Motorola V195 / V197
Average Ratings
Good Basic Phone But High SAR Rating
After reviewing the v195 I though this was the phone for me. Good reception, long battery life, and basic quality.
Then I found it had the highest SAR rating which means the FCC allows so much radiation to be produced. This phone topped out at the max of 1.6 SAR.
If using headset all the time great. If not then why take the chance.
Funny thing is Motorolas had 7 phones in the top 10 of high SAR.
Nice.
Good Phone, not Great, but Good
One thing I like about the V195 is that it is simple. It makes calls and that is about it.
I like that you can throw on background images if you use the bluetooth functionality to upload pictures and images.
You can upload 2 mp3 songs onto the phone using bluetooth and use it is a ringtone, as well as listen to it. That is if you like listening to the same 2 songs over and over again. Of course you have to Play it from Sounds section.
It has a 2.5mm jack that you can plug in headphones to listen to those 2 songs over and over again.
It plays mp3 ringtones pretty nice and I consider loud.
The V195 also supports bluetooth headsets like the Motorola H500, so you can drive or walk around without having to have the phone in hand.
You can answer calls using the bluetooth headset, but you can not voice dial out.
There is no voice dialing available on this V195. So that is a negative for this phone.
I mean really, if there is bluetooth, then there should be a way to dial out using a bluetooth headset. This phone doesnt support that.
In order to call someone with a bluetooth headset, you have to dial in the numbers on the phone, rather than speaking the name onto the headset.
The nice part is that you can answer someone with the bluetooth headset by pressing the button the bluetooth headset, but that is not part of this phone's features.
Aside from the bluetooth, I like the call quality. Everyone tells me they can hear me well when i talk to them using the V195.
However, it is not the talking that is the problem. It is the listening. I'd say for myself, I get 50% static calls from people on landlines. And that just doesnt make sense. I mean, if i get called from someone using their home phone, then it should be clear.
It isn't most of the time.
Pros:
Weight
- Some bluetooth features
- Good calling out quality
- Loud
- Good Battery Life
- Makes phone calls just fine
Cons:
- Can't voice dial using bluetooth headset
- Unreliable listening quality
there is a price to pay
After getting fed up with a newer phone of mine, a friend recommended me getting this phone. I picked one up online for $30 and was more than pleased about the price. After fighting with my Samsung, I was happy to be getting a phone that I knew would have good solid reception.
Pros:
Great reception
Good call quality
Loud ringtone volume
Sturdy and durable
Large keys
Bright, easy to read screen
Cons:
Only one- an SAR rating of 1.6
The one con on this phone is exactly the reason why I don't use it anymore. I was never one to particularly care what my phones SAR rating was, and I didn't care about that either when I got this phone. Whatever the real truth about those ratings are, I am absolutely assured that there is something in this phone that is not good for the human body. When I would place the phone on my leg or hold it in my hand, my skin would tingle for about 30 seconds after I took the phone off of myself. Even if I would just pick up the phone and open it to check for a message and put it back down, my hand would tingle, sometimes spreading down my arm. I thought I was losing my mind, but when I tried using my other two phones again and there was no problem like this, I put up my V195 and never used it again. Maybe my phone in particular has some kind of defect...but if that isn't the case, I am absolutely convinced that there could be a price to pay for prolonged use of this phone.
Shorter version: it does weird things to you, stay away!
