Sindre Lia puts the Motorola T720 under the magnifying glass, and finds a phone which could be considered an option for first time users and the slightly more experienced.
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Motorola has previously proven itself both capable and willing to produce a quality phone well suited for leisure users through the Talkabout 191. With the new Motorola T720, the manufacturer takes further aim at this market - and we've spent a longer period of time with the phone to get acquainted. One thing is for sure; it makes a good first impression.
 | The T720 is Motorola's first European model with a color display
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The T720 (dual band GSM 900/1800 MHz) is a light and classy clamshell phone which weighs in at 101g and measures 0.9 x 0.48 x 0.21 cm. Its antenna is placed in the upper left corner, and as a dual-display phone the T720's external display shows users who's calling, the time, signal strength and remaining battery life when its lid is closed. Flip the lid up, and the 120 x 160 pixel 12-bit (4,096 color) display makes its appearance, joined by a numeric keypad with large, flat buttons.
Comparison-wise, the quality of the T720's color display lies on roughly the same level a Nokia's 7210, which means users will have to endure a bit of flickering. Moving from a relatively small keypad on this phone to a relatively large keypad on the T720 naturally took a bit of getting used to, but it didn't take long before fingers were tapping at their natural pace. The navigational buttons presented no problems in particular, but due to a slight delay between a press on these buttons to the screen being updated, we quickly found out that it's better to leave the T720 alone when it's thinking.
Its menu can be shown either as a list, or as icons. This, combined, with the number and order of choices, can be adjusted to the owner's preferences. Also, the hardware shortcut buttons can be customized to different actions. However, although the menu system of the T720 is well structured and to a great extent customizeable, it's doesn't take long to discover it's not ideal in all cases.
In fact, the number of steps needed to create a new SMS to a new recipient reaches two figures. Replying to messages and using text chatting is on the other hand a streamlined process, making it even stranger how 'New Message' could have been paid so little attention to. On a more positive note, the phone has support for J2ME applications and games, and comes bundled with 3 demo games. These can be upgraded through Motorola's own HelloMoto online entertainment center. In addition there is support for polyphonic ring tones, but the ones that come pre-installed really aren't much to brag about.
The phone book of the T720 is capable of storing up to 500 contacts (with only one phone number per contact), which can be synchronized against Microsoft Outlook, as can the user-friendly calendar. Since the T720 doesn't support wireless transfer using IrDA or Bluetooth, however, a USB cable must be purchased separately to perform synchronizations.
Battery life for the T720 is listed as being approximately 7 days of standby time, and 3 hours of talk time. During our review period, it averaged 5 days of standby time and 2 hours of talk time, all the while providing high quality audio - as we expected from a Motorola phone.
Availability
The Motorola T720 is available now in several European countries at 299 EUR.
Conclusion
Sporting a well structured menu system, color display, satisfactory battery life and not the least a low price, the Motorola T720 should absolutely be considered an option for first time users as well as the somewhat more experienced. The T720 noticeably lacks support for technologies such as Bluetooth and MMS, but this countered by its support for J2ME and Motorola's strong push to deliver J2ME entertainment content.
- What's positive: Color display; polyphonic ring tones; J2ME support; low price
- What's negative: Short feature list; lacks IR; menu system too complicated when creating new messages
| Features | 5/10 |
| Exterior | 7/10 |
| Ergonomics | 7/10 |
| Performance | 5/10 |
| Value: | 5/10 |
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iSW Score:
5.8/10 |
Price and availability
The will start selling for TBA () in November 1999.
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