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 ›
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Still a good workhorse
Carrier: Verizon
The Motorola E815 is a good phone if you are looking for reception in areas where other CDMA phones canât hack it.
I bought the E815 in early December 2012, since Tracfone had cut me off for the second time with no warning nor explanation. I had been planning this move for a year â to Page Plus Cellular â which uses Verizonâs towers and infrastructure to furnish prepaid cell service - in Northern Calif. - near Chico, in my case.
I also was on the Verizon Network with Tracfone, using an LG220c phone. The E815 runs circles around the LG220c as far as reception in this rural area.
I was so impressed with the E815 that I bought a second one on eBay in March, 2013. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago I switched my number to the ânewerâ E815 and found that my battery life went from ~4 days to ~2 days with light use. I switched back to using the original E815, and found that battery life on that cell was also ~2 days.
Both phones, after activating the second time, have intermittent âEVDOâ showing on the main screen, interspersed with â1Xâ next to the signal strength.
My current phone has over 591 total hours of phone time on it â the lady that owned it before me really used it a lot.
I do NOT need nor want a âsmartphoneâ at this point in my life. I want a phone that can make calls and send text, no matter where I am. This phone came out in 2005 on the Verizon Network.
PRO: good signal reception, adequate battery life, clear display, durable, adequate polyphonic ring tones.
CON: A little bulky by todayâs standards. Has a small external antenna.
PeakCellnâs review made me notice this old but good cell phone.
The current price (2013) on eBay is around $25.00USD with wall charger.
Too good to leave in the drawer
I agree with you, peakcelln. The Motorola E815 is the best. I got one back in 2006. I used it till 2008 when upgrade time came and I let somebody convince me to retire the E815 and get one of the LG touchscreen jobbies. I tolerated that phone with its poor reception, inaccurate scrolling, boomy earpiece, short battery life, etc. for over a year. Recently, though, I reactivated my E815 after remembering that it was the best cellphone I ever owned. I charged it up and activated it online and transferred my phone book. Heck, this time around I'm even using a 2GB memory card and have hours and hours of music on the E815. I also got an extended battery and cover off of ebay. Now I am back to really enjoying my cellphone instead of catering to it. The Motorola E815 is the best! This time I'm sticking with it!
Still the best ALL Around VZW Phone
As an "Old School" Cell phone guy in the industry over 17rs, I feel I have a basis to talk about certain phones; especially this one. I have built well over 100 of these for my customers. It is a very stable phone with the best reception and durabilty of any all around VZW phone. Reception & Durability used to be the 2 top criteria used when buying a phone. Somehow the industry has "Dummed" down itself(& the buying public)into believing all phones have the same reception and durability;& all you need to decide is on their features, the real Industry revenue streams. In my field tests, this phone was only beaten by the Nokia 3589i and Nokia 6015(In a dual mode area) and even beat alot of trimodes;Very strange). So rest assured, if you cant get out with this phone, you can't get out with anything on VZW & youre most likely in a bad VZW area.
The next high scoring area is fixability. This is the ability to obtain parts for a specified phone and ease of repair. I personally have hundreds of each part for this phone(Along with many other reputable repair guys) and can fix anything (Except the motherboard) in 5 minutes or less. It is extremely important to buy a "Fixable" phone. Newer phones may not have the parts available to fix it. I always suggest go onto Ebay and lookup "LCD" and "Flex"; if anything pops up, then parts may be available. If they dont, I would seriously consider buying another phone, because repairing may be impossible and replacement will cost hundreds of dollars.
Combining the Reception, Durabilty, and fixability with a decent 1.3 mp camera, EVDO, and Bluetooth, makes this still one of the best Verizon phones ever.
The one achilles heal on this phone is the charger. HOWEVER, when customers are taught to baby the charger and that only a slight touch is needed to connect it(Along with pushing the button on the charger when disconnecting) I have seen this phone last for years and over 3000 hrs; literally 10x what phones now last. This is a GREAT PHONE!
A 'Hummer' of a phone ...
I bought this USED phone on eBay after it had been flashed to Cricket Wireless. I was switching from a T-Mobile prepaid account to Cricket because I had signed my girlfriend up for a Cricket account about a year earlier and she got better service and coverage with her service and cheap phone that I did with my T-Mobile. This phone replaced my Samsung X495, which I was very happy with.
I have found this phone to be super reliable, easy to use, packed with features (most of which I'll never use), and something that I plan to hold on to for a long, long time.
I have this Motorola e815 and she has an LG LX150. We like them both, but I affectionately refer to this as "my Hummer compared to her Toyota". This is an absolute workhorse, ugly though it may be. I has been dropped on a few occasions with no effect on it. Not a good idea to be sure.
PROS:
Long Battery Life
Extra Loud Ringer and earpiece volume
Bluetooth Capable (easily paired up with my
Plantronics headset)
Great Voice and Number Recognition
Internal and External Color Screens are large
Micro SD Card Slot
Overall Ease of Use
NEVER dropped a call even in Mexico near the
US Border
The only CONS I can think of is the camera is quite mediocre at best. This isn't even an issue with me. If I want to take a pic then I have a digital camera for that.
To sum it up, I can't think of a thing that I have to say that is bad about this phone. I am a senior and this is just about as complicated as I can get.
Highly Recommended.
Excellent Phone
I got this phone when I switched to Verizon from Nextel and have never looked back. Previously, any cell phone I had or used just seemed like a toy that I may or may not break by the time I was done using it. This phone, though, has been amazing.
I work landscaping, so this phone gets abused. It's been rained on, kicked, thrown, dropped in gravel, dropped in mud and it just keeps right on working.
It's a little short on some of the features, but since I use it as a phone and not a toy, that's never been of concern to me.
Pros:
Incredibly solid construction
No lag
External antennae
Expandable memory
Cons:
None, really.
Like I said, it's a little short on features like games or internet, but it is a phone, not a computer.
Reliable Phone
This phone is very reliable, but it has some flaws..
Pros:
Sturdy design
Good camera
Easy to type on
Good range from cell phone tower
Ring tones are good..but limited
Has ITap (better than T9Word)
Easy navigating inside the phone
Talk on speakerphone while the phone is shut
Cons:
Cannot record music and put them as your ringtone at all.
Scratches on the front screen cover
Slow at some menus
Camera doesn't always work
Battery charger is sometimes hard to get into the phone.
A bigger type of phone, with long antenna
A legitimate classic
I purchased my E815 back in 2005 and never got around to leaving a review, so I'll post a few comments now as I get ready to retire it.
This was simply the best phone I've owned, period. Solid construction, classy good looks, excellent feature set. The volume on the ringers and speakerphone can go very loud when you need it, without much distortion. The lens on the 1.3MP camera is recessed, giving it some protection from scratches. The camera itself takes great pictures when compared with other 1.3MP phones.
The earpiece is very well made, calls are loud with excellent clarity. Calls made from this phone are also loud and clear, as I've had many comments on this. Grabs and holds signals well, as I travel through fringe areas at times.
Finally, this phone is easily modified. I edited the seem after I first purchased it so I could freely transfer MP3s and JPEGs, a feature Verizon had disabled.
As it's time to upgrade my phone, I'm finding that I compare everything to my E815, which is making the VX8350 I just purchased look a little weak.
Pros:
Excellent reception
Excellent construction
Excellent large display
Excellent camera, with flash
Excellent speakerphone
Excellent call clarity
Classic good looks
Full-featured UI
Easy to restore features Verizon crippled
Cons:
Slight lag when scrolling through Media menu
Worth the money
I have service with a flat rate company. There are not that many towers where we are but, I honestly do not have any problems with this phone.
The vibration is not the best but every phone has its problems.
I work for a wireless company and I will be the first to tell you that when you buy not only a phone but anything you get your moneys worth.
I like this phone, it has a lot of nice features about it. Would I run out and buy another one, if there was nothing new at our store than yes.
I love this phone but its time for change!
I have had this phone for about 11 months and i have loved it. This was Verizon's premier non-PDA phone for months and thats the main reason that i got it. I use about 2000 text messages a month and am on the phone for 3-4 hours on a normal day. This phone has everything but the ability to access the VCAST music store( which is not a big deal b/c if you own this phone you are most likely tech savvy and know how to put your own mp3's on the phone) and the VZ Navigator (which would be a WONDERFUL feature to have). The 815 has bluetooth, mp3 player, great graphics, and in my opinion-in columbus ohio- has great service and i dont think that i have dropped a call yet! Unfortunately in the midst of the 11 months of me owning this phone i had to get it replaced once because I dropped it and it completely stopped working, wouldn't even turn on at all, so i lost all of mt 260 phone numbers which was the biggest loss. Now i have to put in an insurance replacement because my arrow keys fell off from over-use of text messaging. So now my Motorola e-815 is being replaced with the LG VX-8300
Few worth while choices - this is the best
I purchased this phone back in Sept '05. I am a very heavy user, and also test msg more than frequently. I've had so many phones w/ Verizon - BEST was the moto V60i. Then the moto T730 (BAD) Then the long awaited V710 (Excellent - but quirkey software. I decided to get the E815 to hopefully "fix" the quirkey glitches of the V710 and sacrificed the analog for the all digital E815.
Overall, my priorities were: 1- Reception, 2- Battery life, 3- Speaker, 4- Bluetooth.
All other features were secondary. They are all nice to have, but certainly not what I based my purchase on.
There are many things this phone can do to help with busy lives, both business and personal.
Pros:
Reception - awesome - my kids can ALWAYS reach me
Battery life - excellent! (use battery save)
Speaker - Excellent (2nd to NEXTEL)
Bluetooth headset - awesome and tremendous tool especially with driving.
Voice recorder (record conversations too)
Inside screen - large and very easy to see in all reasonable lighting situations
Outside screen - same
Almost all settings can be customized to the users' needs and ease of use.
Vibrate and ring feature - more than sufficient. Never missed a call.
Extra memory storage - a plus for the pix and videos (Download from your pc and get nice shots to carry around)
2.5mm universal headset avail if batt dies in your bluetooth headset
This phone really does everything and then some with the ability to customize.
Cons: (most not worth mentioning, but...)
Camera - again it's a phone 1st, but convenient and pretty good in good lighting though the contrast and zoom and light conditions are adjustable
Video - a little pixelated
Calendar - doesnt always notify when programmed
Could use a memo app.
I'm reaching now -
Remeber - EVERY phone, even the same model may vary - so if it doesnt work right from the get go, trade it for a NEW one not refurbed. You get 15 days every time you get a phone.
I do have my eye on the MOTO Q, and the Razor V3m.
