Larry wrote in
:

Sure would make a great, installed "Boatphone" at the Nav station you
can unplug and put in your pocket on your way down the dock....(c;
There's no need to go without cellphone service, just because you're
not 2 miles from a tower, any more.



BELAY MY LAST....IT IS NOT A REMOVEABLE CANDY BAR PHONE.....
I bought one. Alltel wants only $US99.99 with 2-year contract, a real
bargain off what Telus wants in BC.

Here's my first impressions:

OK, the bad news....It's NOT a pocket phone. The large (HUGE?) part that
looks like a big candy bar phone does NOT detach and become a pocket
phone as I thought. It's mounted solid to the main frame with 4 heavy
posts and connected with a big control cable to the beast under it. The
privacy handset, which activates and disconnects the MASSIVE 3x5" mobile
speaker, speaking through a grille cloth in the top end of the very nice
NYLON case, switches off Speakerphone, which comes on by default when you
press any key to answer a call...or...call out without removing the
privacy handset from its cradle. Speakerphone by default, private phone
when you pickup the handset. This may not be as bad a flaw as I thought.
I left "The Beast" sitting on the seat in my car and took just my
Motorola Bluetooth headset paired with it into lunch at a fav diner. The
Beast was plugged into the cigarette lighter socket, giving the 2.5AH
lead-acid camcorder gelcell it runs off of available for $12, not $95, in
any Walmart, its initial charge it doesn't need. Bluetooth range is
EASILY over 100' to my cheap Moto BT headset. I answered two calls from
the headset in the diner, listening to myself on the diner's landline
phone and walking around. BIG phones seem to have better BT radios than
tinyphones trying to save battery charge. I can leave the bag in the car
and take AND MAKE calls to my voice activated phone numbers (up to 20 of
the 500 it stores) from the headset.

Did you have a V-series Moto cellphone? If so, you don't need any
instructions. The M800 uses the same chipset as the trimode V60 series
with the same interface and brightly lit blue monochrome display...just
bigger (HUGE?). Simple, to the point, rock solid. The big candy bar
part has BIG buttons for BIG hands (MANLY!) with a BIG display I can
finally read the time on WITHOUT my glasses. Thanks, Moto.

Sick of not hearing your cellphone ring? M800 sure solves that problem!
Audio must be about 5 WATTS...Ringing on level 7 will impress a whole
auditorium full of rock concert goers! It comes with about 20 ringtones,
including many "tunes". It will be no problem hearing it ring anywhere
in the boat with the diesel running. Unfortunately, there's no car horn
output relay...but I can't have everything from the IMTS days...(c;
Audio in such a big speaker talking to someone on Speakerphone is VERY
impressive and VERY hifi for CDMA. The boss' booming voice will have
plenty of bass and effect when he's ****ed off. I took it for a ride in
my noisy V-8 diesel Chevy stepvan, just sitting on top of the dash.
There's no problem hearing what anyone you're talking to is saying and
though, of course, they hear the truck noises, they have no trouble
hearing you. The "mic" on the speakerphone is one of those big Motorola
square, rugged microphones mounted next to the candy bar on the
mainframe, out of harms way. This thing also comes with a visor-clip
remote microphone on a long cord, really heavy duty stuff (MANLY?)that
plugs into the control panel next to the standard USB camera jack where
your computer plugs in. TWO speaker mics - standard equipment.

The Case(S). There are two cases that quickclip together, phone on top,
accessory case clips to the bottom for transport. The accessory case
contains the BIG quick charger, the extra mic, the books, a STEEL battery
case for a second camcorder battery, the standard 12V car charging cord
which is also built like cop equipment (MANLY?). If you're going to
leave it in the car, leave them clipped on top of each other and it makes
a DANDY center arm rest with built-in speakerphone....just the right
height. Sorry, no cup holder....

Antenna and connector. The webpages I read said the antenna connector
the big, foldup rubber duck is attached to was a "mini UHF". That's not
what's on my Alltel M800. It's a heavily-built TNC, the screw-in BNC.
This works out better for me because my truck antenna already has a TNC
connector on it. She's ready to go! The rubber duck is a 3db, very
heavy, with a hinge on top of its connector you fold down when you close
the padded Velcro nylon cover. The connector points "up" from the normal
phone position, and is recessed beside the privacy handset to prevent
tearing up the connector or coax. Moto forgot to put a hole in the case
to route the coax out of it through, a small matter...

My Alltel rep could read the phonebook out of my V60i, but had no USB
plug for this brand new phone to load it with. So, he was nice enough to
put both the phonebook in database and txt files on a floppy so I could
load the phone with Motorola Phone software from my computer on Bluetooth
or through the USB cable. WinXP identified the phone when I plugged a
standard USB camera cable into it, plug n play. Moto Phone Tools will
load it tonight....as soon as I figure out how to read a 1.44MB floppy
into computers that no longer have floppy drives...(c;

Voicemail, SMS, etc., work exactly like a V60.

AS soon as I decide I'm going to keep it (15 day return ok), I'm going to
sew the carrying handle differently. Motorola carries the phone laying
down and that makes it TOO WIDE for comfortable carrying. The nice,
padded shoulder strap also carries it flat, not vertically. It's stupid.
I'm going to sew the handle to the left side ends so it carries with
battery down/plug panel up, like the old bagphones. The carrying handle
only needs another set of metal rings to reposition where it connects to
accomplish this. IT DOESN'T WEIGH 10 POUNDS...unless you carry all the
accessories and accessory case with it attached to the bottom of it,
which is absurd. With the battery, I'm guessing 4-5 lbs. We all need
the exercise...(c;

A required FCC warning sticker near the antenna warns you MUST be at
LEAST 20cm (only 20cm??) from the antenna when you make a call.....too
funny.

Well, more reports after I use it some more. I sold another M800 to
another old bagphone lover while registering mine. He has an AMPS
bagphone he's had for many years on Alltel, as one of their oldest
customers. He hunts in rural SC where AMPS is king! Tonight, he has
retired his TX200 for his new M800. He's number 5. I'm number 4 sold.

This will make a GREAT phone for motorhomes, yachts, vacation homes at
the beach, but not for backpackers (the ones not masochistic, that is.)

Larry
--
If she wants to use the phone...make her CARRY it!