Review rated by 20 Ciao members on average: helpful
This review received a counterstatement by a party concernedRead Comment
I hate mobile phones. Hate their horrible ringtones. Hate the obnoxious rodents who ruin train journeys talking on them. Hate the 'youth' advertising rubbish that accompanies the phenomena. Hate text messages. Hate voicemails. Hate video messaging. Hate the horrid little pictures you get from the inbuilt cameras.
But they are a necessity. And Motorola's V3, combined with Orange's pay as you go service, has been a total saviour. First of all, the combination of the two are the only way you can get phone signal at my abode (as long as it's about eight inches above my desk, perched on top of a stack of CD-R's!).
There's more though. The blessing that is GPRS. I formerly thought of mobile phones as a tedious necessity, a replacement for call boxes (and more convenient than having to dig out 30p). Nothing exciting.
But GPRS has saved the day. I can now do, for the same price as I used to pay back in the horrible old days of dial-up, what I do on the train, on the bus, in the car and everywhere else.
The V3 is a pretty good bit of kit. It's light. The reception is good. It's quite nice to talk on, and doesn't look too ridiculous (except if you wear a Bluetooth headset - but everybody looks ridiculous with those on!). It fits quite nicely in to my pocket. It also has Bluetooth, which means I can put it in my bag, log on to the Internet and forget about it.
What are the problems? The navigation (as with other Motorola phones) can be a little confusing when compared to competitors. It doesn't support Salling Clicker. As a (now) chronic GPRS user, the battery often doesn't last for the day. The predictive text is rather annoying when I try and send email (as I said, I hate SMS). The built in browser isn't very good, when compared with Opera Mini.
A few such annoyances, but overall, this is a good-looking and sturdy bit of kit. I am always on the go, and don't always treat my equipment with the respect they deserve, and this phone has taken the hammering I've given it for the last few weeks with no problem. And for 109 UKP, it's not too bad price wise either.
by (75%):
21.01.2006 18:47
Always good to read a righteous slagging of these necessary evils. Paul
18.01.2006 10:57
Sounds like we have a lot in common! - but I'm still looking for my perfect phone to be launched! - Trevor
18.01.2006 10:03
Good review, you should try the XDA, its very good. its a phone and pc combined, i did a review on it.