Motorola V551 / V330 / V547 / V555 / V557
Average Ratings
Motorola V551
I'm new to the world of cell phones but I have to admit that the V551 has impressed me greatly. This is an awesome starter phone, I just wish it had a few extra features like I have seen on other phones.
Pros:
the feel of the phone is wonderful, not to heavy, not too light. The blue stuff feels awesome.
Phone clarity is great if your in an area without great interference.
Mp3 Ringtones
Voice Dialing is simple
Overall the phone is easy to use.
Camera works well. If you're looking for a digital camera with hi res then buy one, a cell phone is a spur of the moment type camera feature not something u would want to replace a real camera with.
I thought I wanted a blue backlight for the keypad, but the white has turned out to be quite classy.
1000 phone book entries
Cons:
Would have loved some applications or games aside from the moto mixer and the trial of bejewled.
The internet button is right next to the other buttons and u can easily accidently log on to the net if u have big fingers.
Verizon was nice to at least have a warning screen come up first before letting u incur charges.
I would like an extendable antenna on the stub.
Would also like some more customizable features for the phone itself, more color themes, color ID, like verizon offers on their LG phones.
Wish the phone was expandable.
Limited number of recording allowed for voice dialing. Phone book capacity is 1000 numbers, voice memory holds less then 30.
The pros outweigh the cons and for 99.00 and a 2 year contract I feel I am getting my moneys worth. I have had the phone a week now and I thought I wanted to grab the V710 cause of the camera but I am more than thrilled with what I have.
I recommend it!
My Review Of The V551
My review of the V551
Pro's
Improved menu and easy to navigate. Linked up to my work computer and INTERNET downloaded all my contacts no problem.
Easy to carry durable resistant covering that helps when I get clumsy(like I did today) and drop it bump it around.
For a novice phone user like me (I came from Nextel and had an i95cl which at one time were their *Flagship color phone) has all the bells and whistles and software I will ever need.
And surprisingly has a very nice camera phone that takes decent pictures and movies.
Con's
Only a few..
It smudges easily that can annoy some people that sweat alot or have oily skin.
The speaker phone on the back. I don't know who at moto decided to take them from the front to the back but they better re-reverse it soon.
That is the one thing I liked about my i95cl that pretty much prevented me from upgrading to another nextel phone.The rear speaker phone.
It might not bug others but it does me.
I got my phone thru a cooperate Rep that activates all our phones.
Two years with a 50 dollar mail in rebate my phone ran will run me $50 bucks!! and I sent my Nextel phone back they are going to give me $35 bucks that I will put towards the phone so I will just end up spending $15 bucks on my phone!!
Anyone thinking of joining cingular make your first phone be the V551 you will not regret it or be sorry!!
great affordable video phone
I absolutely love this phone, it has all the features i wanted in a camera phone plus more. Now ill get into actually reviewing this phone.
pros:
camera/video camera
reception
style of the phone
menu systems are real easy to use
bright screan
key pad has large digits
The only cons i have is motorola switched the power/off button back around after i was so use to them being reversed. Besides that I enjoy this phone.
great job motorola finally!!
I have had the the v600 and the v400,and motorola did a great job fixing all of the little problems the had with those two phone.The v551 is a solid phone. The rubbery cover is helpful so the phone doesnt slide out of your hand.Ialso like how you can chnage the way you view your phonebook entries,so you dont see every # for every contact!
PROS:bluetooth,screen, mp3 ringtones,rf,battery life,sound quality,edge,camera is decent compared to other camera phones.
CONS;wish motorola gave you mpt when you purchase a phone !!
Best phone I've ever had!
This is a great phone and actually the best I've ever had...I had to do a lot of research on my next phone (which is the one I have now). If you want to buy a Motorola but don't know which Model then buy this one! The reception has increased on this phone. I've always liked Motorola!...
V555 phone book, review
First - my impressions on the phone, which I just picked up from Cingular (former AT&T customer today):
PROS: feels sturdy, even though it's plastic; like the camera interface; beautiful screen; handset audio quality is EXCELLENT; has speakerphone; Bluetooth headset performance with HS810 is great; clamshell (never have to worry about forgetting to lock my candy-bar phone and callling the UK for 15 minutes again!)
CONS: Sony Ericsson has a better menu interface, IMHO; Bluetooth sync support for Mac OS X is nonexistent - cable is required; external display too small to display full names on incoming calls
UNKNOWNS: Battery life;
Next, the phone book.
hot_md_guy mentions in his review that the phone is lacking a hierarchical phone book - that's *partially* true - it's not enabled that way, and the UI/documentation don't make it obvious, but you can get behavior that more or less mimics a hierarchical phone book:
Go to the Address Book, then hit the Menu Key and select Setup. Sort by Name, and Display Primary Contacts.
When you view the address book, you'll only see the name associated with the primary number (which you can use Menu/Set Primary to select). When you select one of these contacts, you'll see details on the primary number. Arrow down through the list to see the other numbers associated with that name.
I said *partially* true, though - if you keep scrolling, you'll eventually get to the next contact - not wrap around to the first number of the current contact. Also, I'm not sure if numbers synced from a computer will be downloaded in a way that takes advantage of this.
Eat this Nokia!
I was a former AWE employee and when we became Cingular in my market, we were provided with Motorola V551's.
It will be widely available to the public once the V400 stock has been depleted.
I dont know what it is, but with Motorola's Vxxx "rubberized" series phones (eg: V300, V400, V505) The company seems to have just gotten it right!
The V551 continues this trend. It takes the wealth of Multimedia functions prevalent in the other models and expands on them with edge and video capture.
Otherwise, outside of new styling and a couple of extra shortcuts geared towards the camera and internet it is the same.
Many of my co-workers were just so scarred by the V600 and bent over their Sony Ericsson T637's or overrated Nokia 6620's that they were weary of the phone at first.
Everyone is on the same page now :)
Instead of Pros, let me list WHY it is better then Sony or Nokia.
- Edge! (Not available on current Sony models, 6620 has it, but the phone cost twice as much!)
- Camera. Sony's is low resolution. In fact half resolution. 6620 is more difficult to use for most requiring more buttons to access.
- Audio quality. Sony doesnt do MP3 right now. Nokia does, but the 6620 is so soft in volume, it is basically USELESS.
- Design. It's a flip!! Sony isn't and Nokia not only isnt...it's much larger and MUCH uglier.
- Display. Larger then the Sony and much more crisp. It has more USEABLE space then the Nokia. (I define that, as the banners and status bar on the 6620 take up more then half of the working room!)
- Quad band. Sony and Nokia??? HA HA HA HA! Forget it.
Cons
- Video capture. SUCKS! very very choppy compared to Nokia.
- No expandable memory. 5 MB is just NOT enough for video clips and MP3s and games. You quickly run out of room.
- Contacts. OK, so its not a palm. But when will Motorola understand that most high end phones require a hierarchical contact list? no one likes entering the same name for multiple numbers.
V551
I agree with Chris....
This is my seventh phone this year. I began with Nokia's 3600, went to a SE t616, had a pre-recall V600, a loaner V400, a post V600, a Nokia 6230, and now the V551. I use the phone in Dallas on Cingular's network.
I too received this phone from the learn and earn contest. I like the way the blue parts of the phone feel. I see this to be a more durable phone than the V400/600. I wish they would have used a different color than blue to separate it from the V505 and V300. I really like the separate and dedicated buttons for the camera and to get to the internet. EDGE is not available in Dallas, yet, so I am stuck with the 40KBps for GPRS. The blurting on this phone is wonderful. Range has improve significantly. With my V600 and Nokia 6230, I could get about 35 feet, before distortion. Now I am pushing 40+, with the same Moto HS-810. When I receive a call the phone rings and the headset beeps in my ear. I haven't figured if this could be fixed or not.
RF has improved, too. I live on the North side of Dallas, and in my office at my house, I use to get 2 bars. Now it pushes four to five all day. There are a couple of new factory ring tones with the phone. The speaker volume has improved too. At vol. level 7 it is very loud, compared to my pre and post V600's. I am also glad the talk/end buttons have conformed to the "normal" direction, like the V180 and V220.
I also like the fact that it has a my account feature like the LG1400. This gives you another way to utilize Cingular's "star" services. Be wary as this will connect you to the internet.
Negatives: No games, just a trial version of bejewled. When I open my phone it squeaks. Very annoying, too bad there is no way to lubricate it.
Very good value for $149 with a 2yr commitment. I highly recommend it to a friend. Tons of features for the value. Unless you like the flashiness of the V3, the V551 is money well spent.
Will
Just received today
I just received the Motorola V551 from Cingular today. I work for the company and won the phone in a contest from Motorola. Overall it is a very good phone. Nice feel to and feels really sturdy in your hand. The phone is the same size as the V400 and V600, and is really a combination of the two. The front of the phone features a rubber feeling outer lining (The blue part) with a metal inner lining. The video capture is really sluggish. Don't plan on taking video and being able to jerk the phone quickly and you are limited to 10 seconds or so of video. Overall picture quality is good, much the same as the 400 and 600. EDGE really does make a difference if browsing the internet is your thing. Much, much, much faster then the V600 if EDGE is available in your area. For the same price as the V400 it is very much worth the money.
