[CELL PHONE] Motorola V3 RAZR

[Danoff]

Motorola V3 RAZR ​

I purchased two Motorola V3's over 1 year ago. After using it for a year I can safely say that it's the best phone I have ever owned.

Cost: $50, two year contract with cingular

Pros

• Slim size allows it to fit easily into men AND WOMEN'S pant pockets.
• Flip phone ensures no accidental dialings
• Good color screen
• Good battery life, even after 1 year of operation. I usually charge 1-2 times/week.
• Durable. Both of the phones that I purchased have been dropped multiple times (on concrete, from chest level). Neither has suffered any loss in functionality.
• Short charge time from totally drained (~45 minutes).
• Bluetooth connectivity allows you to pick from a wide variety of headsets.
• Good volume.
• Significant phone memory for ring tones and picture storage.
• Side button volume control/ring stopper prevents you from having to get the phone out to stop it from ringing.
• Sufficient built-in camera.
• MP3 Capability

Cons

• Slim form factor makes the phone easy to drop (on concrete, from chest level ).
• Non-intuitive menu options. Often the available options are hidden, requiring just the right button to be pressed before they show up. This can be irritating for the first few months of ownership.
• Bluetooth isn't strong enough for very long range operation. Also, microwaves interfere with the singal.
• I still haven't figured out how to conference call.
• Slim form factor isn't the most comfortable when you're holding the phone to your ear. This isn't a big deal, but it does mean that a lot of grease from your face ends up all over the buttons and screen.

Overall rating: 9.5/10

I love the phone, and will not be purchasing another phone for years if this one continues to work. It does everything I want and now that I've found a good bluetooth headset, I can't imagine going nuts for a new phone. This may be the first cell phone that I actually find it worthwhile to buy a replacement battery when the original battery wears out.

 

[Sage]

Slim size allows it to fit easily into men AND WOMEN'S pant pockets.

Is there something we don’t know about you?

 

[Tornado]

Is there something we don’t know about you?

 

[Danoff]

Is there something we don’t know about you?

I have a wife who refused to keep her phone in her pant pocket because it was too big and created a huge bulge (women's pants tend to be tight with very small pockets). As a result, she kept her cell phone in her purse... but, for fear of irritating others with phone ringing, she usually had it turned off.

I found this irritating since I couldn't usually get ahold of her. The RAZR fixed the problem since now she can fit it in her pocket and use the vibrate option. In my mind, that drastically improves its functionality for women.

 

[TB]

The RAZR fixed the problem since now she can fit it in her pocket and use the vibrate option.

Is there something we should know about her?

 

[ExigeEvan]

I've heard the buttons can go dodgy on these? Anyone had problems?

 

[Evolution.]

My parents have a couple and the flip-top part is very weak. The hinge isn't strong enough and lets it wobble when open.

 

[Danoff]

I've heard the buttons can go dodgy on these? Anyone had problems?

I haven't had any problems with the buttons.

My parents have a couple and the flip-top part is very weak. The hinge isn't strong enough and lets it wobble when open.

No hinge problems on either of mine.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Perhaps I'll make sure this is my mum's next phone. It's the most annoying thing watching her dig through her (oversized) handbag trying to find her phone.

 

[Keichi Tsuchiya]

The buttons are different on mine, anyone can tell me why?

 

[ExigeEvan]

The buttons are different on mine, anyone can tell me why?

You probably have one of many variations. A V3x perhaps?

 

[Silverzone]

I love my RAZR. It's sturdy as hell, mines been dropped many times and the only damage is that it's slightly scratched. I love it. 👍

 

[UnoMOTO]

This could be a off shoot of "Tale of two Phones". Both my wife and I have RAZRs. I haven't had many problems but her on the other had is on her third battery. Even with that the current battery will only last a day no matter what her talk time was. She often flips it open and sees a blank white screen. I have only had minor issues of these. If I had it to do all over again I would not buy these phones again. I do like the size and the fact that I can put it in the change pocket of my jeans.

 

[Duke]

This is a phone I'm seriously looking into, because I definitely need a slim phone with a small form factor.

I really don't care about extras and will likely never use the MP3 capability, but the things I'm adamant about are reception, sound clarity, and battery life. Sounds like the battery life is good; how are the other two items?

I've heard other people say the Motorola software sucks - can you give me some examples, Dan?

@03R1: Does your wife work in a location somewhat different than you? If her phone continually has to hunt for service, it will murder her battery life. My wife and I have identical LG phones. Battery life is very good for me, but hers runs down more, even in 1 day as you state. We switched phones for a few days and got the samne results. Her office is in a peripheral areas, and her phone has to troll around looking for a cel all day when she's at work.

 

[UnoMOTO]

@03R1: Does your wife work in a location somewhat different than you? If her phone continually has to hunt for service, it will murder her battery life. My wife and I have identical LG phones. Battery life is very good for me, but hers runs down more, even in 1 day as you state. We switched phones for a few days and got the samne results. Her office is in a peripheral areas, and her phone has to troll around looking for a cel all day when she's at work.

Its a good thought but I work about 20 miles outside of town and she works smack dab in the middle of Denver. My ex-wife has the same phone as my current wife and she thinks the RAZR sucks too. One thing to maybe consider is production runs. I would guess that they tweak some software as they find bugs and problems. Maybe you wouldn't have the problems we do?

edit...besides that I have seen that you can get a free RAZR with some plans! That might make things worth it!

 

[ExigeEvan]

Is it to do with bad charging practice?

Like lots of short charges rather than one big charge.

 

[UnoMOTO]

Is it to do with bad charging practice?

Like lots of short charges rather than one big charge.

Well...when the battery is completely dead at the end of the day, its always one big charge. I might add that after the first two batteries then we replaced her phone which did make it slightly better. At least she can make it though a day now.

 

[ExigeEvan]

But was it bad from the start, or did it become a problem?

 

[UnoMOTO]

Yes...it was bad from the start! Keep in mind I am just one person. I'm sure that there are millions of these phones out there that don't have these issues. If it was a huge problem I guessing a recall would have been in order.

 

[Pupik]

My wife has a RAZR (Cingular, not that it matters), and I like a lot about it. It's just right but for one thing: The wavy, glowing lines between the buttons buttons seem to "trick" my eyes/fingers into pressing the wrong key for some reason...weird.

Otherwise, when my old V180 bites the dust/battery won't charge, I'm looking into possibly getting one.

 

[Danoff]

This is a phone I'm seriously looking into, because I definitely need a slim phone with a small form factor.

I really don't care about extras and will likely never use the MP3 capability, but the things I'm adamant about are reception, sound clarity, and battery life. Sounds like the battery life is good; how are the other two items?

I don't know that the sound clarity is superb, but I've never had a problem with it. Of course, I primarily use my headset to speak on, so I'm mostly listening to/trasmitting the sound clarity from the headset. I haven't had any problems with sound clarity. I would warn that the speakerphone is not full duplexing so it can be difficult to use if there's any background noise.

I've heard other people say the Motorola software sucks - can you give me some examples, Dan?

Ok, here's an example. Let's say you want to set an alarm.

Press menu.
Select settings (why is it under settings? Dunno)
Select Tools (is an alarm a tool? Maybe...)
Select Alarm Clock

At this point you'll see a list of 6 times that have previously been alarms for you. To use one of these 6, you have to select "enable" which is an option in the lower right. If you don't want any of those 6, you can go down to "New Alarm", but when you punch that it says "Alarm Clock Full".

So you have to edit one of the 6... but how do you do that? There isn't anything on the screen that indicates that's even possible. However, if you highlight one of the alarms and hit the "menu" button, you'll get the option to edit one. Then, you can go back and enable it.

Maybe that doesn't sound too tricky to you, but I find it cumbersome. It's a bunch of menus/button pushes, and it's never clear when the menu button does something. The same is true for your address/phone number book. Pushing the menu button enables a set of options to edit the phone numbers. Unless you remember to hit that button, you'll be hard pressed to figure out how to do it.

What this means is that I'm convinced that there are still capabilities with my phone that I haven't discovered after a year of owning it.

 

[Slick Rick]

Does anyone know what these two holes are for, Ive always wondered but I cant figure it out:



My review? Well Ive got a V3i and its a noisy phone, makes all these buzzing noises when the screens on and when charging. Motarola have ironed out most of the bugs of the V3 and have perfected the looks. The camera's ok but not great, when you take a picture and see it on the screen you cant really tell its a megapixel camera. Only when you put them on the computer the pics turn out to be pretty good. The battery life is also average, I was hoping for it to be a bit better. From full charge my battery lasts about two-three days.
If your considering buying a V3, definately go for the V3i.

 

[the Interceptor]

I've owned a V3i for some months now, and it has only one downside (which has been mentioned before, and we'll get to later on). The upsides are the very flat design, great buttons and a brilliant display, the fairly good camera (good enough for a quick snapshot anyway) and many other things. One thing I also like about this phone is the flip design, which kind of "hugs" your head, if you know what I mean. As miniaturization is going on in this business, and you need to hold the speaker close to your ear, the mic will get further and further away from your mouth. This does not only decrease sound quality, but also is prone to catch ambient noise, reducing the sound quality even more. Due to the flip design, you can have a flat and fairly small phone which will have the speaker and the mic close to your ear and mouth when in use. Obviously, you get the same with other flip phones, but this is one of the best.

The only downside I see, which seems to be inherent with Motorola phones, is the bad menu structure. The Sony Ericsson T300 I had before, although in no way comparable to the V3i, had a much better menu. And so had all the Nokias I've had my hands on until today. Of course you will get used to it, and it is not a big enough reason not to buy it. Still, you'll have plenty of moments browsing the menus when you'll think:"This could have been done better.".

Still, a very good phone. 👍

Regards
the Interceptor

 

[Keichi Tsuchiya]

Does anyone know what these two holes are for, Ive always wondered but I cant figure it out:

Blah blah blah...

The top one is a light sensor, the bottom, I don't know.

 

[Sting]

I heard that the numbers and letters on the keypad wear off easily.

 

[Danny]

I heard the buttons become desensitised (can this word be used in this context?) very easily.

Anyone had any experience of this?

 

[Jondot]

Does anyone know what these two holes are for, Ive always wondered but I cant figure it out:

I always thought one was a microphone. Atleast is is on mine, I think.

My review? Well Ive got a V3i and its a noisy phone, makes all these buzzing noises when the screens on and when charging.

YES. My V3x makes an awful buzzing noise when the keypad is lit up, and it annoys the hell out of me. As for battery life, don't even go there. After about 4 months you'll find that it suddenly won't hold a charge for more than a day and the battery meter starts lying to you. Great... Fine, I thought, maybe the battery is faulty, so I order a new, even higher capacity one. Does exactly the same thing. So, mine is now sitting in Argos while they jab screwdrivers at it and call their supervisors when it starts beeping too loud. Yay. Hopefully they won't be able to fix it and I can exchange it for a Sony Ericsson. But yeah, before it breaks it was actually very good. Battery life wasn't great, but the features were very good.

I heard the buttons become desensitised (can this word be used in this context?) very easily.

Anyone had any experience of this?

Not personally, but I doubt it'll happen that easily. Maybe a little quicker than your standard phone, but meh.

 

[Max_DC]

Two friends of mine have this phone and both agree that it sucks... Software bugs and refuses to work sometimes, especially if it's very cold outside... personally I never used it, just wanted to say that. It's not perfect obviously...
Couldn't say that my cell phone is that great either... SonyEriccson k750i ... while it is great phone overall, the ministick is not working that great anymore...

 

[the Interceptor]

I heard that the numbers and letters on the keypad wear off easily.

That's kinda impossible, because the numbers and letters are actually cut out of the metal sheet.

I heard the buttons become desensitised (can this word be used in this context?) very easily.

Anyone had any experience of this?

Not yet, but my phone isn't too old.

 

[Danoff]

I haven't had any problems with the buttons losing their functionality or any trouble with them wearing out. I also haven't heard any buzzing noises with either mine or my wife's.

One problem that I've had with the buttons is that occasionally they catch the hairs on my beard when I'm talking. Then when I pull the phone away I have to pull out a hair or two.... kinda painful but not a deal breaker.