Customer Reviews

Motorola MA351 2.4 GHz Analog Cordless Phone with Caller ID (Silver)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I had been looking for a 2.4GHz phone for a while. I wanted a great color-matched home/office phone with good reception, Caller ID, backlit LCD and buttons, and not on the heavy side. The phone also needed to be friendly to my WIFI / 802.11b wireless network. This phone matched my requirements.

Pros
* color-blended well with my PowerMac G4 Quicksilver computer, and black TV -- should look great with any silver-grey/black setup
* green backlit LCD and buttons
* good voice quality and reception
* no interference with WIFI / 802.11b wireless network -- including the Mac airport
* belt-clip and ear piece socket for hands free use

Cons
* ringer button is on/off only -- and the ringer is loud
* function buttons are tricky to use and a bit small -- for example, the caller ID history button sometimes needs to be pressed several times for it to work
* straight shape is not very comfortable to hold against ear

Still, a great cordless phone in this price range.

Been happy with this phone for a couple of months now; particularly like the rubber edges that provide a nice, solid grip on the phone. The simple shape and the nice weight makes the phone feel sturdy. As others have commented, it looks less star-trekky than a lot of other phones out there - a real plus. The answering machine is easy to figure out and does the job nicely; caller-ID seems reliable enough.

Only complaint is the ringer on/off button that has been placed exactly where you're most likely to get switched off by accident - most other 2.4Ghz' I've tried had the button in the exact same place, so Motorola's not the only vendor failing here. Oh, and the cover for the battery compartment pops off every so often unless you use strong language and/or brute force to keep it in place.

Even though this thing has a built-in answering machine, the footprint is reasonably small. A real plus is the nicely executed wall-mount that takes the phone off your table.

I would have liked to have seen intercom or additional handset options with this phone, but even without, it's the best thing i could find on the market at any price.

After a lot of looking and many returned phones, I settled on this Motorola. It has all of the features most people need in a cordless, in a very compact and stylish form factor. It is also about the only normal looking phone on the market which discretely fits into your room, unlike all the wannabe Star Trek communcators out there...

Pros:
-Form factor: Small and unobtrusive
-Good range and very clear reception
-Effective and easy to use caller ID features
-Very handy volume buttons on the side of the handset with several settings
-Great battery life
-Price

Cons: (mostly minor annoyances)
-Display is small and sometimes hard to read (although it is backlit)
-Message waiting indicator on base (for voicemail) does not work
-Some interference with my WiFi base station (although only when they are very close)
-Hard to hold against your ear with your shoulder

Other than it's good looks, this phone is pretty much all around bad. My model is 7 months old & the battery will not hold a charge for more than 15 minutes (seriously!). In addition, every time I use the microwave it causes static, and the battery cover always falls off. The memory dial only holds 10 numbers. Motorola is obviously letting their product quality slide.

This phone was good for the first few month, but has gone downhill ever since. The speaker is not very loud and the ringer is very hard to hear even in a quiet room. I bought one of these for myself and one for my mother, and both phones now have a lot of static when making calls even standing next to the base station. Range is good, if you can deal with the static (changing channels doesn't help). The base station is supposed to indicate when there is a message waiting with our phone provider, but it often gives false positives and misses other calls. We bought a panasonic now and everything is much better, even the message waiting indicator.

I just bought this phone 3 days ago and I have had a problem witht he static coming from the handset while the phone is one the base. It is loud and annoying. I initally liked the way the phone looked and after using it I thought it was a really good buy until the static started. It will be returned today.

I liked this phone until I got it home. When the handset is sitting on the base, the handset will intermittantly emit static every few seconds - CONSTANTLY. But only when its sitting on the base. I even took it to work and tried plugging it in at my desk and it did the same thing (I live in an older house and thought it might be the 50+ year old electrical - nope!) I've had it for 5 days and its going back tonight.

We bought this phone after a long search for a new phone. We have a Sony which worked wonderful and we have had it for over 5 years. We needed another phone in the house so we purchased this one. It worked in the room where the base was and that was pretty much it. The minute you went out into another room, the phone would get a lot of static. It was pretty annoying and we tried switching channels to move to a better channel and nothing seemed to work. We weren't happy with the product at all which is surprising considering it's a motorola. Be careful when you consider buying this phone.

I purchased mine in May '04. So far no problems but the phone is rarely used. I was going upgrade to additional models but I think I will hold out and see how long this one lasts. I was skeptical purchasing a motorola model after working for a cellular company and motorola's answer to all phone problems was one of three things your carrier, physical damage or water damage. Like I said so far no problems, clear sound and battery lasting a good length of time.

There is a lot I like about this phone, however none of what I like outweighs the fact that the sound quality is so bad I had to take it back within the first week of buying it. The appearance, weight, features and price were all excellent. BUT when I spoke to someone on the phone, my voice (and surrounding noise) came through my earpiece like a loudspeaker! It's as if the mouthpiece is a microphone playing through the earpiece amplifier. Very annoying and impossible to have a conversation with anyone unless they are a real yapper and don't let you say a word anyway! I don't recommend buying this one at all.