Motorola V220

I must admit that when I purchased this phone I got it by default. I wanted to become part of the brand new (at the time) Tesco mobile network but their range of phones was not very large (about 5 different handsets) and as I wanted a "flip phone" the Motorola V220 was my only option.
At first when I was looking it up on the internet I was not overly taken by the looks of the handset, in fact, I hated the large mirror-like thing around the camera but the looks grew on me and £130 later I was making my first call. I do have to say however that I still do not like the look of the mirror and I have never found the need to use it when taking photos, so Motorola could easily have removed it without any loss in picture taking ability, but that's neither here nor there. Generally, the looks of the phone are outstanding and curvaceously attractive. The antenna is short and unobtrusive and the front screen is extremely useful for timekeeping (if you are like me and don't carry a watch).
A useful hint for those who buy this phone - to change the ring style (vibrate, silent etc.) without scrolling through the menus, without even opening up the phone, press either of the up or down arrows on the left of the handset until the word "style" appears on the screen with the current style next to it, then press the button below the two arrows to scroll through the ring styles, follow by pressing one of the arrows again to return to the clock setting.
The camera on the phone is of a fairly poor quality but its ok for quick snaps. These snaps can then be put onto your computer through the USB connection on the phone (if you wish to do this you'll need to purchase a data suite from either a phone shop for about £30 or get one off ebay for about £5… no prizes for guessing where I brought mine!!!)
Unfortunately the phone is rather basic in it connectivity functions, yes it can phone and text and also has WAP and GPRS but there is no Bluetooth or even infra-red connection ability which I found disappointing.
As I'm 16 I go through text messages like they are going out of fashion and this phone really came up-trumps with this feature. The predictive text (which is just annoying on most phones) is very simple and easy to get used to.
When phoning people I was not overly impressed with the quality of the earphone or with that of the speakerphone. The sound is very tinny and no matter how much you turn up the volume, it'll still be a quiet sound. Another thing I noticed when talking is that the mobile interference noise you get if you leave your phone next to a radio happened to the built it speakers on the phone as well, I found a way to combat this problem simply by having part of your hand / finger etc. on the antenna, sounds ridiculous I know but it works, never mind…
The keypad is just a plain and simple standard keypad so nothing special there I suppose. The hotkeys (the ones that have nothing written on them but relate to an on-screen option) are fully customisable and so is most of the main screen, setting the background as a photo etc.
The only problem I can really think of it that of the size of the screen. At only 1.5" it's small but having said this it does do all of the functions required by the phone so it must be personal preference I suppose.
The games that come with the handset are nothing special and you will probably get bored of them after a few weeks, you can however download new ones off WAP etc.
A point to take into account if you are considering this buying this phone is that of the small amount of space available for storage. At only 1MB you'll have to keep uploading your photos onto your computer to make sure you have enough space for any emergency snaps but it's so quick and easy to do that it should not be a problem at all.
The battery life of the phone is very good. I've left it on for 3 days+ in the past before the battery has run out, so on that point it's fantastic.
I go through phones like nobodies business, I'm always dropping them or getting bored with them but the mere fact that I still have it after 12 months must mean something…
Overall this phone is great for the price (now retailing at about £80 on pay-as-you-go) so if you want a middle of the range phone this one is for you.
Thanks for reading this…
I'm still new to this reviewing stuff so if you could click one of the rating buttons below or leave me a comment that would be great… thanks again.