Motorola SURF A3100 video (and pictorial) hands-on

by Chris Ziegler posted Jan 8th 2009 at 4:35AM

Like the Curve 8900, it turns out that Motorola's SURF is a device that kinda needs to be seen in the flesh to be fully appreciated. In light of TouchFLO and its endless competitors, the skin Moto's developed for this thing -- while tasteful and seemingly finger-friendly -- really isn't anything to get terribly excited about, but it does an adequate job of making the superficial surface of Windows Mobile reasonably finger-friendly. The screen feels great, and yeah, the SURF includes a stylus -- but hey, what WinMo phone doesn't? Ultimately, we think it's going to be a totally serviceable alternative to, say, a Touch Diamond -- only problem is that the Touch Diamond is like 8 months old. If Moto had launched this running Android instead of WinMo, on the other hand, it would've been the runaway hit of the show. Follow the break for a super-quick video tour of the UI!

Gallery: Motorola SURF A3100 video (and pictorial) hands-on

Filed under: Handsets, Motorola, Windows Mobile, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Tags: a3000, a3100, atila, ces, ces 2009, ces 2009 video, Ces2009, Ces2009Video, features, hands on, hands-on, HandsOn, moto, motorola

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

jorv88 @ Jan 9th 2009 3:59AM

best moto ive seen on the market since the razr...

Neutral

Leland Robinson @ Jan 9th 2009 6:41PM

same here, i want this phone. i was going to get the HTC Touch Diamond, but this has a headphone jack! i wanted to buy a smartphone because i didnt want to buy a phone and a MP3 player. Plus i wanted WI-FI, and i didn't want Apple (cuz i would have to upgrade forever...) MOTOSURF, here i come.

Highest Ranked

Josh G @ Jan 8th 2009 6:21AM

"If Moto had launched this running Android instead of WinMo, on the other hand, it would've been the runaway hit of the show."

See, this is what I don't understand. Android is a damned cool platform with heaps of potential, yeah, but it has nowhere near realised it yet.

The UI is frankly annoying [to myself, your mileage may vary]. While I'm certainly not an Apple fanboy [*cuddles Omnia*], the inconsistent UI and real quirks to Android turn me off it.

Don't get me wrong, it's got the potential. You bet it does. But it's nowhere near proven yet. Winmo is meant as a business OS [basically], and until Android has proper Exchange support and the like... well, its not going to get *that* install base. Even Apple saw that, and subsequently implemented it.

Android has the potential to destroy Winmo's share. That is not a bad thing, competition breeds innovation. But I don't see much innovation at the moment.

Neutral

dantheman99 @ Jan 8th 2009 12:58PM

Gotta agree with you there. As a Q9H user, I can honestly say that a fine tuned winmo 6.1 phone is perfectly operational and stable (unless the standard version of the OS is that much different performance-wise from the pro version). I guess I just don't understand why everyone's always ragging on it? Android is going to be great someday, but until it's completely there I don't see what the problem is with a manufacturer using a completely functional and solid OS on their phones.

Neutral

dejan @ Jan 8th 2009 7:41AM

Finally Moto!
This look good, very good...

Neutral

Jesus @ Jan 8th 2009 7:59AM

Does not compute.

Why the hell would they put in a touch screen AND a trackball? I'm sick of my BB's cheap-ass trackball and that's one of the main reasons I'm considering a touchscreen phone... I'm still really eager to try out the 8900s though, they say that won't feel like trash after 6 months of use. Still, touchscreen is for the win. Trackball, not so much.

Neutral

zephxiii @ Jan 8th 2009 9:49AM

In reference to the trackball comment, I bet it has something to do with the same piece of hardware, running android.

Neutral

DssTrainer @ Jan 8th 2009 11:47AM

its likely due to the poor responsiveness with WinMo and touchscreens.. at least resistive ones. So the trackball removes a little frustration.

Highly Ranked

zephxiii @ Jan 8th 2009 1:40PM

That's strange, i've never had poor responsiveness from the touchscreens on my Wizard, Hermes, and Kaiser. Then again, I actually know how to use the resistive, touchscreen.

Neutral

smover @ Jan 8th 2009 11:32AM

Josh G > Don't worry, Android will be updated on the lacking fonctionnality part... as WinMo will be updated on the 'lack of appeal' part. The end of the year will be HOT :
- Android getting enough software improvement to be fully fonctionnal, and different phones running it
- A new iPhone technologically up-to-date (sorry since my N95-8GB i take pictures/videos almost all days, and i won't switch for something weak on this point. Same thing reagrding GPS on the iPhone)
- Touch screen Nokia phones running the latest Symbian !
- The mighty Windows Mobile 7 !!

Neutral

Chris @ Jan 18th 2009 3:48AM

ooo, it has spore on it. can i get one on the VZW network please?

Neutral

Hichu @ Jan 26th 2009 12:18PM

Got to get me one of those!

I would not say this is a perfect phone, but MOTO indeed wakes up anyway.

Trackball, good try.
Smile detection for camera, interesting and useful.
New homescreen, seems cool.
3.5mm headset jack, correct choice.

ID not good, too similar to iPhone. "SEXY", please, MOTO.