Motorola RAZR V3
Pros
- Sleek design, packed with features
Cons
- Predictive text is a little tricky
Bottom Line
Myriad features are packed into this stunning piece of industrial design, and a rich list of bundled extras only sweetens the deal.
-
Price
$ 969.00 (AUD)
Motorola's Razr V3 mobile phone is a stunning piece of industrial design. The slim clamshell model is sleek and elegant, boasting an anodised aluminium cover, VGA camera, quad-band compatibility and Bluetooth support. A colour screen occupies most of the top half of the clamshell when open, while buttons shaped from a single piece of metal fill the bottom. The 2.2", 262,000-colour TFT display looks extremely bright in just about all lighting conditions, even managing to overcome direct sunlight. The device also has the ability to make the most of the screen and play back MPEG-4 files.
The Motorola unit weighs in at 95g and measures 10 x 5 x 1.4cm, making it one of the slimmest mobile phones on the market. It is quite wide, however, and the keys are large enough so that even those with big fingers won't have a problem entering numbers or punching out SMS messages. But the keys themselves are flat and at times difficult to press. The phone feels solid in the hand and was comfortable to use for long periods of time. The antenna is positioned at the bottom of the hand rest, not in the top cover of the clamshell, allowing Motorola to avoid the top-heavy feel common to many similarly designed mobiles.
The V3 three includes a predictive text system called iTAP, which works in a similar way to the T9 system employed by Nokia. The main difference is that it predicts the word that you are trying to type and outlines it on screen; you simply have to press the up button, and the word is filled in--but it is a little tricky to add punctuation.
The V3 is bundled with a substantial list of accessories including a Bluetooth wireless headset, wired handsfree kit, leather pouch, USB cable and chargers for both the phone and headset; just about all you need. During informal testing, we found the battery lasted four days of average use, including occasionally employing the handsfree kits.
The software CD ships with Mobile Phone Tools, which provides access to basic functions like establishing an Internet connection through your mobile phone, as well as synchronising calendar and contact details to the 5MB of internal memory. It is a simple application that works effectively.
In fact, it mirrored our experience with the phone; the V3 is a simple piece of equipment that looks great and works well. We had one glitch during testing, when it hung up once, but simply turning it on and off fixed the problem, and we couldn't repeat it.
Brand Post
Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Dell U3223QE review: A winning debut for an IPS Black monitor
- 2 HP Spectre x360 16 review: The right 2-in-1 at the wrong time
- 3 Acer K242HYL review: An affordable monitor for any occasion
- 4 GeForce Now review: You bring the games, Nvidia streams the hardware
- 5 Asus ProArt PA279CV monitor review: The go-to for content creators on a budget
Latest News Articles
- Bizarre iOS bug swaps out Spotify for Apple Music in the iPhone dock
- Fortnite returns to the iPhone (sort of) courtesy Xbox Cloud Gaming
- Want to go watch the WWDC keynote at Apple Park? Here’s how to apply
- iPad buying guide 2022
- Apple to support ‘passwordless’ iPhone logins on Android phones and PCs
Resources
Macworld
What's new, plus best mac-related tips
and tricks
Business Centre
The latest business news, reviews, features and whitepapers
Videos
Watch our video news and reviews from around the world
Guides
Comprehensive buying guides, features, and step-by-step articles
PCW Evaluation Team
Pedro Peixoto
Aruba Instant On AP11D
Set up is effortless.
Cate Bacon
Aruba Instant On AP11D
The strength of the Aruba Instant On AP11D is that the design and feature set support the modern, flexible, and mobile way of working.
Dr Prabigya Shiwakoti
Aruba Instant On AP11D
Aruba backs the AP11D up with a two-year warranty and 24/7 phone support.
Tom Pope
Dynabook Portégé X30L-G
Ultimately this laptop has achieved everything I would hope for in a laptop for work, while fitting that into a form factor and weight that is remarkable.
Tom Sellers
MSI P65
This smart laptop was enjoyable to use and great to work on – creating content was super simple.
Lolita Wang
MSI GT76
It really doesn’t get more “gaming laptop” than this.
Featured Content
- Which Lenovo Laptop Should I Buy?
- Every TV in Samsung's 2022 line-up: OLED, Neo QLED and more!
- Top 10 best Android and Apple phones for under $600
- Everything you need to know about Smart TVs
- What's the difference between an Intel Core i3, i5 and i7?
- Laser vs. inkjet printers: which is better?