Motorola have had a good run with the RAZR brand, and the V8 is the next offering in super slim design handsets. There are some good improvements over the original RAZR, and the overall opinion of this RAZR2 is positive. There is still room for improvement though.
The Motorola RAZR V8 feels solid, and well built. The casing of the handset has a quality feel to it and is finished in an appealing design. The hinge works well and doesn’t feel as if it will easily snap. I have seen Motorola reps throw handsets on the floor to demonstrate how sturdy they are, I’m sure the Razr2 will have been subjected to a similar testing before release. The handset feels slightly wide in the hand, and when opened it is just big. The new RAZR may be slim, but it is long, extremely so when open.
Living with it
The RAZR V8 is a quad band GSM phone with EDGE for fast data transfer. The phone supports Bluetooth 2.0, which allows for listening to music wirelessly with a compatible Bluetooth headset. The Motorola V8 has no memory card slot, so you are stuck with the onboard memory. The handset I reviewed had an on board capacity of 420MB, which is good, but with most handsets coming with memory card options allowing 2, 4 or even up to 8GB capacity, less than half a gigabyte is not really good enough. The built in MP3 player on the v8 is pretty good. Playback from the built in speakers is fairly loud, and the outside screen on the phone offers music controls when the handset is closed. The controls are touch screen operative, and whilst it is a good gimmick, reaction to a selection is very slow.
The camera on the handset is 2.0 megapixel. There are no overall outstanding features or comments to make about the camera, it really is a simple ‘point n shoot’ camera. Despite this, the quality of the pictures was surprisingly good.
Conclusion
Overall the Motorola RAZR2 V8 is a nice handset. It has a sturdy build and some useful extra applications. The MP3 player is nice, the camera is nice, and the Opera web browser is very good. In total the V2 doesn’t quite make the grade, but in general Motorola RAZR fans will not be disappointed.
Technical Specifications
Network
Standard GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Dimensions 103 x 53 x 11.9mm
Weight 117g
Screen
240 x 320 pixel, 262k colours, TFT
Data
GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth, Micro USB point
Camera
2.0 megapixels, Video (QCIF)
Features
MP3 Player
Java Support
Calculator
MMS
SMS
Email.
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CNET Australia reviews the Sony Ericsson S500i and writes, “As with most new Sony Ericsson handsets the S500i gives you access to the Sony Ericsson “Picture Blogging” service, and content downloads from the PlayNow net portal; although, when we logged on to the portal we struggled to find any content worth the time or money involved in downloading. Photos taken with the camera can be manipulated with a small set of image filters and then printed directly via the supplied USB cable.”
Check out this new LG phone, at just 10.9mm-thick, the LG-KF510 is the extremely slim slider phone. It combines a slim style with strength created by its metal frame and tempered glass. LG primarily touts the phone’s “advanced touch technology”, it also supports a multi-function camera with 3.0 mega pixel and MP3 player. Makes its first debut in February 11th at the upcoming GSMA Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona, and will be available worldwide in March in Stardust Dark Gray or Sunset Red.
