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Motorola Razr V3

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By Lee Chee Wee
Oct 11, 2004

If you're one of those lusting for a Vertu from its line of luxury mobiles but can't quite afford the extravagant price, the Motorola V3 may be your next best bet. Amidst all its splendor, this svelte V3 packs in adequate features for social butterflies and even regular jetsetters.

Design
With a girth of merely 13.9mm, Motorola takes the crown for being the thinnest clamshell to date. Slip this unit into your pocket and you'll barely notice the bulge. Targeted at style-conscious individuals, the V3 has its housing crafted out of anodized aircraft-grade aluminum.

The plain-looking exterior houses the 4K-color OLED that is framed by a border of a darker shade. Unfortunately, this glossy surface smudges easily so be prepared for lots of cleaning.

Flick the lid open and you are greeted by a sizable 2.2-inch TFT that doesn't disappoint with an ample 176 x 220-pixel resolution. Images are displayed in crisp and clear 262K colors, too. When acting as a viewfinder for the camera, the screen's fast refresh translates to a great photo-taking experience.

Noteworthy is the V3's chemically etched keypad. Augmented by a blue electro-luminescent backlight, similar to those found on Casio G-Shock watches, the V3 resembles a prop straight out of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek. As the buttons aren't elevated, they will need some familiarization. Fortunately, the contact areas under the keys are rather wide and allows for a greater tolerance of inaccuracy. Within hours, we were messaging at a swift speed.

Thankfully, the appearance of this classy mobile isn't marred by a pesky antenna. Motorola has cleverly re-located it together with the speaker to the bottom of the unit. This is a boon for texters as it balances the weight so the V3 doesn't feel top heavy. For those looking to make a fashion statement, an eyelet on the hinge barrel lets you hang this prized possession around your neck.

Features
Although Motorola has touted the camera lens to be made of chemically hardened glass, it did little to help in the quality department. Constrained by the VGA resolution, its output is practical for snapping only mugshots for the phonebook or MMS. The white balance and metering are slow to respond to surroundings. As the onboard camera doesn't record video, the MPEG-4 playback offered isn't put to good use. A minor design oversight is the lens placement. Positioned too close to the hinge, there's a tendency for fingers to obstruct when framing subjects.

Like its relatively inexpensive sibling, the V600, the quadband GSM will please frequent jetsetters so they'll not be out of reach when traveling.

This Bluetooth-toting Motorola sports a 22kHz polyphonic speaker and lets you assign MP3 files as ringtones. Unfortunately, the paltry memory and lack of expansion slot forbid the mobile to be used as a music player.

The speakerphone is adequately loud and works without a glitch. Well-implemented, just one tap toggles between the handsfree and normal mode.

Frequent texters will be irked as Motorola has recycled its messaging engine seen in the music-capable E398. Similarly, we found it to be sluggish especially when the T9 input was utilized. On a brighter note, we like the housekeeping feature that automatically trashes older messages parked in your inbox.

Reception, Battery Life And SAR
During the review period, we had no issues with the V3's reception. Sound quality was comparable with that of other handsets from Motorola. However, the 680mAh Lithium-ion cell is a little weak and averaged two days of standby.

This model meets international requirements concerning exposure to radio waves.

Conclusion
Pegged at S$1,228 (US$889.28) with a two-year operator's contract, this beauty comes bundled with a Bluetooth headset, data suite and matching lanyard. At such a steep price, we feel the V3 doesn't offer good value. But if you do fork out the extra dough, rest assured there'll be ample ogling and envy from people around you. As for the masses on a saner budget, our vote goes to the equally desirable Motorola V80 swiveler.