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
AWESOME Phone!
I have had this phone for four days now and it totally ROCKS! It replaces a Samsung a670 which I gave to my wife.
This phone grabs onto and holds a signal like no other phone I have experienced. I get great reception in the basement of my house, where as with the a670 I would get a small signal and then lose it.
I have not played with the camera or video recorder yet and I did not order V-Cast as those thing are not important to me, at least at this time.
I bought this phone because of the high marks it received on call clarity, signal strength, speaker phone and Blue-tooth. It has exceeded my expectations in each of these areas and for the icing on the cake, it is great looking phone and feels good in your hand.
I have paired this phone up with the Moto HS850 BT and the voice dialing works great. Great inside and outside screens. No problem with the battery, seems to last atleast as long as the Samsung. Would I buy it again? Absolutely. Love this phone and glad I wasn't sucked into all the LG hype, which I believe it all is. LG = Hype, Moto = Performance IMHO.
E815, AMAZING
The Motorola E815 is everything anyone could every want in a cell phone. The camera is superb, the screen looks great and the speakers sound amazing. Signal strength is great.The outside screen is amazing as well.
Pros
great signal strength
nice size of phone
1.3 megapixel camera
vcast (video on demand)
bluetooth technology ( wireless headset)
great speakers to play video or music
mp3 player (music player)
Cons
NONE
E815 battery charging problems
I won't regurgitate what so many others have detailed. In short, the E815 is the best phone I have had to date. I got two of them in July, 2005 (it is now May, 2006). I don't really use the camera, vcast, text messaging or other fancy features, but am really only interested in a phone that really works well as a phone. Many of the fancy features are nice, but not essential to me.
PROS:
.This phone is very clear and gets great reception.
.Excellent display and very nice menu system
.Rings may be set loud enough to actually be heard in noisy environments.
.Speaker phone works well with very little echo.
CONS:
.The charger cable does not firmly attach to the phone and may easily fall out or not always make a solid connection. I have tried four different (OEM) chargers on two E815s and this is a consistent problem.
.Display of photos taken with cameras is not very sharp or contrasty.
TIPS:
.I have found that to fully charge the battery, it often works best to turn phone off prior to connecting charger cable.
.If battery is already charged, plugging the charger cable in will turn phone back on and it will not (over)charge.
.If you just can't get the battery to properly charge (which is a very likely occurrence), turn phone off, remove battery and then re-insert battery. The battery will firmly snap in place.
OBSERVATIONS:
I think a lot of battery problems are the result of partially seated batteries that are not receiving a full charge, even after plugging the phone into the charger overnight. I have frequently obtained 3+ hours of talk time when in an EV reception area.
Talk time is significantly reduced in 1X reception areas. If you are in a very poor reception area, I recommend turning phone off and only turning it back on when you need to make a call.
If in an area where signal changes from EV to 1X, battery life seems to plummet.
When battery strength drops below 3 bars, probability of dropped calls seems to increase.
Nice Phone
Well, EVERYONE has gripes about the E815; The Motorola E815 has it's buggy issues. EVERY Motorola has that problem. Motorola itself just has issues with their phones, more so than other manufacturers. I think part of it comes from them always trying to stay on the cutting edge; Moto phones are ALWAYS cool, they just don't always function well as, well, phones. They're really more for the artsy/coolness factor.
Anyhoo, I was surprised when my Moto E815 actually functioned as a PHONE!!!
I do not drop calls--unless I am in a geographically challenged area, which by the way people, happens more than you think...I do NOT have issues with the phantom ringer problem--please pay attention to what you do with your phone!!! Motorola menus are idiosyncratic; when you change the ring style (normal, loud, indoor) you are changing the ringer, as well. The external screen sucks only because after a while, the screen dims to save battery life and it's hard to see the time outside when it reverts to black and white...although when a call comes in, the screen jumps to life and goes back to full color. This phone has excellent graphics for the Video Games you can download with Vcast (a feature I have and love) and the camera is good--it has customizable "themes" for your pictures (black and white, sepia) but it you have to actually make up your mind about the theme before you take the picture, and can't decide after. I've downloaded pix to my computer with excellent printing results! Also, I have the removable memory card; great little feature, just remember to clean it out after downloading the contents into your computer. I hate the vibrate function (very light)--but the truth is, with Motorola phones, if the rest of it works, something is compromised!!! Altogether a great phone, worth the money. Sturdy, too. Better then the Razr! (which by the way is a waste of money, more sculpture than an actual phone)
Great value for a feature filled phone!
Pros and Cons can vary from user to user so I will just say that for the price of this phone online @ 99.99 w/2yr contract it almost cannot be beat. While the Motorola E815 may not be the most aesthetically pleasing it does provide users with many features that most phones do not touch for the current price. Sure it may have it's flaws but what in this world does not? Nonetheless if you are looking for a phone packed with features for a great value and great reception at the same time, this phone in my opinion is currently the best possible choice for me at the moment. Please note that this review is my personal opinion and Only an individual can truly decide what will truly suit their needs, And to be quite honest I am very unbiased as far as manufacturers are concerned as this is my first moto phone.
Motorola E815 review
This phone really is awesome - I only have 4 gripes - but these don't stop this phone from being the best on the market bar none right now.
1. speaker on back of phone - I really think it is much better on the front like the LG 7000
2. very weak vibrate
3. phonebook - not being able to group mutiple #'s under one name
4. outside screen is week
Other than that - this phone is amazing! The reception is exceptional - and by far the best I've ever had. I get service in places I never did before. The volume is awesome and the voice clarity on calls is superb. I am very impressed and recommend this phone to everyone!
ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING!!!
I have owned close to every phone Verizon has to offer and this Motorola e815 by far is the BEST!!! Everything about this phone is spectacular!!! The reception on this phone is unbelievable!!! Reception is the first thing I look at when buying a phone, all the other features are just a plus! There is not one thing I don't like about this phone! I have several dead spots where I live and every other phone I had would drop calls, NOT this phone! The reception is AMAZING, in which I can't stress enough! Whatever Motorola did to this phone blows all the other phones away! They can't even come close to competing with this phone! PERIOD!!!
PROS:
Awesome Reception (again can't stress enough)
Great UI
Bluetooth works Great!
Size and Button feels good in hand
MP3 Player works good!
Takes decent pictures!
Speaker phone when flip is closed!
Ring Tones are good!
Texting is easy!
EVDO works GREAT!
Video is good!
Voice Rec. works Perfect!
Size is just right!
CONS:
Vibrate is a tad Weak!
If you don't have this phone and you have reception problems with your current one, go out and buy this! What do you have to lose, you have a 15 day return with Verizon!
GREAT JOB MOTO AND VERIZON! KEEP IT UP!
Killer phone
After owning the Samsung A530 for two years I broke down and bought the E815 from eBay ($300 shipped w/new BlueTrek G2 earpiece and TF card) and I couldn't be happier. The first thing you will notice about this phone is the internal display - simply unbelievable, 262,000 colors this thing is amazing. Night and day compared to my old Samsung. The external display...leaves something to be desired, but it not looked at much besides to tell the time and use for text caller ID. Basics are pretty standard - great RF, battery life seems pretty great (have not drained it yet after extensive "playing" and picture taking), use with bluetooth headset is great, the phone pairs very quickly to both my headset as well as my Mac. Overall this is a great phone, exceeding my expectations in every category except for the external display and the camera quality. The camera is great, 1.3MP, albiet the pictures still appear a bit grainy. I'll have to see what they look like on the computer, but on the phone they could be a bit more clear. Also, when assigning a picture to the wallpaper of the phone, the picture is either centered (not filling the entire screen), or stretched making the image a bit pixelated. Minor annoyances (I still think the standard "future" skin background is best) to an otherwise great phone. Best phone VZW is offering (especially compared to the Samsung A950, and keep in mind I'm a Sammy kind of guy) - definately one of the best phones out there period (in competition with Crap-ular's line of GSM phones).
Motorola E815=Awesomness.
Every since I bought this phone, its been a breeze. I love everything about it, everything works like a dream and its so pretty. I just wish it looked like a rumor but with everything the moto e815 has to offer.
Pros: Loud
Pictures look awesome and clear.
It says from who the text is from, and the call plus a picture on the outside screen!
nice font size, three awesome skins, cool wallpapers, nice ring-tones and wow. u can customize it how you want. its just lovely.
Cons:....hmm....none.
Amazing phone, bad charging.
I loved this phone all the great features the battery worked well, it was a big phone.
I got it on Christmas, and it was in my use until, about, 2 months in, the charging port, didn't work. i do not know what happened, it started getting difficult to charge and then it just stopped charging.
All around the phone was great, very durable and came with a lot of cool applications. but the charging port was all the problem.
