Engineering:Motorola A1000
| Manufacturer | Motorola |
|---|---|
| Compatible networks | 3G: UMTS 2G: GSM (900, 1800, 1900 MHz) with GPRS |
| Predecessor | Motorola A920 |
| Dimensions | 117 x 59.5 x 21.5 mm |
| Mass | 168 g |
| Operating system | Symbian OS 7.0 + UIQ 2.1 |
| CPU | ARM processor at 168 MHz |
| Memory | 32 MB RAM, 32 MB ROM |
| Storage | 24 MB |
| Removable storage | microSD memory card, also known as Transflash. 1 GB tested, OK. 2 GB tested, not working. |
| Battery | Talk time 2G: 280 minutes 3G: 120 minutes Stand-by time: 200 hours Video calling: 80 minutes |
| Data inputs | Touchscreen Handwriting recognition |
| Display | Transmissive reflective TFT LCD 65,536 colors, 16-bit color depth, 208x320 pixels |
| Rear camera | 1.2-megapixel and 640x480 video camera |
| Front camera | 300,000 pixels |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 1.1 USB 2.0 |
| Other | A-GPS Opera 7.5 web browser Document viewer etc. |
The Motorola A1000 is a 3G smartphone from Motorola. It uses the Symbian 7.0 operating system, enhanced with the UIQ 2.1 platform. One of the phone's most notable features is its built-in A-GPS. The A1000 is the successor to the A925 and A920.
A variant device, named the M1000, appeared in 2005 for the Japanese market, distributed by NTT DoCoMo. The M1000 has a similar spec to the A1000 but supports Wi-Fi instead of GPS/A-GPS.
History
The A1000 was released in Q4 2004, but was available only on contract through the 3 network, in just a few countries (mostly Australia, Austria, Denmark, Italy, Singapore[SingTel], Sweden and the UK). Although two colour schemes were available for the device at the time of release, 3 only offered it in the matte dark & light grey combination. Also, the phone was locked and its firmware contained 3 branding.
The phone raised interest of enthusiasts due to its advanced capabilities, and a few dedicated internet forums appeared. An unbranded firmware became available in these forums, but presented multiple problems and many considered it a leaked beta version. Also, software was developed to overcome limitations of the branded firmware, including an 'application picker' [1], a 'GPRS account editor' [2] , and the ability to install software on external storage [3]).
When, after a whole year, the unlocked and unbranded A1000 appeared, its new firmware version made most of these applications obsolete, as it included their functions. This version of the A1000 was available in a glossy black finish.
The A1000 was among the first phones to use the TransFlash memory format as external storage. The device on its own only supports the smaller capacities of these cards, however it supports the use of adapters to use larger-capacity micro SD cards.
Features
- Java
- Java ME MIDP 2.0, CLDC 1.0
- PersonalJava
- Opera 7.5 Internet browser (735 for English version, 744 for Chinese version and 817J for Japanese version)
- Cameras:
- Outer: CMOS camera
- Effective resolution: 1.31 megapixels
- Recorded resolution: 1.22 megapixels
- Inner: CMOS camera
- Effective resolution: 310,000 pixels
- Recorded resolution: 300,000 pixels
- Outer: CMOS camera
- Built in Picsel Viewer to open Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, PDF, etc. files
- Works with multiple e-mail accounts
- Bluetooth compatible for hands-free telephone calls (using wireless headset) and wireless connection to PCs
- Preinstalled with personal information management (PIM) software
- Free software development kit (only beta version available)
Reported software issues
- Autoformat - Early firmware releases (e.g. 51.14.15) have a bug which cause the formatting of phone filesystem as soon as free memory falls under around 4-5 MB; user is not asked for confirmation, so any data in the phone memory is lost in this case. Further firmware releases fixed the problem (maybe starting from 51.92
- Outbox bug - If an SMS sending fails, SMS get stuck in the outbox and no more attempts are made by the System to send it again. No fixes are available for this bug.
- Memory card size limitation - Although a1000 is compatible with microsd, which should allow size up to 2 GB, no users report to be able to go over 1 GB limit
- AT commands incompatibility - most of standard mandatory AT commands are actually not supported, implemented or working (SMS access, phonebook access,...)
Reported hardware issues
- Charge connector - charge connector does not always connect to the phone, so it does not charge properly.
Limitations
- Memory card lock - Early releases of firmware do not allow installing applications to memory card, and stops memory cards from going over 1 GB, but "NOPEX" 3rd party application fixes this issue.
- Missing autoconnection - Unlike other UIQ phones, a1000 is not able to auto-connect to PC when USB cable is connected: user intervention is required to tap the screen to activate connection; this makes it impossible to recover data from phone in case of screen damages/crash.
External links
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