Motorola RAZR V3
Phone Scoop Review
Jul 11, 2005 by Eric Lin
In-depth review of Motorola's iconic RAZR V3 high-end clamshell GSM phone for Cingular and T-Mobile. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Sideways pixel angles
This is only the second cell phone I've ever owned, so I don't know how it compares to others, but I have noticed one major annoyance in the 24 hours that I've owned it.
The pixels are on "sideways". When the LCD light goes through the pixels, it goes through at different brightnesses at different angles (i.e. the light is polarized). E.g. on a laptop screen, when you tilt the screen to face more towards the ceiling, the screen gets brighter or darker. Same with a digital camera display. When you rotate your digital camera display 90 degrees within its plane of display (like to see a vertical picture you just took), the light getting to your left eye is brighter (or less bright) than the light getting to your right eye because of the specific viewing angles.
With the Razr, when you view the display normally, your eyes get different levels of brightness from the differing specific viewing angles. When you rotate the phone 90 clockwise (or counterclockwise) (or tilt your 90 degrees), the brightness discrepancy goes away, and your eyes are aligned so that they're at the same polarization/brightness angle (but now the text and whatnot is sideways). In other words, you get the same eye-to-eye brightness discrepancy holding the phone rightside-up as you do when you hold your digital camera sideways. I can only conclude that this is because they put the pixels in "sideways" relative to how normal LCD display pixels are put into stuff.
Although perhaps it's only from my own visual pickiness that I mind this brightness angle annoyance thing, since it seems like no one else has noticed or minded it.
Other stuff:
1. it's a little slow when you're pressing buttons and going through menu options.
2. It's a little too wide and flat to feel comfortable in your hand.
3. I wish it was more personalizable.
4. If you missed several calls from one person, it doesn't tell you; it just lists their name once! This is uber-annoying to me.
Great Reception
This phone is fantastic for being a Motorola. I have been a Tmobile customer for about three years now and this is the only phone that has not dropped calls or had crappy signal. I can always count on it especially in lower signal areas.
Pro: small, slim, sturdy
Nice big display
voice command
Excellent Reception
Cons: Hard to see main display in
outside lighting
occasionally when you take a photo it
will become fuzzy after you save it
Beside the display being hard to see in day light this phone is reliable and cool looking.
It doesn't get any better than this
This truly is an amazing phone! I've been using the v3 for the last few days and have nothing but praises for it.
PROS:
- DESIGN, DESIGN, DESIGN - the phone is so elegantly built, but yet it remains solid in my hands despite it's thin frame.
- Screen is awesome. Way better than my v600. It's clear, crisp and amazingly bright.
- Software is similar to that of v600. Probably the next gen of it except it's much faster and more stable (so far). Menus are similar to v600 and pretty intuitive.
- The keypad is also state of the art. I love it! Keypad is solid and sturdy and each push registers nicely. I really like the backlighting and the layout as well. It fixed the reverse talk/end button issue with the v600.
- Reception is far superior than the v600. Before I barely had any reception in my house, but now I can walk around anywhere in the house and reception is great.
- Speaker phone is way clearer than my v600. The v3 speaker is not only louder, but significantly clearer than the v600. My v600 speaker phone was adequate in terms of loudness, but sounds were often muffled. The regular earpiece speaker is also louder and clearer. I have no complaints about it as I can hear everything fine, even when I was inside a night club.
CONS:
- My only minor, super anal thing about this phone are the side/smart buttons. They do feel somewhat flimsy compared to the rest of the phone, but this again is being anal retentive on my part. If functions fine and looks fine, just wish that they were a little bit more solid.
I haven't had the opportunity to play with the bluetooth yet, but will over the next few days. I give this phone a 5 star rating because this is only the second phone that I've owned in my life that I truly love and would keep for a very long time (I go through 2-3 phones per year). You have to hold the phone in your hand and see it in person to really understand what an awesome phone this is.
This is a step back
Pros:
Phone Size
Sturdy
Battery Life
Cons:
(Where do I start?)
-Everything is slow. S l o w DTMF, slow navigating through menus/ names, slow interface with BlueTooth.
-Call waiting takes forever to switch between calls and sometimes it doesn't switch back to the orignial caller.
-No way to locate names in menu other than first name. With other phones you can sort by first 2 or 3 letters.
-Camera is terrible.
-No Video
-Get a lot of phone errors when dialing
-Charging port on the side is inconvenient when charging and using the phone (especially in the car)
-The "auto speller" for text message is the worst I have seen. Nokia, Kyocera, etc. are 5 times better.
This is a fashion phone. If you want a nice looking phone and that's about it, this is the phone for you.
But if you are on the guy and count on your phone to do tasks, relatively quickly, this phone will drive you crazy.
If this phone was $100 to free, I wouldn't have as much problem with it. But for the money, the functionaility is slow and outdated. If my memory serves me correctly, this user interace is not that different than their phones three years ago. Motorola needs to take about 5 steps forward with their operating system to match the RAZR's look and design
Classy - Stylish - Quality ! Not your average phone!
My husband and i just love this fun. We get stopped by people in stores and other places from people to look at this phone.The look of this phone is a head turner.this phone is classy, user friendly. clear screen, great camera features,clear sound. Motorola really improved this phone over the past 6 months. It is a quality phone. This is a phone is like a car. Why you ask? Are you a person that likes to drive a plain car or a junker? Or the car that makes a statement and you are proud to be seen driving? Just like a cell phone,there are so many out there,but none that even comes close to the v3 Razr. The christmas 2006 #1 requested gift, in america.The blue tooth is awesome on this phone,like no other, blue tooth abled phone.
The speaker phone is incredible.I am a very fussy person and quick to complain, but with this phone there is nothing to complain about.I would suggest getting it from either cingular or verizon.
Pros:
light weight
Put almost anywhere phone
Sound quality
camera features
High quality pictures
Large screen
crisp view screen
User friendly
Lots of opitions for different peoples tastes.
Ring tones,that you can't get for a lot of other phones.
Blue tooth is the best, then other phones.
incredible speaker phone.
Cons:
Some people have told us that is a phone that will not take being dropped on hard floors. I work in shop office. I have dropped mine 3 times on the concrete floor and it works,just like new.
But get a holder or cover for it.
The Best Phone Any Company Has to Offer
This phone is wonderful. I really couldn't use anyother phone, literally.
PROS
Large, large screen
Great quality, both build and screen
Good Battery Life
Includes AIM
Very fine details; Cingular Branding
Color external display
Speaker-phone
Bluetooth
Video
Camera
Internal antenna
GREAT keypad
Sleek design
Reception (Cingular)
CONS
No EDGE, but who cares
Overall, a great phone
Not worth the money
I decided to get the Motorola v3 after i tried the LG VX 8000 and the 8000 was worth the money.
Pros:
1. very thin.
2. cool number keys.
3. Speaker phone works when flipped closed.
4. Cool style.
5. easy to fit in pocket.
Cons:
1.Horrible camera.
2.no video camera (for cingular).
3.hard to flip open.
4.side keys should be in a different place.
5.for women- hard to find in pocketbooks.
6.keys are hard to press.
7.bad reception (for cingular).
8.had it for 1 month and 1 key started to brake.
9.a lot of dropped calls.
10 fingerprints everywhere.
11. buttons very confusing
I just went back to using the vx 8000. Better signal and better quality. And the 8000 is cheaper. i tried many Motorola phones and they are weird.
Don't get the Motorola RAZR V3!
Cool phone, but far from perfect
I picked this phone up Friday and sold it Tuesday. My main reason for selling the RAZR was the poor volume. The speakerphone was great, the internal V3 earpiece was the one that sucked. I recall the volume sucking on my other Motorola phone from last year. That POS was sold within a month. I switched back to my trusty Panasonic.
Why is it so hard for Motorola to kick the volume up a couple notches? Hello?...Moto?
I won't complain about the battery life because it only had two complete charge cycles. But I the battery better start to improve after the third charge cycle.
Walk into a grocery store in a well-incorporated area and the signal meter starts to beep. What's that, no signal again? Since the antenna's internal, the reception is bound to not be top-rated.
Bottom line, if you prefer to talk with the phone and not a handsfree earpiece, stay away from this phone unless you have Superman hearing. I have exceptional hearing and my last two Motorola phone volumes sucked. There will be no more Motorola phones for me unless they raise the volume bar a bit.
So the three main issues with this phone are:
- volume
- reception
- battery
If you can live with those shortcomings, this is the ideal phone. Cool and stylish.
its all in the look
this phone lacks in alot of areas. I own the euro version of this phone with a price tag of $700. Before i bought this phone i checked out all the reviews and i have to agree with the ones that simply say its all in the look. Razor lacks functions and the software has many of the same old motorola problems. Its to slow,freezes, and buttons sometimes don't respond. I'm a big phone junkie and believe me when i tell you i had every phone that tmobile and verizon have to offer.
Pros:
reception
battery
speaker
bluetooth
outside color display
cons:
vibrator is to soft can't feel it
software
speaker very low
same functions as V600,V80,V300
soft keys are hard to press
i can go on on...................over all this phone is good for a look so i gave it a 3.5 if you have money and you don't care to spend between 400-700 on a phone go for it. The design is very cool and that is the only reason why my rating is as high as it is. Motorola didn't make a come back with this phone!!!
good phone, good phone.
i have had this phone for about 8 monthes. i have not had to replace it since. first of all, the phone is very tough. it has been dropped, flung against a wall, fallen into a puddle, stepped on while in the puddle, and the most damage was that the battery cover came off. the phone has very good reception(when it gets it, i am with tmobile) even when it gets two or one bar. it has a very nice big screen and it is easy to read texts. the camera is pretty good as far as VGAs go, and i like the shutter tones. the keyboard is good for texting, and the phone is very thin.
pros:
very tough
big screen
ok camera
real ringtones
very thin
self portrait
it hasn't broken yet
wide earpiece
cons:
for some reason i can't set picture caller id or ringtone
doesnt have some of the features that i'd like
screen finger prints easly
over all it is a good reliable phone and i would recomend it to anyone who doesnt want an iphone butwould like a phone that lasts.
