Customer Reviews

Motorola V600 Phone (AT&T)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Push buttons on the rim are exposed and active even when the cover is closed. They cannot be disabled. These buttons control ring profiles so that the phone will change to silent without warning.

I moved from Sony Ericsson T68, so my comparisons will be based on that as a benchmark. First of all, let me say that on paper this new fashion-conscious flip-phone is about the most impressive you can get: Quad-band, Bluetooth, VGA camera, speakerphone, 65k color LCD, dual internal and external displays, 1000 name address book, office tools (calendar, notes, alarm clock, etc.), polyphoinic *and* MP3 ringtones... you name it, it has it. It's small, sleek and relatively light. It even has pulsating color-coded ring-lights on the flip cover! If it's features you want, you can't go wrong with this.

But I don't give it 5 stars, so what's amiss? Well, for a start the packaged battery is abysmal. It barely makes it through one busy day without a recharge, and certainly not if you use Bluetooth heavily. Motorola still uses trickle chargers whereas most of the other manufacturers ship fast chargers as default, so it even takes a long time to recharge. I've heard that the optional extra-strength battery will more than compensate, but that's an extra charge and honestly, poor battery life is simply inexcusable.

Secondly, the phone book and office tools are still as brain-dead as all Motorola phones. The phone book doesn't have a simple "search" function, which means that if you want to call "Sumo" you can jump to the first "s" entry and then you have to scroll through "Salem", "Shahid", "Shujat", "Smock", etc. etc. all the way until you get to Su-. Verrrrrry annoying. Also, what's the point of office tools if you can't integrate them with your desktop? Well, you can but you need to purchase extra software from Motorola, and this software isn't the best. Again, Nokia and Sony supply this software free of charge so what's the deal here?

In the end, I think the pros outweigh the cons, but only by a bit. There are workarounds for each of the issues I've encountered -- I can buy a larger (and more bulky) battery, I can jump to "t" in the address book and then scroll upwards instead of down, and I can use Bluetooth to exchange one business card at a time to sync it with Outlook and the Palm.

On the plus side, hey, it's great to have a decent quality phone camera (it's actually not that bad!), quad-band roaming (with good signal reception!) all over the world, a beautiful bright color screen, and incredibly good looks. Plus, now I can use a Bluetooth (wireless) hands-free kit which doesn't get entangled with the car seatbelts. And that, I think, is the ultimate benefit here.

The V600 model was originally designed for AT&T. Due to the AT&T/Cingular merger, Cingular decided to take this model as well. However, Cingular could not get the phone to fully work on their 850Mhz network. That is why they started replacing the phones of their V600 customers for V400 models. All this corrective process (call it recall, if you wish) is carried out by Cingular exclusively. As per the phone itself, the V600 is not being recalled or discontinued by Motorola but is being recalled and discontinued by Cingular. It is just Cingular's network that is not capable of supporting this model. An easy way to test this is to try and activate this phone through AT&T: it will experience no difficulties whatsoever. Motorola will repair the phone, if necessary, and return it to you fully functional. However, if you wish to receive a replacement unit, you will need to contact Cingular. A new Motorola model is currently in development to replace the V600. The new model will be very similar to the V600 model.

There are only two things that I really dislike about this phone:

1. When charging, the light on the front of the body fades in and out every ten seconds or so, and it's REALLY bright. I leave my phone charging on my bedside table while I sleep, so I can grab it easily, but the light is definitely really distracting, and I have yet to figure out if there's a way to turn it off.

2. The side buttons that control the ring settings of the phone are active even when the phone is closed, and sometimes the settings will get unintentionally changed while the phone is in my pocket or bag. I've missed many a phonecall because my phone randomly goes to silent.

Otherwise, a pretty sweet device. Pictures are amazing quality.

I think I have the worst of luck when it comes to batteries and cell phones. I would have given this phone 5 stars except that the battery life isn't as long as advertised. Overall, I love this phone and am glad I bought it. I have been with Cingular for almost 10 years (it was Bellsouth prior to that) and I've been rather satisfied with them. Friendly service (not to mention they actually answer your call)!

PROS:

Bluetooth is wonderful. I had no problem linking this little baby to my laptop (PC version, Windows XP), my Powerbook (Mac OSX) and the Jabra BT250 Bluetooth Headset. I was able to share pictures from the phone to my computer and from my computer to the phone. Before discovering this great feature, I actually paid $1.99 for a chesty guy. No more. I'll just find him for free on the Internet and save him/send him to my phone.

Ringtones: Boring ones are gone! Be careful if you order them over the Internet. I bought one and never received it. I may pay a little more to Cingular, however, it's easier to get a credit from them if something doesn't work than from some stranger in Japan. Right now Garfield says "Ring, ring, ring...." Everybody gets a kick out of it.

Voice Dial: Contrary to what the Cingular salesperson told me, you DON'T have to subscribe to their voice recognition feature to use voice dial. You may need to if you want to simply say "Dial 555-5896" or want to store more than 20 names. I was impressed at how well I "trained" this phone to recognize names. If I want to call dad at home, I simply press the button and say "Dad home."

Picture/Address Book: I like being able to put people's pictures next to their name. Very cool.

Camera: Need I say more? I bought this phone because I was recently in a car accident. Even though there was no damage, the other person kept inspecting her car. I kept thinking to myself, "Gee, I wish I had a camera with me." Now I do!

Internet: I love being able to access the Internet for little things. I don't do it often because I only have 1 MB on the plan I'm subscribing to. Be careful. If you go to Cingular's Mall, you will use your MB. I was told you only did if you downloaded something (ringtones, good looking wallpapers, etc..), but that isn't the case.

Address Book: I like the organization of this address book over my Nokia 3360. It's easier to access. While you have 1000 name ability, keep in mind that if you have three numbers and an email address for somebody, you've used four of those 1000 spots. Programming the address book took time and playing around, but once I understood what to do, I was fine.

Color Screen: I love this feature! I have a Pocket PC and can't stand the old black/white screens. Now my phone has a lovely picture of Garfield to go with his ringtone. I also like that you can see the time and who's calling with the phone closed. The date is available when you open it up. Who needs a watch when you have this at your disposal?

Games: While it only came with two games, I'm addicted to Bejeweled. I haven't figured out the other one but I plan on shopping for more games. This will give my Pocket PC a break. :-)

CONS:

Battery time sucks, big time! I'm avoiding the usage of a car charger because of advice I've received. However, I don't like the possibility of having a dead phone with no car charger. While I can charge it everynight, the juice gets sucked out very quickly. I guess I can thank the technology for that.

Buttons: The 9 and 2 button are finiky. They like to be pressed in just the right manner or they won't work.

User-friendliness: The book is so-so. However, to learn about your new toy, you will need to play around. It isn't a phone for people who aren't used to computers, PDA's, etc.. UNLESS you only plan on calling and receiving calls. But if you're only going to do that, why get such a sophisticated phone in the first place?

That's it. I hope this helps. I was going to get the 400, but for only $50 more, I got the 600 and the capability of bluetoothing.

I purchased this phone in June and in Sep. The volume no longer worked. I received a replacement phone and now the screen freezes and you cant see the time or caller id and it shuts off by itself... I would not reccomend buying this phone

I have waited months for this phone to be available in the states. Unfortunately, I was not willing to spend 300.00 for it. I was able to purchase this phone for $99.00 with new activation from Best Buy. Not only did Best Buy have great savings on rebates, they also threw in a Motorola Bluetooth Headset (worth$99.00) for free!! What really sweetened the deal was that Best Buy would pay up to $75.00 for your first cell bill! The phone has amazed me from day one. I am not the least dissapointed in the product. I noticed some people are complaining about the phonebook. People you have to read your MANUAL! My nine year old daughter knows how to add multiple phone numbers to one contact name and she didn't have to refer to the manual! The phone is not difficult to operate. There are so many ways to customize and personalize your phone to make it easier to navigate through the menus. I hope this review helps anyone who reads this review. Good Luck on your decision!

I have had my phone for 14 months (Jan. 05) and love it. It is small, easy to use and works with my bluetooth earpiece for an exceptional hands free device. I have never had a problem with the speaker part either. Now, I bought this phone through T mobile and I love the service. The reason I bought this phone was because it can be on the free international plan. I used it throughout Europe this past summer and never had a problem; I felt like I was sitting next to the person I was talking to. And at $.99/minute, it is a dozen times easier and cheaper than finding a phone card and trying to use the European phones. I also can take some fabulous pictures on my phone. I have never used the games nor have I used the voice dial (I'm middle-aged so don't have the need nor the inclination to take the time to figure it out) but everything else works like a charm.

H.J Spivack's review (12/17/04) is dead-on! I have experienced the same issues and frustration with Cingular & this phone. My advice, get a different phone & service. Received the first phone in June 2004 and now in May 2005, I am on the fifth phone. Each time a problem has come up (buttons didn't work, display stops working, phone answered the call on its own (while sitting on the desktop), etc.), the service has been tremendously awful (1 hr on the phone) and my only viable option is to receive another refurbished phone. The company tells me the replacements are "reconditioned" and suggested I contact Motorolla. Even after clearly articulating I was dissatified with the quality of the phone and service, my request for a refund and/or different phone at their cost was denied. This company is not customer friendly or interested in maintaining any level of customer service or satisfaction. Add to that poor phone performance and it is a lose-lose scenario.

This seems to be an excelent product. I went to purchase it this morning at Cingular. However they are no longer selling it. Not many details were provided, but apparently there is a recall due to some bugs. This is no official information, but check before you buy it.