Sexy stylish phone, yet with solid built
Written: May 08 '05 (Updated Aug 11 '05)
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Pros: Great style, solid built, easy to navigate.
Cons: No good ringtones...
The Bottom Line: A good choice for solid stylish flip phone.
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| daydrmgirl's Full Review: Motorola V551 Cellular Phone |
Why Motorola V551?
I bought the phone from Cingular's website for $49.99, and I got it as part of a FamilyTalk plan with a 2-year contract. Since I'll be stuck with it for two years, I looked for a phone that will LAST. I'm not a big fan of Samsung products, and some reviews of Sony Ericcson phones complained about it locking up sometimes. I like Nokia products, but I wanted a flip phone, so I decided on Motorola. Once I decided on Motorola, there were only a couple of phones that's reasonably-priced (which for me is under $100) to choose from at the time of purchase: V180 or V551. I like V551 for its color (silver and blue, how sexy!) and style (metallic!) so I got it even though it's higher-priced.
Shipping and packaging
Cingular was offering free priority shipping (2-day) via USPS, so the phone arrived promptly. The sim card was pre-inserted, saving me some trouble of doing that myself. However, I was not too impressed by the packaging. The box containing the phone was tiny, measuring approximately 3 in. x 6 in. x 2 in. The color on the box looks faded and it looks like it's made from bad-quality recylcled cardboard. The phone was just sitting in the box, without much padding or even a bag (screens are protected by stickers). The phone did arrive unscathed, so I shall stop complaining.
In the box came...
1 Phone (sim card pre-installed)
1 Battery
1 Back cover
1 Travel charger
1 Thick user manual (English/Spanish, also looked like it was printed on bad-quality recycled paper)
Before starting to use the phone...
Remember to charge the battery for 8 hours, as instructed on a sheet that came with one of the phones. Not a word about this was mentioned in the manual though. The screen will brighten up and show "charging" and it'll show "charging complete" in a couple of hours, but I just let it go until the full 8 hours. The manual said it's ok to leave it on after it's been fully charged, so it was all good.
Using the phone
Size
The size was just right for me. I dislike those miniature cell phones with miniature and muscle-straining keyboards. The V511 fits comfortably in my palm (I have relative small hands, even for a girl) and I can easily and accurately dial with my thumb. It also fits comfortably into my front jean pocket, without feeling bulky. When talking, its length is just about right and I don't feel like I need to talk extra loud to be heard (as I get the feeling when using non-flip phones).
Feel
My favorite part of the phone. It feels quality-made, with the solid metallic face plate on top, and soft rubber/plastic (?) blue sides and back. The hinges move smoothly and snaps into place. The keys, when pressed, give a crisp "click". It feels like it's worth every penny of its price.
Address book
I started entering phone numbers in the address book without looking at the manual. I had some trouble at the beginning, but quickly got the hang of it and it all went smoothly. It was fairly intuitive. One thing I don't like about the address book is that if a contact has multiple phone numbers, it shows up as multiple entries. Also, I haven't found a way to store other information other than phone number and e-mail address in the address book.
Doing what it's made for - calling/receiving
I'd say it does a decent job in this department. The signal isn't that strong in my current apartment so the signal strength fluctuates between 0 and 4 bars and sometimes calls are dropped (it does not reconnect even when the signal is back up again). The sound is clear though I think the volume is not loud enough. Even at its loudest, I have trouble hearing when the surrounding is slightly noisy (i.e. in the train). I've tried the speakerphone and it's pretty nice.
Photo!
I love this function. The controls are easy to use, and the photos are pretty clear (just make sure your subject is not in bright light which creates high contrast). I don't plan to view the pictures off the phone so I don't care so much about the quality (megapixles) of the picture.
Audio!
I have to say that I'm slightly dissapointed. There's not a lot of ringtones to choose from (unless you don't mind paying Cingular to download some more). I was hoping that I can maybe record something and use it as my ringtone, but I've yet to figure out how to do that. However, I've programmed some ringtones myself using iMelody. It wasn't hard to learn as long as you have some musical background, but still it's a hassle. It doesn't sound that good either since it's just midi. I've yet to figure out how to use the motomixer either. There seems to be only one background track (a track called "spooky"?!)
Battery life / Charge time
My first charge (8 hours) lasted about 24 hours (approximately 2 hours talking and the rest on standby), but I'm giving it some slack because I did go crazy and play with it excessively, getting tons of pictures and entering stuff into the phonebook. I usually charge overnight now, but the charging usually completes in a few hours.
UPDATE - June 6, 2005
I've had it for about a month and the battery life averages about three days of normal use - probably 1-2 hour talk time, standby during daytime, shut off at night. I try to recharge it only when it says battery low, and I always try to recharge it fully, letting it charge overnight. The one annoying thing is when it says "battery low", the ringer is automatically turned to silent and the phone starts beeping every other minute or so. I've missed many phone calls because of this (I didn't catch the beeps, and it didn't ring either so I missed the call).
UPDATE - August 11, 2005
The phone is starting to act up. It sometimes hang up for no reason, or go silent for several seconds, or don't tell me there's missed calls until hours later. It also froze twice. Once it operates normally but could not call or receive calls (solution to that: restart the phone). However, I am a "heavy user". This is my only phone so it is on 24/7, even at night when it's charging. I've gotten into the habit of charging it every two days. It can last three days but if I happen to call a lot on the third day, the battery tends to die towards late evening (after 11pm). So just to be on the safe side, I charge every other day. Overall, I still think this is a good quality phone, since with this kind of usage, I'm not sure any other phone will do that much better (maybe Nokia?).
Specs
Size: 3.5 x 1.9 x 1.0
Weight: 4.0 Ounces
Digital Talk Time: 7 Hrs
Digital Standby Time: 7 Days
- Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and video message capable*
- Mobile Instant Messaging using AOL?Instant MessengerTM*
- Quad-band international capability
- Polyphonic speaker and downloadable ringtones, supertones, and full-audio ringtones
- Downloadable games and graphics
- Integrated VGA camera with 65k color TFT display, zoom, and brightness control
- Photo phone book and picture Caller ID
- Bluetooth capable
- Built-in speakerphone
- Voice activated dialing and commands*
- MEdia Net capable*
- FastForward capable*
- 1,000 alphanumeric phone book entries
- Personal organizer: Calendar, calculator, and alarm clock
- Operates on 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS networks
- High-speed data transmission via EDGE network
* Subscription dependent feature
Updates
Reviewed [5/9/2005]
Updated [6/6/2005]
Updated [8/11/2005]
I will continue to update, so stay tuned!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 49.99
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy
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Epinions.com ID:
daydrmgirl
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Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 2 members
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