MOTORAZR™ V3a - Fire

Call Quality

Calls and speakerphone: We found calls to be loud and clear on the Motorola Razr V3c. We rarely needed to use the side volume keys to adjust the sound. The speakerphone audio quality is fine, but callers could tell when we used this feature. Additionally, as is the case with Samsung’s T809, you can only turn on the speaker once you make a call. We should note the cell phone’s ringer is quite loud – even louder than what we experience on calls.

Ease of Use

Menu/Phonebook: As is the case with many Motorola cell phones, the menu’s interface is intuitive; requiring only a couple of steps to access most of the Motorola Razr’s features. Entering and saving numbers (there’s room for six phone numbers and an e-mail address for each contact – sorry, no place for addresses) is easy, but accessing numbers can occasionally be tiring, since you can only find a contact based on the first letter of the name. If you have 20 contacts in your phonebook that start with the letter “T,” you’ll have to scroll through all the “T” contacts until you find the one you want. But the cell phone’s Voice Activation feature should make calling friends much quicker.

Camera/Video: In this category is where you’ll find one of the biggest differences between the Motorola Razr V3 and V3c. The V3 has a VGA camera and while it plays back video it can’t record any clips, whereas the Motorola Razr V3c boasts a 1.3-megapixel camera and the ability to record short videos. Additionally, to support the bigger files captured by a megapixel camera, the Motorola Razr V3c has up to 30MB of memory. About that camera, we were impressed with image quality when viewing pics on the camera phone, however, when we viewed the same image on a computer screen the picture looked slightly pixilated.

Messaging: Sending messages on this cell phone is straightforward -- no need to consult the manual. You can send messages to another phone number or an e-mail address. As is the case with the Sony Ericsson Z520a, you can send text messages while on a call if you are using the Speakerphone. We particularly like the Motorola Razr’s predictive text app, which quickly retained words we used most often and 80 percent of the time predicted the correct word.

Connectivity/Bluetooth: We were able to pair the Motorola cell phone with a Motorola Bluetooth headset, however, we needed to consult the manual to set it up correctly. We should note using the Bluetooth feature decreases battery life dramatically. The good news is you don’t need to open the Motorola Razr to see if Bluetooth is in use; a blue light appears on the right hand corner just above the external display.

Design

Look and Feel: What can we say about the Motorola Razr’s ground-breaking design that hasn’t already been said: it’s uber-thin, slick looking and comes in a rainbow of colors. Even though, the cell phone is insanely thin, it’s incredibly usable and surprisingly durable. We’ve dropped the Motorola Razr many times on a variety of surfaces (carpet, wood floors, desks, sidewalks) and it has yet to show any battle scars.

Perhaps one of our favorite elements is the ultra-bright, colorful screen. It definitely stands out when it’s opened and is highly visible in most lighting situations. In fact, occasionally we’ve even used it as a flashlight for guidance through dark rooms. Our only quibble with the cell phone’s design is the screen easily attracts face grease. That said, many cell phones suffer from this flaw.

Keypad: About that trademark flat keypad: Yes, it’s definitely beyond cool. With its blue backlit numbers and lines, it looks like something out of the movie, Tron. While you might think it would be hard to dial on a flat keypad, we found it pretty easy to do. It’s probably because the actual keys are so large, making it difficult to misdial. We were even impressed with how well the four-way navi-key worked. Once you get the hang of it, using the navi- and soft-keys (the two dedicated buttons at the top of the keypad that correspond to screen commands) become second nature.

Battery Life

We’re impressed that such a slim phone boasts solid battery life. We found that we could last two days before needing to recharge when using the Motorola Razr V3c regularly to make calls and send/receive text messages. Heavier cell phone users will likely need to charge the Motorola Razr every other day. However, we did find the battery drained extremely quickly when we used Bluetooth.