Motorola Razr2 V8 Cell Phone Review
By Alfredo Padilla
Reviewed.com Editorial Staff
December 21, 2007
The Razr2 V8 is T-Mobile’s version of the widely offered Razr2 phone. Designed to capitalize on the success of the original Razr, this version differs from other iterations of the Razr2 in that it has two gigabytes of built in memory and better built-in software. T-Mobile is offering the Razr2 V8 for $149.99 with a two-year contract, significantly less than other carriers. Verizon, for instance, charges $249.99 for their version, the V9m.
The Razr2 V8 is very similar to the other Razr2. A tad larger and thicker than the older Razr models, the V8 has a large 2-inch external display with touch sensitive controls at the bottom. In our reviews of other Razr2 models we complained that this excellent display was not utilized to it full extent and unfortunately the T-Mobile Razr2 V8 is even worse: the only feature to use the external touch screen is music playback.
We’ve always found making calls on Razr models to be easy thanks to the large keypad, although those with small hands may find it is too large. The Razr2 V8 is no exception, although you should also note that clamshell handsets are slower to dial simply because you have to get the phone open first. We found the organizer features on the Razr2 V8 to be one of its strong suits; it offers a good selection of features to help organize your life, such as a decent calendar and to-do lists. They aren’t as powerful as those found on a BlackBerry, but they are significantly better than what we saw on other Razr2 models.
Audio received by the Razr2 V8 was very good; voices sounded clear and accurate. Audio sent by the handset was not as good; it was a little bassy, which might make your voice sound boomy. We also found that side tone, the small amount of your own voice piped back into your ear so you can judge how loudly you are speaking, was a little high. This may cause you to speak more softly than you should during a call.
The music and video players on the Razr2 V8 were both basic. Unlike versions of the Razr2 from Verizon and Sprint, the T-Mobile version does not support direct downloads of music to your device; you have to copy the music over from your PC. Also unlike other iterations of the Razr2, the V8 does not allow you to expand memory with a Micro SD memory card. Instead, you have 2 gigabytes of built in storage. Although this is sufficient space for quite a few songs you won’t be able to upgrade it in the future.
On the positive side we found it easy to move music onto the Razr2 V8 via the USB connection and included cable. The two megapixel camera on the Razr2 V8 was of only middling quality, though; images had overly saturated colors that looked almost cartoonish. And you can’t simply drag photos you take with the V8 off of the device via USB, instead you need to transfer them via multimedia message or Bluetooth.
We found the software on the Razr2 V8 to be better than those of other Razr2 models in several ways. The web browser on the V8 is a version of the Opera browser, which is much more capable than the simple web browsers we typically find on cell phones. We also appreciated the ability to copy and paste from any place on the phone, and a file browser that allows you to easily manage files on your device.
One place where the Razr2 V8 did not perform as well as other versions of the Razr2 was in battery life. The V8 only lasted an anemic 3 hours 15 minutes in our talk time test, significantly less than the almost five hour talk time we saw from the Verizon and Sprint versions. Music playback time was also low at 4 hours 37 minutes, and web browsing time was simply terrible at 91 minutes. This last is a shame since it basically makes the presence of the excellent Opera web browser almost pointless; if you use it, you’ll eat up the battery quickly.
Despite the poor battery performance we found the Razr2 V8 to be the best of the Razr2 lineup we’ve reviewed so far. The improvements in the organizer software and interface in general were much appreciated, as was the lower price as compared to other Razr2 models. That being said, the battery performance is poor enough that anyone who uses their phone for long periods away from the charger will want to look elsewhere.
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