Motorola RAZR - Silver

Call Quality

Calls and speakerphone: We found calls to be loud and clear on the Motorola Razr V3m. We rarely needed to use the side volume keys to adjust the sound. However we would have preferred better performance from the speakerphone audio quality; we experienced occasional distortion and callers could tell when we used this feature. Additionally, as is the case with Samsung’s T809, you can only turn on the speaker once you make a call. We should note the cell phone’s ringer is quite loud – even louder than what we experience on calls.

Audio Playback: Playback of songs is acceptable but far from fabulous through the phone’s speakers. If you want to listen to songs in full stereo, you can’t just plug in a normal stereo headset since the phone lacks the appropriate jack. Instead, you’ll need to purchase a separate Motorola headset.

Ease of Use

Menu/Phonebook: As is the case with many Motorola cell phones, the menu’s interface is intuitive; requiring only a couple of steps to access most of the Motorola Razr’s features. Entering and saving numbers (there’s room for six phone numbers and an e-mail address for each contact – sorry, no place for addresses) is easy, but accessing numbers can occasionally be tiring, since you can only find a contact based on the first letter of the name. If you have 20 contacts in your phonebook that start with the letter “T,” you’ll have to scroll through all the “T” contacts until you find the one you want. But the cell phone’s Voice Activation feature should make calling friends much quicker.

Camera/Video: In this category is where you’ll find one of the biggest differences between the Motorola Razr V3 and V3m. The Razr V3 has a VGA camera and while it plays back video it can’t record any clips, whereas the Motorola Razr V3m boasts a 1.3-megapixel camera (you can find the same feature in the V3c) and the ability to record short videos. Additionally, to support the bigger files captured by a megapixel camera, the Motorola Razr V3m has up to 30MB of memory. About that camera, we were impressed with image quality when viewing pics on the camera phone, however, when we viewed the same image on a computer screen the picture looked slightly pixilated.

Messaging: Sending messages on this cell phone is straightforward -- no need to consult the manual. You can send messages to another phone number or an e-mail address. As is the case with the Sony Ericsson Z520a, you can send text messages while on a call if you are using the Speakerphone. We particularly like the Motorola Razr’s predictive text app, which quickly retained words we used most often and 80 percent of the time predicted the correct word.

Music: New to the Razr V3m is the inclusion of an MP3 player that does a decent job at playing back tunes. You can playback MP3s or AAC files (many people with iPods store songs in this format). Besides the ability to playback music a key feature here is the expandable memory option, which you can use to store up to a 1GB (you’ll probably be able to store at least 50 songs) of music or photos. Sorry, you’ll have to purchase a TransFlash storage card (a miniature storage card that is approximately the size of a finger nail) separately. But finding the storage card slot can be a bit challenging.

There’s also plenty of organization features included in the V3m. For example, music can be stored in folders that can be organized by Artist, Genre or Albums. Finding the music option on this Razr cell phone can initially be a bit confusing.

Connectivity/Bluetooth: We were able to pair the Motorola cell phone with a Motorola Bluetooth headset, however, we needed to consult the manual to set it up correctly. We should note using the Bluetooth feature decreases battery life dramatically. The good news is you don’t need to open the Motorola Razr to see if Bluetooth is in use; a blue light appears on the right hand corner just above the external display.

Design

Look and Feel: What can we say about the Motorola Razr’s ground-breaking design that hasn’t already been said: it’s uber-thin, slick looking and comes in a rainbow of colors. Even though, the cell phone is insanely thin, it’s incredibly usable and surprisingly durable. We’ve dropped the Motorola Razr many times on a variety of surfaces (carpet, wood floors, desks, sidewalks) and it has yet to show any battle scars.

Perhaps one of our favorite elements is the ultra-bright, colorful screen. It definitely stands out when it’s opened and is highly visible in most lighting situations. In fact, occasionally we’ve even used it as a flashlight for guidance through dark rooms. Our only quibble with the cell phone’s design is the screen easily attracts face grease. That said, many cell phones suffer from this flaw.

Keypad: About that trademark flat keypad: Yes, it’s definitely beyond cool. With its blue backlit numbers and lines, it looks like something out of the movie, Tron. While you might think it would be hard to dial on a flat keypad, we found it pretty easy to do. It’s probably because the actual keys are so large, making it difficult to misdial. We should note that the keys may be a bit slippery for some users – especially if you like the feel of raised keys. We were even impressed with how well the four-way navi-key worked. Once you get the hang of it, using the navi- and soft-keys (the two dedicated buttons at the top of the keypad that correspond to screen commands) become second nature.

Battery Life

We’re impressed that such a slim phone boasts solid battery life. We found that we could last two days before needing to recharge when using the Motorola Razr V3m regularly to make calls and send/receive text messages. Heavier cell phone users will likely need to charge the Motorola Razr every other day. However, we did find the battery drained extremely quickly when we used Bluetooth.