Customer Reviews

Motorola V500 Unlocked Cell Phone with Bluetooth--International Version with No Warranty (Silver)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As we spend a fair amount of time in Europe and are currently T-Mobile customers here in the US and Orange customers in France, I got this phone for my wife. I have a V600 with the T-Mobile software load, and her V500 with the generic Motorola load is drastically superior. It's relatively quick and quite easy to reconfigure her phone for WAP access in France, and the technical quality of the phone has been great - it sounds good, it gets a good GPRS data rate, it works fine as an analog modem when GPRS isn't available, and its camera is okay.

It doesn't get five stars because of some minor annoyances.
The phone's memory, at 5MB, is painfully tiny for anything other than the occasional snapshot and phone number storage. Of course, the bluetooth interface is too slow to support file transfers larger than about 100KB - when a friend with a more featureful phone accidentally sent me a 2MB image over bluetooth, it took about 5 minutes to transfer and couldn't display the picture anyway. The phone has a surprisingly good (and intuitive) mp3 player, but since one track fills all the memory, it's a wasted feature unless you want annoying mp3 ringtones. Finally, the phone is very light, which is nice, but also means that it's all plastic and hence scratches fairly easily. So it has to be protected.

Still, despite these annoyances it's a great phone - it works everywhere in the world, picks up signals even when they're weak, has the capability of bluetooth file transfers and headsets, and gets reasonably long battery life (3 or 4 days if you use it occasionally, 2 days if you use it a bit, 7 days if it's on but unused). Just make sure you get the straight Motorola software load, as the providers cripple all the interesting configuration, signal selection, and utility menus.

Decent phone, especially for voice-heavy usage. Menu is fairly easy to navigate. Can customize the look. I like that you can assosiate a photo with a phone number, so when a friend or spouse calls, you see their face (or whatever you want to use for them).

The camera is fair, but all cameras are fair when this model came out. Don't expect this to be a substitute for a digital camera. It's good for taking a photo in a pinch, but it's lo-res and has no flash. Memory is very sparse, too, and no expansion slots.

Would prefer bluetooth, which is why I went with a V600 when my contract was up.

Batteries are compatible. SIM cards are compatible.

Why settle for less, or commit yourself to a specific cellular provider and service plan, when you can get a complimentary unlocked top of the line Motorola RAZR v3i cell phone that works with any cellular service provider and any SIM card. I got mine free at this web site: ilikethis.info/razrv3i

I've had this model phone over a year. At the very begining there was a glitch in the phone where the screen went blank for absolutely no reason while you're dialing. The screen also did this swimming action, like I stuck a magnent to it. I called cingular and got a replacement. With in 6 months, the phone they sent me started acting up with a new problem. I could not hear anyone on the other side of the phone but they could hear me. My cousin had this phone and thats the same thing that went wrong with hers. I asked one of my students about her phone and she said everyone in her family had the v400 and the speaker (on the ear) went dead. She also told me, it was a known issue with the phone. So I have been using and ear piece or putting the phone on speaker (since there is nothing wrong with the outside speaker).

Another problem that I find irritating is the phonebook is not organized. There is no desginated labels to differentiate different numbers for one person. It allows you to add the same persons name multiple times.

While this is the V500 it's still the same phone as the V400. Overall the phone is very stylish but lacks in all other areas.

Pros
-Stylish great looking phone

Cons
-Build quality feels cheap, most of the ones I have encountered begin making a snapping or cracking noise after a short time when you open or close the phone the phone
-Terrible reception
-Earpeice volume is nearly impossible to hear even at highest volume
-Screen is impossible to see outdoors

I have the v400 and 2 times in the last year the speaker has gone out...CellOne just unscrews the phone little screws on the screen area of the phone and air dusts it with an air duster safe for electronics...if you're desperate or daring it helps tons, but otherwise i probably wouldnt do it myself...

I'm sure I would have enjoyed the new phone, however Amazon,com sent me the wrong phone twice in a row. I had to send both phones back and Amazon.com had to credit my account. So I am still looking for a new phone.