Join the MotoRevolution! Viva! Viva! (Motorola V600)

Member Name: Athan

Product:	Motorola V600
Date:	03/12/04 (1705 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good looks with metallic casing, superb camera with zoom, beautiful colour screen

Disadvantages: external antenna, somewhat heavy, no flash

The war is over! Let us rejoice, liberation has come and we are free again!
Nokia has conceded defeat in the lucrative mobile phone wars. Nokia, who we shall from now on call the Axis of Evil has not really given us anything in the last 2 years that was worthwhile. The 'coalition of the willing' however (Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson), who aren’t really a coalition, but have jointly stolen some prime Nokia market share, have consistently come up with one excellent phone after the other.

For example, I died a little after first seeing the Nokia 3220, the phone whose serious lack of creativity is only surpassed by its over-the-top tackiness, a running theme at Nokia.

Thankfully Motorola has saved us with their new V series.

Enter the Motorola V600...

The V600 was one of three V series Motorola phones to come out at about the same time (Feb/March 2004). We also have the V300 and the V525. Of these three phones the V600 is the top of the line and the most expensive.
My review will centre on the key aspects of any mobile phone review, Design/Style, Productivity & User Interface, Camera/Multimedia & Connectivity, and Reception.


--- Design/Style: 10/10 ---

The Motorola V600 commands attention. With its chrome bezel, it’s striking black and platinum colouring and its purely aesthetically pleasing design. Of all the phones in the market I believe that this design is perhaps the best. Its a phone that you would be proud to show off to all your friends.
Here is the key to the success of ANY phone. For a phone to be successful it should be of a classic form factor. The classic purist form factors are the candy bar and clamshell. Then we also have the flavours of the month; slide (i.e. Sliders) and swivel (i.e. Motorola V70, V80 and the Samsung e700). When buying a phone, NEVER buy a flavour of the month design. The Motorola V600 has adopted a clamshell form factor that has proved over time to be a stable and desirable design. The reason for this argument is that classic designs will still look decent in the future while flavours of the month wont. I plan on keeping this phone until at least December 2005 and this phone will still look cool then.

When we open up the clamshell we see an even more attractive interior. The keypad is beautifully set out with a white backlight, and the screen (which has 65000 colours and is one of the sharpest screens on the market) takes up most of the top of the clamshell. The backlight is light sensitive, which means that if there is sufficient daylight the phone's backlight will not turn on to save battery. The chrome outline on both the screen and the keypad add prestige and uniqueness.
The metallic casing means that the phone is heavier, BUT in 8 months of use there aren’t any scratches ANYWHERE! The black section on the front does need to be cleaned a fair bit because it shows fingerprints whenever you touch it.

There is also a ring around the Motorola badge at the front of the phone which lights up in different colours when people call you. This ring can be customised to be a different colour for different groups or individuals that call you. Also the ring is uniformly coloured in the same brightness which makes it look very nice. I’ve set the red ring to light up when annoying people call, sort of like a warning that I can see from far away to ignore that particular call. Just joking LOL. But a cool feature anyway.
The choices you can make are: Nocturne, Solar, Aqua, Elemental, Red, Yellow, Green, Sky Blue, Violet and Passion.
I don’t think there is a better design in the market than the V600. The design is conservative yet stylish.

The Motorola V600 can also be personalised with different coloured covers, similar to the Nokia Express-On covers, except they are made out of metal and are not as tackmaster 2000. I've seen covers in burgundy, electric blue and light metallic blue.
I have decided to keep the original silver/platinum colour with mine, because I don’t like to screw around with things. Also the covers are somewhat fiddly to change anyway.

Special Covers:

1. Renowned Crystal-master Swarovski has released a limited edition version, for the ladies, which is encrusted with crystals around the chrome bezel.

2. Prestige car maker, Aston Martin, has also collaborated with Motorola to release 1000 special Motorola V600s which Aston Martin badges and various multimedia exclusives.

Helpful Tip:

To keep your clamshell phone working in tip-top condition for as long as possible you need to ensure that you're not too rough when you close the flip. By consistently slamming the flip close you will eventually stuff up your phone. Trust me its happened to my Motorola T720 and to my friend's Samsung.

Durability:

The Motorola V600 is built very well and is quite strong. The only thing that’s happened to mine is that I dropped it on concrete and cracked a tiny bit of the chrome bezel.


--- Productivity/User Interface/Features: 8.5/10 ---

The V600 has many features packed into it. Motorola has finally updated its alarm clock. If anyone has used the T720 you will know what I mean. The T720 used an alarm clock which was integrated into the personal organiser, which was a biatch to access and use.
The planner is much like the older versions on previous Motorolas.

Now we move onto the most important feature... the User Interface. The V600 has adopted the menu system from the T720 with some improvements here and there. You will find the Motorola user interface very easy to use if you have used the Moto T720 or the e365, but if you are new to Motorola (especially if you are a Nokia person - in which case I feel sincerely sorry for you) you will find the system frustrating and as my friend once said "illogical". I personally find the Nokia menus difficult to use because I never use Nokias, this is the same for people new to any brand. So please people cut the crap and learn how to use the system instead of moaning about how hard it is. If you have serious difficulty using the interface then maybe mobile phones aren’t your most pressing problem.

You can also customise the buttons and icons (i.e. menu and soft keys) to make them do whatever you want them to do, so you don't have to stick with Motorola's default buttons.

All phones nowadays use vibration alert. The Motorola V600 has a quirk in that it's vibration alert with only vibrate and then ring or just vibrate or just ring, it wont vibrate and ring simultaneously, which is rather stupid.

Theres also WAP which you can use to surf the net, get news/sport/weather updates, download games and even play games online. Yet this feature does cost money, prices are dependent on your service provider.

--- Messaging and Phone Book: 7.5/10 ---

The phone supports SMS, EMS, MMS and group messages. Messages can be accessed by pressing the right soft key. In this menu you will find all the options you need to send any of the supported message types. Group messaging is also very easy to set up.

The Phone Book is the major let down for this section of assessment. The search feature only allows you to filter using one letter, instead of the standard 3 found on other phones. Also it doesn't allow you to input multiple numbers under the same name and thus you will find that you will have many entries that look like this:
Danielle Home
Danielle Mobile
Danielle Work
Whereas on other phones, for example the SE T610 you can input them all under the single entry i.e. Danielle.


--- Camera/Multimedia: 8/10 ---

The phone uses a VGA camera with 4x zoom. The zoom however is not progressive and there is no flash. The quality is very good, but there are better ones around. The V600 also has video playback but no recording, which is a bummer. The Multimedia centre features, Pictures, Videos, Camera, Sounds, Themes and MotoMixer.
The cool thing about the videos is that people on the 3 network can actually send you videos to view which is cool. The camera has shutter noises which are very humorous; an example is the Boing and Chimp noises that it can make when you take a photo instead of just making the standard click.

MotoMixer allows the user to mix their own ring tones from 'Base tones' which are included and with additional ones downloadable.
The Ring tones are excellent. The volume problem of the T720 has been fixed and the V600 shouts out these ring tones. The tones can be monophonic, polyphonic and MP3! MP3 ring tones are excellent because they are like listening to an actual song when the phone rings. You can connect your phone to your computer using the cable supplied for free by Motorola to download MP3s off your computer to use as ring tones. But keep in mind that there is only a 5mb hard drive in there so you might want to edit the MP3s and cut only the parts you want as the tones. My favourite ring tone, and the one I use for incoming SMS/EMS/MMS is the Hello Moto ring tone, which goes "brrrp brrrp Hello Moto" and then plays a melody, it always get peoples' attention.

Included with the phone were 3 games; Prince of Persia: Harem Adventures, BoBoBox and Hole in One Golf. These are excellent games. I also downloaded Monopoly and Pac Man.


--- Connectivity: 10/10 ---

When it comes to connectivity the V600 has Bluetooth, this simply allows for wireless connectivity which is superior to infrared. This means that you can sync your phone to your computer and pda.

Also free in the V600 package is a Motorola wireless Bluetooth hands free headphone, a fantastic addition. It allows you to answer and make calls completely wirelessly. This is achieved through the voice recognition feature through the Bluetooth headset. The phone doesn’t support infrared, but who uses that crap anyway lol.

The phone also comes with a cable and CD containing Motorola software so that you can connect it to your PC and transfer files and data quite easily between them. It allows you to send SMS/EMS/MMS composed on your computer, it allows you to set up your phone book and store the numbers on you PC and it allows you to transfer midi ring tone and MP3 files off your computer to the phone for free.


--- Reception and Battery Life: 10/10 ---

Talking on the V600 is like talking to someone who is in the same room. The reception is BEYOND excellent. In contrast we have the SE T610 which hisses at you when you are talking. If I needed a snake I’d get the T610. Its battery life is above average but could be better. For my use I require to recharge it every 3 to 4 days. Naturally during periods of higher usage the battery will require more recharging.
There is also a speaker phone that is very clear and loud.

--- Price and Availability: 9/10 ---

When the Motorola V600 first debuted in Australia its price was AU$809 (about £330)
Fast forward 8 months and:
On eBay (UK) I found the phone ranging between £100 and £120.
The phone is available FREE on the Orange (UK) network on their pay-as-you-go. It’s also free on most other networks.

---------- Overall: 9/10 Excellent ----------

The Motorola V600 is the ultimate phone/fashion accessory for anyone looking for a credible alternative to the evil that is Nokia. The V600 is quite expensive but is of high quality and is built to last. If you buy any phone this year make it this phone. Motorola has rekindled our love affair with the flip.

Note on overall rating: Rating is not an average of all the categories but a rating based on those categories with each category having a different weighting in terms of importance. I.e. Design, reception and battery life having more weighting than connectivity or games.


--- Specifications ---

Modes GSM 800 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900 (QUAD BAND - you can use it with any GSM network ANYWHERE in the world)
Weight 4.40 oz (125g)
Dimensions 3.46" x 1.85" x 0.91" (88mm x 47mm x 23mm)
Form Factor: Clamshell
Stub Antenna
Battery Life Talk: 6.50 hours, Standby: 175 hours (7.3 days)
Battery Type: LiIon 700 mAh
Display Type: LCD (Color), Size: 176 x 220 pixels, 65,000 colors / transflective TFT
Memory 5 MB (built-in, shared flash memory)
Phone Book Capacity 1000 plus SIM card memory
Finish: Plastic/Chrome/Aluminium

Summary: