Motorola v66
Average Ratings
Very good phone, for once, I'm impressed with a Motorola!
I've had this phone for about 13 months now, from when I was originally over in England.
It's a great phone, packed with a lot of useful (to me, anyway) features... voicedial, T9 input, GPRS, WAP.
It's certainly a vast improvement User-interface wise compared to Motorola's previous efforts.
Battery life is good, and although one guy here said he wouldn't recommend it for SMS.... I would, it's fine. (Perhaps I have small fingers, but I don't have a problem typing on it at all).
There's a couple of bugs on it, but I think it's because mine has the original-release firmware, and I need to get it flash-updated to fix it. (The problems are... switching the phone on while it is charging causes the phonebook to be unavailable, you have disconnect the charger and try again.... and also the T9 text input sometimes seems to make up words! - I believe these have both been now fixed).
The US version of this phone only has a one colour screen, which is a shame, because my UK tri-colour one (Red, Orange or Green choices) is pretty neat... pointless, but it looks cool - Plus it confuses people here when they see it!! :)
Worse than Crap!!!
This phone is truly a piece of crap. I owned one for about 8 months. At first, it seemed great, very affordable, lots of features, but don't be fooled!!! Within 3 months, the screen started getting scratched from the buttons when I closed it! Then the back light stopped working. Then the screen stopped working all together. The phone has a bad reception all the time, and the speaker was fuzzy. Over all, I give this phone a big 0!!!!!
love the phone, BUT....
I really do love this phone since I bought it a few months ago on contract (Orange here in the UK were offering it free - my favourite price!) Its really small, and (after buying one of the small replacement aerials) manages to fit in even the smallest of my bags (this is important to me, ok?:)) I like how I can easily change the cover "plates" without having to break the cover or my nails (like I did with my Nokia!). I find the keyboard easy to use (and I'm always sending text messages, so thats important as well)
However, I have a few complaints. Since moving to Aberystwyth (small town on Welsh coast) from Chester (small city on Welsh border) I've found that my signal is terrible, especially here in my room, where it can die without warning. Also the battery life could be a little better (but I get around that problem by carrying around a spare if I think it may run out). Oh, and the software to connect the phone to the computer via the usb cable doesn't support XP. I have e-mailed the company about it, but no reply :(
Overall, a great phone, especially if size matters ;)
Menus are terrible
I bought this phone for its form factor. It is a very small and easy to handle phone. The display is bright and very readable. Aside from that, I have no love for this phone. The menu system is atrocious. After four months I am still hunting for some things. The control buttons above the numberpad are extremely small. The speaker volume is inadequate. Any outside noise seems to drown out the speaker. I cannot wait to be rid of this phone.
Perfect for my requirements
It's interesting to see the wide range of reviews on this phone. I have had mine for over 3 years and it has performed flawlessly. One reviewer wrote that he thought Motorola was crazy for putting the SIM chip on the front cover. As someone who needs to constantly switch SIMS, I find this to be one of the greatest features of the phone. To each his own, I suppose. This phone is small, easy to use and has worked no matter what SIM chip I place in it. It does exactly what I need it to do, make calls from anywhere. I have a Treo 700WX and a BlackBerry 8100 (Pearl) and would choose this phone over either of them if it had PDA functionality. As it is I leave the Treo home when I go overseas, take the BlackBerry just for email, and all of my phone calls are made on the V66. I love the fact that it is so small, and it has been extremely reliable for me. I dread the day it dies and I require a replacement, the phones manufactured today are just too laden with crap I don't need.
not a bad "old school" phone
it's unfair to compare this phone with the hightech phones today, but way back when the v66 was "the new thing" it was a pretty good phone..slim, good reception, and just the right amount of features.
Oh my gosh
So, I've owned this phone for 4 years now, and I've never had any complaints. I've dropped it once, still works perfectly fine. I always have good reception, in my own country (Holland) as well as other. But that isn't really because of the phone is it? Reception is very provider-dependant. I have T-Mobile BTW, it's great, wouldn't want any other.
I think it's cool, since there aren't any features that are unnecessary, like MP# players, photo camera's, TV screens, etc. It's a phone that does what it's meant for: calling and getting calls.
So for me, it's the perfect phone.
Mixed Bag
I owned this phone for a little less than a year. I got it online for free and that's the BEST thing about it!
PROS:
-Early on it got great reception and held a charge for a long time.
-Reliable alarm and good calendar features.
CONS:
-I dropped this phone once, ONCE and it hasn't worked since. Two of the main buttons locked up and now I hear a ticking noise when talking.
-Features were by an large elementary, and ringtones SUCKED big time.
I will say that before I dropped the phone, it NEVER cut out (T-mobile) and was the most dependable, quickest-charging phone I've owned.
Terrible Terrible Phone
I've had this phone for almost 2.5 years and it is absolutetly terrible. I wish I had been able to afford a new phone sooner. Reception is terrible, I'd say about 30-40% as good as that of a T637, S66 or 6230. When you have reception call quality is still horrid, expect to repeat yourself many times. The screen is bad, somehow manages to get all sorts of weird marks on it, which could only come from the keypad. Also, stuff will get under the screen that looks like a pixel but you can move it by tapping the phone on something. I've had 2 of these phones since the first was warrantied after 6 months so its not just a fluke. Also, the newer one developed a vertical crack on the screen after about a year and a half, started out about half way down the screen and over about 6 months made its way into a crack the full height of the screen. I didn't drop it and just kept it in my pocket at so its not like something happened TO crack it.
Also, both V66's I've had have had problems with the charger. For some reason when you plug the charger in you have about a 50% chance of it charging. The other half of the time it will say "unable to charge" and you have to remove the charger and try again. This seems to go in streaks with a few weeks it working fine and then for a few weeks it will take up to 15 - 20 times (NOT exaggerating) to get it to charge. Again, this isn't just a bad phone since it happened with both that I've had.
I would never consider using this phone unless it cost -$500. My roomate bought a new phone this week and foolishly put his current one on Ebay before receiving his new one and had to use my V66 for 2 days after his auction was bought with "buy it now". He found it virtually impossible to use in his room (10 feet from mine) resorting to talking to people on instant messenger instead of the phone. At least in my room I could usually hold a bad conversation. Now, with his 6230 he has no problem with calls
v66 way better than Nokia 3390
I have been using this phone in the North Austin, TX service Area for about three months now (since March '04) and it has done nothing but bring smiles to my face.
I have been using T-Mobile since May '03, and the call service, call clarity, customer service have all always exceeded my expectations (although that may simply be 'cause I'm a pessimist)
Anyway, the M-v66 is much better than my old Nokia 3390, for many reasons (consider this my "Pros" list:
1. Voice Dialing (kewl!),
2. noise cancelling (way rad!),
3. FM radio (requires headset, but for just an extra $30 at motorola.com, well worth it, especially if your car radio is busted -- also, the headset has its own volume control AND a mic with a little button that lets you answer an incoming call or hit redial WHILE listening to the radio!),
4. clamshell form factor (better than bar, explained in other reviews),
5. size (small enough to fit in your pocket and not be a hickey - I usually put it in the "5th pocket" in my jeans, you know the small one inside/behind the right front pocket - and I love that this phone is actually small enough to fit!)
6. screen clarity (I love the white backlight - it's MUCH better than the green backlight on the 3390)
Please see my other reviews for my "Cons" list and my "similarities" list.
