Silver phone~ Maybe it should be bronze (Motorola V220)

Member Name: marcellep

Product:	Motorola V220
Date:	05/08/05 (1188 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Size, Phonebook, Ringtones

Disadvantages: Quality

I got this phone last August free from my telecommunication provider. I think when I got it was fairly new on the market. But as you all know the market moves that fast.

So what does the phone give you~

**Looks***

The is a stylish little phone, mostly silver in colour with a dark screen on the front. The ariel is a light grey colour which stands out from the rest of the phone. On the front of the phone you also have the camera lens which is a lovely silver if kept clean, along with the Motorola logo(M).

**Design**

The design of this phone is relatively good in comparison to many other Moto phones that are available. Without opening the phone you can activate certain features. it’s a very small phone, which fits in your pocket without any trouble. If I was to moan about anything on this phone with regards to the design I would have to complain about the ariel as I think it spoils the phones stylish look and elegant design.

**Size, Weight, battery, talk time, etc**

86x44x24mm (yes its very small)

Weight~ 100g

Talk time~ 5hrs

Standby Time~ 9.5hrs



**What the phone has to offer**

*Integrated digital camera~ 640x480 pixels~ digital zoom*

My thoughts~ The camera may be easy to operate, but I feel its not the best camera available at the moment. I find that when your taking pictures in normal light you can often end up with fuzzy pictures. You may have a zoom on the camera but that does not seem to help the quality of the pictures. Overall 3/10

*Games~ Hungry fish, Optitout*

My Thoughts~ Games are not my sort of thing on mobile phones to be honest. But I have played hungry fish on several occasions for a length of time that I do not wish to make public. In case anyone does not know what hungry fish is I will explain~ You are a little fish in the sea and you need to try and eat as many smaller fish as possible, each time you get so many fish you will get bigger~ Basically you want to get as big as possible. I know it sounds boring but don’t knock it till you have tried it. Overall 7/10



*Text Messaging~ Tap~ normal

My thoughts~ Lets face it we all text each other, it’s the done thing. Well with this phone is superb on this part. You have the option to either have the standard text message input or you can have predictive messaging~ Which means the phone will predict what you are about to type~ If the phone suggests one word and you want another all you need to do is continue to type your word and the phone will eventually find the word you want. You can also add words in to the phones memory, this is simple each time you spell a new or different word the phone will automatically store the word~ This phone can hold about 50 messages in your inbox and about 30 in your out box (max I have ever had in phone at one time)

**Phonebook** can hold up to 100 on sim and 100 on phone

My thoughts~ Ok it holds a total of 200 numbers but what are the chances that we have 200 numbers in our phone. The phonebook is simple to use and is even easier to store numbers in it. By simply selecting the phonebook then add number you have added your fist number you can chose if you want to have the following symbols next it~ work, home, main, pager, mobile or fax. You can also choose if you want to add your numbers to your sim card or your phone. Overall 10/10

**Office Tools** Include Calculator~ Calendar~ Alarm Clock~ Chat~

My Thoughts~ Calculator is great and is very simple to use~ You can perform all your normal calculations on this calculator.

The calendar is a feature that U use all the time as you can set yourself reminders, I.e. birthdays, holidays etc~ what happens is when you set a reminder the phone will ring or vibrate when that date is upon you~ Don’t think oh my god its going to ring at 12.01am when it’s the big~ that’s not the case you can select the time you want it to notify you. Overall 10/10

My most used feature on the phone has to be the alarm~ not to mention the snooze function. I love this feature as you do not have to have the phone switched on for the alarm to work. The snooze gives you another 10 mins in bed which we all need. Another good point is that you can have your phone on silent and still have the alarm tones set to loud. Overall 10/10

Chat~ I hear everyone saying what the hell is this. Hold on I will explain. Chat is basically text messaging. But the difference is that this opens a new screen and keeps all your messages. it’s a bit like msn messenger in the way that you can scroll back up to see what your talking about. I use this a lot when I am on night shift and I am texting my wife. Overall 10/10


**Hands free** Built in~ easy to use

My thoughts~ Sorry Moto but this is another feature that you need to improve before I would recommend your phone. We all know that drivers are suppose to use hands free when using the phone. But unless you buy another device for this phone you will not be able to use this feature in your car. Ill paint the picture, driving along your phone rings, With this phone you need to open the flap to answer the call then press speaker. Then you have a very poor speaker which you will struggle to hear anyone talking to you. Not only that the person who is calling you may get a little upset when you keep saying “what” as you will also struggle to hear. it’s a very poor hands free feature and I would strongly recommend that you buy another device. Overall 1/10

**Ringtones**Polyphonic

My thoughts~ This is where u think the phone does really well. You have over 20 ring tones to choose from when you first get the phone then you can easily add more ring tones to the phone. Standard ring tones include “Hello Moto” which I love and to be honest you could not have a Moto phone without it. I also have to confess that I also have Roxette “it must have been love” which my wife sent to me via a message. My wife has the same phone and she actually recorded that clip from the television. So yes you can have real music on the phone too. You can also create your own ringtones which can be fun too~ Overall 10/10

**Volume levels**

Silent~ Just what it says SILENT~ no sound what so ever

Vibe & Ring~ This is a good selection to have especially if your out in a busy and noise environment. When you receive a call or text message your phone will vibrate first then begin to ring after 10 seconds.

Vibrate~ That’s all the phone will do is vibrate when you get a call or text message

Soft~ Is a option that is loud enough for most people.

Loud~ Is extremely loud and I only ever use this option when I am in bed and I know that someone will be calling.

**Video clips~ Receive only**

My thoughts~ Ok so you can receive video clips, but there is not a option to send then to your friends or family. You have good sound quality on the video clips too.


*********Settings that you have on this phone*******

**Call divert~ Allows you to divert your calls to your answer machine or to another number. You can choose to divert all or only when busy, etc.

**In call setup~ This is where you choose your options that suit you. I.e. how you want to answer the phone, either by opening the flap or by pressing the button. You also have your call waiting options here too. You can also set the phone to withhold your id here too.

**Initial setup~ the nerve centre of the phone. You have a lot more options here including time and date setup, display light setting, backing light, language setting, contrast and you can also hit that button which will reset the whole phone.


**Overall**

I would not recommend this phone to anyone as I feel it lets you down in so many areas. Its not been my first Moto phone but I can confirm that this is my last one as I have just be offered a new one from my telecommunications company. I think Moto will need to go back to the drawing board when it comes to the camera on the phone. Now I know that the pictures will not be perfect but I do expect them to be a little better. The plus side to this phone is that the quality of the calls without hands free is really good in comparison to my last phone.




Availability today

Just having a quick look on the net just now I see that the phone is available at the following prices~

EBay~ brand new £74.99

Orange online~ £69.99

I believe that this phone is available on most networks

This particular mode has been discontinued now


Note~ My sister has this phone and when she damaged it by dropping it, Motorola were really quick to get it fixed. I think it was only about 5days. All she done was phone Moto customer care and they sent a pre-paid envelope to her and she posted the phone to them.

Last Note~ I live in Edinburgh and I always get a top signal I have not been many places since getting this phone so I am not sure what the quality would be like where you are. I know it comes down to your telecommunications provider but I believe the phone has a lot to do with it.

Summary: See full review

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