Motorola Razr2 V9m On Sprint Cell Phone Review - Intro
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Alfredo Padilla Published on September 04, 2007 Comment on this |
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The Razr2 V9m is the latest iteration of Motorola's iconic Razr line of phones. The major carriers are all offering versions of this new handset, but the first to come under our review microscope is the Razr2 V9m from Sprint. The most obvious upgrade of the V9m is the large external display. This looks as good as the main displays on many phones, and includes a touch-sensitive lower third that provides contextual controls; the phone vibrates slightly when you touch these buttons, providing positive feedback to let you know you're touching them. From the home screen, this allows you to start the TV, music, and camera applications.
Aside from this the V9m provides a few other upgrades, including better battery life and a decent 2-megapixel camera. We also like the keypad and controls, as they are roomy and well differentiated, making for easy use. But this version of the V9m is really only an evolutionary upgrade over previous Razrs; under the hood it runs the same proprietary operating system you find on the Razr V3m, and the organizational and e-mail capabilities won't be sufficient for business users. Music support comes via Sprint's music software, which is adequate but nothing special. At $250 with a two-year contract, the Sprint Razr2 V9m is a little pricey given its limited range of upgrades over previous versions. Aside from the external display there's nothing here that makes us sit up and say wow.
Tour & Design - The Razr2 V9m is an attractive handset with good build quality, but the penurious set of included accessories is disappointing.
Audio Quality - The V9m did well in our audio tests, providing reasonable sound quality both outgoing and incoming.
Imaging - The Razr2 V9m's 2-megapixel camera is a significant upgrade over previous Razrs, and compares well with other 2-megapixel phone cameras on the market.
Making/Receiving Calls - With a roomy keypad and a decent selection of calling functionality, the V9m is a good phone for making and receiving calls.
Messaging - Lacking an e-mail client and with only basic SMS and MMS functionality, the V9m doesn't have impressive messaging capabilities.
Organizer - The Razr2 V9m's organizational functionality is very basic, falling well short of regular phones like the Helio Fin or Katana DLX, much less a smart phone like the Nokia N75.
Multimedia - Music playback is handled by Sprint's music software, with easy access to its music store and direct downloads at a reasonable price.
Software - The V9m runs the same tired interface we've seen on Motorola phones for years. We would have appreciated an upgrade to Motorola's new Java/Linux platform.
Battery Life - We were pleased to see the V9m's talk time and music playback time is significantly better than the Razr V3m.
Connectivity - As a CDMA handset with fast data access via EVDO and support for advanced Bluetooth profiles, the V9m does a solid job for a regular phone.
Hardware - The V9m has two excellent screens, and we found the keypad and controls to be very usable, despite a lack of key travel.
Other Features - You can use the V9m as a dial-up modem for your computer, but there is no support for GPS or push to talk functionality.
Value & Comparisons - At $250 with a two-year contract and $400 without, the V9m is probably a little overpriced given its lack of high-end features.
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