Motorola V190
Average Ratings
Better than your normal "Basic" phone
We bought these after reading the other reviews here. These are sold as "basic" phones, but really have a nice set of extra features such as voice dialing and speaker phone. (Voice dialing only works with numbers stored in the phone, not on the sim).
Overall great phone!
PROs
Nice design
Good sound quality
Good battery life
Crisp color display
Good selection of built-in ringtones
Voice dialing
Speakerphone
CONs
Cannot replace faceplate
Works good for me...
Got two of these phones as Cingular Go Phones (we hate contracts), and gave our old Nokia 6340s to the kids
Pros:
Quad-Band - Who'd ever have thought you could get this on a $60 phone? Works much better in places the Nokias never did. P.S. - The PAYG coverage map on the Cingular site assumes a dual-band phone. Wonder what it's like with a quad?
Speakerphone
External display - so you can see who's calling before you open the phone. Also, I no longer feel the need to wear a watch. Makes a good flashlight, as you've seen in other reviews
Good loud ringtones
I'm told it uses the same charger as the RAZR, so RAZR owners, this might be a good phone for your older kids.
The free M2M with my Cingular PAYG
Cons:
Speakerphone needs to be louder and more sensitive.
Bogus data charges, as you've read in other reviews, but this is easily overcome by turning off the Live Ticker. Also, Call Forwarding costs a dime a pop on the PAYG plan, not a lot of people know that.
A real pain to turn on, so I just leave mine on all the time.
Should have a way to lock the side buttons, I've had my phone ring out loud when I thought I had it silenced, because the buttons got pushed in the case.
Doesn't vibrate nearly as hard as the Nokias did. I can have the phone on my hip and not feel it vibrate
No camera or Bluetooth, but c'mon, its a $60 phone!
Overall, the pros still outweigh the cons, which are minor by comparison.
Understand that Tmobile now sells a version of this phone called the V195 that has Bluetooth and an internal antenna.
Bogus DATA Transfer on bill!!!!!
I seen where another owner of this phone posted problems with bogus data transfers. I have owned this phone for 2 months now and the last 2 bills I have been billed for data transfers. I DON'T use my phone to get on the internet and I don't download anything from my phone. So why am I being billed for data transfers all the sudden since I bought this phone? I think this phone is accessing the internet on its own. It may have something to do with that aggravating ticker feature, which I deactivated that when I got the phone.
All I know is there is something fishy going on with this phone and me billed for data transfers I did not do. I only use my phone to talk and that is it!!!!!
Other than that it is a descent phone.
Finally!
The Motorola V190 is an all around great phone. It has an awesome battery life, great reception (quad-band), wonderful sound quality (great speaker-phone), nice design, and extremely light weight! It includes software that suits all your communication needs: text messaging, IM, email, etc., as well as options for downloading ringers, wallpaper, etc. The menu is set-up a little differently then phones I've had in the past, but after a few days of use it became second nature. The only feature the phone lacks is Bluetooth. Cingular only offers this phone for Pay-As-You-Go, but I purchased the phone anyway. I've inserted my SIM card and it works just fine. They should think about adding this into their regular line-up of phones. So if you're someone like myself who doesn't need their phone to take pictures, record video, and wash the car, then this phone would be an ideal choice to consider. I hope that in the future, Cingular and other companies like Motorola will continue offering phones like this one. Let's face it, most entry-level phones just don't cut it!
Good Phone
i was surprised to find that the phone is lightweight and easy to hold. i received the silver instead of the blue but it didn't matter because i still liked the way it looked. overall, i like the phone due to its simplistic features.
PROS:
-speakerphone
-reception
-battery life
-overall feel
-large internal screen
-spaced out keys
CONS:
-i think it might all motorola phones but the external screen with the contact name and the word "calling" afterward seemed to bother me. it seem to be redundant to me.
-the only way you can have individual ringtones to you contacts is if you transfer it to the phone NOT the SIM card. if you leave it on your SIM card, it will play the same ringtone.
-i could not find simple functions on the phone without having to bring out the manual each time.
overall, the cons are probably minor to most people and it's doesn't override the other positive functions of the phone. i recommend this phone for those who want a phone to last instead of doing a "houdini."
Great little phone!
I got this phone as a free upgrade through my carrier. I had the V180 prior to this phone. Before these two phones, I hated Motorola.
This phone is durable! I am really rough on phones. I have run this phone over with our quad and it only sustained a few scratched on the back.
Reception is pretty good.
Ring tone selection is great, as is the volume.
The buttons make sense, and you can make your own shortcuts.
It holds 20 numbers in the call lists, compared to 10(most phones).
Very easy to use.
The only downfall is that the text messaging is a little bit harder to use than most phones.
I have talked to a lot of people who have this phone and that love it.
So...so
My x497 had the unacceptable problem of the external volume button and it turned it's off a lot.
So I read reviews and the v190 seemed to have the best overall for a basic phone.
Well I'm not real pleased. I don't like the live ticker crap but I can live with it.
The speakerphone is not impressive and it does crackle at 7.
With the clam shell open and the phone sitting on a desk in front of you and facing you, the speaker is facing away from you. Thats crazy because the speaker isn't that good to begin with.
The reception is no better than the Samsung
It seems to keep changing the selected ring tone back to the default.
Pro's I don't know... It doesn't turn itself off and at least it rings instead of only vibrating like the x497
V190
I bought the v190 through cellular one. It is the basic phone that run's about 120$$.
I found that their ratings for battery life were not even close.. this phone is suppose to go for a little over 22 day's.. No where close to that. I charged the phone the night i got it and barely talked on it and the battery was dead after two days..
This may not be a major concern for those of you who charge your phone every night but for me it was a big disappointment.
The one thing that i really like is that the keypad is well spaced out and lit up very brightly.
If it wasnt for the terrible battery life i would have probable given this phone a 4
not to impressed but not a bad phone
good phone with speaker phone and nice front screen
pros
loud
speaker phone
front screen
cons
squeeky as hell
Bogus Data Transfer Charges
I liked this phone in every way at first but as a Cingular Gophone it keeps debiting my prepaid account all by itself. It can be sitting on the table by itself and randomly say that there were data transfers that were unsolicited. Where I work we sell this phone and customers are starting to tell me the same is happening to them. It may be a Cingular problem but they are not 100% owning up to it. Because of this I highly don't recommend this phone until Cingular fixes this issue and credits all their users affected.
