Motorola V323 / V325 / V323i / V325i
Average Ratings
Good flip phone
Motorola v323 from US Cell. Switched from Cellular One to these folks. Had a Kyocera kx16 for about a week until they mailed out a flyer for this phone, free with 90 days easyedge.
Had a v323 for about a week when the earpiece speaker flaked out and died. It came and went, then nothing. Fortunately, US Cell replaced it yesterday. I am hoping that this phone is more durable than the last one.
First, I don't care about the camera, let alone having a flash. It's a telephone, and it works well doing just that. Second, it's tri-mode. ANALOG capable. VERY important around here. There is still a TON of area not covered by digital towers. Not sure what the plan is for "phasing out" analog, I think it's a bad idea. Good to have a phone that works on Analog, they tried to sell me digital only phones, hell no!
Pros - sleek silver, good front display easy to view in sun. large clear inside lcd screen. nice buttons. voice dial, that you don't have to train! Just say any name in your phonebook. Decent battery, though I might get the extended life one. Reception that seems very good so far. Easy to change ringer. Charges via USB from computer! It's a phone, not a "sliver" or a "razor" thin toy. Again, hoping durability holds up.. Finally, it can do ANALOG.
Cons - Speaker in earpiece died after one drop from hip holster, to floor. Text messaging "space" key is on * instead of #, takes me some getting used to. Can't scroll phonebook with sidebar. No flash, but I don't really care. No Mp3 player, again, don't care. Speakerphone not the loudest, but good enough to use in most places. Front display isn't full color like higher up models, but is VERY visible and straightforward with time/caller ID etc. Antenna nub, but hey, it's got great reception, which is more important.
Overall, great flip phone if this one holds up. Clear displays, and very simple to use. US Cellular is new here, but they seem great so far. One of their best phones hands down.
One of my favorites.
This is one of my favorite phones that I've ever had.
When I got this phone I was really surprised that the front of it lights up, and you can select up to 4, or no ring lights.
Pros:
Battery life is good.
Holds many contacts.
Easy Edge for downloads [US Cellular].
AIM.
Many others.
Cons:
Poor camera quality.
No flash.
Great reception
This starts slow, but it IS for the V325. I work with the federal government and have roughly 160 phones on our account. When we consolidated our cell phone plans everyone was given a new Nokia 6015i (free with our account) which worked very well. As these 160 people upgraded or replaced their phones I had a chance to test them before handing them out, and use some of them too. Each time I always fell back to the plain old Nokia 6015i with no bells or whistles to speak of because it had the absolute best reception of any phone I'd been able to test. I could even keep reception inside our elevators. I've been looking for anything that would match the 6015i and this is it. This phone has even BETTER reception than the Nokia 6015i, which is saying a lot. I sit next to a large plenum ductwork and it blocks signal at my desk (great place for the phone guy!) but this phone is still able to carry a clear conversation without fading in and out, which is phenomenol!
PROS:
Awesome reception! Bottom line, a phone needs great reception or it's an expensive toy that has mediocre fluff -(camera, mp3 player, recorder and so on).
It's a Tri-Band phone, meaning great reception in more 'out of the way' places.
Flip phone-easy to store in a pocket without hitting keys
CONS:
Camera-decent feature but low resolution...and many federal type buildings will confinscate your camera phone until you leave.
V325: Verizon's best entry level phone
I picked one of these up for a relative of mine, and it truly is a great phone. In my opinion it blows the other entry level Verizon phones out of the water. The main reason is the fact that it does what a phone is meant to do and does it well.
PROS:
-Great Reception
-Excellent call clarity
-Attractive phone, looks very professional
-Outstanding build quality / Feels great in hand
-High quality large screen (especially for an entry level camera phone)
-Large buttons with great feedback
-Large dialing font
-External screen is easy to read in sunlight
-Surprisingly good camera
-Ring lights are good, especially when on Vibrate
-Mini-USB charging port
-Good choice of ringers
CONS:
-Uses the Verizon standard interface like every other new non-PDA phone (red bars that can't be changed, only one customizable shortcut, smaller menu font than Motorola's older phones)
If you want a great basic phone, this is definitely one to look at. I've compared it to the Samsung A850 and LG VX-5200, and the V325 wins hands down in terms of reception, call quality, build quality, screen quality and overall functionality. The only cons I found are part of the Verizon interface and hold true for ALL newer phones. I will say however that this is not the phone for a person looking for all the bells and whistles. If you want all the bells and whistles (Bluetooth, memory slot) go for the Motorola E815 or RAZR.
Liked the phone, hate the volume and the ringers.
I had the phone for 14 days and returned it today. I really liked the phone and I had the VZ Navigator free for 30 days which worked great. I went on a road trip with the phone from NJ, NC, TN, and VA. The phone would use the âextended networkâ through out the rural areas and one time I did have to force it to analog. All in all, the phone always had a signal and I never had any real problems with it.
The reason I returned the phone was for the ear piece and the speakerphone volume or lack of. The speakerphone is not loud at all. The ear piece could have been a lot louder as well. The factory ringers were sounded crappy and I didnât really care for them. I like standard ringers and the V325âs were lousy. If the volume on the ear piece and speaker phone were louder, I could have lived with the ringer selection.
very very nice phone
Verizon gave me this phone for free, after going through 4 VX6100's and 2 VX5200's. very nice change.
Pros:
-GREAT screen, awesome visibilty in sunlight
-RINGLIGHTS!! these are the coolest things ive ever seen
-camera is very good
-reception is TOP NOTCH! no dropped calls!!
-free ringtones. on the v325, you are able to set voice memos and ringtones. no more paying verizon!
-size. not too big, not too small.
-outside screen. yes, its B&W, but that makes it way easier to read in sunlight.
-soft touch. gives the phone a very good feel.
-speaker phone. works VERY well, and you canuse it while the flip is closed. very nice feature.
-charging port. motorola changed it to MiniUSB very fast charge.
-trimode! analog roaming!
Cons:
-battery life. not the best, but i can live
-keytones. the volume only goes to "low" and you can still hear it a little. not a huge deal
all and all, a very good, trimode phone.
Not bad... but disappointed
Regarding the claims of many about "amazing reception", not so for me.
I kept my phone/provider while trying out the V325 with Verizon. On more than one occasion I could receive and place calls with my old phone/provider when I could not with the V325 & Verizon. (I had 2 V325's with me during the trials and both behaved the same.) To be fair, I was going to places where I expected signal to be weak, so that I could see how good reception was.
Perhaps the V325 isn't all that great at reception, or my 2+ year old phone is just better. Perhaps my experience results from a difference in coverage between Verizon & Cingular in/around Fort Worth, TX and surrounding rural areas. I don't know.
Pros:
-Except for "great reception" I agree with most remarks by others. I really do like the phone.
Cons:
-Will not ring/vibrate at the same time.
-External antenna jack is behind the battery cover.
If (as I was) you are attracted by remarks about great reception, my advice is try-before-you-buy. It may indeed be better than what you currently have. Or, like me, you may be disappointed.
A Winner!
I have this phone with US Cellular service in southeastern Wisconsin. Excellent reception and a loud ear-piece that is crystal clear. Outgoing call quality is exceptional and people cannot believe I am calling from a cell phone. The keypad is well proportioned with a blue backlight and the phone itself seems to have a solid build quality to it. Camera quality isn't bad either but keep in mind this is a cell phone. Ringers are very loud as well. Does everything a phone should do with some very nice bells and whistles included. In my opinion, there are no cons to this phone.
Terrific phone.
This is a terrific phone. I have had it for a few weeks so far, coming from an LG 5550 which I thought was pretty good. This is much clearer and better signal. Also, I can hear my voice feedback, a feat I thought was not possible in cell phones (like in a land line which leads one to talk in a normal volume, not shouting). I like the lights, size, speakerphone, etc. I have complaints about setting the different tone styles (loud, vibrate...) on the side buttons which are easy to change by accident, and when on silent you cannot get the lights to flash even though you have that choice in the menu. Also it will not vibrate and ring at the same time (only vibrate "then" ring). Also I plugged it into my computer through a USB and it does not charge as advertised (does anyone know if I need the extra CD software even for this??). If you can get it cheap, it is a fine piece.
It's a keeper!
Pros:
Size
Looks
Signal
Feels solid
Size of keypad
Camera is nice to put kids as wallpaper
Speaker phone
Nice size screen inside phone
Cons:
When you hit call button to show calls, all you get is recently made calls, no received or missed calls.
Phonebook: If someone has 2 numbers, you have to list them twice. So I have 2 Moms listed in my phonebook.
No bluetooth.
All in all this is a great phone, wish I could at least fix the phonebook con.
