Display & Audio
Both of the M1's color displays yielded excellent results. The internal 2" QVGA (320 x 240) TFT LCD screen is capable of displaying 262,000 colors, and generally rendered crisp images with sharp, clear color. The only trouble I had reading the display came under direct, fairly intense sunlight. Navigating menus, browsing the Web, playing games and watching videos were all a delight on this display. While color depth isn't quite state-of-the-art (16 million colors is the current upper range for mobile handsets), most users won't notice any sort of lack in this department.
The external display on the M1 was also very functional and easy to read. This display shows all necessary information related to Caller ID, date, time, signal strength, and even music player functionality. Both displays can be customized with various wallpapers and even be made to flash various colors when an incoming call is detected.
The handset also supports 3D gaming. As mentioned, I happened to take a shine to the Monopoly game available for purchase and download from Sprint. While Monopoly isn't a 3D shooter, I did test out a few more graphically robust titles and the results were generally quite good. The M1 won't replace your Playstation 3, but it is a solid choice for casual mobile gaming.
I tested M1 on Sprint's network in the San Francisco Bay Area. Reception and performance on this dual-band CDMA handset were very good for calling. Calls on the built-in speakerphone were very loud and clear, as were ringtones and other audio alert tones. The M1's dual stereo speakers also performed very well for music playback — so far as cell phone speakers go, anyway.
The M1's retail package included a 3.5mm headphone adapter with built-in microphone and a set of stereo earbuds. While the included earbuds work fairly well for calls and stereo music playback, the adapter allows for the use of higher quality stereo headphones, which really open up the M1's music player capabilities.
The M1 supports the A2DP stereo Bluetooth profile for wireless audio playback with compatible devices. While the handset works perfectly well with mono Bluetooth headsets, the use of A2DP-compatible stereo headsets allows for static free wireless music playback.
One annoyance is that the M1 does not support user-installed ringtones. While ringtones purchased from the Sprint store can be used on the phone, user-installed audio (including music tracks) will not be recognized as ringtones.
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4.5
