Reference Price: (Malaysia)
MYR 335 - 370
MYR 325 - 335 (AP)
Local Distributor: Motorola Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
Contact: 03-2026 7188
Build quality: 8/10
Applications: 7/10
Overall rating: 8/10
+ Internal antenna
+ Sleek design and feel
- VGA Camera
- 10 MB Memory
- CSTN Screen
The Motorola L6 appears to be an entry or medium level type device, judging from its asking price of RM 899. However, this causes the device to sport some rather low end characteristics, and this might not be everybody’s cup of tea.
In the box
ExteriorThe Motorola L6 is pretty much the candybar version of the well-known RAZR V3 and its multicoloured cousins. This is immediately apparent from the stylised keypad,
which is made out of the same etched-metal material as the original V3. I’m no metallurgist, but it would appear that the materials are the same.
The phone looks and feels like a flat wafer, and this takes some getting used to. The width of the phone is just about the same as with some other devices, but the thin wafer of the phone does not give you very much grip. I found my fingers frequently searching for grip on the uncommonly thin sides of the device.
The battery cover is of the peel-off type, where you press down the button on the top of the phone and then pry the entire back of the phone off. Isn’t it simply amazing what they are doing with the battery sizes these days?
The charger port is a USB type and it is located on the right side of the phone, just beside the screen. The speakers are on the lower back of the phone, just south of the battery cover.
Buttons/Screen
The keys are backlit in a bright electric blue, which is slightly brighter than that of the V3. I found the navigation buttons to be annoying, especially when it kept selecting an unwanted function when you push the ring-like navigation pad upwards.
Of course, the etched metal keys are always a welcome feature and infinitely more appealing then regular moulded plastic or rubber. The buttons are great, and there are only two extra buttons on the side of the phone. The one on the left activates the Push -to-talk service if you have subscribed for it, and the one on the right activates the camera.
The screen is a 65K CSTN LCD one, which would have been great a year ago. As it is now, the screen is slightly less than what we are used to seeing nowadays. Nevertheless, the brightness of the screen is quite satisfactory in most of the lighting conditions that we tried it out.
Software/Messaging
The menu is the one that is by now common to nearly all Motorola devices save those that run on the Linux OS. As usual, pressing the menu key calls up the menu. In Motorola phones, the menu is a set of nine icons laid out in a grid format.
Messaging is a little disappointing here, as the response time in between characters is rather slow. Also, since we are on the subject of slow, Motorola has a rather annoying default setting for the Search function in the Contacts list. Instead of automatically selecting alphabet by alphabet when the keys are pressed repeatedly, the Motorola pops up a menu asking you to choose which of the four characters on the key you are trying to select.
This menu then forces the user to shift to the navigation pad to select the desired alphabet, and then a further press of a softkey is required before you are shown the list of contact names corresponding to the alphabet that you have just selected.
PIM
500 names is the limit for this phonebook. Most users would have difficulty reaching 300 anyway, but the limit is something to consider if you have lots of names in your contact list.
The calculator, date book and alarm clock appear here in this phone, just as in nearly most other Motorola devices to date. The alarm clock is worthy of a mention though. Being able to set flexible and multiple alarms is a boon to those who have multiple schedules to balance in their daily lives.
Camera/Video
The L6 uses a conventional CMOS camera specified at 0.3 mega pixels. The camera supports a digital zoom
f up to 4x. However, in the age of mega pixel camera phones, I simply must say that this camera is terrible.
The pictures are blurry and usually out of focus. Zooming in tends to make things worse instead of better. The video function is not much better, especially if you move the handset around while making the video. It appears that the phone’s imaging software is trying to catch up with the movement of the phone.
Photo files are stored in the JPEG format. The device claims to play back clips in MP4, 3GPP and H.263. However, with the miniscule onboard memory on offer, I could not say for certain how good the playback is, as most of my clips are a lot larger than the 8MB or so available.
Multimedia/Voice
Push to talk or PTT might be the surprise here, what with Maxis offering PTT packages and the other telecommunication companies sure to follow suit.
Again, Motorola’s claim of being able to play back mp3 music is not accurate. he L6, just as in the V360, is rather fond of abruptly truncating mp3 clips. Again, the small memory is a real minus point, as you will not be able to store much music on this phone.
The L6, just like with its cousin clamshells, discards the infrared function altogether. Bluetooth is present in the phone as usual, and GPRS is supported as well. A USB port is found on the top left side of the phone, and this can be used to connect a data cable to the computer, or to connect the charger to the phone.
This device is not a 3G phone. The GPRS goes all the way up to class 10, but that is about all that you are going to get. Considering that the price of the phone is rather low, it would be a fair thing to leave out the 3G circuitry from the device.
Games
There are three games in the L6 phone. They are BlockBreaker, Skipping Stones and Submarines. When you activate the games, a small cup of coffee icon appears at the top of the screen, signifying that the phone is using a Java application.
The tight navigation pad made the gaming an iffy affair. Frequently, my stubby fingers would hit something other than what was intended, which did make for some rather frustrating gaming. I’d pass on this function.
Editor's opinion
The Motorola L6 delivers pretty much what it is supposed to be. It is a medium-range device good for those looking to upgrade from a lower-end model.
It looks great, perhaps much too great for a phone of its class. That is thanks to the idea of designing it to look like the candybar version of the popular V3. We can only surmise that later versions will include a TransFlash card and probably a little bit more memory than this one.
If you can live with less than 10 MBs of memory, than this might be a good phone for you. This one should be a good buy when the price dips a little from its current RM 899.
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