life to as if I was talking on the phone. If I forgot to charge my phone overnight then I will be hosed for the next day as the battery would be drained. One quirk I seemed to find was how fast the little meter can go down. It almost seems as if it didn’t really refresh and keep the meter close to real time. An example of this would be dropping from 90% all the way to 20% in a matter of a few minutes!
TeleNav GPS: This is a premium feature which I had the opportunity to try out. It is very accurate but can also be a major pain primarily due to this phone not supporting 3G data. If I had 3G data, this service is incredible. To search for destinations, you can speak the destination. I had this one address which I could not find and I had the choice of calling and talking to a human being within 30 seconds in which he helped me find the street I needed (I wrote the name of the street down incorrectly) and forwarded the information to TeleNav on the phone. Prompt service – very impressive! You can also go to telenav.com and plan trips and have it sent to your phone. All in all everything is very convenient.
Price: The Motorola Titanium is $419.99 without contract. With a 2 year agreement, the price is $219.99. Currently a promotion at this time of writing will bring the price down to $169.99 with a 2 year contract and a mail in rebate. The TeleNAV service is $9.99 a month.
Conclusion: Sprint’s Motorola Titanium is a phone geared towards business. It is rugged and provides great calling. I would like to have seen 3G as well as a more updated version of Android, but this phone is a must to those who need push to talk. Sprint service for my area was exceptional and has proved that Sprint’s dropped calls for me truly is a thing of the past. For the standard consumer and non-business user, however, might I still suggest an iPhone?
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