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 ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Near Perfect!
Pros:
Sleek lookin
Nice loud enough speakerphone
Excellent Camera
Very Customizable
Bluetooth!! -Verizon limits it tho :(
Brilliant LCD screen (inside)
VERY QUICK interface
Hand friendly keypad
User-friendly easy to learn interface
Extendable Antenna
Nice skins Techno is my favorite comes with total of 3 skins (Moto, Scarlet, and Techno)
Signal strength is much better with Verizon Wirless
Cons:
Verizon limits your bluetooth
The outside LCD screen could have been better
Speaker phone could have been a little louder
My E815 the navigation arrow for some reason you hear a clicking sound when you press left then when you press right
Overall this is the best phone I have ever had
Decent phone, does what matter most
I am giving this a "5" because Verizon basically gave me this phone for free with the "new every two" program. I was in the middle of my two week trial period with the V710 when this baby came out and although I liked the V710, it was $50 less and supposedly was the latest and greatest. The only other consideration was the LG VX8000 which looked a little big and I thought the styling was on the uninspired side. Besides, I really wanted the Blue Tooth capabilities strictly for the wireless headset. I am sick of reading about the "crippled" Blue Tooth issues, to cry about the phone not being able to interface with your computer to its' fullest capacity is secondary, the significant benefit of Blue Tooth is the wireless headset, it is an advancement. The value of a phone is first and foremost the ability to receive and hear calls clearly, then secondly the ability to store numbers and lastly the bells and whistles like ring tones, wallpaper, camera, etc. The E815 is a winner on the simple merits that it is clear and has good range. The styling is gorgeous, the buttons are large and the menus are intuitive. The Blue Tooth is a major convenience, the ability to add memory is interesting and the toy camera is an amusing frill. Is it better than the comparable LG or Samsung offering, who knows or cares. Does Motorola have reliability issues, probably but judging by most of the reviews, getting a reliable phone can be a crap shoot. Bottom line, the Motorola has one of the most comprehensive feature sets available on a phone, most of the features are useful & the looks and feel are outstanding. Negatives are that the battery life is nothing to brag about, the build quality is on the plastic side and the phone is prone to an occasional echo. I got my fingers crossed with Motorola's reliability track record of late but considering that most of us can get an E815 for little or no money, it is hard to complain, it is a clear upgrade from a two year old phone.
great phone overall
I have just upgraded from the v710 so i do love the setup on the phone.
Pros:
they did better the voice recognition on the phone. alot faster then the 710
the picture quality is much, much better
the phone is faster overall
cons:
i dont know why they didnt keep it tri-mode that i dont like.
and i wish the bottom wasnt as rounded but other then that i think it is great.
Motorola E815 Is All That And More!!
It's a fact. Reviewers can be picky or hold some genuine reservations of issues they may run across as pertains to their personal preferences, but one thing is perfectly clear.
THIS PHONE IS EXCELLENT! AND EXCITING!
in most every way imaginable.
Finally got out and away from those notorious heat up problems with LG series that constantly plagued my life as well as dropping calls. What misery they put me thru for 2 years.
Only a few days having the E815 and it is like stepping directly into the future of what quality and features is all about.
This is a much improved model even over the heralded v710 that became so popular for most.
I won't post my PROS & CONS untill i have had at least 2 weeks to fully evaluate for an reasonable report to give viewers.
But i will say this from experience after only 2 days. Straight out-of-the-box you will now only be pleased with this phone but you will quickly realized what a fantastic value that it really is and what you been missing. The Full Duplex sound system is a pleasant symphony to the ears, rich, crisp, clean, pure undistorted audio.
Menu is simple enough to go thru and jam packed with varius settings that will keep you busy as well as entertained for awhile.
Speakerphone (clamshell closed/open) to receive calls or command thru speech recognition to place your calls. At arms length with shell closed or open the other party will tell you that it sounds like you are still holding the handset to your face!
This wireless device is heavily equipped with very nice and attractive useful features and yet is very generous with battery useage. They have definitely improved in this area immensely.
Oh and one other thing, i live way out in a rural setting near a national forest, and reception is picture perfect with NO DROPPED CALLS!
Get yours soon before they are gone!
EXCELLENT!
This phone is AMAZING. IF you can still find a deal on it. I hardly see them available anymore. I've left this model and got a LG Voyager, but looking at maybe getting a treo and that phone is awesome. I came from a V710 to this phone. This was a certain change.
Pros:
Great Camera with Video (V710 also has video)
Great sound quality
VCAST
Everything else
Cons:
Nothing, i guess with all the features the battery goes weak fast but nothing an extended battery or more charging can't fix.
I LOVE THIS PHONE
this phone is amazing i must say there isnt much that i dont like about this phone.
PROS
-reception is amazing!! gotta love verizon network and motorola
-typing on this phone is so great thanks to the soft feel of the buttons and size
-size is great too easily fits into most pockets (fit fine in all my jeans and khakis)
-love the grey color of the case although over time it may start rubbing off exposing the primered plastic underneath
-VERY VERY durable! i cant cant count how many times ive dropped it ive RAN OVER IT and have been out in the rain using it and NOTHING affects it
CONS
-the screen is a little small for the sheer size of the phone.
-the resolution and colors couldve been much better but got the job done.
-operating system was great BUT use personalization of the interface wouldve been GREAT
OVERALL
this was the first phone i got with verizon and it did not dissappoint. if they had made an updated version instead of all these fancy touch screen phones that lack in almost every aspect, i would purchase it in an instant. LOVE THE E815
A great phone with some serious drawbacks
I've had this phone for 2-1/2 years and am finally getting a new one.
First off, this is a great phone. It's sturdy and has great clarity with lots of functions and features.
However, it froze on me all of the time and by the end of its life it was a CHORE to get it to charge (not the fault of the battery). I had four chargers and only one of them I could get to work if I twisted the cable in the connection just right and then wrapped the cord around the phone so it wouldn't move.
Pros:
*Great pictures
*Excellent reception
*Great call clarity
*Sturdy (dropped plenty of times)
*Bright flash works great as a flashlight
*Easy to use
Cons:
*Loved to freeze and lock up (I swapped the phone 3 times and all 3 did).
*Charge/Date port is a terrible design and wears out over time making it difficult/impossible to charge or data swap. In the end, I was unable to transfer my phone book over. (Both my wife and my e815s had the same problem)
*Charging often has strange side-effects:
-Phone will sometimes continuously reboot while charging (both my wife's and my e815s would occasionally do this).
-Charging changes your sound settings (if you have it one vibrate and plug it in it might change to loud. Vibrate-then-ring would ALWAYS shut off as soon as I charged it and not turn back on.)
-Sometimes my text message ringer would change back to default.
Great reception, defective charger plug design
What a great phone. Too bad the defective charging plug design rendered this phone useless.
I first had the V710 which died because the charging port and plug refused to connect. Verizon gave me an E815 as a replacement. The E815 was basically a newer version of the V710 but still used the same charging port setup. I began having the same problem almost immediately. They replaced my phone at a rate of one per 3 months until I finally gave up and switched to an LG VX8300.
PROS:
Great Reception
Durable
Long Battery Life (when it charged)
Loud Ringer
CONS:
Defective charging port/plug
Weak Vibration Setting
Phone book did not support multiple numbers under one name
Good at first...now I cant wait to get rid of it.
I liked this phone when I first got it...it was one of the newest phones on the market. But now i'm getting the LG Env vx9900 and I cant wait because the reviews are great!
ok..
PROS-
-looks nice
-Large front screen that displays pictures
-can activate camera while phone is closed and take pictures
-fits perfect in my pocket
-HUGE inside screen with great clarity
-user friendly menus
-very reliable alarm clock with SNOOZE BUTTON on side!! nice
-very large memory for pictures and videos
-pretty decent picture quality
-sound structure...didnt feel like it was gonna break after flipping it open alot.
-lots of ring tone options before you even download.
-VERY clear speaker
-clear speakerphone
CONS-
-after having it for a while, charging port started rejecting charger by failing to charge...this happened with both of my e815s
-same with my car charger
-easily got water damage (I never dropped it in water or had it in the rain, it was from humidity and resudual humidity)
-outside scratches very easily
-this model phone freezes randomly after you open it and quickly press a button..anything you were doing at the time of freezing is lost like a text or picture. Other people I know who have this phone had this same problem and when I got a replacement e815 after water damage, that phone froze as well.
-sometimes settings would automatically default for no reason, like when I have a ring tone set for certain people, when they would call, the phone would revert back to default ring tone.
-you can easily change the alert from ring to vibrate to silent using outside buttons...it sound like a plus but I have accidentally pressed them in my pocket without knowing and had my phone ring in places I would rather it not have, like class!
Overall...its a good phone for the first year...then things start going wrong with it.
