Motorola RAZR V3 -- HelloMoto!

After getting some feedback (both on and offline) per my previous post, I decided to go with the Motorola RAZR V3.  I checked this phone out when it was released a while back and was very impressed with the form factor, though I was less than impressed with the 500 dollar price tag.  At the current price of 200 bucks, a little more palatable.

I had forgotten just how sexy this little piece of hardware is, it’s so unbelievably thin…yet it feels incredibly solid due to the extensive use of metal throughout the construction of the phone (a welcome change from the flimsy plastic phones I’ve had in the past).  Setup was a breeze as Cingular uses SIM cards to store most of the user data (sadly, custom ringtones are not stored on the card for obvious piracy reasons, so I had to repurchase those), so simply swapping the card moved everything over.  My previous phone was a Motorola, so the learning curve was non-existent as the menu layout is virtually identical.  I was a little bummed that the RAZR didn’t ship with my favorite text message/VM recieved alert (called “up/down” on my previous phone); the built in alerts are pretty dreadful, and the Cingular site (from what I can tell at least…someone correct me if I’m wrong) doesn’t sell alerts, only full blown ringtones.

And then there is the display…in my last post I complained a little about the width of the phone…I most definitely stand corrected as the width of the phone is conducive to the sheer size of the display, it’s huge, and very bright/crisp.  I’m also very impressed with the mini display on the front of the phone; it provides all of the information of the big display albeit in a postage stamp size, a very nice touch.  Outside of some SmartPhones, I haven’t seen a display this big on a phone so slim.

A small handful of complaints; it’s very unintuitive to change ringtones.  On my previous Motorola there was a menu option very clearly labeled “change ringtone” or whatnot; on the RAZR you have to hunt around a bit for it…not clearly labeled at all (it’s under settings/audio/style detail, or in My MEdia/sounds/select ringtone/details/apply as ringtone).  They also removed the recent call list from the jog dial menu (it was the right arrow on my previous phone…that arrow now points to mobile AIM, which I haven’t been able to setup yet I might add…though I’m really not too worried about it); the recent call list is accessible via the center button, top left icon…kind of a PITA as I used this menu constantly to make calls.  Also, the volume control on the side of phone doesn’t take much to trigger a change; it would be nice if the buttons took a bit more pressure to activate as I’ve already inadvertantly pressed it a couple of times during calls as it’s located where I tend to hold the phone.

All in all I’m very impressed.  At 200 bucks it’s still a little on the pricey side (considering you can get a SmartPhone for around the same price, I guess we’re paying for the cool factor/sexy engineering in this case), and some of the menu options are a little hokey (those coming from a different brand of phone won’t have this complaint)…but people who are just looking for a workhorse (very impressed with the battery life so far as well…considering I’m on the phone 3+ hours daily lately this is a must have) will really appreciate this phone.  And best of all, I’m no longer dropping calls every 10 minutes or so as was the case with my previous phone. 

This is quite simply the best little phone I’ve ever used, so I can’t recommend it enough…especially in silver; I’ve heard reports that the black RAZR’s paint chips off if dropped whereas the silver will just ding (I’m assuming at least; we’ll see how long it takes before I drop it).  This needs to be everyone’s next phone IMO.