Motorola V600
Average Ratings
First Impression (awesome)
Amazing Bluetooth connectivity is what prompted this review.
Overall I will say its a great phone. Battery life seems above average, too early to tell. Coming from a non-Motorola phone, it took some adjustment but I am finally starting to love this phone.
PROS:
-Each call in the log shows the duration of that call - very cool
-Clear sharp display
-Customization of icon order, and shortcuts
-For checking vmail, with DTMF off you can type in a string of numbers and send the whole string with one command
CONS:
-Just the volume buttons on the side.. seems easy to push - not an issue except for the noise (it just alternates what is displayed on the outside.)
-Also related to the vol buttons on the side: Need these to be able to be silent - even when preparing to set the phone in a silent mode (seems like I am guessing if a sound will come out of the phone or not, not helpful if in a quiet area.)
-The manual needs to be better. So many features I figured out on my own, not to mention the feature letting this phone rise high above the rest - bluetooth.
OK now the whole point of writing any of this.. Bluetooth support & implementation is stellar.
That is, bluetooth with your PC.
When I heard MP3 support, I immediately recognized this series as my solution of just wanting a simple regular ring. Too bad the sales people said I would need a data cable & special software which does not yet support this model.
Enter bluetooth.
Your PC will support bluetooth with a simple USB adapter avail. at most retail places.
Once installed and I enabled bluetooth on the phone. The phone shows up on the PC as a device, you click it and you get 3 folders - Audio, Pictures, and Video.
Voila - all your camera pics can be copied to your computer. I have been touching them up in photo apps, and sending back to the phone as nice wallpaper.
Copy MP3 segments (96khz mono works great) into it, works great!
With a WAV editor, any sound is now a ring.
Best Phone I've Had... With a Price
This phone is actually pretty good. The screen is great (nice and bright and crystal clear), camera gets a 3.5/5 (pictures sometimes blurred, resolution not at it's best but it's still fun to use it), it has very good style and size for a high-level camera phone (a bit heavy... over 4 oz.), and I love the indicator light and screen on the outside.
//PROS\\
+Great Screen
+Sound Quality is great in low to mid volume situations
+Ringtone quality is really good
+Style
+Conventional Acessories
Now for the bad side... sometimes the charger will not work (but that's common in Motorola's). Also, and the BIGGEST problem I've had along with some other people, it scratches itself. When you close it, the buttons scratch the screen making odd marks on it and then you can't see it very well in daylight. Plus when you open it, the outside is scratched by the hinge in a horizonal line above the camera. So that's a problem that I'm sending my phone in for.
//CONS\\
-Not the best quality camera
-No multiple names in phonebook
-Scratches itself and it's getting worse
So overall, 4/5. While it's being fixed I'll just use my nice secondary T68i.
Now we're talkin
This is a great quad band GSM phone. The lower band has given me the signal strength and reception I have been seeking. Finally I have phone that I can use in those marginal areas I go into.
Ok, so it is not a full on PDA. It still synchronizes my contacts and appointments. I can still send/recieve email. That's all I want from a phone.
The big plus is that I now have a phone that actually works.
POWER USERS: THIS PHONE SUCKS!!!!!
I spent an arm and a leg on this stupid phone and when I get it home I find I have to spend even more $$$ just to use the bluetooth features that I got for free on my last 2 bluetooth phones. Frickin' $59.99 for software to do dialup networking with a cable I don't need. The best part... it's frickin' sold out!!!!
Pros:
Good construction
Nice Caller ID display on the outside
Nice main screen
Decent camera
Cons:
No software for networking and syncing!!! It costs $60 more.
Phonebook is crap.
Bluetooth stays in discovery mode for a mere 60s.
Back cover keeps coming off because the button holding it on is easily depressed.
Switch that detects whether or not the phone is folded is flaky. Phone keeps activating while it's folded.
This would be a great phone if it came with the services that every other frickin' bluetooth phone comes with for FREE!!! I've had a Nokia 3650, SE P800, SE T610, and SE Z600 (I test phones for clients that are interested in mobile data connectivity). ALL had the necessary software builtin to sync, perform dial-up networking, etc. Apparently Motorola doesn't think consumers are savvy enough to do anything except use the extremely uncomfortable and bulky headset.
Also, if you have a Sony Clie UX or use Mac OS X with iSync... you are SOL. The phone is not supported. I don't necessarily blame Motorola for this. Sony only supports their phones and the Nokia 3650. But Apple is usually quick to support phones and this one is strangely missing. I've heard it's because the V600 doesn't support vCards.
Regardless of the reasons, I suspect Motorola is partially to blame for lack of iSync compatibility.
Power Users, STAY AWAY FROM THIS PHONE!!!
Hate my V 600
I read other glowing reviews and wonder if they've got the same phone I do? Maybe I expect too much for this kind of money or maybe I've been using cellular since the first car phone I bought was a Motorola 4000 (c. 1984) and that was not only the model number, but it was the price, too! I feel this phone is an over-hyped, over priced dud. Here's why:
Pros:
Decent form factor
Good reception (in LA anyway)
Excellent Battery life
Cons:
Terrible speakerphone.
Cumbersome features.
Lousy phonebook. Each number requires a separate entry.
Outside buttons can change or turn off ring if touched.
Volume doesn't allow for loud upside setting.
Exterior display text is too small to read easily.
Main screen display has no adjustment for text size.
Camera function is cumbersome.
Email does not work and even Cingular can't make it work.
MMS is a joke. Cumbersome and badly designed.
Software apps are badly designed and cumbersome, too.
Set-up is almost user-hostile. Cingular can't make features work properly.
Bluetooth only seems to function w/ Moto Headsets and Moto Car kits. WILL NOT WORK WITH MAC's and iSync.
Internal modem does not work with most computers w/o using Moto's DataConnect Software and a USB cable. NO MAC VERSION OF DATACONNECT, of course.
I could go on, but I'm so sick of this beast that I've considered throwing it away (but I feel guilty about wasting the $500 plus I paid for an unbranded and unlocked version of it.) I think I'm going to sell it on eBay or (if I'm really being mean) I'll give it to a former spouse. She may just deserve it! If you are not one of my former spouses, my advice it to stay far far away from this overpriced blunder that's masquegrading as Motorola's flagship phone. Maybe I'll try Sony Ericcson or Nokia. Anything but another Motorola mess next time around.
Moto Mysteries
I have a new V600 which I am evaluating. However, Moto and Cingular have just announced that the V600 is being pulled off Cingular due to RF interference between the screen and the GSM 850 band Cingular uses.
Oddly, ATT uses GSM 850 also, and its sales reps actually recommend the phone. So far, the RF has been OK. Could there be more to this story? Maybe Cingular told Moto they could take this phone (and all its reported glitches) and Theresa Heinz Kerry it?
V600 review
I am very disappointed in this phone. Perhaps I was a victim of hype ..but I was looking for a phone that was quad band as I travel a lot. I find the dialing ..when inputting voicemail numbers etc is very slow..it lags ..the phone seems to suddenly disconnect after 12 or so minutes in areas with strong signal....when it works ..the sound is very good..I try to program the one touch to dial my work voicemail..but it forces me into the phone voicemail for some reason...my attitude about it is I dont feel like researching it anymore..
I really don't need all the fancy stuff that is included..the phonebook is cumbersome ...I did figure out how to only list one contact phone number per name...but overall..I think I am going to go back to Nokia..
Battery life on this phone is not anything close to Nokia..and I have followed all the recommendations to let it run down completely.and recharge..etc.
Great phone, but some issues
I used to have this phone and, while it was a great phone, there were some issues I had with it. First, the positive things.
world phone
great audio quality when the phone worked properly.
the ringtones
color-changing lights that you could set to different contacts
all physical buttons
Any alarms I had set would activate at the time I had them set for, even if the phone was off.
Now for the negatives
The phone would "spazz out" when I would try to move contacts from the phone to the SIM card. It would kick me off and send me back to the main menu. Then it would decide that it would not let me add anymore contacts.
The ear piece speaker quit working altogether and the only way I could hear people, during my calls, was with the speaker phone.
This phone is OK
I had this phone with AT&T and it worked okay for a while. Here is a list of pros and cons I saw while having owning this device.
PROS
- quad band
- ringtones
- digital camera
- call quality
CONS
- ear piece quit working altogether. The only way I could hear people was through the speaker phone.
- Trying to move contacts to the SIM card was a hassle. The phone would allow me to add a random amount of contacts (first it may be 10 and then 4 if I tried again) and then kick me off to the multimedia area of the phone.
This phone gets three out of five stars because of the cons listed above.
Motorola V600
I purchased this phone when I first signed up with AT&T, before they were the AT&T of today. The phone worked great and the bells and whistles on it were great but after a while, it started malfuncioning. One of the problems was the speaker in the earpiece stopped working altogether and the only way to be able to hear what the other person was saying was on speakerphone. That was just one issue of many I had with this device. I was thoroughly disappointed with this product and I do not recommend it to anyone.
