Motorola Razr2 V9m On Sprint Cell Phone Review - Value & Comparisons
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Alfredo Padilla Published on September 04, 2007 Comment on this |
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Value (3.0)
The Razr2 V9m is available for $249.99 with a two-year contract from Sprint or $399.99 without a contract. We thought a long time about this price point. On the one hand, phones are almost always priced at a premium when they first come out. On the other hand, though, the Razr2 V9m's feature set simply doesn't justify this price. The truth of the matter is the Razr2 V9m is just an evolutionary upgrade to the Razr lineup. There are definitely some nice upgrades, like the large external screen with touch controls, but under the hood there's no improved functionality to justify this price. We recommend you wait a few months, as the price will inevitably come down to a more reasonable figure.
Comparisons
Helio Fin - The Fin is a handset in the same class as the Razr2 V9m, a flip phone with solid construction and high-end features. The Fin does best the Razr2 V9m in several areas, including a slightly better camera, GPS functionality and a more modern interface. The Razr2 V9m beats the Fin in battery performance and its excellent external screen with touch controls. Still, we must admit we found ourselves much more impressed with the Fin after using it than the Razr2 V9m. And it becomes even more attractive at $75 less, although some variant of the Razr2 should be available on any network while the Fin will require you to switch to Helio.
Sanyo Katana DLX - The Katana DLX lacks the excellent build quality of the Razr2 V9m, but under the hood you get very similar functionality. In fact, the DLX trumps the Razr2 V9m with a true e-mail client, but lacks the excellent exterior screen and touch controls of the Razr2 V9m. The DLX posted slightly better battery performance, but except for Web browsing time the differences were negligible. The biggest difference between the two handsets is price, with the Katana DLX coming in at almost half the cost of the Razr2 V9m. For those intimidated by the V9m's price tag, the DLX is a worthy alternative.
Motorola Razr V3m - The Razr V3m has been the workhorse of the Razr lineup, coming in a variety of colors and available at very reasonable prices. In almost every way the Razr2 V9m is an improvement over the V3m, with better battery life, improved responsiveness, much better build quality, and the excellent exterior screen. However, we judge most of these improvements to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary upgrades. In particular we are unhappy with the fact that the operating system has not seen a significant upgrade. The price is the clincher though, we are hard pressed to recommend the V9m over the V3m considering you have to pay more than $200 more for those evolutionary upgrades.
Nokia N75 - The Nokia N75 is a Series 60 smart phone that provides significantly better software functionality than the Razr2 V9m. The external screen on the N75 is nowhere near as nice as the Razr2 V9m's excellent QVGA revolution screen with touch controls, but it provides functionality as good as or better than the V9m's external screen. The N75, however, is soundly beaten by the Razr2 V9m in terms of battery life, and its camera is also significantly better. For those who don't need a smart phone we recommend the V9m in this matchup, but that's more of an indictment of the Nokia N75, which was a very disappointing handset, rather than an endorsement of the V9m.
Apple iPhone - The iPhone and Razr represent two different approaches to cell phones. The Razr is an evolutionary upgrade to a very popular and enduring lineup, while the iPhone represents a totally new way to interact with your phone, with few roots in existing devices. This makes it difficult to compare the devices, and for most users there are really two questions you need to ask yourself. First, do you want a more traditional phone form factor or are you willing to go with the iPhone's tablet-like design? Second, are you willing to pay the additional $250 to $350 for the iPhone? We feel most people who just want a slick-looking cell phone with a familiar interface and a reasonable price should go with the Razr V9m. It should be noted that the V9m's price is only reasonable in comparison to the iPhone. Those willing to go with something totally new and pay the extra to get it will go with the iPhone.
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