By Damian Koh, CNET Asia
19/12/2006
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39051199,39250247p,00.htm

Mobile phones that profess to be capable of a thousand-and-one things are not many. So when the Motorola W220 was delivered to our Labs, its basic feature set sent us on a journey back to the days when cellular phones were used only for making calls and SMS texting. The only difference was this clamshell arrived in a sleek package and is nothing like the water bottle-shaped mobile phones (or bricks, as some would call them) of yesteryear.

Design
Motorola's Razr series was a hit with the fashion-conscious and the W220 carries on the same tradition, but at a more affordable price. You can use the glossy black lid as a mirror for the narcissist in you. The front display also doubles as a notification screen. Using three LED icons, the phone tells you when there's an incoming call, text message or when the battery is charging. Glossy surfaces have one nemesis, though: Fingerprint stains. Unfortunately, there's no way around it, so always keep a piece of cleaning cloth handy if you are particular about smudgy surfaces.

Flip open the clamshell and you'll be greeted with a 1.5-inch color screen. Compared with most phones today, the display leans on the smaller side but should suffice for the basic applications you'd expect to run on this handset. We like the large fonts used when dialing numbers and, although the text messaging fonts are small, they are still clearly readable an arm's length away.

The W220's keypad lights up in a cool blue shade when activated and is responsive to key presses. The directional control lets you access four customizable shortcuts, while the central button brings up the phone's main menu.

Features
As an entry-level handset, the Motorola W220 features basic multimedia functionality. FM radio junkies can tune in to their favorite station via the supplied earpiece which doubles as the FM receiver. Beyond that, you get the typical SMS, MMS capabilities and WAP 2.0 connectivity for downloading of additional wallpapers, ringtones and games.

Editors' note: The Motorola W220 was erroneously reported as having the feature of chatting handsfree via the onboard speaker. This has been corrected in the review.

One interesting feature is the Lantern mode which switches the LCD to an illuminated white screen for a predefined length of time: 30 seconds, 1 and 2 minutes. While it's not as strong as a dedicated LED white light, it does come in handy in the event of a blackout. The phone will also prompt you if you want to extend the lantern when it's running out of "fuel".

Being a basic phone, this clamshell does not come with a built-in camera, expansion ports, Wi-Fi, 3G, or any fancy connectivity and multimedia features found on most mid- to high-end handsets. That said, this phone should still appeal to people who just want a no-frills, easy-to-use terminal. People working in sensitive industries and military personnel will also find the W200 an attractive camera-less phone option.

Performance
Motorola rates the W220 at 497 minutes of talktime and 293 hours of standby time. Actual usage wasn't too far off as we could keep the W220 running for at least a week with moderate usage. Call volume and sound quality were good as callers could hear us loud and clear and vice versa. While it isn't the most featured phone out there, the budget Motorola W200 is a good compromise between style and functionality in a bare-bones package.