Curiouser and Curiouser!

Curiouser and Curiouser! on motorola http://matt.blogs.it/ RSS feed for topic motorola Copyright 2006 Matt Mower Squib/0.1 self@mattmower.com self@mattmower.com en-gb Motorola V600 capsule review Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:21:09 +0000 <img src="http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/commerce/servlet/gben-server-AssetServer?article=MAIN.UK.INTERNET.STATIC.MOTOV600&asset=GIF4">My capsule review is: Don't buy a <a href="http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/commerce/servlet/gben-server-PageServer?ARTICLE=STATIC.MOTOV600">Motorola V600</a> if you actually want to use it for making phone calls. In all other respects it's great. I've been waiting for the Motorola V600 to come out for quite a while. It's the phone I want to buy. I was delighted, yesterday, to finally hold one in my hands and play with it. Truly a thing of beauty and a great feature set. I was ready to hand over £50 that I don't have for the pleasure of owning one. Only one hurdle remained... Reading about the phone on the web the reviews were all positive about how good it felt to own one etc... except for one review which complained about voice quality. So I put my SIM in the phone and made a call. Indeed the quality was poor, tinny with a lot of distortion even at half volume. The speakerphone didn't sound great either but in a shop with music it's hard to tell. Additionally the person I was calling said the clarity at their end wasn't brilliant but again the music might be a factor there. I was in town today so I thought I would try again. I went to a different store and tested. Again the sound quality was very poor. I got the shop assistant to try it and he agreed, noting that other customers had returned the phone with similar complaints. He certainly didn't seem surprised when I declined to purchase. So there you go. Great screen, camera, bluetooth, GPRS, cool lights on the front, but useless as a phone. Pity. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001897.html Motorola V600 revisited Sun, 29 Feb 2004 08:52:48 +0000 Update to my <a href="http://matt.blogs.it/2004/02/17.html#a1332">review of the Motorola V600</a> (as a side-bar that review is now on the first page of <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=motorola+v600+%2Breview&btnG=Google+Search">results</a>.) According to <a href="http://www.motorola.co.uk/">Motorola</a> there is no problem with the V600. As flimsy as my evidence was (2 phones in 2 stores) they don't offer any reasoning or evidence to backup their claim. I've also come across a forum for Motorola users called <a href="http://www.mototone.co.uk/">Mototone</a>. As I write this the site is being relaunched so lots of the links aren't live yet, but the forums are working and I have posted a question about V600 call quality there. The single respondent, so far, says: <blockquote> think the reception on the v600 is one of hte best of all the new phones on the market</blockquote> This might be re-assuring if I hadn't heard rumours (from an Orange phone store assistant) that the latest Nokia isn't all that hot in the call quality department either. I'm holding up my 4 year old Motorola V3688 as the quality standard. I have resolved to go try a few more stores and see. My advice is slightly modified (to what it should have been in the first place): <ul> <li>Don't buy a Motorola V600 if you intend to use it for calls unless you try it first and are satisfied with the voice quality.</li> </ul> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001937.html I want one Sat, 07 Aug 2004 15:43:33 +0100 <a href="http://www.mobile-review.com/review/motorola-v3-en.shtml">V3......Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.................</a> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002439.html Goodbye Vader.. Hello Razr Sun, 20 Mar 2005 18:56:09 +0000 <image style="padding-right: 5px;" src="http://matt.blogs.it/images/motorola_v3.jpg" valign="top" align="left"/>Yesterday I laid to rest my trusty Motorola V3688 (Vader was the nickname for the black V-Series clamshell phones). I bought it 4 years ago and it has served me well. I've looked at replacing it several times over the last couple of years but updated Moto phones didn't cut it in terms of simplicity, call and build quality. However damage to the hinge and a steady decline in battery life has made replacement more urgent. The Razr V3 was my choosen replacement and I could finally afford to do the upgrade. So far I love the call quality, the excellent speakerphone, the MP3 ring tones (Futurama theme tune!), great screen, great keypad, and the sleek looks. I anticipate I will find having a datebook & calculator useful (in fact I already used the calculator). Bluetooth, GPRS, Camera, and Java I'm really not sure about. I know there is a V6 coming but I don't care, I have bought a phone I think I'm going to enjoy using and owning. A worthy successor to my Vader, may it last as long! http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002471.html Skypetooth with the HS820? Tue, 19 Apr 2005 14:09:04 +0100 I bought myself a <a href="http://www.mobileburn.com/review.jsp?Id=822&source=BROWSER">Motorola HS820 bluetooth headset</a> to use with the <a href="http://direct.motorola.com/ens/web_producthome.asp?Country=USA&language=ENS&productid=29302">V3</a>. Whilst I'm sure to look very cool strutting down the street like the hip kids in the HelloMoto adverts my main reason for buying one was for use in the car. In testing so far I've the range and sound quality to be excellent, and it's very light (16g) and comfortable to wear. In fact i'm now wondering whether it's PC compatible. Can I use it as my Skype headset? Update: Stuart talks about <a href="http://www.skypejournal.com/blog/archives/2005/03/skypeheadset_ta_1.php">doing this very thing</a> in a SkypeJournal post. He's using a 3rd party tool called SkypeHeadset and the Motorola HS810 rig and it seems to work very well. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002511.html Skypetooth#2 Tue, 19 Apr 2005 15:48:48 +0100 With a lot of faffing about (mainly Windows XP-SP2 issues) I have managed to get my Motorola HS820 setup as a headset on this PC and am waiting for my license of <a href="http://www.skypeheadset.co.uk/">SkypeHeadset</a> to come through. The guys there were very helpful in getting me to this point so I'm hoping the last step will be plain sailing. I look forward to a world where I can continue my Skype conversations whilst making a cup of tea! http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002517.html PowerBook to Razr to the Web Mon, 27 Jun 2005 19:40:50 +0100 Any advice on how I hook my Motorola V3 up as a modem with the PowerBook? I seem to be able to iSync the contacts to/from the address book but i'm a bit lost with the modem part and Google hasn't helped so far. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002692.html No roaming Skype for me! Mon, 04 Jul 2005 11:48:32 +0100 Well this is annoying. I can't get my <a href="http://ph.motorola.com/pcs/bluetooth/features.asp?category=0&itemID=HS820">Motorola HS820</a> bluetooth headset to pair with the PowerBook for use in Skype. In fact the PowerBook doesn't even detect it as a Bluetooth device whilst my V3 does. What's up with that? http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002716.html Go go HS820 Thu, 21 Jul 2005 11:44:58 +0100 Too groovy. My thanks to <a href="http://www.headshift.com/moments.cfm">Lee</a> for sharing how to pair up the Motorola HS820 with the MacTop, now I can mobile Skype ;-)The trick is that it will only pair in one way. From the headset switched off you hold the button until the lights flash to show it is on, then you continue to hold the button for several more seconds until the light comes on solidly. At this point it will pair. Contrast this with the V3 which will pair as long as the headset is on. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002770.html