GSM subscribers have been so spoilt by the present-day plenitude and variety of mobile phones that they are hardly surprised at anything new. Yet, the appearance of Motorola Accompli 008 has generated an unusually lively interest among public.

Motorola has been taking decisive steps to further consolidate its position in the mobile phone business. Radical changes taking place within the companies involved in the mobile business show the tough competition that is underway in the sector. The last year's merger of Ericsson and Sony is a good example of these changes. The two companies started joint production of mobile phones from 1 October, 2001. The merger was announced in the spring of 2001, but the joint operations actually began in autumn. Though consolidated, the companies reserve the right to independently produce phones with their own brands. At the same time, intensive consultations are being conducted on the promotion campaign for the joint-brand products. The top priority of the newly established company is the production of mobile phones based on new technologies, such as GPRS, WCDMA, cdma 2000, Bluetooth,and others.

2001 witnessed some major changes in the prevalent trends: the process of miniaturisation of mobile phones has ended and the manufacturers now focus more on equipping the sets with new functions rather than on further reducing their size.

The new Motorola model launched by the company in March 2001 somewhat heralded the beginning of this new trend. Right from the start, the model was intended for a relatively narrow segment of the market - mainly business people. However, the favorable reaction it has received demonstrates the keen interest this new model has generated among specialists. In addition to the already familiar latest functions, Motorola Accompli 008 has many new properties that have introduced
an entirely new perspective of mobile phones. The model performs virtually every function necessary for business people.

ELECTRONIC ORGANIZER

It allows making entries of everyday meetings and the viewing of daily or month-long information. Users can get voice signals to remind them of the meetings entered into the organizer at a pre-fixed time such  as 5, 10 or 15 minutes or even 1 day prior to the meeting.

MOBILE PHONE + FAX MACHINE

Together with voice transmission, customers are already widely using SMS to send textual information. In addition to these functions, the new Motorola model meets the requirements of those wishing to send, together with Latin-font texts, different types of messages or even drawings or charts. A rather wide screen (53x40 mm) and a special pencil (stylus) attached to the phone case permits one to make any drawings or charts, or to write texts by hand. Such graphic images can be stored in the phone memory as a file and sent to any fax machine without any further hassle.
This is a program which is reminiscent of a simplified version of Ink-Pad, Microsoft Paintbrush, though lacking some functions of the computer program. However, we should not forget that all of these things are done on a mobile screen.

NOTEBOOK

This menu item allows entries to be made by way of notes. Below we will describe how a text is entered from the phone screen. There are two different options available, and users have a discretion to choose.

The first option mode shows a standard keypad (QWERTY system) on the screen, and you can use the stylus to type a text like on an ordinary computer keyboard.

The second option is interesting in terms of its novelty: you can use the stylus to write Latin letters into the two squares shown on the screen, and those letters will be
changed into a standard font by a special system (Wisdom Pen Handwriting Recognition System). As for the two squares on the screen where you can write Latin
letters in sequence, they permit writing almost as quickly as by hand.

The same options are used to enter texts into other menus: the Phone Book and SMS.

As the Phone Book was mentioned, we would like to note that unlike other phones, Motorola Accompli 008 has no limit for the stored  phone numbers. 2 Mbs out of the 5 Mbs of the phone memory are free and dynamically allocated for storing various information.

Besides the earlier mentioned functions, the phone offers many other familiar and some brand new possibilities:

voice messages with a 3-minute maximum duration;

a program for recording top-priority matters;

an alarm-clock with two different time settings;

a calculator, standard and more sophisticated, allowing to calculate complex mathematical functions;

nearly all games available in new generation phones, but made much more comfortable here due to a big screen and a stylus. Unlike working with 3 or 4 lines on the
standard phone screen, the WAP browser reminds, owing to the big screen, accessing the Internet from a PC. This, together with the GPRS function, means that the Accompli is an excellent instrument for using the Internet;

an option to convert various measurement units. This Motorola model takes only seconds to convert hectares into square feet;

an indicator of the mean time in many cities worldwide;

a menu of currency exchange rates, where the exchange rate, once entered, is stored together with the entrance date.

Java is hailed as an important innovation by experts. We failed to find Java uplets on the Motorola web-page. Some of the programs written for this Motorola model can be downloaded from www.midletcentral.com. Today, most of the programs available are games, alternative WAP-browsers and Screensavers. Java has one inconvenience: the downloading of new uplets (depending on their size) fills a major part of the phone memory, which, because of dynamic allocation of memory, may decrease the block with SMS, e-mail or phone-book entries stored.

Many users will find interesting the function allowing the storage of the outgoing, received or missed calls, 20 for each type. Unlike other phones, each of these calls is viewable with the  data of call duration, as well as the time and date of the outgoing or incoming call.

Unlike other mobiles, Motorola Accompli 008 has a sophisticated  indicator of the battery charging level. You only need to press the battery icon to have a detailed view of the battery status.

We have listed many specific functions, however, the main distinctive feature of this Motorola model that distinguishes it from any other phone is certainly its solid screen without a normal keypad, which makes an impression that it is not a phone at all. You only need one touch on the upper part of the screen to view the normal keypad of an ordinary mobile. Such “pictorial” keypad may be somewhat difficult in use for dialing numbers (perhaps just due to habit), which may present some
inconvenience for beginners. Such a difficulty is easy to avoid if the stylus is used at the beginning.

The new Motorola Accompli 008 has made a successful debut on the market of personal organizers and mobile phones. This niche had been occupied exclusively by Nokia since the launch of the Nokia Communicator, and it was Nokia who established the standards in this area. The new Motorola phone has proved itself a
worthy competitor to its predecessors, and if one remembers that the Motorola model, unlike other manufacturers' products, has GPRS as well, it will be safe to say that Motorola Accompli 008 scored a success immediately upon its launch on the market.

Levan Buchukuri
General Director
MagtiCom

Loyal User of Motorola Accompli 008