V620 - the last phone you'll ever need (Motorola V620)

Member Name: MichaelAshcroft

Product:	Motorola V620
Date:	06/09/06 (280 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, surprisingly sturdy, and just look at it !

Disadvantages: Few

**This review first appeared on Ciao, written by MichaelAshcroft**

I have owned this phone since it was first released, and it has yet to let me down. Since I've had it so long, I'm well aware of how good it is, as well as what it does when it's in a bad mood! There have been times!

---The Styling---
Ok, I know I'm shallow, but the phone is gorgeous. Stunning in fact! I would even go as far as to use the word "sexy". I remember looking around the shop: all the phones looked the same, until I saw the V620, which really stood out. It has a cool clamshell which is nice, but it does have its problems, which I'll get into later. It does look good though! There is a small U shaped piece of metal on the front which is removable and interchangeable with others of different colours; but why anyone would want to remove any of the jet black is beyond me!
For practical purposes, the antenna is a little awkward, sticking out as it does from the top of the phone. While it does not detract too much from the look, it is occasionally unpleasant having a half inch long spike sticking into your leg! Saying that, it is detachable, although removing it drastically reduces the reception (well duh, it's an antenna, that's what it does!)
The chrome parts of the cover (the hinges and another, smaller U shape on the front) add to the look, though they do smudge very easily, occasionally needing wiping. The chrome and black continues when you open the clamshell, each row of buttons being separated by a strip of chrome, and all of the top buttons (call, hang up, and the menu buttons are all chrome effect). The screen also has a chrome edging. Very nice.

---Ease of Use---

For a fashion accessory, the V620 is amazingly simple to use. The buttons are large enough to be used easily, without tiring. Most importantly, Motorola have not tried to go nuts with the interface. It's simple and elegant, and does exactly what it's supposed to do. There are 4 buttons on the sides of the phone, 3 of which can be used when the phone is closed, to adjust the "style" (loud, silent, soft, vibrate, vibe & ring, vibe then ring) although it does make a noise in doing so. For example, if you're sitting in an important meeting and you've forgotten to put the phone on silent, you can do so without opening the phone. However, if you left it on "loud" you will have to cycle through the other settings, which all make a soft beeping sound.
The Home screen is not overly complicated, featuring 4 shortcuts which can be set to any function in the phone. For example, my 4 are "alarm clock, media, Bluetooth and calculator". I have found this exceptionally useful, and it is good that this feature is common to most Motorola phones.

A complaint. Many people have told me that the "hang up" and the "call" buttons (red and green) are the wrong way around (hang up being on the left, and call on the right), but since I upgraded from a Nokia 3310 I really didn't notice! However, the problem I have found is that when writing a text message, the "delete" button is just above the "hang up" button. The number of times I have written a 300 character text, made a mistake, and hit the hang up button instead of the delete button are numerous. The result of this is of course that my entire text simply disappears and I return to the home screen. This is the point where I scream and curse and decide to write the text later, rather than risk throwing the phone against a wall! This is probably my biggest complaint about the V620! Apart from that minor layout issue, I am really quite satisfied with the ease of use of the phone.

---Battery Life---

The V620 uses a standard Motorola charger, and does charge up in a matter of hours. I have known the battery to last several days without complaining, though be warned that having Bluetooth on will drastically reduce battery life. Standby time is fairly immense, you won't need any more than you get! There have been occasions where I've plugged it in, and all I've seen is "unable to charge", but simply reinserting the charger solves this issue.

---The Weight---

It's heavy. Pardon me?! Heavy?! Surely that's a bad thing? Well no actually, another reason I chose to buy the V620 is that it is somewhat chunky (in terms of weight, not size). When using a light phone, I put it in my pocket and as far as I know, it isn't there. When holding lighter phones, it almost feels as though a strong breeze will take them away! The point is, the extra weight of the V620 means I know it's there! I stand a much better chance of knowing if it's been stolen if I can feel it in the first place. Oh yes that's another issue, do not use this phone in a bad area at night, it will light you up like a Christmas tree! Just imagine: 2 screens and event lights will make you brighter than a street light! Anyway, back to the point! The weight also gives me the distinct impression that I'm holding something of good quality. It is made mostly of metal; there is very little obvious plastic.

---Bluetooth---

Oh dear, it was going so well! The Bluetooth itself works fine, apart from one or two extremely annoying facts you need to know. First, the phone is only discoverable for 60 seconds, after which you have to keep pressing the button, which is under "hands free" for some reason known only by Motorola programmers! Also, picture the scene. Your friend has taken a good long video of you doing an amazing handbrake turn. You decide to ask him for it. He sends it to you by Bluetooth, but since it's such a big file you decide to put it in your pocket and have a drink while you wait. Drinks finished, you say goodbye and check your video, only to find out that closing the phone has cancelled the Bluetooth transfer. Oh dear. This is a problem inherent to the clamshell design, which others do not suffer from. Leaving the phone open during every transfer can get tiresome! Other than that, I would rather have Bluetooth than not!

---Durability---

This is where you will be truly amazed. It looks like an extremely fragile phone, but my V620 has been knocked 2-3 metres by carelessness, fallen about 1 metre, and smashed into the ground. Upon hitting the ground it fell into 3 pieces: the back cover; the battery, and the rest of the phone. Put them back together again and the phone works perfectly, without even a dent. The phone falls apart in this manner almost every time it is dropped, and it has yet to break!

---Messaging---

The memory in my phone has held up to about 80 messages before cramming the inbox full. This is a fair number, but once it is full, any new messages you receive won't come though until you delete some, sometimes taking days to come through. This is no major problem as long as you remember to keep clearing the inbox (or at least the outbox).

---The Camera---

The camera takes both stills and videos, of reasonably quality. The pictures are nothing you'll be able to print off and treasure, but it's perfect for capturing those embarrassing moments! There is no limit on how long you can take a video for, except the total free memory in the phone.

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I think that should cover the essentials - the biggest things I've noticed about the phone. Despite some of the negatives, these really are the only negatives I've noticed in years of ownership. It is a tremendously good phone, and I would recommend it to anyone! I hope this review has helped you!

Cheers

Michael

Summary: An excellent phone all round, easy to use, and absolutely gorgeous!

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