Review: Motorola VA76r Tundra
You're not going to find any fancy phone surprises here. If you want to see your recent calls, hit the green send button. Using the D-pad, you can step sideways to each of the tabs, which sorts your calls by dialed, answered, missed, and frequently called. Pressing the left soft key brings up options, such as calling the number or sending a text message, as well as access information about calls to/from that number.
As for the contacts application, the phone comes preloaded with seven different AT&T contacts. Luckily, you can create different categories and lists and tuck these away out of view. The options key is what you need to press to do much in the contacts department. From there, you can open an existing contact, create a new one, and so on. Several nice features let you select and delete multiple contacts at once, import contacts from the SIM card or file manager and easily filter your contacts based on category.
The information for each contact is broken up into tabs. One tab contains the mailing address, another is for choosing personalized ringtones and setting up their picture ID, etc.
PTT
Like all AT&T PTT phones, the Tundra uses technology supplied by Kodiak to make push-to-talk calls. Our experience with it was good. The phone needs to initialize the service first. You can create separate contacts for just PTT calls, though the system uses the same 10-digit phone number that you would use for the phone itself. There is no special number to use.
Calling a PTT contact is as simple as selecting them and then holding down the PTT button. The call goes through like a regular phone call. As soon as the other person opens their phone / accepts the call, it jumps to PTT mode and you have to use the PTT button to speak. We used it through the earpiece and the speakerphone. Our callers were crystal clear both ways. The speakerphone has plenty of power, and is clearly audible.
The delay in switching between callers was not bad. In our experence, it didn't feel quite as instantaneous as an iDEN phone's PTT service, but I am sure Kodiak's engineers would debate the point. In the end, it is fast enough that it's not going to get in the way of a conversation.
PTT calls can also be converted to cellular calls by the person who inititated the call. This even works with PTT conversations to multiple different lines.
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Motorola VA76r Tundra
