Motorola GLEAM deals & review

Since the 2007 release of the iPhone by Apple the majority of mobile phone manufacturers have been quick to jump on the touchscreen bandwagon. With more and more touchscreen phones being released year on year it is starting to feel to many that older, and still highly popular, phone designs have been pushed to the side in the minds of the big phone makers. One of these designs is the clamshell or flip phone, which just a few years back was one of the most popular styles of phone to possess.

This was largely down to their convenient design that made them slim and easy to carry about, and this was more true for Motorola´s range of RAZR phones than any other. The RAZR handsets were renowned for their exceptional slimness which allowed them to be carried about inconspicuously. The Motorola Gleam is a return back to this phone design that many have missed and that Motorola above all other manufacturers were expects at designing.

The Gleam may seem light on features compared to touchscreen phones, but still provides some excellent entertainment value of its own. Music and video are both well supported through the phones media player, and the Gleam also comes with an FM radio for additional musical entertainment. Internal storage is set at 5MB but can be expanded with microSD cards to 16GB, providing plenty of room for music and video. The Gleam also comes with some nice games to enjoy.

The Gleam features a great HTML browser although web access is perhaps not the Gleam´s greatest feature as it does not come with 3G, Wi-Fi or even EDGE and is instead limited to GPRS connections. Even so, the Gleam does come with support for email, alongside the SMS and MMS messages supported. The Gleam also comes with a 2 megapixel camera that you can use for capturing great photographs and this also comes with some video support.

The Gleam comes with a very sleek and stylish design that will provide a nostalgic appeal to anyone who used to own a similar device. While opting for an older physical design the Gleam introduces some newer features, although it could have benefitted by some better connectivity options. For an affordable handset though, and for people not too bothered by web activity on their phone, the Gleam is a great little phone for standard messaging and calls.