Motorola E815 / E816 Hollywood
Phone Scoop Review
Oct 11, 2005 by Eric Lin
In-depth review of Motorola's first EV-DO phone for North America, the E815 for Verizon. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
e 815 is just okay
Pros- sound quality, large buttons, speaker phone, voice activation
Cons- MP3 player sucks! It is stereo with the expensive headphones sold at the Verizon store but the 512MB card is useless since the quirky phone will not load all the songs on the card. It just is bad.
If you like a good phone get this, but if your looking for an MP3 this will not cut it.
Its a Motorola, But......
I am a Verizon Dealer in Indianapolis and over the last year have came to hate Motorola brand for there pathetic quality and realiability. As a dealer I am always swapping phones for the latest and greatest thing. After selling my blackberry to a customer who needed one asap, I tried this phone to see if I liked it. I was really impressed with the signal strength 5 bars all the time no matter where I was. I had a customer renew his contract who lived in the sticks where even Verizon the best coverage in the cell biz has spottie reception. The customer had a audiovox 8900 and it worked at his house but cut out in certain spots. I activated a LG6100 for him and a day later he brought it back and said it didnt work as good audiovox. After reading the reviews on the E815 and having really good luck myself I told him to take my phone to his home and try it out. He returned a couple of hours later smiling a mile wide stating that he made a phone call at his home and walked through the entire house including basement and never dropped the call or had it cut in and out. He also walked out side around his farm and had the same great reception. Since then everybody that live in the small community has called about this phone and I am selling this thing like crazy. The only drawback to this is I had a customer swap for a V710 to this E815 to use the bluetooth dial up network with his apple laptop. This worked perfect with his v710 but we have yet to get it to do it with the e815. Ive read alot of forums on this matter and have heard of people getting it to work but have not had the same success. Let me know if you have a fix for this.
Major EVDO bug kills batteries
This phone has a major flaw that does not allow the user to disable the EVDO feature. Subsequently, the phone thrashes looking for signal and consumes the battery in a matter of hours. I just returned mine. I could not trust this phone since I can not guarantee always being in a strong EVDO area.
Almost perfect.
So far, so good. I can say that it comes with some pretty cool features. I give more credit to Motorola than the service provider. Here is the pros ans cons...
PROS:
-with speaker phone on, you can use voice activate dialing with the flip closed.
-good reception for an all digital phone.
-nice internal LCD screen.
-mp3 ring tones.
-speaker phone sounds good.
-smooth keypad, not too small.
-4x digital zoom camera with flash.
-3D games!
-Great price for what this phone offers.
Cons:
-external stub antenna.
-poor battery life.
-small picture id on the external LCD.
-replacing speed dial #'s deletes existing contact.
-vibrate alert is very weak.
-the video clips cuts out when the EVDO signal is weak and to 1x you loose V Cast totally.
Excellent phone
Have had this phone for about a week now. Previous phone was an LG VX10 tri-mode. I'm on Verizon Wireless in Pennsylvania.
At my home, calls would usually be dropped on my previous phone due to getting a poor signal in the house. So far, I haven't lost any calls with this phone, and the signal has never been lost yet.
The audio quality is simply amazing, at least compared to my previous phone (which was a little old). Calls are very clear and understandable, and the people on the other end also say I sound clear.
The speakerphone is nice and loud, although a little tinny/echo-ish when the volume is set to its highest level. Turning it down 1 or 2 notches improves this.
The screen is very bright and clear and the menus are easy to use.
The camera is pretty good too, although I wasn't really interested in cameras on phones, I find this one good enough to be useful for occasional snapshots and is fun to have handy.
Pros:
* Very loud earpiece, speakerphone, and ringer
* Excellent reception
* Excellent audio clarity
* Beautiful internal LCD screen
* Decent camera
* Easy-to-navigate menus
* Very customizable
* Voice commands work very well for me
Cons:
* Vibrate mode is pretty weak
* A little bulky, physically
* Very difficult to read LCD in direct sunlight
* Phone book stores a separate contact entry for each number a person has, instead of all being under a single contact -- a little annoying, but some people may prefer this
* Speakerphone can sound tinny at max volume
* No analog (if this is important to you.. it has not affected me so far)
* External LCD has a "grainy" look (I assume due to the lower resolution)
* Fiancee has trouble getting voice commands to work for her voice
Simply love it
I owned this phone for about a week now and I think I would keep it. Because I made my choice by reading this phone review and forum. I feel obliged to give something back.
Pro:
Nice, sharp and bright screen
Loud speaker
Feel solid and well-built
Excellent reception
Sharp and bright camera
Loud ringer
Battery last a long time per charge
Easy to use menu (only opened manual once for a quick glance and was able to use all functions)
Cons: (considered it just inconveniences)
Weak vibration
Low battery alert cannot be turned off (it is loud. when on a subway, I was afraid people thought I was carrying a bomb)
Phone shutdown very quickly when low batt. alert started (in about 2 hours on standby)
Slight echo on the ear piece when talking
Outside screen not very sharp
you gotta be joking!!!!!
I picked up the e815 on release date. Verizon store accidentally gave me 2. Activated the display model and new 1 in the box. During the 2 days that I had to play with it I had to remove the battery 3 times to reset. Everyone I talked to heard echos on both ends of the conversation.
Motorola Pros:
I received 2 on accident
Cons:
Still in business
Since I have received 2 e815 I was able to talk verizon into letting me have the 8100 a few days early. SOOO glad I did.
Lg Pros:
Superior in all aspects
Construction
Screens
Volume
Reception
Menus
Camera
I can drive down the freeway at 70 with the stereo on and here great the lg. At work I can even here and carry on a conversation with ear protection on. The motorola sounded like a string and two cans on either side. Come on you people are you that cheap that you can't spend $50. on a far more superior phone.
Disapointment
I bought the Motorola 815 about 10 days ago, and it's been a disapointment.
As I've never had a phone with bluetooth, web video streaming, or video capture, this is really a fun upgrade from my LG UX6000. It seems like a well made unit.
My biggest complaint has been that it keeps changing from VIBRATE to LOUD to SILENT.... without my conscious commands. Could it have been a user error where I accidentally brushed against it, or merely a buggy phone? I have no idea, but a bad user interface is just as a bad as defective hardware.
My other complaint is the day when the phone died from a dead battery, even thou I had charged it the night before, and barely used it.
Even thou the Motorola 815 is supposed to get great reception, I can't even use it inside one of the of the neighborhood supermarkets. Perhaps I have a lemon? I can't imagine this phone getting such high ratings if others experienced similar problems.
THE BEST PHONE OUT
The moto 815 is a good phone. Phone Scoop really give me alot of info about the phone. I know that the Samsumg 950 is newer than the 815 but, the 815 is the better phone from my opinion.
PRO'S
Great reception
Battery life is unbelieveable
Worth every penny
Best Motorola ever put out
Better than the razor by far
CON'S
Bulky
Solid Phone BUT!
I really like the phone, but the one problem is the battery. I guess I use my phone a lot, the battery from 11 am to 11pm is spent.. I also drop calls and I live in Arlington five miles from the white house.. weird.. I got this phone on July 4, 2005.. It sometimes reboots on my and does weird shit.. I still like the phone..
Pros:
Buttons big
Easy interface
EVDO is cool, good bathroom reading in public restrooms, ha ha
Camera is OK
Cons:
dropped calls!!!!!
battery
phone heats up
