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Motorola’s MC55xx – A barcode scanning mobile office?
By Brendon McLoughlin

Its rarely in the enterprise world that something which is dedicated to work comes along which is also a lot of fun, but the MC range from Symbol (now know as 'Motorola') mobile devices are perhaps the exception to the rule.

You can find plenty of reviews which totally contradict the looks and feel of the unit but very often you find that people who reshape apples into oranges usually end up with nothing more than a tasty mess. There are also those who perhaps look at the MC55 through Rose Tinted glass's also.

See Rugged PC Review ( MC55 Rugged PC Review by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer ) for more technical an alternative review.

And now for something completely different …
EDAs are completely different to PDAs in my view, as PDAs are not normally directly designed to compete with mobile phones, just like mobile phones are not always designed to be IP54 rated or often don't come with dedicated barcode scan engine on board.

This article is not a PDA review either, however in places it will pretty much read as an EDA ( Enterprise Digital Assistants ) review might, when in fact it is an attempt to perhaps focus our vision in relation to which product (MC1000, MC3000, MC35, MC70, MC50, MC55, MC75, MC9000) in the Motorola MC range wins (in my view) the barcode scanning mobile office race.

When looking at EDA's you must keep in mind, the primary focus should always be a Business spec for a targeted set of Business applications. Boring I know, but for me the MC55 is as close as it gets to a Miss World or Mr Universe in the EDA world on looks alone.

In 2008, the first MC55 was released, instead these none GPRS / WWAN units were postured on the Windows Mobile 6.1 Classic (No Phone) mobile platform and carried the model prefix of MC5590. This lead to a little confusion, as all the documentation including the website and the spec sheets also outlined the spec for not just the MC5590 but also the next release which would be the MC5574.

Early adopters (like myself) quickly came to the conclusion that the MC5590 was very much like a sweet enhanced yet smaller version of the MC7090. Now if your familiar with the MC7090, you may also agree we are talking about a serious lump of Enterprise Technology when we speak of the MC7090.

With a MC7090 comparison in mind, here's an example of what my personal MC5590 EDA released in 2008 includes:

  • Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Classic (Touch screen features excluding phone functions)
  • 802.11a/b,g Wireless
  • Bluetooth 2
  • 1D SE950 barcode scan engine
  • Light assisted 2mb Auto-focus High Resolution Colour Digital Camera ( which also offers barcode scanning )
  • 3.5" QVGA
  • 520 MHz processor
  • IP54
  • QWERTY keypad (Note: The MC5590 image is of the Numeric Keypad version)
Motorola’s MC5590 – A barcode scanning mobile office?
Motorola’s MC5574 – A barcode scanning mobile office?

This month ( May 2009 ), Motorola have released as planned the MC5574, which is the GPRS / WWAN version of the MC5590 but on the Microsoft Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 platform ( Touch screen features and phone functions ).

Something Old…
Ok, when it comes to EDA’s, yes they are of the old style, big and bulky. The MC55 is too large and too thick, for it to be used as a mobile phone and have it fit inside your trouser pocket or bag. A mobile, mobile phone it ( in my view ) is not. If you used to double digit talk times like 40 hours, start thinking in single digit hours instead. Keep in mind, that EDAs are focused on business applications and in the business world of EDA’s that means Barcodes, Swipe Cards and RFID as data capture devices. Don’t worry about this to much in my view, because if your like me, you have a personal relationship with your mobile phone that means the EDA is only a brief distraction when if comes to verbal communications of the TelCo type.

Something New…
Perhaps at this point you wondering why bother with the MC5574 at all, if you going to stay with your favourite iphone, why not instead just focus on the MC5590 as a serious business EDA. What’s new about the MC5574 is that it includes some functions which your favourite mobile phone is most likely going to struggle with in a world of unified communications.

What the MC5574 functionally gives us over the MC5590, is full duplex voice, push-to-talk (PTT) over the WWAN and WLAN, enabling one-to-one calls as well as
walkie-talkie style instant communications. The MC5574 includes Motorola’s new ‘Total Enterprise Access and Mobility’ (TEAM) Express Solution

Lets not forget the GPS … SiRFstarIII GSC3ef/LP GPS chipset means, assisted and autonomous GPS support for robust location-based applications while SUPL 1.0 compliant giving a high performance, power efficient processor capable of acquiring and maintaining a signal lock in areas where signals are typically weak which expanding the coverage area for GPS applications and gives faster time to first fix (TTFF) and flexibility to operate in either standalone or assisted GPS (aGPS) mode (carrier dependent) for faster and more accurate positioning, especially in challenging areas

If you find all the juicy bits available, have you thinking, perhaps the MC5574 would be helpful as a mobile phone too, your not far wrong. Forgiving the unit for not being an iphone you may forgive the MC5574 when you consider adding this Quad Band (850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz)all singing all dancing all be it obese smart phone to you mobile office arsenal.

Something borrowed…
The MC5574 borrows the Wifi functionality from the MC5590, but pulls this back from 802.11a,b/g to 802.11b/g. While there is a reduced selection of keypads offered with the MC5574, the QWERTY keypad borrowed from the MC5590 is also available on some models.

Something blue…
Ok, so the only thing blue on an MC55xx mobile device is its function button, however here are a few points which may leave you a little blue …

The Price - Motorola in Jan. 2009 ( in there wisdom ) have increased the price of many of their mobile products, up to as much as 15% on some devices. When you keep in mind the financial roll-a-coaster the world went on during the Winter of 2008, It is critical to note, many US dollar denominated manufactures have been force fed this bitter pill by an unsteady global economy and a weakness in the US Dollar. In May 2009, average prices start at between € 1400 ~ €1800 euros depending on the model required, don't forget to add accessories, there are quite a few in the Motorola range.

The New MicroSD - I am not at all impressed by the new MicroSD slot, so much so, I wrote a visual guide to help users to understand the fit and replace procedure a little better. This MicroSD slot configuration which sits under the SIM card slot is well below the usual Motorola standard, in my view.

Talk Time - as a mobile phone, "… its the battery Jim, she just cant take it …" . You have 6 hours talk time, instead of 40 hours, so best to keep your old personal favourite mobile phone handy as a backup or keep a spare battery … or two … or ten.

Battery Release Latch - In my personal view there is something about the battery release latch mechanism, that my gut keeps telling me, here is where I expect later I may have my first hardware problems.

Company IT Standards - One further important note, if your part of a global enterprise which normally seeks to enforce a common IT standard, beware that the new MC5574 is not available in North America and globally until the second quarter of 2009.

In conclusion:
If you jumped to the conclusion without reading the entire article, shame on you … well perhaps I cant talk, it's a affliction I too am cursed with.

Any who …

What can I say, this is my personal windows mobile 6.1 unit of choice. This for me offers the best mobile office applications and the best data capture enterprise business all rounder flexible options from the entire Motorola range of mobile devices. Its size (while a little obese) is just about acceptable for mobile phone work. Given a choice (as I was) as to which unit offered best value for money and was flexible across a wide range of business applications, when I narrowed My Personal View of the Motorola Range of MC Mobile Devices to MC55, MC70, MC75, the MC55 came in as my personal EDA barcode scanning mobile office choice.

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