| Review of the Motorola PEBL |
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The Motorola PEBL is a stylish, if a tad impractical, phone offered by
Fido. It is the first phone from Motorola that I’ve tested since the days
of the P280/V60 that possesses Motorola’s excellent audio and RF
qualities. Last Updated: 17-Oct-2006 |
It seemed that since the P280 Motorola’s GSM division had become a bit lost. While the Vxxx series of phones were good for the most part, their RF/audio quality was all over the map. Some were okay, while others were horrible. None sounded quite as rich and solid as the P280 and V60G, though they certainly had more features.
Before reading this review, please read
Some Thoughts on Phone Reviewing.
RF Performance
RF Sensitivity: The PEBL holds it own against
various Nokia models and has RF sensitivity that’s about as good as it gets.
However, I did note that the RF sensitivity of an older Nokia 6340i was actually
a tad better, but the difference was relatively slight. The PEBL was tested for
RF at the same time as the Nokia 6061, and it was
slightly better that phone (though once again, only by a slim margin).
Over-the-road Performance: One of the great things
about Motorola’s GSM phones is the way they deal with handoffs. Sadly one of the
major drawbacks of GSM is how OBVIOUS handoffs can be. I’ve often criticized
Nokia phones for handling this poorly, but Motorola has always managed to do it
better. Handoffs on the PEBL sound like nothing more than a momentary loss of
audio, with no detectably damage or modification to the audio. Using the PEBL in
a moving vehicle produces results that are about as good as you’ll ever hear in
a GSM phone.
Click on this link for a full description of
RF Performance, and how to interpret it.
Audio Performance
Tonal Balance: Absolutely gorgeous. My first
response to the overall tonal quality of the PEBL was similar to my original
reaction to the P280. The phone sounds like it is light years better than
anything else out there, though on some voices it can prove to be a just a tad
bassy. Sure, the source material has to be of good quality to really get the
most of out this phone, but on many of the calls I made with the PEBL, the
quality was just beyond reproach.
Sound Reproduction: Also like the P280, the PEBL
seems like it can magically erase distortion and other maladies that afflict
many calls (from the source, or from network-introduced distortion). I don’t
believe that phone is actually capable of doing that, but what it does seem to
do is wring every ounce of goodness out a call and it reproduces each and ever
nuance of speech with amazing accuracy.
There is also NO HISS at all in the background, which can sometimes make you
believe that you’re call has disconnected while your caller isn’t speaking. In a
quiet environment this is really quite a joy to hear. However, during a number
of calls I made using this phone I noticed that it seemed to be trying to cut
out the audio during silent periods and it sometimes lobbed off the beginnings
or the endings of words. That was rather annoying and the only blotch on the
otherwise pristine audio
Earpiece Volume: The volume of the earpiece is
fine, but it could do with being a bit louder. If you have access to the right
software, you can modify the gain tables in the PEBL and greatly increase the
overall volume. However, even in its native configuration the earpiece is plenty
loud enough (it just doesn’t have the overhead to deal with quiet callers when
you’re in a noisy environment).
Outgoing Audio: The outgoing audio sounds good, but
compared to the incoming audio it falls a little short. The phone deals well
with loud background noise like the cars on a busy street, but it doesn’t cope
quite so well with the din at a crowded shopping mall. The plethora of voices in
the background seems to distort the outgoing audio a little, though it isn’t
overly objectionable.
Speakerphone: The speakerphone is a mixed bag. It
produces reasonable volume levels, which makes it loud enough to use in even
moderately noisy environments. However, like Motorola iDEN models prior to last
year, it has a nasty habit of cutting out when noises in the background are
deemed to be speech by the phone. This can make your conversations difficult, as
you sometimes have to ask your callers to repeat themselves. Overall tonal
quality isn’t exactly stellar either, but it’s adequate.
Click on this link for a full description of
Audio Performance, and how to interpret it.
Support Features
Ringer Volume: The little speaker used for the
speakerphone is also used for the ringer, which like virtually all phones on the
market these days can play MP3 files. There aren’t a lot of loud ringtones
available on the phone, but some are at least loud enough to suffice.
Fortunately the vibrator is quite strong and if you set the phone to ring and
vibrate simultaneously, you can at least feel the phone, even if you can’t hear
it.
Keypad Design: Ugh! The keypad on the PEBL (like
the similar one found on the RAZR) is an
excellent example of functionality taking a backseat to looks. The design is
arguable no worse than a standard flush design, and so long as you are careful
where you place your fingers you shouldn’t have too much trouble. However, like
flush keypad designs it suffers from being nearly impossible to use without
paying careful attention to it. In addition, because the digits aren’t
horizontally aligned, shifting your thumb over from any of the middle keys (2,
5, or 8) will put it right in the middle of two of the outer keys.
The 4-way cursor pad is a more traditional design, but it’s really tiny and it’s
difficult to feel where your thumb is at any given time. While it isn’t the
worst 4-way pad I’ve ever tried, it certainly comes close.
Display: The inner display is 176 x 220 pixels with
18-bit color depth (65,000 colors). The colors look good, but unfortunately the
backlight isn’t very bright and it’s rather difficult to see outdoors (much less
in direct sunlight). Indoors however, the display is of good quality and
pleasant to look at.
The external display is reverse monochrome (white characters on a dark blue
background). The slender display is mounted up-and-down rather than across the
phone as you find in most models. When a call comes in the Caller ID is
displayed lengthwise on the display and you can choose which way around the
letters are presented. This unique approach means that you look at the external
display with the phone turned sideways, much like an alpha-numeric pager. For
the most part it seems to work well.
Icing on the Cake
Camera: The camera is only a 640x480 VGA type and
the picture quality is relatively poor. You can transfer pictures from the phone
using Bluetooth, but there is no external memory card, which severely limits the
number of pictures you can store anyway. Clearly the camera in this model is
intended solely for taking pictures to use as wallpaper or picture ID, or for
sending to other phones via MMS.
Conclusions
I’ve often said that if a phone had solid core functionality that I’d love it no
matter how poorly it did everything else. The PEBL is just such a phone. It has
excellent RF and audio qualities while offering very little extra and a horrific
keypad. The PEBL is clearly designed to be a fashion phone, but with good core
functionality in there too, it’s certainly a great fashion phone.
The problem is how Fido prices this model. If bought outright the price of $350
is just way too much for what you get. On the other hand, Fido really discounts
the price if you are willing to sign with a 2 or 3 year contract. On a 2 year
contract the price drops dramatically to only $100, which actually makes it only
$35 more than a bottom-end Nokia 6061. On a 3 year contract the price drops to
$50. So, if you are willing to sign a contract, the price is not bad, but if you
prefer month-to-month or pre-paid, the PEBL is a bit pricy.
