The Motorola Bali: A Contract-free Mid-range Mobile Phone
Introduction
The Motorola Bali is the kind of mid-range mobile communication device that you can respect. The handset is just like all other Motorola phone models available in the market. However, because of its slim form and somewhat flat controls, you might find some similarity with the most popular Motorola Razr. Let’s roll on to the detailed review to learn about all of its features.
Design (4 out of 5)
The Motorola Bali boasts a thin and slim design with a black body. The phone measures 1.8 x 3.8 x 0.6 inches in dimensions with squared corners on the top and slightly curved edges at the bottom. The phone very likely reminds you of the popular Motorola models, the Krzr and Razr. The slim profile of the Bali makes it comfortable in your hands and it easily slides into pockets or handbags. Added to its slim design is its light weight (2.6 ounces), that is again a very good feature of the phone.
The front face of the Motorola Bali sports an external color display of 1.6-inches with all the necessary information such as the signal strength, time and date, caller ID and the battery. Right below the display you’ll find some touch sensitive controls. The top position is taken by three music player keys – the Play/Pause, Next Track/Fast-forward and Previous Track/Rewind. Following that are the Mute and Bluetooth keys. However, you cannot use any of these keys in standby mode and you’ll have to activate them first. The keys are backlit when in active mode and that’s how you can identify that they are ready. The camera is positioned just above the display so that you can alternatively use it as a self-portrait viewfinder when the phone is closed.
On opening the phone you’ll reveal a 2.2-inch internal display supporting 65,536 colors and 176x220 pixels resolution. The hinges are rather strong and lock firmly when you open or close the phone. The menu icons, on the other hand are somewhat boring and there’s a very basic interface and resolution, just like the Motorola Rambler. However, the backlight time for the display, brightness, wallpaper, the clock format and the skin or color theme of the Bali are all adjustable.
Both the navigation array and the number keypad for the Bali are extremely flat. The array consists of a round toggle, which can again work as a shortcut to four user-defined functions. Additional keys include a Back key, two Soft keys, the Send key, a dedicated Camera key and the Power/End key. The number keypad, on the other hand is quite spacious with slightly outlined keys. The left spine of the phone contains the volume rocker, the speakerphone and the charger jack, while the voice command key and the 2.5mm headset jack sits on the right spine. The microSD card slot is placed behind the battery.
User Interface (4 out of 5)
The user interface on the Bali isn’t the prettiest one. However, the spacious keypad, the 4-way navigational tool, the dedicated keys and Motorola’s BREW Operating System work together to make the user interface functional. Last but not least, the Motorola Bali features an improved user interface for easy navigation unlike other basic Motorola phones.
Features (4 out of 5)
The Motorola Bali features a 600-entry phonebook with room in each entry for an instant messenger handle, a street address, a Web URL, five numbers, notes and an e-mail address. Moreover, the contacts can further be organized into caller groups and paired with any one of 16 polyphonic ringtones or message alerts.
The basic features of the Bali include a speakerphone, a date book, an alarm clock, a vibrate mode, a calculator, a world clock, a notepad, multimedia and text messaging and voice commands. Among the advanced features, the phone includes GPS with TeleNav support, stereo Bluetooth, a mobile Web browser, e-mail and instant messaging with Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo and AIM. The e-mail application of Motorola’s Bali is quite similar to other Sprint Nextel mobile phones supporting Web providers like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AIM Mail, Hotmail and AOL Mail along with your own POP or IMAP settings. However, the phone lacks any Outlook synchronizing option.
Other advanced features of the Motorola Bali are a 1.3 megapixel camera and a music player to make the phone a complete communication device. The picture quality of the phone is not very good but on the other hand it features immense call quality.
Performance (4 out of 5)
The Motorola Bali delivers flawless call quality at both ends without any background noise or static. Both the callers and recipients sounded clear and sharp. There’s no noticeable complaints from the caller’s side, except that there can be a little bit of harshness at times. The overall call quality is more than satisfactory. The speakerphone call quality is also very good.
The Motorola Bali comes with a rated battery life of 5 hours of talk time and a standby time of 20 hours.
The Verdict (4 out of 5)
The Motorola Bali might not stand out as the best mid-range phone, but it is a respectable communication device for Boost Mobile users. Priced at $149.99, the Bali can be a bit hard to swallow, but being a contract-free phone makes it easy to digest. Overall, the Motorola Bali bags a good score.
