vB Easy Archive - Motorola V3xx Likes And Dislikes

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Motorola V3xx Likes And Dislikes
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Posted by: Bloom

I’ve only had this phone for a few days, but already have formulated some fairly strong impressions. I previously was using an unlocked Motorola KRZR, which was great in almost every category, and wanted to see how the V3xx stacked up against it. Here’s my brief observations:

Pros:
* Very nice inner display
* Sound quality is just about perfect. Voices sound a bit “warmer” than the KRZR
* Earpiece volume is great; no need to seem edit, as it’s loud enough straight out of the box
* 3G, one of the main selling points, is great for watching news, sports, entertainment, surfing the web etc…
* MP3 player shows album covers, at least for the songs encoded in AAC format
* Full duplex speakerphone

Cons:
* Voice dialing defaults to the speakerphone, and not the earpiece. No way to change this
* Can’t use songs as ringtones (unless you cut them down). Never had this issue with the KRZR
* MP3 player max volume is too low and the sound isn’t all that great
* Repeatedly asks for permission every time I’m trying to access a website
* Dim outer display
* Poor battery life (my battery was totally drained after using the phone sparingly the first day; hopefully this is just a conditioning issue)
* Voice dialing no where near as robust as on the KRZR; you need to go through many more steps on the V3xx i.e. “Name Dial”, “Bob”, “Mobile” vs. just being able to say, “Call Bob mobile” on the KRZR.
* 3G signal is sketchy even in Downtown Portland, which makes video content hit or miss as far as access goes.
* Build quality looks nice, but feels fragile compared to the KRZR

Overall, I’m a bit torn with the V3xx. The sound quality is great, and when you have a strong 3G signal, there’s a plethora of interactive content available. Conversely, why the phone is set up to default to the speakerphone when using voice dial is a big negative. Same goes for not being able to use a song as your ringtone without having to manually trim it down. Battery life will be something I’ll keep an eye on, but so far, I’ve been very disappointed. None of the cons are true deal breakers, (the battery might be), but I think the V3xx could have been implemented a bit better before launch. I still like my KRZR, but will continue to use the V3xx, and hopefully get used to it’s strange nuances

Posted by: Maverick05

i have been having great battery life. I live in a 3g area and i get 1.5 days per charge, i took a few charges and complete drains until the battery life improved, but now i'm sending and receiving around 20-30 texts a day, about 1 hour of talking and 20 min of videos and i get a full day and a half... this is great for me. As for the rest of your copmlaints, you couldn't be more right on.

Posted by: Bloom

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maverick05

i have been having great battery life. I live in a 3g area and i get 1.5 days per charge, i took a few charges and complete drains until the battery life improved, but now i'm sending and receiving around 20-30 texts a day, about 1 hour of talking and 20 min of videos and i get a full day and a half... this is great for me. As for the rest of your copmlaints, you couldn't be more right on.

Thanks for the comments Maverick; it's good to know other people feel the same way. The V3xx is a very good phone, but it remains to be seen if it's great. Hopefully there will be software upgrades in the future that address some of the cons I mentioned, or perhaps seem edits.

Posted by: Maverick05

yea...i don't know if the software upgrades are going to address some of these issues, esp the asking every time to use the net connection, but i really wish someone in the hacking community could figure out how to get this thing seem edited... i think that's going to be our best bet

Posted by: stream

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bloom

Cons:
* Voice dialing defaults to the speakerphone, and not the earpiece.

I use voice dialing a lot on my phones, and agree. Once the call is initiated, can you (easily) switch to the earpiece? How?

Posted by: Bloom

Quote:

Originally Posted by stream

I use voice dialing a lot on my phones, and agree. Once the call is initiated, can you (easily) switch to the earpiece? How?

You have to manually press the "speaker" button, and then it switches to the earpiece. Again, not a deal breaker, but honestly, I think it should be the other way around, i.e. the voice dialing starts in the earpiece, and then if you want it to switch to the speakerphone, you would press the speaker button. Seems logical, but obviously Motorola feels differently.

With that being said, the sound quality on the V3xx is without question the best I've heard on a cell phone in a very long time. Better than my V3i, better than my KRZR, pretty much better than any phone I've ever used regardless of carrier. I was just at lunch walking around downtown talking to a couple of people, and I couldn't believe how good the sound quality was. There was a lot of noisy traffic, and it was a bit windy but I could still hear the person I was talking to crystal clear. No fade in or out or annoying static; it sounded like I was talking on a land line. For this factor alone, I'll almost certainly stick with the V3xx despite it's other (minor) annoyances.

Posted by: stream

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bloom

Agreed, it does seem bass ackwards!

So by pressing the speaker buton, you mean the right soft key? If so, not ideal, but not the end of the world.

Posted by: Bloom

Quote:

Originally Posted by stream

Agreed, it does seem bass ackwards!

So by pressing the speaker buton, you mean the right soft key? If so, not ideal, but not the end of the world.

Yes, that's it....pretty much. Believe it or not, it seems to randomly switch between the right and left soft key. Last night it was the left soft key, however today at lunch it's the right key. Seriously. I know that sounds weird, but it's really what's been happening. Must be a software glitch. Not the end of the world though.