Motorola V600 : 10/02/04
By: Carlos E.
Purchased From: UStronics.com
Why review the Motorola V600, and why review it now?
There are two reasons:
1) I wanted to see what differentiated it from the V525 and the rest of the triplet family from a functionality perspective.
and
2) I wanted to re-familiarize myself with the Motorola OS in preparation for the Motorola Razr V3, and see whether the V3 would be worth it, considering that the OS would be practically the same.
Phonebook
I want to start with the phonebook, for it is what has put me off from buying
Motorola products for the past 3 years. It is so archaic at this point that
it's almost worth writing Motorola a letter and telling them that the joke
is over.
Whereas every single manufacturer has switched to hierarchical phonebooks,
Motorola insists on making you have multiple entries for one contact in an
expanded columnar form. Example:
Carlos Home (Home Icon)
Carlos Work (Work Icon)
Carlos Main (Generic Icon)
Carlos Email (Email Icon)
Now, multiply this mess over the several hundred contacts that I had in
my Treo phonebook or my Nokia phonebook, and you can see why this format
gets annoying when you have to scroll through all of those names.
There is a functionality that allows you to just 'Show the Primary Number',
but there is no way to unhide the other numbers quickly, without delving deep
into the configuration menu to deactivate the feature. Plain dumb if you ask
me. Add to this a sluggish repsonse, and I still stand firm by my statement
that Motorola has the worst Phonebook known to mankind.
Bluetooth
The V600 does have redeeming qualities, though. One of them is the Bluetooth
stability and range. I did not have any issue with pairing the V600 with
my Plantronics M3000 headset. Sound quality is good, and range is amazing.
Every once in a while I notice that it disconnects and then reconnects immediately.
Actually, it feels like it's almost every 15 minutes or so.
Aside from a headset, I have used the V600's Bluetooth connectivity to:
-Log on to the web via my laptop
-Browse the Audio/Video/Picture file structure
-Send and Receive business cards (very rudimentary)
You cannot send pictures via Bluetooth, but you can browse and 'get' them via Bluetooth File Transfer.
In my opinion, Sony Ericsson still beats Motorola with regards to Bluetooth.
Blinking Lights
A nice little gimmick that the V600 has is that there is a little light on
the top part of the phone that lights up with incoming calls and messages,
and blinks blue when there is a Bluetooth connection active. That's all it
does. As gimmicky as it is, I like it.
Browsing
Having accustomed myself to browsing the web with my Treo 600, going back to
a WAP phone, whatever the version, seems like a waste of time. Frankly, WAP
is dead and new phones should come with HTML capable browsers that reformat
pages to render for small screens. It is a crime to think that developers
want to develop content in WML/HDML or any other variant, and it is a further
crime to try and surf the web with it and call it useful. I have resorted
to calling 411 Directory Assitance more often than not, to get the information
that I want.
If you want to browse anything with the phone, do yourself a favor, get yourself and unlimited data plan, get yourself a Pocket PC or a Palm with Bluetooth and connect that way.
Reception
Motorola's reception has always been known for being strong. Since
the days of the P280, Motorola's have had good radios that are quick to find
a signal, and are good at bringing in the weak ones. This is not to say that
it's the best phone that I've ever used in this area, but it's up in the
top 5%. In addition, I'm very happy that this phone is quadband, and it doesn't
seem like my V600 has the bug that Cingular recalled the V600 for.
Battery Life
The battery life of the V600 is not stellar, but not horrible. If
you're going to use Bluetooth, I highly suggest that you do so with the screen
closed (it will not disconnect your phone call). This is the only way that
you'll be able to have extended calls. I found that the biggest battery reduction
culprit was the internal screen.
Conclusion
The Motorola V600 has left me scratching my head. Why would anyone want to
pay the extra money over, say, a V500 for this phone? For the blinking lights?
For the 'only can play, but can't record videos' function?
I'm not sure. In addition, being that the OS will not be any different for
the upcoming V3 Razr aside from actually being able to record videos, is the
Razr worth its going price?
The Motorola V600 has confounded me with many a disadvantage over similar and cheaper phones with more functionality (Nokia 6230, for example). However, it does have some charming qualities, the blinking lights, the user-assignable menu shortcuts, the nice ringtones, the beautiful screen, and the metallic feel of the outer shell. I don't think the V600 is worth all the hype, but in the end, it is a nice little phone that can make someone happy, as long as they don't have a huge contact list, and as long as they're not as feature-addicted as I am.
Hacking the Motorola V600
http://www.silverspecter.com/vxxx.htm
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