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
Great Phone - Turns Heads - Fully Customizable
Cingular Sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now that we got that out of the way, this is a really good phone if you can live with Cingular's sub par service and customer relations and you can get it for about $390 from a third party cingular dealer. Download Mobile Phone Tools and you will be able to drag and drop mp3's and jpeg's into your V3 with ease. (You must install the USB Driver for the software to work correctly).
Motorola hit a home run! Sorry they had to sell the phone to Cingular. Miss my Verizon service and V-Cast.
Pro's:
Design, Sturdiness, Turns heads, People always commenting on my phone, Totally and easily, Customizable, Loud Speaker phone, Name dial, the list goes on and on.
Con's:
Cingular Wireless
Somewhat disappointed!
I love the design of this phone with the large screen and nice sized buttons. Its great that it fits in my pocket easily. The one bad side to this phone is that it doesn't hold a signal very well at all! I have other phones that cost me only $50 and I never loose a signal with them. I even tried one of those antenna boosters and it still shuts off due to no signal strength. What good is an awesome looking phone if you keep getting disconnected from your calls. I'm going back to my Motorola v551. It works much better.
AWESOME PHONE!
Coming from another previous highend phone, the Nokia 8890, I had very high expectations on the asthetics, build quality, and of course RF performance of my next phone! I loved the 8890 and that is why it took me awhile to find its successor. There was just no phones out that made me want to upgrade....until I found out about the V3!
BUILD QUALITY:
Exceptional. Better than all the plastic, finicky phones on the market. The phone is put together really well.
RF PERFORMANCE:
I am on Fido/Rogers Wireless in Canada, 850/900/1900Mhz , and the phone sounds very clear and natural, even with only 1 bar of reception. I would say its as good, if not better than my 8890.
ASTHETICS:
Either you love it or hate it. From the general response of friends, co-workers and strangers, it has been VERY POSITIVE!
Overall, the V3 adds everything to the 8890 and takes it up a few notches! I love the vibrant 262K color screen, speaker phone and most of all the looks! The only gripe I have about it is the keypad gets dirty easily from fingerprints!
MONEY WELL SPENT!
Black Razr
The Black Razr just hit our shelves yesterday and being sick of my bulky Sony 710 I figured I would pick one up. You can look in the other reviews to realize the V551 is the more sensible Cingular Motorola (better price, better software, more options). But lets be honest, if your into the Razr it's because you fit one of three profiles.
1) You want a REALLY thin phone.
-Practical?
Not really, the original STARTAC is still the best selling flip phone EVER! Huge phone, but it worked great, people bought it, and people carried it. The Razr is thin but reason to buy it hardly.
2) You're really into the whole Motorola operating software thing.
-Practical?
Not at all...there are about 31 people in the entire world who have bought a Motorola based on the software, and they are using the A1000 not the Razr. The only Motorola phone I have ever used that was "really" user friendly was the A1000. At a few car payments the phone would be great for people with recent lottery winnings on hand. The Razr's software is weak in comparison to the software of any Nokia. Motorola promises to put a nicer OS program in the upcoming Slvr and Pebble. Like I said the A1000 or bust when it comes to user friendly and Motorola.
3) You really like rubbing it in people's faces.
-Practical?
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If there is one lesson to learn here it's that the Motorola Razr has taught the importance of "risk vs. reward" The original crowd of folks who purchased the Razr at the ripe cost of $500 have now realized the quality of there investment (and they are not happy about it). They also realize now they are no longer a elite crew because every high school kid who cut a couple lawns is sporting the Razr at $200. This is where Motorola came up with an even better idea. Spray paint the phone black and charge $50 more for it. But the pure joy I get in rubbing it in someone's face that I have the "newer" HOT phone feels great.
Razr Phone really isnt that great
When I first saw the phone i was like this is a sick ass phone. But then I purchased it i hated it from the beginning. I had to migrate over from AT&T's plan over to the evil plan of cingular. I had a great nokia but couldnt use it as a cingular phone.
Pros of the phone
When closed its really really thin,
CONS
The web broser button is right above the green button, so every time i hit is the web browser button
its longer than a house phone when you are calling someone
its really really slow when you want it to do something
when dropped the back pops off,
Its a piece of CRAP
DO NOT BUY!!!
Maan, I bought this of da ebay. It has good screen and it is thin, but RECEPTION SUCKS, DROPS THE CALLS LIKE CRAZY unlike my old Nokia. Also, scratches to easily. Have to charge to often. They won't accept the returns on the Ebay, so I'll have to stick with this plastic crap for a while now... =-((( Sad, sad... Should've bought Nokia 6620...
Very bad phone!!!
My reception w/ Cingular service sucks, so I tried to exchange my Razr three times (!) - same [...] happenin'. Then went ahead and tryed new Nokia 6102 flip phone - WORKS FLAWLESS!!! It might not be as "hot", BUT IT WORKS, YO! And it is easy to carry around, coz it is small, not bulky like Razr. And it is twice cheaper than that v3 [...]! Also, Razr used to create an interference and loud annoying noise in my speakers at home and in my car. Nokia does not! Also, I don't understand why Razr got such a small memory? I mean, wit' a big screen like that I would like to be able to store a lot of games and videos on my phone BUT I CANNOT!!! And why da [...] do I need mp3-player feature if I cannot store any songs?! ;-(((
Motorola, c'mon, dawg!!! U could do better on Razor, and u know that!..
Ed. note: removed profanity
The Most Wonderful Phone in the World
I just purchased this phone 12/23/2004 as a self Christmas present. Hey I survived the year and deserved a nice reward. The word to describe this phone is "WOW" !
Purchased from local Cingular store here in Albuquerque NM. Service is Cingular in Albuquerque NM area.
Pros:
Thin and light
All metal ( feels really good ! )
Looks beautiful ( matches my silver Apple Powerbook G4 perfectly )
Bluetooth rocks !
Camera is nice !
The screen is gorgeous !
Playing MPEG-4 movies is really cool !
Playing MP-3 and TrueTone music is so cool !
Reception is very good. Loud and clear. No drops. This baby really holds on to the signal.
Quad Band ( Use worldwide )
Nice for games ( wonderful large, sharp screen with vivid colors)
Has Internet, email, text, and full multi-media messaging.
Cons:
Zero
So, there you have it. It not only looks better than any phone ever made, but performance and features are very good too !
I highly recommend this phone. It is well worth every penny. You truly do get what you pay for ! Buy it now !
By the way it attracts a lot of attention too. Be prepared for the curious onlookers !
Great Packaging but some Problems
I've had my RAZR for 2 1/2 weeks and I still haven't decided whether to keep it.
PROS:
- looks great
- thin and light
- large clear display
- nice sound
- black finish feels good
- reception pretty good (Nokia best?)
- basic features (bluetooth, email, browse)
- quad band world phone
CONS:
- GRPS not EDGE (issue if download lots)
- camera is terrible (worse I've seen)
- earpiece volume low (set to max)
- keypad harder to use (easier with use)
- doesn't feel as comfortable in your hand as most flip phones
- battery life so-so
- expensive
If you fall in love with this phone's packaging like most of us and the CONS aren't important to you, this phone is probably for you.
If you are technically oriented and demand a phone where everything works well, this phone isn't for you.
Since most of us always carry our mobile phones, packaging is a huge issue. It might override the phone's shortcomings. It all depends on your priorities....
- Demosthenes
Motorola Razr V3, Sweet Phone
This phone is awesome. After using the v600, this phone is a breath of fresh air. I almost gave up on Motorola, but they won me over with this phone. I got tired of the v600, not having a loud enough speaker and ear piece. I was always having to push the ear piece up to my ear. I was also missing calls because the speaker was not loud enough. They fixed that with this phone.
Pros:
Cool looking and Sleek
Loud speaker and ear piece
Reception is great
Improved camera
Screen is bigger and very clear
Bluetooth works great
Internet seems to be a little faster
Love the keypad
Extra soft keys for internet and messages
Small screen on the outside is cool feature
Cons:
Vibrate is not strong enough
The keys on the side of the phone should be on the lower half of the phone not the top half.
Needs more memory, expandable memory would be cool.
Keypad volume needs to be louder.
Overall this Motorola Razr V3 is a sweet phone. A big improvement over the v600 model. Now that the price has come down on it, it is well worth the money. Anyone who likes Motorola should own this phone.
