Phone : Motorola RAZR V3?
Phone : Motorola RAZR V3?
Author
Discussion

neil.b

Original Poster:

6,546 posts

276 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
Getting bored with my phone so was having a look around.

The new Nokia 6170 is nice looking but I also really like the idea of the Motorola V3 - its so thin and I hate chunky phones.

Anyone got one and can give some feedback? What's the keyboard like to use (its touch controlled, not mechanical)?


JustTheTip

1,035 posts

265 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
Hey Neil,

Got one myself, and it is without doubt the best phone I've ever had. If you're used to Nokias then the motorola navigation may take a few minutes to get used to.

I had some reservations about the width of the keypad for writing text messages, but after a couple of texts it's no harder than any of the many p[hone's I've had to use.

Great camera, great wallpapers. Bluetooth will automatically detect when the phone's paired headset is switched on and put calls to it. My T610 didn't do this, and it used to be a pain when getting in the car having to switch the headset on and then link them via the phone.

And it comes int the coolest metal box ever.

Let me know if you have any moire specific questions.

Tip

JustTheTip

1,035 posts

265 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
I also found this site invaluable when picking my phone....

http://gsmarena.com/

neil.b

Original Poster:

6,546 posts

276 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
JustTheTip said:
Hey Neil,

Got one myself, and it is without doubt the best phone I've ever had. If you're used to Nokias then the motorola navigation may take a few minutes to get used to.

I had some reservations about the width of the keypad for writing text messages, but after a couple of texts it's no harder than any of the many p[hone's I've had to use.

Great camera, great wallpapers. Bluetooth will automatically detect when the phone's paired headset is switched on and put calls to it. My T610 didn't do this, and it used to be a pain when getting in the car having to switch the headset on and then link them via the phone.

And it comes int the coolest metal box ever.

Let me know if you have any moire specific questions.

Tip


What about battery life? Standby times mainly...

JustTheTip

1,035 posts

265 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
The manual quotes 280 hours standby and 7 hours talk time. I'd say these are spot on, as I've done a week before charging using the phone a bit, and have also done lots of days hard talking without it going flat on me.

Tuna

19,930 posts

313 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
I've had one for a few months, it's a good phone with a couple of minor niggles. The keyboard has a small amount of movement and a positive click to it, so it feels very good. Great reception, and battery life is not bad, considering the phone is so small (keep bluetooth turned off, and screen brightness turned down a little to maximise time between charges). I've added a couple of Java games which are a distraction, and the camera is fine for holiday snaps, but not much else (same with all phone cameras). It fits very nicely into your pocket.

Downsides are that being all silver and shiney, it shows up fingerprints and dirt very quickly - but a brief wipe over sorts that out. The phone book is useless - add more contact details for the same person, and they come up as a separate entry on the phone book list. There is no (easy) way to just view sim or phone contacts, so you end up with a long, messy list of entries.

The browser is good, it plays videos and stuff, but only has 5Meg memory, so you can't store that much on it. It doesn't record video from the camera.

Overall, it's a great phone and I'd recommend it.

>> Edited by Tuna on Tuesday 25th January 12:23

JustTheTip

1,035 posts

265 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
Tuna said:

Downsides are that being all silver and shiney, it shows up fingerprints and dirt very quickly

I've only found that the outer screen picks up dirt/fingerprints.

Oh, and being metal if you drop it on the floor it WILL scratch!

neil.b

Original Poster:

6,546 posts

276 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
Duly ordered.

Thanks for all the info chaps

simonrockman

7,119 posts

284 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
If anyone has specific questions about the V3, I work for Motorola and can get answers.

I'm pleased Tuna picked up on the click to the keyboard, doing thin keyboards is very difficult and making it both thin and feel good is much like my friend who wants a 7 seater MPV which is small, easy to park and fuel efficient.

The thing the techies here are most pleased about with the V3 is the radio performance.

Simon

b17nns

18,506 posts

276 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
My contract is up for renewal.

Im with 02 - perfectly happy.

Thought I would have a look at how much it would cost for an upgrade to a V3.

Had a look on the 02 website - £49.

Excellent I thought. Called 02 and said I would like to continue my contract and have an upgrade to the V3.

That will be £249 please sir. WTF???

But it's only £49 on the website.

We can't match the prices on the website sir.

So I have had to cancel my contract with 02 and start a new contract with 02 (the website).

Im confudled.

neil.b

Original Poster:

6,546 posts

276 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
simonrockman said:
If anyone has specific questions about the V3, I work for Motorola and can get answers.

I'm pleased Tuna picked up on the click to the keyboard, doing thin keyboards is very difficult and making it both thin and feel good is much like my friend who wants a 7 seater MPV which is small, easy to park and fuel efficient.

The thing the techies here are most pleased about with the V3 is the radio performance.

Simon


I have one question.

Can you make it go "ring ring"? If all the rings are musical I ain't gonna be happy....

Tuna

19,930 posts

313 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
simonrockman said:
If anyone has specific questions about the V3, I work for Motorola and can get answers.
.
.
.
The thing the techies here are most pleased about with the V3 is the radio performance.

Simon


Simon, you can tell the phone is made by engineers - the hardware is brilliant, the software is 'merely' good. The phonebook really really needs fixing. It's annoying that Motorolla haven't/won't release the Java API for the phone book, then at least I (and others) could write something a little bit more useable.

Bluetooth is also a bit odd - but that's just a design problem with Bluetooth as a whole. When things work they're great. When they fail, working out what is wrong is near impossible. I used to be able to browse the web through Virgin GPRS on my PDA (using the V3 as a bluetooth modem - very handy). It suddenly stopped working and I have no idea whether it's the phone, the pda or virgin's service that has failed. If any of your guys have any ideas, I'd be very grateful.

marcos maniac

3,148 posts

290 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
neil.b said:




I have one question.

Can you make it go "ring ring"? If all the rings are musical I ain't gonna be happy....






marcos maniac

3,148 posts

290 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
b17nns said:
My contract is up for renewal.

Im with 02 - perfectly happy.

Thought I would have a look at how much it would cost for an upgrade to a V3.

Had a look on the 02 website - £49.

Excellent I thought. Called 02 and said I would like to continue my contract and have an upgrade to the V3.

That will be £249 please sir. WTF???

But it's only £49 on the website.

We can't match the prices on the website sir.

So I have had to cancel my contract with 02 and start a new contract with 02 (the website).

Im confudled.


I renewed my contract with vodafone and managed to get 2 F.O.C

dds1

1,407 posts

287 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
one minor complaint..

if (like me) you have lustrous sideburns (not pork chops per se, but a little sideboardage), errant hairs can often get caught in the side of the keypad with this phone for some reason, and bejesus it hurts pulling it away..


other than that, it's great

>> Edited by dds1 on Tuesday 25th January 17:15

neil.b

Original Poster:

6,546 posts

276 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
dds1 said:
one minor complaint..

if (like me) you have lustrous sideburns (not pork chops per se, but a little sideboardage), errant hairs can often get caught in the side of the keypad with this phone for some reason, and bejesus it hurts pulling it away..


other than that, it's great

>> Edited by dds1 on Tuesday 25th January 17:15


Noted.


piquet

671 posts

286 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
can i second what tuna has said about the address book

generally the phone is great, i love how it looks and without doubt has the best reception of any phone i've used, it also feels well enginnered, the way it opens and closes is good

the only place i've been disappointed with it is with the address book, because of it's weirdness, i can't sync it with either my palm or my mac, palm don't even seem to have a phone driver for it, which means i can send it picture via bluetooth but can do all the useful stuff like using the palm to sms etc. if you were able to sort that, it would be without doubt the best phone i've ever had

neil.b

Original Poster:

6,546 posts

276 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
piquet said:
can i second what tuna has said about the address book

generally the phone is great, i love how it looks and without doubt has the best reception of any phone i've used, it also feels well enginnered, the way it opens and closes is good

the only place i've been disappointed with it is with the address book, because of it's weirdness, i can't sync it with either my palm or my mac, palm don't even seem to have a phone driver for it, which means i can send it picture via bluetooth but can do all the useful stuff like using the palm to sms etc. if you were able to sort that, it would be without doubt the best phone i've ever had


Hmmmm. What are you using to (fail to) sync it with your Mac? I used bluetooth and Missing Sync with my Sony phone at the moment....

mel

10,168 posts

304 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
simonrockman said:
If anyone has specific questions about the V3, I work for Motorola and can get answers.

I'm pleased Tuna picked up on the click to the keyboard, doing thin keyboards is very difficult and making it both thin and feel good is much like my friend who wants a 7 seater MPV which is small, easy to park and fuel efficient.

The thing the techies here are most pleased about with the V3 is the radio performance.

Simon


Certainly, as said get them to sort the phonebook out. My other half has one and I use a Sony ericsson (tried K700i which was also crap on bluetooth so went backwards to a Z600), we have bluetooth Parrot kits in the cars to try and future proof the kits for other phones, and my crappy sony ericsson by far out performs the V3. Saying all that it looks great she swears by it but it would be such a bonus to have multiple numbers under an individual name, if they did that I'd upgrade tomorrow.

titiany

2,122 posts

261 months

Tuesday 25th January 2005
quotequote all
I got one

I like it. Just don't keep it in the same pocket / bag as your keys