Think deep and hard before buying this junk (Motorola V50)

Member Name: phill@leeds

Product:	Motorola V50
Date:	28/05/02 (1249 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small

Disadvantages: Awful menu, Pathetic messaging service

The Moterola V50 is a poor, below-par, dire, annoying phone and anyone who says otherwise has yet to savour the delights that nokia and sony phones provide.
I had a Sony J5 which, along with the Nokia phones, is my only tool for comparison. I have owned the phone for a couple of months now, a courtesy phone from Bt Cellnet.
I long at night for my Sony back, even though its twice as tall and weighs far more. To me, a mobile ought to be aesthetically pleasing and small but also functional and easy to navigate. This phone is not any of the later, whilst undeniably the former.
The menu system and messaging platform are what gripes me most about this phone. True I loved my scroll-wheel on the Sony but I was quite willing to use manual keys so long as the delay wasn’t too slow – well it is. The messaging platform uses iTap which similar to t9, does not cut the mustard; for example type what you think might be sex/sexy and it gives sew/seww. Sometimes, even though it might have predicted the word correct, you find yourself retyping words because it cannot keep up with a fast typer. To type the number 50 requires either changing to numeric through the menu button and back or, in iTap: 5 ,>,>,>,ok,0,>,>,ok,<,<,Cancel. Not exactly speedy! A text message can take forever to send and although I use the phone more for speaking, I do send about 5-15 msgs a day which takes too darn long.
The menu system bugs me almost as much – although slightly customisable, the basic idea that cancel pressed once (not held) might take you back one menu step has eluded Moterola’s programming team. There’s also a distinct lack of features that find their way into other, equivalent phones like recordable ringtones, interesting games or a large mesaging folder (only 20 msgs allowed). The whole navigation of the phone is confusing, slow and awkward.
The only reasons to choose this phone are its size and looks, and maybe that it is available
free. You ought never pay for this junk! I would advise serious caution with this phone, and the marks given by other members is beyond belief.

Summary: