MOTOMAGX (LJ)

These days the LJ platform (Linux+Java), also known as the MOTOMAGX, is getting to the foreground in Motorola’s portfolio of handsets. There are several versions of the LJ out there (the company's indexing for them is: L6.1, L6.3, L7.1 and so on), however in fact they always pack much more than what we experience with Motorola’s offerings. Since they have sped up the development cycle of the platform, implementation of new abilities into the phones takes some time, which is the foremost difference from what most other manufacturers do, as they embed brand-new features into the next successive handset generations.

This article focuses on the platform’s user interface, as well as the standard suite of applications and features of the L6.1, whereas the L6.3 version comes onboard of the Motorola RAZR2 V8, the Motorola U9, and a number of other solutions slated to go on sale early in 2008.

The left soft-key is bound to the Options item, which is in fact a sort of fast start menu, specifically the list features key lock, camera application, message creation, profile change, offline mode, alarm clock and finally, standby screen setup (digital or analogue clock and shortcuts management) options.

Navigating through the handset’s menu is as simple as it could be – to enter any menu, press the joystick, to go one level back use the “C” key (with an arrow etched on it).

The main menu can be viewed either as a grid or a list. Shortcut number navigation is enabled in the MOTOMAGX. On the plus side, the device keeps in memory which menu item you called up last, thus when entering the main menu, it automatically highlights it. In the sub-menus, however, the item highlighted is the one on the list’s top – apart from Motorola, today, only Samsung has come up with implementation of this feature, but in the latter, case sub-menus have this option enabled as well.

For all items found in the main and sub- menus, you can modify their order of appearance; your own applications can be tossed within different folders. The user is also at liberty to create their own folders in the main menu and assign icons and names to them. This option is just great and simply a winner thanks to plain and uncomplicated implementation.

The negative things about any local version of the platform, though, include captions to the menu items – being too long, they don’t fit on the screen, so that once you highlight any item scrolling steps into action, but the impressions aren’t particularly favorable. For example, at a glimpse you see Web Ac…, Office T…, Muktime.., File Ma… and so on. Why they couldn’t think of shorter captions – I do not know. That strange “Web Ac..” would be better off with “Web” caption. Other items could use some name-changing as well, and it wouldn’t be that hard at all.

Source : http://www.mobile-review.com