Kevin L from MTekk gives us his take on a different offering in the mobile arena ...As an IT Manager, I was always looking for a way to make life easier for myself. And I get to play with all the cool toys. Somehow, I missed the whole PDA craze – no Palm, no iPaq, nothing. However, I have always had the latest mobile phones – 5110 in 1997, 7110 in 1999, 6110 in 2001. I also carry two phones at all times – one for personal and another for work, being the 24-hour contact.

Being techno-mad, I always do my research, and as soon as Hutchinson (Orange) launched their new 3G “3” service with inbuilt videophones, I was instantly drawn to it. I mean, it seems to be the next logical step, high data rates allowing a rough version of video streams, and I always like to be in for a new technology on the ground floor.

In mid July, I initially looked at the 3G phones available through Hutchinson, such as the NEC e8080 (These phones have now been deprecated). Thankfully I talked to a salesperson who knew what they were talking about, who commented that there was a new phone with a higher data rate, better features and most importantly a bigger screen coming out soon. The Motorola  A920.

The A920 is designed as the business flagship all-in-one phone for their new Motorola 3G range. Physically, it is BIG. Roughly 6cm wide by 15cm tall and almost 2.5cm thick, it is hefty – but in comparison to some PDAs, almost the same volume. It also is quite heavy, but as I carry two mobiles (2x6110s) I barely notice. Not one for skimpy shorts. Definitely a guy phone – it is literally way to big for my girlfriend’s purse! As such, they are aiming the phone at a target market, or at least cutting themselves out of some potential customers.