Home > Reviews > Manufacturer > Motorola W315 Prepaid Cell Phone Review

Motorola W315 Prepaid Cell Phone Review

Richard Baguley Published on December 29, 2007 Comment on this

Intro Making/Receiving Calls Software Other Features

Tour & Design Messaging Battery Life Value & Comparisons

Audio Quality Organizer Connectivity Conclusion

Imaging Multimedia Hardware Ratings & Specs

What sort of cell phone does $25 get you? To find out, we cracked open the Wirelessinfo.com piggy bank and went shopping for a pre-paid cell phone that didn't tie us up with a long contract. What we found was the $24.99 Motorola W315 running on Verizon's INpulse pre-paid service. This phone surprised us in many ways; for something that costs less than dinner for two at a fast food restaurant, the W315 has a decent set of basic features that make it a good deal for the user who just wants to make calls.

Those who are looking for more advanced features are going to be disappointed, though; there is no camera, no music or video playback support and no real email support. And there is no support for mobile web browsing; the W315 doesn't have a web browser. As such, it's never going to replace a BlackBerry or other high end phone; those who use their phones for business are going to turn up their noses at this cheap phone. But for the user who doesn't want or need cameras and the like, the W315 is a surprisingly good phone that won't break the budget.

It is also worth noting that the W315 could support features such as web browsing or email; similar Motorola phones on other networks offer these features. But Verizon decided to disable these features, presumably so they didn't undercut their more expensive phones.

One thing to bear in mind with a pre-paid phone like this is the cost of calls: you pay a bit more per minute on a pre-paid plan than you do with a monthly plan (between 2 and 10 cents), but you also pay a sizeable daily fee as well on most true pre-paid plans (some carriers don't charge these fees, but all of Verizon's pre-paid plans include this). Depending on which InPulse plan you go with, you pay between $0.99 to $2.99 for every day that you use the phone. That means that if you make a short call (or even get an incoming wrong number call) or send a text message, your balance goes down by between one and three dollars for this daily fee. This is where phones like the W315 may turn out to be less of a deal in the long run than you might think; your prepaid balance can quickly get eaten up. And the preapid balance expires as well; refills of less than $29.99 vanish after only 30 days.

The W315 is available for $24.99 on Verizon's prepaid InPulse service.

Here are brief summaries to the different areas of our review. Click on any of the titles to read the full section.

Tour & Design - The W315 is a small, sleek phone that is well, if simply, designed

Audio Quality - The W315 has good audio quality for both sent and received audio

Imaging - The W315 has no camera, so there isn't much to talk about here.

Making/Receiving Calls - The W315 does a decent job of managing contacts and calls.

Messaging - SMS support is adequate, but there is no support for email.

Organizer - A basic calendar is the only major organizer feature.

Multimedia - The W315 can play back audio, but there is no way to get music onto the phone.

Software - The built-in software is extremely basic, and there is no way to update it.

Battery Life - The talk time battery life is rather short at just over 2 hours.

Connectivity - No Bluetooth and no WiFi means limited connectivity.

Hardware - The keypad on the W315 is adequate, but was a little slow to type on.

Other Features - There are no other features on the W315

Value & Comparisons - At $25, the W315 is cheap.
 

[page title="Tour & Design"]

Front Closed
The Motorola W315 has a clean, rounded design that is obvious from the front. In the middoe of the top of the lid is a small LCD display that shows the time. At the top, we see something that we don't see that much these days; an external antenna that slides up.

Open

Left
The left side of the W315 contains three features: a volume control, a speakerphone button and the cover over the mini USB charging port.

Top
The major features on the top are the slide-out antenna and the lanyard loop, and a small speaker vent on the right side.

Bottom
There are no features on the bottom, with the exception of two small speaker vents on the edge of the lid.

Right
The right side of the  W315 has only two major features; a 2.5-mm headphone socket under a small plastic cover and a button that activates voice dialing.

Back & Battery Out
Removing the rounded back of the W315 reveals the battery, which takes up the majority of the space. But at the bottom of the phone, you can just see another speaker, which is activated when the phone is in speakerphone mode. The battery is a rather small 880MAh model, which doesn't bode well for the battery life.


In the Box (1.0)
As you might expect with a prepaid phone, the package is pretty minimal. In the bubble pack you get the phone, a few manuals and a USB charger. And that's it; there are no headphones, memory cards or software. Incidentally, the thick plastic bubble pack was a pain to open, requiring a large amount of hacking at to open. And, yes, we did indeed shed blood in producing this review.

Handling (5.5)
The W315 is a small phone that fits into the hand well. The paint-feel platic on the case means that you can keep a tight grip on it, and the send and end buttons and directional controls fall under the thumb when the phone is open. However, the keypad is not comfortably placed for dialing with one hand; if you are holding onto a post on the train with one hand and are trying to dial with the other to let someone know you are going to be late, you have to uncomfortably angle your thumb down to reach.

Portability (7.0)
The W315 is not a large phone; at just 3.48 inches tall, 1.98 inches wide and 0.89 inches thick, it's a small phone that fits nicely into a pocket or bag. But the extendable antenna is a pain; it pokes into all the wrong places if you put it into a trouser pocket, and the phone is a bit too thick to go into a snug pair of jeans. 

Aesthetics (6.0)
The W315 isn't a stylish phone by any stretch of the imagination; the design is clean and simple, but it's more about function than style. I wouldn't expect to see any supermodels using the W315. 

Durability (7.0)
Although the W315 feels pretty well built, the antenna is again a concern; the top part of the antenna could easily get caught on something and pulled, breaking either the antenna or the top part clean off. But the rest of the phone feels solid; the port covers and buttons aren't likely to get damaged in everyday use.

[page title="Audio Quality"]

For a cheap phone, the W315 had surprisingly good audio quality, performing well in all of our audio quality tests.  To do these, we use a combination of a professional audio analysis program, SoundCheck, by Listen, Inc. and a Head and Torso Simulator, or H.A.T.S., by Brüel & Kjær. This same combination is used by cell phone manufacturers in product testing. For our tests we use the phones as a handset held to the ear. We keep a more detailed description of our audio tests here.

Sound Receive Frequency Response (9.34)

The W315 did well in this test, with the frequency response of the sound that the phone received (such as someone talking to you over it) falling well within the limits we est against (the phone's frequency response is in blue, the limits are in red). This means that voices coming over the line should sound accurate and be easy to understand, whether it's Barry White or Tiny Tim calling.

Cell Phone	Motorola  W315 on Verizon	LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	Motorola Razr V3m (on Sprint)
Score		8.27	8.12
Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view)

Cell Phone	BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	Nokia N75( on AT&T)	T-Mobile Dash (on T-Mobile)
Score	8.30	8.73	7.37
Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view)

Sound Send Frequency Response (8.72)


The W315 also did well in this test, which measures the frequency response of the phone for the sound it sends (such as you talking into it). Again, the blue line represents the measured frequency response of the phone, and the red lines represent the limits we test against, with the response of the W315 sailing cleanly between the limits. This means that your voice should be accurately picked up and transmitted by the phone to the person on the other end. Whether this is a good or a bad thing we leave for you to decide.

Cell Phone	Motorola  W315 on Verizon	LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	Motorola Razr V3m (on Sprint)
Score	8.72	8.06	7.34
Sent Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view)

Cell Phone	BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	Nokia N75( on AT&T)	T-Mobile Dash (on T-Mobile)
Score	7.51	7.57	7.59
Sent Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view)

Handset Side Tone (9.40)

Side tone refers to how much of your own voice the phone injects back into the speaker so you can hear how loud you are speaking. Side tone is important, as people naturally speak louder when they can't hear their own voice. The ideal side tone volume is 18 decibels, and the W315 is only a touch off at 17.4. This means that if you start yelling, it'll be your fault, and not the phones.

Cell Phone	Sidetone Measurement	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	17.40	9.40
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	17.85	9.85
Motorola Razr V3m	17.69	9.69
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	17.88	9.88
Nokia N75	14.85	6.85
T-Mobile Dash	18.23	9.77

[page title="Imaging"]
The W315 doesn't have a camera, so it's going to score a big fat 0 in most of our tests in this section. We won't list them all out; that would be cruel (and wouldn't make for very exciting reading). Instead, we will only feature the sections in which the W315 actually manages to score something.


Photo Album Software Internal (0.5)
The W315 has a very basic photo album, which allows you to view photos stored on the phone. However, there is one fundamental flaw here; there is no way to  put photos onto the W315, as it doesn't support USB synching. So, the only thing you can do is to browse the variety of cute little icons that are stored on the phone.

Video

The W315 doesn't score here either as it can't capture or display video at all. So, to spare its blushes, we are skipping this section as well. Suffice to say, if you're looking for a phone that can take video, show videos or pretty much do anything at all with video, the W315 ain't it.
 
[page title="Making/Receiving Calls"]

Dialing Speed (4.17)
To test dialing speed we start with the phone turned on, in the closed position, then time how long it takes to dial one of five different numbers, ending when the send key is pressed. We then average the time. The W315 took an average of 5.4 seconds, which is a little on the slow side. This is because, although the keys on the keypad are large, there isn't much to distinguish the keys, so you can't navigate by touch.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	4.8	4.17
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	2.96	6.76
Motorola Razr V3m	4.9	4.08
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	3.16	6.33
Nokia N75	3.34	5.99
T-Mobile Dash	6.2	3.23

Talk and End Buttons (6.0)
The talk and end keys are the small circular keys just above the keypad. Neither are particularly large or well placed; we found ourselves sometimes pressing the clear and shortcut buttons by accident instead.

Call Management (6.5)
Pressing the up key on the directional pad takes you to the call management screen. From here, you can access a number of call logs, for received, dialled and missed calls, plus the timers. The latter allows you to keep track of the length of the last call, the received and dialled calls, all calls or all calls made over the lifetime of the phone. The last two sound similar, but the all calls total can be reset from the menu, so you can use it to keep track of the number of calls made in a month if you remember to reset it at the start of the month.
      
When you are in a call, the left soft key provides access to a number of options, including contacts (useful if you want to make a note of a phone number if you're using a headset in the middle of a call), speakerphone, TTY mode, and the call log options detailed above. You can also access the message menu, the calendar and set voice privacy mode, which amplifies the microphone so you can speak quieter but still be heard. You can also, for some reason access technical information like the serial number of the phone the version of software it is using and something called the PRL version. The right soft key allows you to mute a call.

This is a good selection of call management tools; we've seen many more expensive phones that don't provide these. However, some of these (such as the message and calendar access) aren't going to be much use unless you spend the extra to buy a separate headset; you can't use them if the phone is held against your ear.

Startup to Call (4.33)
To test startup to call we start with the phone closed and turned off, then time how long it takes to open and turn on the phone, then dial a number and hit the send key. The W315 took an average of 23.1 seconds, which is pretty fast; that's about the same as the LG Chocolate VX8550. But we typically see this from low-end phones like this; they don't have to run the complex operating systems that some phones are built on, which often take over a minute to start up.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	23.1	4.33
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	22.37	4.47
Motorola Razr V3m	35.7	2.8
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	6.77	14.77
Nokia N75	40.56	2.47
T-Mobile Dash	76	1.32

Ring Volume (8.54)
To test ring volume we held the W315 four inches away from a sound pressure meter, set the phone's volume to maximum, and ran through all of the built-in ringtones, picking the loudest. The W315 topped at 87.8 decibels, a touch above the average that we see. That means that it is loud enough to be heard inside a pocket or bag with no problem, and loud enough to get you thrown out of a cinema if you forget to turn the sound off.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	87.8	8.78
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	85.4	8.54
Motorola Razr V3m	88.0	8.8
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	85.6	8.56
Nokia N75	85.3	8.53
T-Mobile Dash	84.5	8.45

Ringtone Customizability (0.0)
You get a selection of ringtones built into the W315, but you can't upload your own, or use MP3 files.

Non-Audio Alerts (4.0)
The W315's vibration alert is pretty weak; it's more of a gentle buzz than an earthquake in your pocket. This means it would be easy to miss if the phone was in your bag or in a coat pocket.

[page title="Messaging"]

Supported E-mail Services (0.0)
The W315 doesn't include any support for email. The closest that you get is the ability to send text messages to an email address using Verizon's own VTEXT service, but this limits you to 140 characters, and doesn't support attachments. It also costs the same as a text message , so we don't award any points for this.

Push E-mail (0.0)
The W315 doesn't support push email services like BlackBerry or Exchange.

Multiple E-mail Accounts (0.0)
You don't get any email accounts; if someone wants to send you an email, it has to be addressed to phonenumber@Vtext.com

HTML and Attachments (0.0)
Neither HTML in emails or attachments are supported

E-mail Customizations (0.0)
Nope; incoming and outgoing messages are text only that can't be customized.

Time to a New Message (0.0)
Because the W315 uses the text messaging client to send email, we didn't run this test.

E-mail Usability (0.0)
Because the W315 uses the text messaging client to send email, we didn't run this test.

Supported IM Services (0.0)
No instant messaging services are supported by the W315, so no points here.

MMS Support (0.0)
The W315 doesn't support sending or receiving MMS messages. The sending is no surprise, as there is no camera. The receiving is a little frustrating, though; if someone sends you an MMS photo, you get a message referring you to the vzwpix.com web page. However, you can't view this, as the W315 has no browser. So, you don't get to see whatever funny picture you are being sent. 

SMS Smiley Face Interpretation (0.0)
Smiley fans will be unimpressed by the SMs client on the W315; it left smilies as text, which is unlikely to being a smile to your face.

SMS/MMS Ease of Use (4.0)
The SMS client is basic, but fairly easy to use. On the home screen, the left soft key takes you into the messaging menu, from where you can check the inbox, write new messages or access draft and saved messages. One interesting feature is QuickNotes; a number of preset text messages that you can send. These can be edited (and you can add your own text as a QuickNote), so they would provide a useful shortcut if you want to send a quick thank you or a confirmation. Or if you're looking for a date; one of the presets is "would you like to join me for a date tonight"? Just don't text that to your boss by accident.

Time to a New SMS Message (1.96)
In this test, we time how long it takes to get to the new text message screen where you can start entering a message. The W315 took an average of 5.1 seconds, which is a little longer than most. This is because of two things; the phone itself is a little sluggish to react to key presses, and you have to select the recipient before you can start writing the message. Most phones do this on the same screen as the message itself, but the W315 makes you do this before you start typing the message in by selecting the recipient (or recipients) before you start entering it.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	5.1	1.96
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	2.61	3.83
Motorola Razr V3m	4.58	2.18
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	4.22	2.37
Nokia N75	1.84	5.43
T-Mobile Dash	2.12	4.72

[page title="Organizer"]

Synchronization Ease of Use (0.0)
The W315 doesn't offer any options to synch data with a PC or Mac.

Events in the calendar can be set to sound the alarm 5, 10, 30 or 60 minutes, one day or one week before they occur. There's also a custom setting that allows you to specify how many hours before the event the alarm sounds. You cannot, however, set the alarm sound from within the calendar application; you only get to set one alert sound in the settings section of the phone. So, you can't have different alerts for different tasks (or different types of tasks). As there is no to-do application, you can't set alarms for a task.


Over the Air PIM Sync (0.0)
The W315 does not offer any over the air PIM synchronization; there is no way to synchronize data over the cellular network.

Address Book

Adding Contacts (3.25)

We test the speed of adding contacts by timing how long it takes to add 5 sample contacts to the phone, then averaging the time. The W315 took an average of 30.8 seconds to do this, which is a little slower than most other phones with keypads. The W315 is held back by two problems: the keypad is a bit slow to enter text, and the phone puts an extra step in the process by asking if the new contact will be for a phone number or an email address; you can't skip this and go straight to the contact. And, with the phone being somewhat slow to respond, this extra step slows the process down.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	30.8	3.25
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	20.5	4.88
Motorola Razr V3m	27.9	3.58
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	14.10	7.09
Nokia N75	22.84	4.38
T-Mobile Dash	13.44	7.44

Looking/Sorting/Search (0.5)
There are no real search features on the W315: all you can do is to scroll up and down the list to find the contact you're after, or skip to a letter on the list by pressing the appropriate key. But that's it; you can't search for a particular name or contact. This is likely to get pretty tiresome if you have a lot of friends, as you can't do anything to speed up the process.

Fields (1.8)
The W315 only offers a limited number of fields; name, phone number, category, type, voice name, ringer ID, picture and options for additional phone numbers and email addresses. That's a pretty limited selection; there are no options for address, company name or any free-form fields that can be adapted as required.

Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (4.0)
There are 9 speed dial locations that can be set to particular numbers or contacts. Contacts can also have voice tags attached, where you record the name of the contact and it plays back the name as you scroll down the list. This can also be used as a voice dialling feature; hit the button on the side, say the name and the W315 tries to match the name you say with the voice tag. We only had limited success with this, though; it only records a couple of seconds for each contact, which means you can only use the first or last name for most people. This is a problem if you know several people with the same first or last name. The voice command feature was also spectacularly ineffective; it didn't recognize a single one of the sample contacts that we use. 

Calendar

Adding Calendar Items (4.27)
For this section we test how long it takes to add a new calendar item. The item is a simple appointment to remind us that we have a lunch appointment tomorrow. This took an average of 23.4 seconds on the W315, a rather long time. The delay was caused by the fact that the calendar is buried several clicks deep within the menu, under the tools option.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	23.4	4.27
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	6.48	15.43
Motorola Razr V3m	22.60	4.42
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	6.04	16.56
Nokia N75	19.20	5.21
T-Mobile Dash	7.38	13.55

Calendar Views (2.1)

Only two views are available on the W315; the month view and a simple day view. In the month view, If you click on a particular day, the application shows a list of the events on that day (or provides an option to add a new event if there are no events on that day). However, there is no day view that shows the length of events for that day, no week view that shows 7 days at a time and no way to view a list of upcoming events.

Fields (6.0)
Only a small number of fields for events are available; title, start time, duration, date, repeat and alert. There is no way to set an event to cover an entire day (the longest an event can last is 4 hours) or to categorize events.

ToDo/Tasks

Adding ToDo/Task (0.0)
There is no to do application on the W315; the only way to organize tasks is to store them in the calendar.

ToDo/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (0.0)
Not applicable: you cannot create to-do or task lists.

Fields (0.0)
Not applicable: you cannot create to-do or task lists.

Notes

Adding Notes (0.0)
There is no specific notes application on the W315; the closest you get is a notepad application within the phone program that allows you to note down numbers, then attach them to contacts. But this will only work with numbers: it cannot handle text.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	n/a	0.00
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	33.80	1.48
Motorola Razr V3m	n/a	n/a
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	14.8	6.76
Nokia N75	15.52	3.22
T-Mobile Dash	n/a	n/a

Note Interface (0.0)
There is no note application on the W315.

Note Formatting (0.0)
There is no note application on the W315.

Voice Memo (5.0)
The W315 does have a voice memo application: this can be used to capture short voice notes. These notes are saved by the time and date that they were recorded, but  they can't be renamed or copied to another location. This limits the usefulness of this feature, as all you can do is play the recordings back. And you'll need to be quick about it: the W315 can only hold 4 minutes of recordings. 

[page title="Multimedia"]
Oh dear; this is going to be another short page, as the W315 doesn't support playing back music or videos. It's not that the W315 doesn't support these features (other versions of the W315 can play back music), but that Verizon decided to disable a lot of these features for the pre-paid version of this phone.

Accessing Music Software (0.0)
The only built-in music player is a simple application that can play back the sounds stored in the phone's memory. But this is pretty useless as you can't download any new sounds or songs to the phone.

Dedicated Music Controls (0.0)
There are no dedicated music controls.

Music Software Functionality and Organization (0.0)
There is no way to play back or organize music beyond the simple sound player.

Online Song Downloading (0.0)
Although Verizon offers their own online music downlaoding service called VCAST, this is not supported on their pre-paid phones.

Streaming (0.0)
There is no support for streaming audio on the W315.

Podcast Support (0.0)
You can't download podcasts to the W315, and you can't listen to them if you copied them from a PC. If you want to catch up on the latest adventures of the TWITs or listen to podcasts from the BBC, you'll need to use something else.

Music Sync with PC (0.0)
There is no way to synch music with a PC or a Mac.

Music Formats and DRM (0.0)
Unsurprisingly, the W315 doesn't work with any sort of copy protected music. Or any sort of non copy protected music either.

Music Interruption (0.0)
Seeing as the W315 doesn't play music, it's no surprise that incoming calls aren't a problem.

Video

Video Software Access (0.0)
The W315 can't play back videos.

Video Controls (5.0)
The W315 doesn't have any video controls.

Video Software & Organization Score (1.5)
There is no way to play back or organize videos on the W315.

Video Sync with PC (0.0)
There is no way to synch videos with the W315 from a PC or Mac.

Video Formats (0.0)
No video formats are supported.

Video DRM (0.0)
No DRM video formats are supported.

Video Playback Smoothness (0.0)
The W315 can't play back video, so it gets a 0 here.

Online Video Downloading (0.0)
The W315 can't download video, so it gets a 0 here.

Video Streaming unscored
There is no support for streaming video.

[page title="Software"]

OS (3.0)
The W315 runs Motorola's own proprietary OS. We found this to be starightforward to use, but not particularly responsive; the phone often took a couple of seconds to respond to keypresses. It's also oddly designed, with several features buried out of the way. The calendar application, for instance, is buried under the the Tools menu, next to the calculator and alarm features.

Home Screen Score (3.0)
Minimal is the phrase that springs to mind here: the home screen of the W315 that first appears when you open the phone shows the signal strength, data connection type, roaming indicator, alarm, message or voicemail notification and battery level along the top of the screen. In the middle you see the network name, plus the time and date. If you get a text message or miss a call, the home screen is replaced by a notification that allows you to view or exit the notification screen. If you leave the phone unattended for a time and get several messages and miss a call, the missed call message replaces the message notification, so you could easily miss messages if you aren't paying attention.

Extensibility (0.0)
Because you can't connect the phone to a PC or access the Internet, there is no way to download extra software onto the W315. So, you're pretty much stuck with what you have.

Customizability (3.0)
A limited amount of customizability is available on the W315; you can use the two built in themes, or customize features such as the color scheme, banners and sounds. You can also change the style and layout of the menus.

OS Responsiveness (2.5)
The OS of the W315 is not particularly responsive; we often found ourselves waiting a second or two for the phone to respond or for a new screen to appear. Because the phone is not exactly bristling with features, this is not a huge problem, but it is certainly not the fastest and most responsive phone that we have seen.

Gaming (0.0)
There are no games included on the W315; if you want to play games, bring your Nintendo DS with you.

Browser Features (0.0)
The W315 does not include a Web browser: there is no way to access the Internet.

Browsing Interface (0.0)
Because there is no browser, the W315 scores 0 points for the interface.

Browser Access Speed (0.0)
Because there is no browser, the W315 scores 0 points for the interface.

Calculator (2.0)
A very basic calculator is included with the W315; it can add, subtract, divide and multiply. But it doesn't have any more advanced features; ask it to calculate the square root of a number and it'll look at you like a cat that you've just asked to do the washing up.

Alarm (4.0)
The alarm features of the W315 are surprisingly good. There's a quick alarm feature (which allows you to set an alarm that goes off 10, 30, 60 or 180 minutes later) and up to 3 individual alarms that can be set to sound once, every day, monday-friday or monday-saturday. There's also a morning call feature, which will awaken you at the time you specify with a selected ringtone. That's a good selection of alarm features for a basic phone.

Document Software (0.0)
Nope. There is no document software on the W315.


Other Software (0.0)
There are no other pieces of software on the W315; it's a no frills phone in the purest sense of the word.

[page title="Battery Life"]

Call Time (2.84)
For this test, we call the handset using Skype and play a simulated phone conversation over the connection, going in both directions. We then time how long the fully charged phone can last before shutting off. The W315 only lasted a very dissapointing 2 hours and 22 minutes in this test, one of the shortest batery lives that we have found in our tests. But this is not unexpected; the smaller case of the W315 doesn't leave that much room for batteries, and we saw similarly poor performacne from other small phones such as the Razr V3m 2 hours 41 minutes) and the Nokia N75 (2 hours 21 minutes). And perhaps this is a blessing in disguise; if you are paying several cents a minute for the call, the appaling battery life could provide you with a good excuse to get off the phone. 

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	2 hours, 22 minutes	2.84
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	4 hours 43 minutes	5.66
Motorola Razr V3m	2 hours, 41 minutes	3.22
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	7 hours 24 minutes	8.88
Nokia N75	2 hours, 23 minutes	2.86
T-Mobile Dash	n/a	n/a

Music Playback (0.00)
We test music playback battery life by setting a reference album playing on repeat, then timing how long it keeps playing. However, there was no way to get our test album onto the W315, so it couldn't perform this test.


Web Browsing (0.0)
For Web browsing, we use a series of web pages that automatically refresh every 10 seconds. However, the W315 does not come with a web browser, so there was no way to perform this test.

Idle Time unscored
In order to ensure that we deliver reviews in a timely fashion we do not test idle time, which can run several days. Motorola quotes the idle time as 212 hours, which is just under 9 days.

[page title="Connectivity"]

Cellular Bands (4.0)
The W315 can function on two CDMA bands, 800 and 1900MHz. This means that it will work across Verizon's CDMA network (and can roam onto other CDMA networks when required), but it cannot connect to GSM networks in the USA (such as AT&T's) or around the world. GSM networks are more common in the rest of the world, so the W315 won't work in most countries outside the USA.

Data Support Score (1.0)
The W315 only supports the slower 1XRTT standard; it can't use the newer (and faster) EVDO standard that Verizon are using across their network. Mind you, as there is no Web browser or other way to access the Internet, the data service is kind of redundant anyway.

Bluetooth (0.0)
There is no Bluetooth on the W315. This makes it somewhat unusual; every other phone we have reviewed has had Bluetooth. This means it won't work with Bluetooth headsets or other devices.

Wi-Fi (0.0)
The W315 doesn't support Wi-Fi.

Infrared (0.0)
The W315 does not support infrared.

[page title="Hardware"]

Keypad
Text Words Per Minute (7.7)
For this test, we time how long it takes to type out a sample paragraph. Using two hands and the predictive text system, it took an average of 38.89 seconds to type out our test sentence. This approximates to 24.6 words per minute. This is an unspectacular score; it is significantly slower than other phones with similarly sized sized keypads, such as the Razr v3m, and much slower than those phones (such as the BlackBerry Curve and the Dash) that have proper QWERTY keyboards.

Cell Phone	Words Per Minute	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	24.68	4.94
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	38.49	7.7
Motorola Razr V3m	29.4	5.88
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	49.8	9.96
Nokia N75	42.48	8.5
T-Mobile Dash	45.4	9.08

T9 and Auto Complete (5.0)
The W315 does not support the T9 text entry method, but it does support the similar iTap method, where you hit the keys corresponding to the letters, and the phone tries to pick the word from this. This works well for common words, but entering less common ones (such as Supercallifragilisticexpiallidocious or pendulous) was more difficult; if the word isn't in the iTap directory, you have to spell it out. Mind you, with the only real use for text entry being contact names and text messages, you aren't likely to be using words like pendulous that often.

One Hand Usability (4.94)
This test times how long it takes to enter our sample paragraph in using only one hand. Again, we turned on predictive text. The W315 took 39.2 seconds to enter the text, which translates to just under 24.5 words per minute. This indicates that, like most keypad phones, two hands are not much quicker than one.

Cell Phone	Words Per Minute	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	24.5	4.94
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	29.8	5.96
Motorola Razr V3m	26.1	5.22
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	27.4	5.48
Nokia N75	38.1	7.62
T-Mobile Dash	23.4	4.68

Keypad Backlighting (5.0)
The keyboard backlight of the W315 is a pale orange that does an adequate job of illuminating the keyboard in dark places. The time that it stay on when you press a key is set to 5 seconds by default, but this can be changed (or set to continuous) if required.

Controls

D-Pad/Joystick (4.5)
The directional pad of the W315 is good; it is decently sized, has arrows around the edge that mean it can be navigated by touch and is well placed for use with the thumb if the phone is held in one hand.

Touch Screen (0.0)
The W315 doesn't have a touch screen.

Jog Dial (0.0)
There is no jog dial on the W315

Soft Buttons (3.0)
The two soft keys on the W315 are located at the top of the controls, below the screen.  They are adequately placed, and are easy to reach with the thumb. We might have liked to have seen them be a little larger, though; that might have made them a bit easier to rach with the thumb when using the phone one handed.

Volume Control (5.0)
The volume control on the side of the phone is also adequate; the two keys that control volume are on the side of the phone body and can be easily reached with the index finger when the phone is in use, so you can adjust the speaker volume on the fly. When not in a call, the volume control acts on the ring volume, and taking it to the minimum level puts the phone in silent mode. 

Power and Standby (5.0)
Power is controlled using the end key; hold it down for a couple of seconds and the phone shuts down. A single press when the phone is off starts the phone up again. As with the other controls, it is adequate, but not outstanding.

Other Buttons (2.0)
The other keys on the W315 include the speakerphone control on the left (press it and the phone goes into speakerphone mode) and the vocie control button the right side. We did find ourselves pressing the voice control button accidentally sometimes when we picked the phone up or were holding it during a call, as it falls right under the thumb of the right hand. If you keep holding this button down, it will record the incoming sound of the call as a voice memo.

Display

Primary Screen Gross Resolution (4.0)
The W315 has a primary screen resolution of 120 by 160 pixels. That's a bit less than some other similar sized phones, such as the Razr v3m.

Cell Phone	Resolution	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	120 x 160	4.94
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	320 x 240	8.0
Motorola Razr V3m	176 x 220	4.0
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	320 x 240	8.0
Nokia N75	320 x 240	8.0
T-Mobile Dash	320 x 240	8.0

Primary Screen Pixels per Inch (10.0)
The W315 has a pixel per inch count of 114 pixels per inch, which a bit less than the other phones we've looked at. This makes the dispaly look somewhat grainy and blocky.

Cell Phone	Pixels Per Inch	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	114	5.71
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	200	10
Motorola Razr V3m	125	6.25
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	164.6	8.23
Nokia N75	166.7	8.34
T-Mobile Dash	162	8.1

Screen Physical Size (4.5)
The W315's main screen measures 1.8 inches along the diagonal, a little smaller than most. In particular, the similarly sized Razr V3m and the Nokia N75 both have larger screens.

Cell Phone	Size Diagonal (inches)	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	1.8	4.5
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	2	5.00
Motorola Razr V3m	2.1	5.25
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	2.43	6.08
Nokia N75	2.4	6.00
T-Mobile Dash	2.4	6.00

Screen Brightness (3.15)
To test screen brightness, we place a light gauge two inches away from the screen while it displays a blank white screen. The W315 measured a somewhat gloomy 41 lux, which is pretty dim. Unfortunately, there is no way to increase the brightness; there is no brightness level control. 

Cell Phone	Brightness (lux)	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	41	2.1
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	55	3.15
Motorola Razr V3m	46	2.3
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	105	9.5
Nokia N75	69	6.9
T-Mobile Dash	53	2.65

Screen Bright Light Performance (4.0)
For this test, we shine a 3000 lux light (equivalent to a sunny day) onto the screen to see how greatly it reduces legibility. The screen on the W315 was still legible, but it wasn't particularly bright or clear.

Color Depth (6.0)
The W315 can display 65,000 colors. This is the same as the Razr V3m's 65,000, and is adequate for the phone; you won't be viewing photos on this.

Update: we mistakenly gave the W315 a score of 8.0 in this section when it should have been 6.0. This has been corrected.

Cell Phone	Colors (thousands)	Score
Motorola W315 on Verizon	65,000	6.0
LG Chocolate VX8550 (on Verizon)	262,00	8.0
Motorola Razr V3m	65,000	6.0
BlackBerry Curve 8320 on AT&T	65,000	6.0
Nokia N75	16,777,216	10
T-Mobile Dash	65,000	6.0

Secondary Screen (4.0)
The W315 has a small LED screen on the outside of the case that can display the time, incoming phone numbers, etc. This is a nice touch, and the LED nature of the screen means it is also clear in bright daylight.

Ports & Storage

Power & Data Ports (5.0)
The W315 uses a mini USB port for both power and data. This means that you can charge the W315 off a USB port with an appropriate cable; one less charger to carry on a trip. However, no USB data cable is included, and Verizon does not supply any data synching software to use it.

Headphone & Jack Compatibility (2.0)
The W315 has a 2.5mm jack, but there was no supplied headset. You can pick one up fro just a few bucks (especially with the standard 2.5-mm port), but we would have liked to see a headset included.

Internal Storage (0.0)
Motorola didn't specify the amount of memory on the W315, but it's kind of theoretical anyway; you can't access the memory or use it to store music or data.

Expansion Slot & Format (0.0)
There is no memory card slot on the W315, so there is no way to add more memory.

[page title="Other Features"]

Tethered Modem (0.0)
Unsurprisingly, the W315 can't be used as a tethered modem.

[page title="Value & Comparisons"]

Value (9.0)
For $25, the W315 represents great value for money. Although you don't get many features, those that you do get are pretty good, and it's cheap. However, like all prepaid phones, the value becomes less attractive if you factor in the cost of making calls; with the daily charge of $0.99 to $1.99 and a more expensive per minute charge than a subscription phone, the W315 could quickly turn out to be more expensive than going for a subscription service.

Comparisons

LG Chocolate VX8550 - The latest iteration of LG's Chocholate range has a much wider feature set than the W315; it includes a decent web browser, camera and much more comprehensive software. But it's also much more expensive than the W315: available only on a monthly subscription plan, you'll pay $80.















Razr V3m - The Razr V3m is available on a pre-paid plan from Verizon, but it's also much more expensive: $149.99. But you do get a lot more features; the camera, email and IM support, the web browser, Bluetooth, etc. And the V3m can work with Verizon's VCAST online music service; a plus if you want to download music without the monthly subscription.













T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8320 - No blackBerry devices are available on pre-paid plans, so if you want the extra features that they offer over the W315 (such as top of the line email support) you'll ahve to go with a monthly subscription plan. If you do, the Curve 8320 will cost you $249.99.














Nokia N75 - The Nokia N75 is available on AT&T for $149.99 with a two-year contract, or $249.99 on a prepaid plan. But again, it has a much better selection of features than the W315; there's a camera, bigger screen, better keypad, and lots more. However, the battery life of the N75 is just as bad as the W315, and the camera isn't much good.













T-Mobile Dash - The Dash is a Windows Mobile smart phone that, as you would expect, far exceeds the capabilities of the W315. Since it's a little long in the tooth the price isn't that bad either, but of course you will need to sign up for a contract.












[page title="Conclusion"]

Who's It For

Business User
Erm, no. Business users need mobile email and business documents on the go, neither of which the W315 can supply.

Budget Callers
Thise wanting to  make calls on a budget will like the $25 W315, but you do need to look beyond the price sticker; pre-paid plans can get very expensive in the long run if you use them a lot.

Chatty Teenager
Chatty teens looking to make the most of their allowance will like the W315, but again it could get expensive if they use it a lot. And the lack of features such as email and music/video playback will make it less appealing to the notoriously gadget-friendly teenagers of today.

Media Maven
Buy this phone as a gift for the user who wants to take their media on the road and you'll get a punch in the mouth in return. As it has no camera, can't play audio or video and has only a small screen, it just won't appeal to them.

Conclusion
So what does the $25 you'll lay out for the W315 get you? A very, very basic phone that can make calls, but not much else. There's no email, no web browsing and no media playback. There's also no camera and very weak software. So, it won't appeal to phone geeks.

But it will appeal to those who want to make phone calls and send the odd text message. And, at $25, it's great value for these users.We typically find that people who buy high-end phones use the features (and often can't live without them once they understand them), but the W315 appeals to those who are unprepentant about just wanting to make phone calls. And it does a decent job of that; the audio quality is good and the call management software is decent.

So it's no iPhone. But the W315 is a decent, cheap phone for those who don't need the extras, and never will.

[page title="Ratings & Specs"]

Dimension
Height	3.30
Carrier	Verizon
Type	Flip
Low Price	24.99
Width	1.80
Depth	0.82
Weight (including battery)	2.99
Physical
Number of Screens	2
Main Screen Dimensions	1.8 inches
Main Screen Resolution	120 by 160
Main Screen Colors	0
Main Screen Type	CSTN
Secondary Screen Dimensions	0.3 by 0.9 inches
Secondary Screen Resolution	N/A
Secondary Screen Colors	2
Secondary Screen Type	LCD
Keys
Number Keys Type	keypad
QWERTY
QWERTY Keyboard Type
Other Control Keys	send, end, shortcut, clr, 2 sot keys, speakerphone, voice tag
Internal Components
Processor	unknown
RAM Memory	0
Flash ROM Memory	0
Memory Card Slot	None
Jacks & Ports
Microphone Jack
Headphone/Mic Jack	2.5-mm
USB Port
Dock Port	None
Radios
Bands	dual-band CDMA
Bluetooth 1.2
802.11 b wifi
GSM 850
GSM 900
GSM 1800
GSM 1900
CDMA 800
CDMA 1900
Bluetooth 1.1
Bluetooth 2.0
802.11g WiFi
External Antenna Port
SAR at Ear	0
SAR on Body	0
Flight Mode
Data Standards
GPRS
EDGE
1XRTT
EVDO
EVDO Rev A
HSDPA
UMTS
Battery
Standard Battery Type	Lithium-ion
Standard Battery Capacity	0.00
Standard Battery Model	SNN5762A
Vendor Quoted Standby Time	220.00
Vendor Quoted Talk Time	207.00
Camera
Maximum Native Still Resolution	N/A
Image Sensor Type	N/A
Megapixels	0.00
Optical Zoom	N/A
Digital Zoom	N/A
Built-In Flash
Focus T