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Motorola V180

Though we weren’t impressed by its design, the Motorola V180 is a quality, basic cell phone.

Reviewed by Kent German

Edited by William O’Neal

Reviewed November 18, 2004
Editors’ rating:
Good
7.0
out of 10

Too often in the world of cell phones, the need for a quality, basic handset gets lost in the shuffle of integrated cameras and other high-end features. The primary purpose of a phone is above all to make calls. If a mobile can’t do that well, it’s not worth much. Fortunately, there are devices like the Motorola V180. Wrapped in a compact package, this T-Mobile and AT-T Wireless handset offers solid call quality and basic yet functional features. While its design felt flimsy, its inclusion of a speakerphone and instant messaging was a welcome surprise. At $119, the V180’s price is right, but you can find the phone for even less with a service agreement.

Next: Motorola V180 Design
At a glance
Editors’ rating: 7.0 Good
User rating: 97% 3% from 32 users

The good: Compact form factor; good call quality; speakerphone; USB capability; instant messaging; world phone; long battery life.
The bad: Flimsy plastic construction; slippery keypad and cramped controls; small internal display.
What’s it for: Making calls and sending messages.
Who’s it for: People who don’t expect too much from their mobile phone.
Essential extras: High-performance battery; car charger; headset; leather case.
The bottom line: Though we weren’t impressed by its design, the Motorola V180 is a quality, basic cell phone.

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Full specs
General
Carrier T-Mobile

Band / mode GSM 800/1800/1900

Multi-use / PDA phone No

Talk time Up to 350 min

Standby time Up to 275 h

Analog roaming capable No

Bluetooth enabled No

International compatibility No

Included accessories Lithium Ion battery, compact wall charger with euro adapters, Hands-free headset
Phone
Vibrating Alert Yes

Voice Dialing Yes

Phone Book Capacity 500

Ring Tones 24

Downloadable ring tones Yes
Display
Display Resolution 128 x 128 pixels

Display Indicators Voice message waiting, Text message waiting
Power
Battery installed 1 Lithium ion
Messaging / Data Services
Messaging / Data Features Text messages
Physical Characteristics
Style Flip or Clamshell

Body Color Silver/ Black

Weight 3.3 oz

Width 1.7 in

Depth 0.9 in

Height 3.4 in

Antenna Fixed-length
Warranty
Service & support type 1 year warranty

With a brushed-steel face, audio controls, and a camera lens gracing the front of the unit, the clamshell Nextel Motorola i870 is downright flashy by Nextel’s standards. However, compared to most other offerings, it’s pretty bland, and at 3.5 by 1.9 by 1 inches and 4.9 ounces, it’ll never be confused with the Motorola Razr V3. The i870 includes one of Nextel’s latest tricks: a button on the right side of the hinge that automatically opens the cover. It’s not terribly necessary, but it’s a nice feature anyway. The external screen measures 1.38 inches, displays 4,000 colors, and supports photo caller ID.

With the cover open, you’re presented with a large (2.25 inches diagonally), vibrant 262,000-color display. Just below that is a five-way navigation pad surrounded by controls for accessing menu options, the camera/camcorder, the Talk and End keys, and two soft keys; the navigation toggle and soft keys can all be customized to access whatever feature you wish. The dial-pad keys are large and well spaced, and the buttons are set such that touch dialing is easy. The left spine features a volume-control rocker and the walkie-talkie button for making direct calls to other Nextel subscribers, while the right spine houses the Micro SD (TransFlash) expansion slot. The top of the handset features buttons for the speakerphone and for accessing your list of recent calls, so you can make calls without opening the cover.

Whether you’re a business executive or a tech hipster, you’ll find the Nextel Motorola i870 to be fairly loaded in the features department. As for the basics, the address book holds up to 600 contacts, each of which can take six phone numbers, as well as e-mail and IP addresses. If you don’t want to thumb through your phone book to find a number, you can add voice tags to your contacts and make calls simply by saying the name. You also get a speakerphone, three-way calling, and call recording, all of which are accessible through the menu during a call.
Along with walkie-talkie calls, the i870 supports Nextel’s Direct Talk service, which allows you to connect with other Direct Talk-compatible phones while off network. The i870 is also the first phone to support Nextel’s Direct Send service, which lets you push to send pictures or contact information to another Direct Send-compatible handset. In addition to these voice features, the Nextel i870 supports text and multimedia messaging and comes with a WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser, a date book, a vibrate mode, and onboard GPS. The i870 is Bluetooth enabled for file transfers and for use with wireless headsets.

The Nextel i870 has a 1.3-megapixel camera, which includes a 4X digital zoom, a flash, and a self-timer.

In another first for Nextel, the i870 features a 1.3-megapixel camera, which includes a 4X digital zoom, a flash, and a self-timer. Picture quality is decent, with better color saturation than we’ve seen from other megapixel camera phones, though it still can’t compare with a digital camera. You can take pictures in sizes from 128×96 to 1,280×1,024 pixels in either Fine or Normal quality settings. On the other hand, it’s missing the picture effects (black and white, sepia, and so on) and the white-balance controls that you find with most camera phones. There’s also a video recorder if you’re in the mood to shoot poor-quality clips. Once you’re done with your snapshots or videos, you can store the files to the phone’s 25MB of internal memory, which is on the low side, but you can always save these files to a TransFlash card. You can also use images for picture caller ID or as your phone’s wallpaper. The i870 supports multimedia messaging, so you can send images to any e-mail address or to other cell phone users; Sprint Nextel’s multimedia messaging service is compatible with Cingular, Boost Mobile, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and Leap Wireless. In a nice bit of synergy, you can store pictures and video clips on Sprint’s Web site.

The Nextel i870 1.3 megapixel camera takes decent quality pictures.

The Nextel Motorola i870 supports MP3 playback, but because it plays tracks from only TransFlash cards, you can forget about direct-to-device music transfers, let alone over-the-air downloads. The package includes a 32MB Micro SD card, which is enough room for only about six or seven songs, and an SD adapter for use with standard SD slots. To launch the audio player, just press and hold the play button on the phone’s cover. Both the external and internal LCDs show the artist and song name and elapsed time during playback. The audio player offers shuffle and repeat modes; Rock, Pop, Jazz, Classical, and Bass EQ presets; and visual effects for the internal LCD. The external speaker isn’t really suitable for music playback, so it’s best to invest in a stereo headset (the i870 comes with the typical single-ear headset). Conveniently, the i870 comes with Roxio’s Easy Media Creator software to create and transfer MP3s.

As for personalization options, you get 15 ring tones; of course, you can download more and assign different tones to each number for each contact. You can also choose from three desktop themes and set your wallpaper images to cycle at intervals ranging from five minutes to once a day. The Nextel Motorola i870 comes with several Java apps, such as Vijay Singh Pro Golf 2005 and 1KTV, an on-demand TV service.

Motorola MOTOFONE F3

MobileBurn grabbed and previewed the MOTOFONE F3, Motorola’s latest ultra-thin, ultra-low cost SCPL-based phone. The phone does only basic functions, hence the name. It has a monochromatic Electrophoretic “Clear Vision” that’s supposed to be readable even in really harsh sunlight conditions, but it simply looks dated compared to even today’s basic phones. The display seems to show only two lines of seven-segment-ish (it’s not) text and numbers even though the size looks like it could accommodate more. The UI of the phone is extremely simple and icon-based, to be able to be used by “illiterate” customers. The phone is expected to sell at a cheap Rs 2000 or less, which gives the F3 major success potential, however, the lack of an FM radio and the arguably “cheap” looking display may make a difference in that market.

SCPL is a new platform by Motorola that takes the design and style elements from the RAZR series and puts them into budget phones. These phones will have the Electrophoretic “Clear Vision” display, a higher level of audio for use in noisy areas, better network reception for rural areas and high battery life.

Motorola PEBL U6

After revolutionizing the stylish mobile phone genre with the slick and slim RAZR, Motorola’s latest PEBL is almost exactly the opposite: it’s compact at 8.7cm by 4.9cm, and 2cm thick. It’s smooth, rounded corners give it that stone pebble-ish look, hence the name. The phone looks good, but it may appeal to women more than men.

The external display is a vertical strip, and even though its monochrome, it goes well with the shape of the phone. The PEBL fits comfortably in your hand, but it’s a bit on the heavier side at 110gm, which makes it 15gm more than the RAZR). The opening mechanism is semi-automatic - just slide the top shell down a little and the spring action takes control from there. This looks and feels cool, but if you don’t grip it well, it may just fall off your hand.

The keypad, along the lines of the RAZR, is also metallic, but it has a mirror finish - another hint at the femininity of the phone’s target audience. The wavey patterns running across the numbers can cause a bit of disorientation while typing, even though the keys are not actually placed in that seemingly unaligned manner.

The camera is a standard VGA - 640×480 pixels or 0.3 megapixels - simply too low for a new phone this year. The quality of the pictures and the 30-second videos is just alright. The pictures look better on the screen because it is the same resolution as the RAZR at 176×220, but the smaller size makes it look clearer and higher-res.

The phone supports MP3 ringtones, but not full MP3 playback, just like the RAZR. With not more than 5mb to spare, you wouldn’t be able to store full songs at decent quality anyway. The quality if the MP3 playback is also just acceptable, thanks to the 22kHz speaker. The phone also supports voice dialing and the internal phonebook stores upto 1,000 numbers.

The phone is a quad-band GSM, GPRS phone and has no EDGE support - once again, a little dated for this year’s release. It features Bluetooth and USB connectivity and J2ME for games and applications.

To put it all together, the Motorola PEBL U6 is just the first Motorola RAZR V3 in a different shape: the same limited memory and low res camera. For around Rs. 10,000, the PEBL U6 is strictly for the fashion conscious. Those looking for a little more value for money would be better off looking at the RAZR V3i for around Rs. 13,000 - you get looks and features both.

Pros: Looks and feels good, semi-auto opening mechanism, all basic features are here
Cons: Only VGA camera, only 5mb memory space, no EDGE, keypad design can cause disorientation, phone is a bit heavy

Moto PEBL U6 Mobile Cover

Rating: 3/5