Motorola RAZR2 V8 Review

[Alpha43]

Alpha's Review of the Motorola RAZR2 V8


Hello Everyone!


With the grand opening of the Motorola LJ section, I bring to you my full review of the anticipated Motorola RAZR2 V8. I hope you find my review to be a fair one, everyone feel free to enlist your own personal opinion in the User review thread i will make soon. I hope this helps a lot of people! Enjoy! So lets begin the review.


Alpha's Scale from 1-5 (1 being the least and 5 being the best)


Design - 4

Pro's
Without a doubt this phone is beautiful. It will catch the attention of many people and will shine beautifully in the sunlight. The phone is made out of an aluminum material casing, It feels incredibly solid & smooth in your hands. The back of the phone has a soft touch rubbery type of stainless steel (i have commented about the back in the con). The opening of the phone also has a very nice looking interior. The keypad has a similar look to the all of the older RAZR variants but keep things fresh with a new color and look. Overall I really liked the keypad. Its feedback is good, and I have not made any mistakes while texting.

Cons
Even though this phone is a looker I have a few things I don't like about its design. For one, get ready to carry about a cloth or use your t-shirt to constantly clean your phone from fingerprints because it picks up the slightest smudge. Another thing that I personally am not fond of is the rear of the phone. In my opinion its no where as attractive as the rest of the phone, makes it feel incomplete and in my opinion looks a little cheap compared to the rest of the phone. Another gripe of mine is the screen size. The flip portion of the phone has a pretty big black gap that they could of easily filled with a 2.4inch screen instead of the 2.2inch screen present. IMO there is too much empty space on the flip where the screen should of been extended.











Functionality/ Ease of use - 4

Let me start off by saying that the LJ platform is leagues ahead of synegy. This thing is very fast, smooth, responsive, stable, and its a true multi-tasking OS. This has great multi-tasking power like the EZX lineup, so overall I'm impressed. But I still prefer EZX platform because I feel that it's one of the easiest to use on a mobile device.

Now the main menu might resemble the older platform, which I guess is a good thing for some. But if might confuse others in believe that its nothing new. I don't have any cons really with the use of the keypad here, dialing and text messaging is a breeze. One thing to notice is how this phone is nice at multi-tasking. Yes on other synergy phones you can play music and do other things, but I never liked the way it was only hidden, and you could not look at files without it canceling the current song, well that is fixed thankfully, and I hope it's included in the final versions as well.







Apps/ Utilities/ Multi-media - 3

This phone is a multi-media device but I think it performs on an average scale. Lets start off with music. The sound coming from the speakers is very clean, typical Motorola here. But imo it lacks some volume and bass. But I'm sure we can fix that later with a hack. As for music while on a headset or Bluetooth (A2DP) on a headset they sound good, but not as good as with 3.5mm headphones. It would of been nice if it had a 3.5mm port. A2DP sounds very good, I used my Blue Ant X5 phones and they paired fast and sounded great.

At the time there aren't any applications since this has not been officially released yet, I am sampling a proto-type. Other utilities include standard messaging options, calculator, calendar, alarm clock, etc. Pretty much what is in your current synergy phone is also in this LJ phone. The main difference is that it just organized better and feels more thought out. Also take note that it accepts java applications just fine. I installed a few games, and apps.



Display Screen - 4

The screen is very rich in colors and is very sharp. Both screens have a resolution of 320x240 and they are superb. My only con is the internal screen is too small for my taste (sports a 2.2inch screen) and would of been best in its class if it would of had 16million colors like the Z8 instead of the usual 265k color screen. I just feel that there was room for more screen instead of the casing being part of the design... ( look at my pictures for reference)

Outside display is wonderful. It really saves time since it's a touch screen. Basically you can perform a few tasks without ever opening up your phone. In my version, I was only able to read messages, camera, and music. I know that with a newer firmware it will have other options. I'll update you guys later. The HAPTICS system works rather nicely, basically it's like a small vibration that you get when you push a virtual button from outside screen. Gives it a nice tactile feel. If only our EZX phones had that now...


Camera - 3

The camera is good for 2mp camera. Outside shots come out clear and detailed to a degree, and it is acceptable for quick snap shots during a sunny day. But the reason why I am giving it a three is for three reasons, and I think they are pretty important for mobile photography.

1. Little MP count - Motorola should of at least put a 3.2mp camera on this, or at least use a AF. It's behind the times and at this point there is no excuse since I personally know they have 3.2 camera sensors in their facilities.

2. No macro mode - This is very important for getting nice detail on close up objects. But again it does not have this feature.

3. No flash - In dark areas this sensor is pretty bad. Without a decent LED or xenon flash this is very impractical for night shots. Some of you might argue that putting a flash will tether with the design.. Which is true.. I also assume that the average person who buys this will buy it solely for its design and not its media skills. So i guess its passable for that audience. But I'm basing things fairly on what's out in the market and what I feel is essential on a mobile phone. Feel free to make your own judgments once some of you purchase the phone.

Below are some camera samples..








Videos- 3

Videos is another story.. I have to admit that I am disappointed with the V8's video recording.. luckily they do come out somewhat clear and have a smooth framerate.. But that doesn't save it. Its still a mere 176x144, which IMHO is really poor for such a new and "high tech" phone. I pray that Motorola will fix this in a firmware update or something because it's just sad to have such a phone and have such a flaw.


Call quality and Reception - 4

Not much to say here, call quality is excellent on this phone, sounds just as good as my A1200. I think the whole crystal talk thing is just for marketing. I didn't hear anything different compared to using an A1200 or E6. Reception is very good as well but the reason why I didn't give this a 5 is because at times my A1200 had 1 bar better then the V8. And the A1200 is by far the best phone I have had reception wise.



Conclusion -

This is a very unique phone and Motorola is counting on its success. My overall opinion is that this is a very good phone. but it does lack some features. One thing is for sure, this phone will be expensive when it's released. I assume around 500-600 unlocked and 300 with contact. I would not pay anything over 400 for this phone. So my advice is to hold back and wait for a nice price drop for the phone.

If you have any questions feel free to ask, As I get a newer V8 I will add more to the review. Again at the time of this writing i had a proto with 01I firmware. I will be getting a new one with final firmware 16R.


I hope you enjoyed my review.

God Bless,



~Alpha~

[suthurnlatino]

Nice review, I played around briefly with a V9 but I haven't had the pleasure of the V8. I just wanted to know how do you feel this phone would fit current owners of midrange products like the KRZR/RIZR phones. Is it worthwhile to upgrade? I do agree with suggesting people wait rather than buy at launch, seems like most Moto phones depreciate fast!

[jewberg]

Great review Alpha, now I'm not too sure I want this phone. But, who knows...we'll see

[superfly86]

what are differences between EZX phones and LJ apart touchscreen functions ? I mean differences in system, can apps from e.g. A1200 be ported ? Will be there any 'superman' or sth ?
LJ is this that was in ROKR E2 ?

[Skiblue601]

Wow thats a big inprovement, lets add a touch screen and make it a tad thinner, they could have done so much more, a two megapik camera thats last generation, and were is the video calling with all that space at the top u could fit a camera up there, is it 3g compatable i mean by the time it comes to the us the iphone will have a price cut, v2 will have 3g i would think and i would pay a 100 dollars more for far better multi media

[jewberg]

skiblue600,

I would say that some are ahead of us in the next year or so.

[Alpha43]

what are differences between EZX phones and LJ apart touchscreen functions ? I mean differences in system, can apps from e.g. A1200 be ported ? Will be there any 'superman' or sth ?
LJ is this that was in ROKR E2 ?

Good questions, well the difference is the EZX phones just monta vista version X.XX now, the LJ system use a hybrid of linux and java hence the name LJ. I am not entirely sure if we will be able to modify them like the EZX phones. For i have a strong feeling that we will, my reason behind that is that the E2 is able to use pkg file and mpkg. Only difference is that the E2 used the JUIX system. LJ is pretty much the same but updated and has a few differences.

Once i get my new proto-type i will begin modding. I was having problem with this one in particular. But it looks like i might be able to telnet into it.


~Alpha~

[superfly86]

hm, i thought that LJ is a MontaVista but it's only name-synonym

and EZX = Montavista = JUIX ?
and LJ is simple LJ ?

It's sad that pkg files might be not able to use in Z6 :/
Any info about releasing SDK ? for EZX phones ?
Any info about new JUIX phones ? Maybe successor of A1200 ?
Like with bigger screen, radio with RDS, 3 or 5 mp camera, wifi, 3g, flash, gps (but not necessary), and new refreshed OS on new kernel, faster and with more options, better player etc. + SDK for developers

[imahottguy]

@superfly: JUIX was supposed to replace Synergy OS, but now it seems that LJ is an updated JUIX. LJ = Linux/Java. In JUIX, PKG (which are MPKG in JUIX) can be installed w/o the need for special program. Overall the hacks that work on EZX can be modified to work on EZX. atm, I've heard rumors of an alleged 3G ming, but they are speculation at best.

But yeah. Nice review alpha, I'm pretty sure now that I'll take the plunge for the V8!

[superfly86]

so JUIX is not EZX ?
So it is like:
EZX is OS for touchscreen models and it's sth different from JUIX
JUIX ? give me models that use this ... ROKR E2 ?
LJ is not JUIX but it's sth newer used in Z6 and V8, hm i'm confused about native apps not in java but mpkg