Razr2 V9 on AT&T Cell Phone Review - Organizer
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Mark Brezinski Published on October 02, 2007 Comment on this |
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Synchronization (0.0)
The Razr2 V9 can't sync PIM information out of the box. You can purchase synchronization software from Motorola here.
Alerts (2.0)
Though it has some interesting options, the alert functionality on the V9 is fairly poor. First of all, the reminder can be set to any time, but there are also three presets (five, 15, or 30 minutes before) to save input time. The alarm itself can be set to a sound, music, voice note, or vibration. Though the V9 recognized the files our songs were in, we couldn't set them as ring tones. The option is definitely there, though, as you can sort by genre and artist. We're guessing this refers to ring tones you download from the AT&T store. In the case of vibration, you can set the pattern you want.
Where the alert really began to fall down was when it came to actually alerting. The phone will sound its alarm exactly once. Also, there is no snooze option. All you can do is view the event or choose to ignore it. If you don't choose anything, the phone won't alert you again, but it will keep the reminder up on both screens (presuming the external screen isn't idling), which will light up for a few seconds every five minutes or so. You can choose to ignore it from the external screen by pressing the smart key, but you can't view it here, which is just one example of the software not taking advantage of the hardware. If you leave it, every five minutes the screen will light up again, but it won't sound its alarm. The lack of a snooze is quite an inexplicable exclusion. We were very disappointed in the V9's alert functionality.
Over the Air PIM Sync (0.0)
The Razr2 V9 doesn't support over the air PIM synchronization.
Address Book
Adding Contacts (6.06)
This score is based on how easily you can add contacts to your Razr2 V9. We measure this by timing how long the process takes. We begin with the phone closed, and end once the contact is saved. We repeat this process with five different sets of information, then average our times. The V9 took about 16.5 seconds per contact, which is faster than many phones. The way we inputted contacts was to dial the number first, then use the right soft key to save the number as a contact. We otherwise would have had to dive through a few menus, which would have added to our time substantially.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Razr2 V9 | 16.50 | 6.06 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 23.36 | 4.28 |
| Nokia N75 | 22.84 | 4.38 |
| Samsung Blast | 19.45 | 5.14 |
| Helio Fin | 22.02 | 4.54 |
| Apple iPhone | 20.86 | 4.79 |
Looking/Sorting/Search (2.0)
Contacts are organized alphabetically by name. The name used is based on a tier system: nickname has the highest priority, but if none is provided, the phone goes by first name. If there's no first name, then contacts are sorted by last name. You can cycle through a contact's different numbers/e-mail/website using left and right. You can also choose to filter your contacts by category, all of which you can edit. There is no active search.
Fields (3.0)
The Razr2 V9 from AT&T has 15 fields for contacts. These fields include sub-field classifications, such as identifying an e-mail as personal, work, or other. You can also set a ringer ID, picture, category, and birthday. You can also add additional numbers, e-mail addresses, URLs, and postal addresses.
Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (5.0)
AT&T's Razr2 V9 offers the same functionality here as the Sprint or Verizon version. Contacts are limited to eight choices for speed dialing, which is disappointing since many phones support button combinations. There are no voice tags, and the voice command software only recognized four of our five test names.
Calendar
Adding Calendar Items (5.52)
To test how quickly you can add a calendar item we time how long it takes to go from phone closed until we have added a simple lunch appointment with a 15-minute reminder before hand. The Razr2 V9 took an average of 27.18 seconds to add a new calendar appointment. This is a pretty poor time, as you can see from the table below. Our biggest issue was that we had to manually adjust the start and end times for the appointment and turn on the alert manually. Some phones add a 15-minute alert automatically. We were also hurt by the fact that the calendar application is buried in the menus. This is not an impressive performance by the Razr2 V9.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Razr2 V9 | 18.12 | 5.52 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 15.22 | 6.57 |
| Nokia N75 | 19.20 | 5.21 |
| Samsung Blast | 26.46 | 3.78 |
| Helio Fin | 14.10 | 7.09 |
| Apple iPhone | 18.92 | 5.29 |
Calendar Views (4.0)
With the day view, the V9 jumps back up to average. Individual events are organized by their start time, which is displayed along with their title. Also displayed is a small icon depicting what "type" of event it is, such as a party, lunch, or meeting.
The agenda view is called Organized Events, and breaks down all upcoming events into groups. The first two options are to view upcoming events for the current and following week, and also display the number of events that fall into either. Underneath, it breaks events down by their type and ends with "Unfiled Events," or events without a defined type.
Fields (9.0)
AT&T packed some decent fields into the V9. You'll find the standard subject, location, start/end times/days, and alarm. Some more uncommon fields include recurrence, notes, event type (category), and an "All Day Event" switch. Most normal phones don't support categories and all-day events, but then again, the Razr2 isn't priced like a normal phone.
To Do/Tasks
Adding To Do/Task (5.25)
Unlike the Sprint and Verizon versions of the Razr2, AT&T's contribution to the lineup is able to create tasks. This section is where we score how fast a phone can create tasks. As with all our timing tests, we begin with the phone closed. We stop our timer when the task is saved. The V9 took 19.05 seconds to create a task, which was a bit on the slow side. This is because the task function is integrated into the calendar, but requires additional delving into menus.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Razr2 V9 | 19.05 | 5.25 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 17.96 | 5.57 |
| Nokia N75 | 14.36 | 6.96 |
| Samsung Blast | 14.53 | 6.88 |
| Helio Fin | 11.58 | 8.64 |
| Apple iPhone | N/A: can't make tasks | 0.0 |
To Do/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (0.0)
Tasks are managed via the day view, and are organized by the order they were created in. They are stacked on top of any events for that day. You can view them by type/category, but otherwise you'll have to settle for alphabetical order. You can also give them a priority, but you can't organize them by this.
Fields (9.0)
Tasks on the V9 have seven fields to edit. You can give them a name, status (in/complete), category, priority, due date, reminder, or even jot down a note or two.
Notes
Adding Notes (0.0)
Strangely, AT&T's Razr2 V9 doesn't have a dedicated notes application. This is a fairly commonplace application in modern phones, and its absence -— especially on what is supposed to be a mid-range phone — is noticeable.
Note Interface (0.0)
N/A: Can't create notes.
Note Formatting (0.0)
N/A: Can't create notes.
Voice Memo (4.0)
You can make voice notes on the V9. They can last up to 6:22 in length, which is a seemingly arbitrary length; it's in no way related to remaining space. The V9 fully supports sending voice notes, and you can attach them to a message either from the memo program itself or when creating a message. Like other voice note programs, there is a total lack of organizational features. Notes are just dumped into a folder, where they are listed in the order they were made, and can only be filtered by their storage location (on phone or on a memory card). You can rename them or assign them a category, but you can't opt to sort by either. The only other noteworthy aspect of the voice memo program is its interface. While you're recording, a continually pulsing sound wave is displayed. It is in no way related to any noise you're making, and is somewhat distracting.
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