BrandonX's Full Review: Motorola MA351 2.4 GHz 1-Line Cordless Phone
First impressions, great feel in the hand. Very solid, though slightly heavier than I would have liked. Appears to be able to take a beating. The handset looks great, as does the base unit. The only aesthetically unpleasant part is the wall mount. It appears to be an after-thought. Not nearly as graceful as the rest of the pieces.
The sound quality is very good. Comparable to a land-line phone, with no static whatsoever. The construction is top notch. Coming from a Vtech, I was not used to such quality. I love the way the rubberized sides feel while I’m talking. This is easily the best cordless phone I have ever had. And I’ve had Sony, Panasonic, Vtech and Bell.
The range is great. I am able to walk to the end of my block with no problem at all. I’m not sure if this phone is true 2.4 GHz or just the base is 2.4 GHz and the handset is 900MHz, but judging from the range I would guess that it’s true 2.4 GHz.
The phone looks great, not too flashy but tasteful and subdued. It plays nicely with all my other high-tech gadgets without overpowering any of them. As stated earlier, the only part I am not thrilled with is the wall mount. It just looks awkward on the wall, sticking out much further than it should. I’m tempted to place the base on the desk, sacrificing the desk space, just to not use the wall mount. If you ever saw my desk, you would see this is no small sacrifice.
Another thing I am not happy about is the NiCad batteries it came with. Though the battery life is more than acceptable, I wish they had used NiMh batteries instead. That way there would be no memory effect. If you want to get the best life out of these batteries you will have to let them discharge before placing the phone back in the cradle. Kind of a pain in the neck, but not a deal breaker. I spoke with Motorola and asked them if NiMh batteries were available, unfortunately they are not.
The belt clip is a nice touch as is the headset compatibility. No headset is included in this model. The MA352 is the same phone with an included headset. You can use any standard 2.5 headset available at cell phone shops for a couple of dollars, though so it’s not a big deal. I wish Motorola had placed the headset jack either higher or lower in the side of the phone. Where it is now is where you’ll want to put your hand when you are holding the phone. Not great planning but most people using a headset will probably clip the phone to their belt anyway so I guess it could be kind of a non-issue.
All in all, I am very happy with this phone. If sound quality, range, solid construction and price are your deciding factors you won’t regret getting this phone.
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