With its flip closed, on the front of the A780 there is a window that allows you to see 4 lines of text from the main touch screen, which is well protected beneath the flip cover. The Motorola logo at the top is where the speaker is, and you can listen to calls with the flip closed, which is great news for people who generally do not like flip phones. Alerts and ringtones also emanate through the same speaker. The numerical keypad is placed on the outside of the flip as well, and below it is the navigation joystick, next to the power and home keys. The fact that the screen has to be viewed through the window makes it almost impossible to be viewed under sunlight, though. The screen just isn’t bright enough to shine through the window, which was quite annoying.
The A780 offers plenty of features for both work and play. The included Motosync software keeps you connected to the office with corporate e-mail, contacts, and calendar synchronization. You can view (but not edit) Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF files. Other applications include a browser; e-mail; text and multimedia messaging; an MP3 player that supports WMA, AAC, and Real formats, among others; and a 1.3-megapixel camera that can also capture video. Finally, the new design looks great, and the flip cover protects the 240×320 touch screen.
When you flip the phone open, you are presented with the PDA functionality. The A780 is built upon the 2.4.20 Linux kernel and then from the ground up using the Qt toolkit. Its closed-source graphical framework is called EZX. In the main display you get 4 big icons (application list, contact list, SMS/MMS client and a virtual numeric pad to make a call), a service line similar to the one described above, business meetings list and 4 shortcuts to apps (ring profiles, Opera, Real Player, Picsel Viewer and Bluetooth).
Price Range: $156.99 - $224
Car Kits:
Wireless Car Kit with Bluetooth® 77566
Data Products:
Bluetooth PC USB Adaptor 77658
HeadSets:
HS820 Bluetooth® Headset 77721 (ANZ Plug), 77722 (US Plug), 77723 (Euro Plug)
Stereo Headset - 77556
Power:
Rapid Travel Charger - 77676
