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
Not too bad but far from good...
Overall quite nice phone; however, if you have large hands the fact that it's so think makes it quite flimsy and annoying to open. Now Pros and Cons:
Pros:
Very light and slick -- especially black.
Fairly user friendly. I saw number of users complain about phone book but it's non-issue in my case since I care only about phone numbers. Note that I was unable to associate name with more than 1 phone number, i.e. John Doe - home #, work #, other #. This functionality was available on older moto phones so maybe I just didn't get to it :-)
Fairly fast on boot-up/shutdown.
Solid phone considering it's free with qualifying plans.
Plenty of docs on how to modify this phone with mini USB cable. Another benefit that soft needed for that is freely available.
Cons:
Reception is worse than on Nokia, but I saw some pointers to making it better on various bb'ses have not had a chance to test it though.
This is quite subjective, but if you have large hands, it takes time and effort to get used to open it.
Battery is not as good as advertised -- I think that it would perform substantially better if all java/flush functionality was turned off but then what's the point of getting it ;-))
There's only one port, so unless you've got blue tooth headset you will not be able to charge and talk at the same time.
Older phones had software that would not display missing calls until phone was opened. Mine behaves normally but you want to check for that since, in my opinion, this is a bug.
Overall, as stated above, okay phone -- rather attention grabber than anything else. If you're into toys or need very light/slim phone that fits in a dress shirt packet this phone is for you otherwise you may want to shop around for other phones...
outstanding
I am a global traveling - US, Europe, Asia... Have not found a service that replicated the US coverage and international roaming that the ATT TDMA/GSM combo did, but ATT discontinued that last year, so the search went on... I tried the Verizon Global Phone by Samsung, great phone but Verizon did not allow calls to certain countries and did not have coverage in the 2 GSM bands for the Caribbean. Tmobile sucks in the US.
This quadband GSM is a winner. Works well in my neighborhood in NJ-NY, works well in the Caribbean and works well outside North America. I am taking it to China next week.
Pros -
1. great reception, best so far of the phones I have tried.
2. outstanding speakerphone
3. bluetooth worked exceptionally well with the JABRA BT800
4. love the form factor
5. outstanding colors on the large display screen
6. works everywhere I go
7. great talk time and great standby time
8. truly industrial strenght...Ive dropped this phone at least 5 times in the last week as it is not enough to hold on it, but there was not a scratch on its titanium frame or screen!
cons
1. expensive, but worth it if you travel a lot
2. cant get the tzones to work too well and its slow
3. have a tough time downloading any other ringtones and games
4. no headset jack, so must get a bluetooth headset, which is not for everyone
5. If you travel a lot abroad, make sure that you get this phone from ATT and not cingular! Yes they are still different. They have different rates for roaming and different plans. You wont find the ATT version in any cingular stores, you have to all ATT up.
6. If you have big hands like me, you may drop this phone a lot as its really thin...
After struggling with phone providers - ATT (TDMA/GSM), Verizon (CDMS/GSM), T-mobile (GSM) and an assortment of other phone makes and GSM band configuration, this is the best phone for my needs.
BEST EVER!!!
really to be honest this is the best phone I have ever used. It has EVERYTHING you could ever want in a phone plus tons more.
I wanted to wait to see how it operated over seas and dang it worked like a charm everywhere I went. I am so impressed with this phone.
PROS:
1. Small (RAZR THIN :D)
2. Large Vibrant Screen
3. Works WONDERFULLY w/ my HS850 BT Headset
4. Buttons are in a place to where you never accidentally hit them. Plus if ya do they are kinda hard to press which is wonderful for the pocket and use.
5. Speaker-phone is loud and very very clear
6. Camera is awesome for a 640x480 in low and high light.
7. Speed of menus and such is awesome
8. Tons of memory for what ya really NEED to do with it being a BUSINESS PHONE
CONS:
1. Battery could improve
2. Screen OUTSIDE in sun is hard to see
3. PRICE still is high, but got mine NEW from cingular for $249.99
4. Fingerprints on keys are a prob if ur a clean freak of your phone like I am, but can be easily be wiped off with a cloth so not that big of a hassle.
5. Outside screen when in standby to just show time is very dull, with it could be fixed.
All in all this is the best phone I have ever had. I figured the price came just from it being small, but it is that and the other features it comes packed with. I so recommend this phone, but check ebay or other places to get it at a cheaper price even though it does have a $100 MIR on it from cingular right now still.
IT ROCKS!
I can't believe all this crying about such a good phone. The camera is just a gimmick. If you want to take pictures buy a camera. The camera on the phone is just a fun part of the phone, like the ring tones, screen savers, etc;
I feel bad for people that actually spent $300 or more on the phone though.
My wife and I were with Verizon and our contract had expired at Verizon and we had the LG 6100's...a pretty good phone in it's own right.
We were walking in the mall and were browsing Cingular. The salesman gave us a deal we could not refuse. We were given two Black RAZR V3's, two extra batteries, two nice leather cases, two Motorola bluetooth hands free ear pieces
FOR FREE!
He also waived the activation fee and we now have ROLL OVER minutes. We get twice as more "anytime" shared minutes than Verizon. (not to mention unlimited phone to phone and night and weekend minutes) and we are paying less than we were with Verizon.
We were also able to keep our old cell #'s
As far as the RAZR goes, the phone works like a charm, it looks cool, I bought a data suite and have many great sounding "Real" tones, I have nice background pictures, I have all the signal bars 98% of the time, we never had a dropped call. The extra batteries help out and we have a battery charger for the extra batteries that cost $19.99. The volume is loud, the speaker is loud, when it vibrates it moves around on the table, it is jam packed with features. These petty complaints are absurd...like "it does not have a video recorder,"etc;.
You knew what it had before you bought it. So, why complain about such petty things, it is a phone for crying out loud and a damn good one at that.
Also, we were able to sell our LG 6100's on ebay for $100 each.
The bottom line is, it is a solid sturdy phone and is very fun to use and hold. If you live in the sticks, you might have signal problems. But, here in NYC there are cell towers everywhere.
Lets face it, the pros out weigh the cons!
One of the Worst phones
The V3 has got to be the worst phone I have ever seen/sold. The problems are unreal.
Pros: Reception is fairly good.
Cons: Screen quits working, Keypads quit working, speaker(s) short out. Motorola repair facilities are useless.
Overall I would never sell/buy a Motorola V3 unless it is demanded. My life would be way better without this phone being around (I am being 100% serious) Motorola should pay me directly for all the problems I have had with these phones. :-(
An expensive fashion statement!
A friend of mine loaned me a silver Razr v3 so I could review it. I put my cingular simcard in and have used this phone for 3 weeks. I really wanted to like this phone but I have found too many things that just don't make this phone worth the money. This phone is more of a fashion statement than a really useful cell phone.
Pros -
Cool technology its thin very thin.
Metal case strong body.
Excellent volume easy to hear even in loud environments.
Attractive design, looks good, clear screens, keypad lighting is ultra modern.
Cons -
The price is too high due to these problems below:
Not user friendly. Menus are atrocious. Nothing is easy to use as compared to just about any other phone I've tried. Any users of NOKIAS, LG, or SAMSUNG will not believe how bad the Motorola designs are, The have a serious lack of user friendly set ups in their menus and buttons. It's pretty bad when I cant easily set up a speed dial for a number stored on my simcard. What good is a speed dial that requires 4 or 5 buttons to complete. THATS NOT SPEED DIAL or is it the norm for Motorola users?
In closing I would say that Motorola can learn from this experience and perfect this phone. I would suggest a study of how other phone competitors make their phone ease of use.
In short the Razr has an unfriendly use issue that it must address before they can charge the money they want.
It's sleek and solid
Pros:
It's design is absolutely amazing.
It's features are solid
Great audio quality
Cons:
Less features than some of the latest phones
It's bluetooth enabled so that it gives me less excuse to show off the phone when I'm using my BT headset...
When you think of V3, you have to see it as a look+solid performance phone and NOT a phone that is going to have all the latest and features. While some of the phones nowadays obviously have more features than the V3, Motorola is not marketing this as the "feature phone". It's price and reputation comes from it's design and it's performances on the features it has. I have been using it for about 2 wks already and I absolutely fell in love with it. While some people may not understand how i spend $600 on a phone, they are looking from the wrong perspective. They are looking at it from the features standpoint. Remember, feature phones will drop prices quickly as new features and competitors come out quickly. However, the V3 will not have this problem as it is not trying to be the "most feature rich phone" out in the market. All in all, i think this is a GREAT phone. Good reception, good design, and quite easy to use (1st time motorola user).
Note on scams: I think wiring money to Romania itself seems quite flaky... also, sometimes when deals are too good to be true, they probably are... also, giving a low phone rating because you got scammed is unfair for the phone...
Best pure phone I have ever owned
I have had many gsm (and a lot of cdma phones too) in the past 2 years. 8290, e715, v600, sanyo 5500, audiovox 8900, 3610, v878, 6610, just to name a few. And after 1 month of usage, the Razr is the best pure phone of them all.
Pros:
1) form factor. If you keep your phone in your pocket this is the best phone. The thinness of the v3 is the difference in pocket comfort. Jeans, khakis or suit-pants. It fits well in all of them.
2) RF: This thing gets a signal where other phones didn't/couldn't.
3) Audio: People always think the call is from a landline.
4) Battery life: record is 9+ days with limited usage on 1 charge.
5) Material: Metal phones just feel better/more sturdy.
Cons:
None
This isn't a whizbang / gadget phone. It doesn't have Edge or a Video Camera. It is just a terrific phone for making calls. Highly recommend it.
V# After 30+ Days
This is the Star-Tac of the 21st Century. A solid foundation for Moto to regain market share with. After I had six bad V710's in three months (I still blame VZW for this) I went to this phone. The reception is the best I have had in a long time. I really enjoy the form factor. I don't care that much about a camera built into the phone (I wish there was a camera-less version) as a lot of companies and other governmental buildings do not allow camera phones. The only thing I miss from the V710 is the true voice command/dialing. Moto should include this on all of their future phones. Some complain about the amount of memory... well again I don't use the phone as an iPod so that also is not an issue. Over all I really think that this is a solid piece of equipment and hearty KUDOS to the engineers at Moto on what I feel is a home run.
