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Motorola unveiled yet another addition to their W Series phones, the Motorola W270. To be released during the first quarter of 2008, it is a budget phone and then some. So as expected, it therefore lacks the thrills and spills the modern cell phone aficionados around the globe have come to love and expect from mobile phones.
The clamshell body of the W270 is more akin to Motorola's highly successful line of RAZR phones, albeit thicker, and stripped of all its inside frills. It is intended for the no - nonsense user looking for a phone that does a good job of doing what a mobile phone is supposed to do in the first place, namely for voice calls and text messages. Being that as it is, one has to be careful when judging the W270. It is a mobile phone first and foremost, with just the added secondary features of MP3 capabilities and some other "strictly" useful apps. The interface is user friendly and both novice and advanced users will take no time at all familiarizing themselves with it.
Unlike the Motorola W230 however, which is part of the W series of Motorola and intended for the Indian market, the W270 is geared towards the African market instead. With that in mind, it operates on dual band GSM 900 / GSM 1800 and has seven African languages in its database.
Motorola W270 Camera and Display
What! No camera? Well, as mentioned above, expect no "much more than what you need" mega pixel camera here. As it is intended for the budget concious consumer, a camera would only add so much to its cost and would greatly defeat its purpose. 
Motorola W270 Design and Accessories
A sure winner is the W270's RAZR inspired design, which is sure to attract a lot of multimedia phone weary people looking to "downgrade" instead. In this manner, what the W270 lacks in feature makes up with its stunning looks. Just because it can not do as much does not mean it can not do what it can in style, and style is what this phone has a lot of. It can catch the attention of both the male and female buyers and therefore can take home a big slice of the budget phone market pie. It is simple and minimalist in its approach, and this makes the design more effective. It can be viewed as either art brute or feminine chic, depending on who is using it. But one thing all people will agree on is that the W270 exhibits a futuristic flair. In fact its design will fit comfortably and can be given prominence in any futuristic Hollywood film production and not seem out of place.
With the obvious lack of a camera aside, the W270 does pull out all the stops when it comes to its other features. It comes with a pre-installed music player capable of playing back MP3 files, and it also has a stereo FM radio. Right out of the box, thanks to the included 256 Mb memory, the W270 can already be filled with a decent amount of songs to keep you excited until such time you can squeeze out enough dough for a memory upgrade of up to 2 gigabytes of microSD via the W270's memory card slot.
The 940mAh BQ50 battery performance is very impressive as well, offering up to 9 hours of talk time and 19 days of stand by time when fully charged. Here is where you appreciate the W270's dedication to its purpose. Because minus all the frills, the user can do with the Motorola W270what it is intended to do for a longer period of time. No longer do you need to lug your charger every where you go. That's the whole point of mobility, isn't it? The W270 also supports dual band GSM technology, which is just what the basic user needs.
Summary of Motorola W270 Features
- Weight: 94 g
- Width: 45 mm
- Height: 95 mm
- Thickness: 17 mm
- Network: GSM900 / GSM1800, Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
- Screen Resolution: Graphical CSTN, 65K colors, 128 x 128 pixels, 2nd Display
- Data: Proprietary Operating System
- Connectivity: USB 1.1
- Web Browser: WAP 2.0/xHTML
- Music: MP3 player (iMelody, MIDI, MP3, AMR formats), FM recorder for alarm signal only
- Camera: None
- Messaging: SMS, MMS, Predictive text
- Expansion Slot: microSD (TransFlash), up to 2 GB supported
- Tones: Polyphonic, Vibration
- Other Features: 7 African languages, Calculator, Calendar
- Battery: BQ50 940 mAh, 450 hours standby time, 9 hours talk time
PROS: The W270 benefits from its nice and sleek design. The long battery life of this unit more than makes up for its tiny screen. The Built in MP3 player works like a charm as well and is a nice and welcome addition. The 256 mega bytes of bundled memory is more than what the competition offers. Predictive text capability saves time when writing text messages on the go. The cheap price of the W270 is very attractive and may be one of the factors in the W270's success.
CONS: MP3 playback as ring tone is not supported.
Overall: Whatever the Motorola detractors may say, the W270 does not fail to deliver when it comes to fulfilling its purposes. Let us face it, not everyone needs the wizardry that smart phones have to offer. The Motorola W270 is an attractive option for those looking for a mobile phone to be used mainly for voice calls and text messages. After all, the FM radio and MP3 player may be thought of as just an added bonus. Motorola definitely knows its market.
