Motorola RAZR2 V8

After the success of the RAZR series of phones, Motorola is back (and killing it too!) with the RAZR2 V8. Globally – and I'm quoting official company sources here – the phone has sold around 100 million RAZRs already.

My impression of the phone wasn’t far from the general gasps I got from friends and people around me.

The phone does take the design bit to the next level, with a sturdy form factor and a beautiful, good-to-look-at and shiny exterior. If you watch a lot of TV, you must have already seen the phone being used sort of like a mini-Blackjack in the ad. For once, it’s not really an exaggeration. It’s rock solid, and can be used as a weapon. (Girls, pay attention!)

The clamshell form factor includes a stainless steel frame with metal and glass housing, all put together with a chemically hardened glass. At 103 x 53 x 11.9 mm, it’s really slim, so if you're out to make a style statement, consider it done!!

It’s surprising that the company saw fit to keep the screen so compact, when the body itself is big enough to accommodate a larger screen. However, it’s a 256K color screen capable of supporting 240 x 320 pixels. The external screen is a 2-inch display, and the bottom portion works as a touchscreen while playing music.

For the buttons, diamond-cut technology has apparently been employed, what with metal hinges to make the flip action that much more reliable and long-lasting. You may need to establish your own rhythm, as the groove between the fold requires one to lodge the tip of the finger to yank it open. There’s just no other way!

Also, you can’t feel your way across the buttons. This isn’t a negative point, though generally I like to take a calculated guess while reaching for the call/cancel buttons without having to look at the phone.

The keypad is quite responsive, and even though the keys don't protrude they are evenly placed, leaving no room for inaccuracies.

The Motorola RAZR2 V8 features the latest Linux OS that we saw on the Z6. Frankly, there's nothing very remarkable that you'll notice in the phone.

Sure, a considerable amount of time has surely been spent on the design, to give it a swanky new feel and look. But features are not something that the phone boasts of. Sure, it has the usual stuff, but nothing that most other Motorola phone don’t.

However, it does what it purports to do quite well. I like the way the dictionary works during composing etc. The mechanism is adaptive and quickly learns the most used words, and also the sequence in which they are often used.

Alas, the phone has no expandable memory option, which kind of sucks! It's launched with options of 512MB and 2GB internal, with a price difference of about Rs 1,000. Pretty sad, for if the USB cable ever gets screwed up, you can’t retrieve your data unless you buy the proprietary one. It uses microUSB, so you will need to spend some extra dough.

The multimedia suite that comes bundled with the package is one of the fastest and best I have seen. You can synchronize and save contacts, messages etc on to your computer, and at the same time you get a wide degree of customization controls.

You can cut songs into ringtones and transfer them to your phone, and it’s pleasantly fast too. Using the suite you also see how images will show up on the mobile screen. You can also crop and touch up images.

Surfing is fun, since the phone comes equipped with the Opera 8.5 browser, so you can view the page without any page formatting issues. Also you can open more than one browser window, which makes surfing convenient. It supports EDGE (Class 12) and GPRS, and allows a full screen option.

You can customize menus and add new ones. This will allow you to arrange things in the order you want and also add new folders to make space for others.

There are some hiccups though. If you ever retrieve messages from drafts, you can't go back. You can either send the message or you will simply have to press the "red" button.

The music player is really good. Since the phone supports A2DP, you can capitalize on the player quality. The set of bundled earphones do a good job too.

The external QVGA screen gives you access to the music player, saving you the hassle of having to flip the phone open every time you wish to change tracks.

The phone we got for review had 512MB internal memory, with only 420MB available. Having no expandable memory may help with the sleek design, but is a disservice to a good music player that the phone comes with.

The V8 has a good 2MP camera, which performs above par compared to most 2MP cameras in the market. Pictures taken with it had considerably less noise, and the color reproduction was pretty good.

The camera performs surprisingly well in low-light conditions, which sort of makes up for non-availability of flash. There is no autofocus though. You can shut the phone and operate the camera through the external screen as well.

 

All in all, this is a great product, but do remember that more than half of what you spend is actually for the sleek design. There is no denying that it’s beautiful. While the phone doesn’t offer anything out of the ordinary, it still has everything you need.

One caveat: the battery life is something you may need to be wary of. Things like EGDE, music, and camera will drain the battery in a matter of hours. I got a talktime of just over an hour.

If you are looking for a phone that can catch everyone's eye, this baby is for you. However, if you're looking for performance, spending so much is not too wise. You need to understand it's a lifestyle product!

Specs

Motorola RAZR2 V8
Network	GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900
Physical	99 x 47 x 14 mm, 94g
Display	Internal Screen: 2.2-inch TFT, 256K colors (320 x 240 pixels). External Screen: QVGA with contextual touch screen feature.
Memory	512 MB internal or 2GB (No external memory slot)
Camera	2 Megapixel
Connectivity	USB, Bluetooth, GPRS, EDGE, Infrared
Battery	Up to 330 h standby, 7 h talktime (according to product manual)
Street Price	Approx. Rs 18,000 for 512MB and Rs 20,000 for 2GB