An impressive phone (Motorola V525)

Member Name: andycris3107

Product:	Motorola V525
Date:	19/09/04 (1837 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Screen resolution, Camera features, Usability

Disadvantages: No keylock, External aerial (smaller replacement available)

Like many, I had never considdered Motorolla as a viable alternative to my trusty Nokia and SonyEricsson handsets. Yet my first encounter with this phone left me so impressed I went out and bought it.

Motorolla have never gained the same foothold in the European market as they have in the States, which I feel is a shame as they are often overlooked in favor of European champions Nokia.

It was while I was complaining one day about the minuscular keypad on my SonyEricsson T610, with which I would press 2 or 3 buttons simultaneously and hence missdial or cut someone off, that an American colleague placed the V525 on my desk for me to 'play with'.

I was immediately impressed. I had never considdered a clamshell style telephone, yet this phone sits comfortably in the palm of your hand and feels just about the right weight to know that it's there.

An excellent feature is the minature LCD on the front of the phone which shows the time and who's calling, as well as allowing you to change the phone profile without opening it up. Inside though is an incredibly sharp full colour display which is far superior to almost any other I have seen. The ultimate test for me was to place a high definition photo onto the V525 and then onto the T610 and compare the two. There is simply no contest, the Motorolla wins hands down.

Transferring of files is incredibly simple with the inbuilt Bluetooth, though my PC bluetooth adapter did have some dificulty in establishing a connection. I put this down to the slightly older Bluetooth version of my adapter as I have has similar issues with other devices. Connecting to a Bluetooth headset though was simple and painless, and the quality as you would expect is excellent.

Connecting the telephone to a PDA was just as simple. Using Bluetooth connectivity I was able t estblish a GPRS connection and was browsing the internet within seconds, and most remarkably the connection remained perfect with no signal loss for the duration of the conection. This remains the only telephone I have used where data connection is successful on the first attempt and remains conected for the duration; a definate improvement on both Nokia and SonyEricsson.

Normal telephone usage is just as simple, with normal sized keys that don't require a pin-head to press, and a central 5 way joystick for easy navigation. Three further keys below the screen act as hotkeys and can be programmed to do almost anything you like, just like the two external keys on the left and right of the handset.

The menu is relatively simple, but may require a few minutes use to aquaint yourself with the slightly different features.

Not surprising is the dominance of the multimedia functionality, as this is the first feature that springs up as you enter the menu. The built in camera doesn't excel and produces average results, though it does have two very useful features; a multi zoom, and backlight compensation; this alone makes the phone an excellent choice for MMS freaks wanting to photograph in every possible condition.

The telephones sound capabilities may not rival the new generation of MP3 player phones but it is perfectly capable of handling mp3 polyphonic ringtones, and while the sound may not be as loud as a conventional ringtone the quality is excellent.

With its inbuilt speaker full hands free operation is possible so long as there is not a great deal of surrounding noize. The voice dialing appears to be fairy accurate, and assuming you are coherent you should find using this a breeze.

With a battery life of around 5 or 6 days with average use this doesn't break any records, but then I tend to charge the phone every few days anyway and have never had an issue.

With all this pro Motorolla ranting you must be wandering to yourself 'if the phone is THAT good why doesn't everyone have one?'.

Well, nothing is perfect, and of course in between the catalogue of excellent features there are a few minor annoyances and room for improvement. For me the only annoying feature is the volume adjustment on the side. This performs excellently when adjusting the sound volume during a call, or adjusting the ringtone volume during setup, but close up the phone and this button becomes the profile selector. With no way of turning this off, and with a confident loud beep each time it is pressed, place the phone in a bag or pocket and you'll be beeping all the way home. While the single click doesn't actually change the profile, the beeping can become somewhat annoying.

As a final compliment I should point out that the phone has inadvertantly proved itself to be extremely durable. In an inpromtu test of strength my American colleague managed to hurl his V525 down the stairs of the local metro station and expected to recover a beeping mashed up pile of circuitry, yet the phone was recovered unscathed, with not even a scratch to show for its travels.

All in all this is a superb telephone with just a few minor flaws. Any Nokiahead or SonyEricsson freak that comes accross one should certainly take it seriously. While it isn't the best on th emarket, pound for pound it's almost as good as it gets.

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