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
Good but still some issues
This review is based on PHONE functions. I don't care about games or surfing the Web, and I haven't used bluetooth yet.
BIGGEST PRO:
Voice recognition--Thankfully Motoroal is back to one simple step (Call "name," instead of 2 or 3 steps). Recognizes most words/names. Also, other voice commands, especially "send text to," are very useful and accurate.
OTHER PROS:
--great call clarity
--OUTSTANDING reception (I have a tiny replacement stub antenna on it, and it gets perfect reception still w/out the awkward extendable one)
--very customizable (convenient shortcuts)
--good sound
--good earpiece volume and on speakerphone
--speakerphone with phone closed
--fast UI/software
--good battery life
--nice overall aesthetics
CONS:
--well-documented echo on speakerphone
--too big and too heavy
--VERY weak vibrate
--side buttons too sensitive
--camera is quite bad (even for a phone)
--alarm glitch (hopefuly will get fixed w/update)
--battery cover is a BITCH to remove
--recorded video quality is awful (but who cares!?)
Sweet Substitute............
I previously purchased the Samsung i730, but it drained the extended battery in less than an eight hour day. I returned it for the E815 and am truly glad that I did.
PROS: It does everything it claims to do and does a fairly decent job on battery usage. The bluetooth capabilities make it a life-saver for hands free dialing. The voice responding capabilities are not flawless, but is tolerable.
CONS: Software for voice recognition needs to be tweaked a little.
I recommend it very highly.
A little large - but a nice phone
I'm in the Metro DC area and have used the phone for several days now. I'm a big Nokia fan but have access to a variety of phones and carriers due to my job so I get to try a nice range of both. I'm using this one as a demo from Verizon for a couple of weeks. Iâve used a number of Motorolaâs, Nokiaâs and several Treoâs.
Overall I'm impressed with the phone feel, features and sound quality - also Verizon's network here in DC area â surprisingly strong. I used it all the way home last night and never dropped the signal or the quality â even in the places I normally have trouble. People I'm talking to think I'm on a land line. This actually has me thinking about switching from Cingular after 6+ yearsâ¦
Pros:
- Excellent sound quality â good volume on speaker and BT headset
- Superb reception
- Very nice, crisp internal screen
- Nice customization features
- Voice commands work well
- Extremely fast web and VCast service
Cons:
- A little large and heavy â but certainly not unacceptable â especially given the great screen
- Iâve experienced some of the echo mentioned in other posts
- Battery life when using Bluetooth (go figure)
- Side keys are a little too easy to hit by mistake during a call
- The rubber covers at the top snag too easily and donât seem like theyâll last a long time
- Seems to get warmer during use than my other phones
In short â this seems to be an outstanding phone, albeit a little large compared to some other flips. I'm amazed at how good the sound is â even compared to my Treo 650. However, I havenât had it long enough to find any problems with durability or other glitches that might come up. Even with that, I would recommend it.
GREAT PHONE
I have had this phone for about 3weeks and love everything about it. I used to have the lg8000 and switched to the e815 and its amazing. my wife still has the lg8000 and i get reception in some places where she doesn't. I wish there was a little more options on this phone but all and all it is great compared to the lg8000. I was gonna get the lg8100 but started playing with it in store and it is pretty much a much smaller 8000.
PROS
1 GREAT RECEPTION
2 GREAT COLOR
3 USING SPEAKERPHONE WITH FLIP CLOSED.
4 BATTERY LIFE
5 CALL QUALITY.
CONS
1 LIMITED BLUETOOTH
2 CAMERA COULD BE BETTER
3 I HAVE SOME BUGS BUT NOTHING I CAN'T LIVE WITH.
4.RINGER VOLUME AND VIBRATE COULD BE BETTER.
Cant touch it !
Had it for 2 weeks and this and its great. Great reception, great color screen, finally a nice external screen ( not like the V710 ) hey, we can finally use the flip close while talking which is a very very big plus. Only 9 Menu options but thats ok. The price is good too. Not like when the V710 came out. Am I raggin on the V710?, sorry but I am. The hardware of this phone is not that good though. Feels kinda cheap when you hold it. Dont drop this phone! I hate the Get it Now. Why should we have to pay? Ah, via BREW. One thing that stands out on the phone that I really hate is that they dont give you a holdster or belt clip. Where are you suppose to put this phone at when youre doing something else? I never seen this before. I had to order a clip separately on ebay. The design of the phone could have been changed. The looks of it are not the best but all in all the phone is great especially with the camera n video. Not the best either but good for being a cell phone. If youre gonna pick a Verizon phone, you cant go wrong with this suuuuuuped of version of the V710. Out
Little hype, big performer
It's a shame that Phonescoop has turned into a battleground for LG and Moto fanatics intent on skewing these ratings. I hope to join with the many other people who have submitted LEGITIMATE reviews for cell phones to help people make their decision.
My VX8100 went back primarily because of problems I was having with the camera (freezing, unsaved/lost photos) and my disappointment in the lack of an MP3 player. While I own a nice digital camera and a great MP3 player, it's nice to have an "all-in-one" device as backup. I loved the 8100's build quality and color displays, but the problems with the *toys* led to my exchange.
So, on to the e815. In a word: GREAT!
PROS:
Wonderful menu system, MP3 player (try the Jabra C220s headset!), good camera (if you can be content shooting at the 640x480 resolutionâshots on the âhigh qualityâ setting are somewhat blurry, a problem I had less frequently with the VX8100), OBEX "hackability" (I'm having a blast with Bluetooth), and a great speaker/speakerphone.
CONS:
The phone is slightly heavier than the VX8100 (a good thing) but the plastic (key pad, battery door, phone in general) seems a little more flexible (a bad thing). If you're rough on cell phones, this could be a concern. Maybe that's how Verizon gets all of us to plunk down $6 a month for insurance. Hmmmm. The external display isn't as colorful. Motorola still uses crummy two-prong charger adapters. Fortunately, I can use my old V60i car charger for this, so I guess that's a pro for me!
As many people have pointed out, it all comes down to what suits you. If you want a phone people can "ooo" and "ahh" over, get the VX8100. If you're a person who likes to hack phones and isn't patient enough to wait for RUMORED software upgrades, get the e815. I'm glad I did.
Love this phone
Another good review for this phone, i just got it a few days ago and its great. signal is great for me, its got alot of storage space for a stock phone, its really loud when you set it right (alot louder than all my other phones ive owned), and its really customizable which is nice.
The only con that i see with this phone is the looks, they really didnt make this one look as good as some of their others, but heck besides that, this phone is awesome
Very good phone. Almost There!
This is an overall great phone. The picture quality, and all the phone's features have vastly improved over the 710. I actually got the lg 8100 first. But found it to be a disappointment compared to other LG models. Whereas when I compared the LG with the Motorola with the exception of the phonebook's options I found this phone in both quality of the phone and features are much better to all the broadband phone's on the market today. Actually the screen size and features are even better that the lg vx 8000. Additionally, this phone has bluetooth where as the vx 8000 does not. Finally the size of the e815 and colors are very unique. In that when you put 8100 next to the 815, they are close to each other in size, the e815 looks much slimmer (it is only .01 mm thinner).
The only negative with the e-815 and all motorola software except the v635 (GSM) is that the phonebook is not set up to conduct specific searchs. In other words you cannot spell the contact's name out to take you directly to the contact. That is why I did not give you a 5.0.
Otherwise, I believe, you will enjoy this phone immensely.
I have it, and despise it
It's hard for me to communicate how much I hate this thing. There are so many things about the interface that make me crazy. I can't wait until I can get rid of it.
