Features
The Motorola Razr V3 has a generous set of features. The 1,000-name phone book can hold six phone numbers and an e-mail address in each entry. Contacts can be assigned to caller groups and be paired with a picture (which shows up on the external screen) or any of 14 monophonic or 5 polyphonic ring tones. Other features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, MP3 file support, a calculator, voice dialling, a date book, an alarm clock, AOL Instant Messenger, a WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser, and a voice recorder. You also get support for POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 e-mail; full Bluetooth connectivity; a USB port; and a speakerphone. Our only complaint is that the speakerphone can be turned on only when a call is in progress. You can personalise the V3 with a variety of wallpaper, colours, screensavers, and sounds.
The Razr V3 has a VGA camera that can snap photos in three resolutions: 640x480, 320x240, and 160x120. We would have preferred to see a megapixel camera on such an expensive handset, but it gets the job done and takes good-quality pics. You can use the 4X zoom and the self-timer, adjust the brightness or exposure setting, and choose from six lighting conditions and five shutter sounds, as well as a silent option. When finished with your shots, you can send them to friends, pair them with contacts, or save them as wallpaper. A convenient meter keeps track of how much space in the 5MB of memory is left. Though 5MB should be fine for many people, we'd prefer a bit more to play with. The handset supports video playback but not video recording -- a disappointing omission.
Performance
Call quality was generally admirable. Though we enjoyed the excellent clarity, the volume level was somewhat low, so anyone with a hearing impairment should test the phone first. Speakerphone quality was mostly good, though it sounded a bit tinny at times and also suffered volume-wise. We made calls using a Logitech Mobile Bluetooth headset. The reception came through with a bit at of static, but we had no problem pairing the two devices.
Battery life was commendable. We fell short of the rated talk time of 7 hours by 30 minutes but were still pleased. Likewise, though we managed 10 days of standby time, compared with the promised 12 days, that's still a good time.
Edited by William O'Neal
Additional editing by Mary Lojkine
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User reviews8
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Laura Jones 8 June 2006
Good: Holds 70 SMS
Bad: Ring tones
Comment: Brilliant phone overall
Donna Bartyczak 7 June 2006
Good: Style and features
Bad: Technical difficulties. Dropped calls, unable to receive incoming calls and the fact that they don't ship the Motorola Phone tools software with it
Comment: Motorola missed the mark with this phone. Great style, but lacking in technical reliability. They need to ship the USB cable and Motorola Phone Tools software with a high-end phone such as the Razor V3. Without the cable AND software this phone does not let you access some of its features via a PC. I think that T-Mobile has lost some credability with all of the problems. I am on my second phone since mid-April (it's 6 June) and I just got off the phone with T-Mobile technical support.
Annie G. 27 May 2006
Good: The thin and attractive design
Bad: The buzzing of the keypad and grease stains on the screens
Comment: I had expected to receive a phone with no flaws whatsoever for the price paid. When I bought the phone, I was completely in awe of the attractive design, camera's quality and playful ringtones, skins and backgrounds, although after a day or two, I realized that the keypad made an incredibly loud buzzing sound. I returned back to the store to change it although only gave me another back in return with the exact same problem. Now I've asked them to order a new one for me in hope that it will not suffer from this problem but in the meantime, I've been waiting for over two weeks now without a phone. Other cons of this phone are that it is quite wide and to use it I usually have to use both of my hands or keep placing my hand in a different position on the phone. I do really enjoy the large screen though although wish that Motorola fixed the problem of the buzzing keypad.
P.S. I live in Italy and bought it in Italy, so I do not know if the phone suffers from the same buzzing sound in the US, UK, etc.
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