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First off, I would like to comment on how excellent this phone is. I have used the RAZR with other carriers but the CDMA version seems to be more durable! This Telus phone is charcoal in colour and this makes it stand out to other RAZR versions and I have had many compliments on it from different people. I have many friends using Rogers who have the black RAZR handsets and they are "gaga" over the charcoal color thinking it was a Rogers model... sorry folks, unfortunately only from Telus!
This phone is extremely solid and unlike the V60's, Startac or RAZR's from other carriers, there's no clicking or side to side movement of the hinge. Very durable and this just shows customer feedback is looked at by Motorola and Telus.
Very crisp display. Internal Display 176 x 220, up to 65k TFT Colour, External Display 96 x 80, up to 65k CSTN Colour. This is the best screen I have seen to date! Nothing like the V60's and much more crisp than the V710.
The built-in camera is a 1.3 MP 8x zoom digital camera. Based on this feature and the crisp resolution of the screen, there is no fuzziness and it is a very reliable camera. I would still not substitute my digital camera but this is very nice to take simple pictures if you wish to set them as your wallpaper or screen saver.
Like the above camera comment, the same goes for video. Crisp and clear but something I would not use too often. It is of excellent quality though.
By far, the best speakerphone I have used. Even with some of the Mike phones, they do not compare to this handset. I find with other handsets, the speakerphone sounds garbled and if you actually need to talk and you're not just on hold, you still must hold the phone close to your mouth for your words to be understood! Not with this handset. I put it on speakerphone and set it on the counter. I can hear and be heard like I was speaking from a landline.
Like other handsets with Telus, picture messaging is still conducted via the online photo album. Most carriers function this way and unless you send the picture via Bluetooth transfer, you are provided with a link to connect to an online picture album.
This phone is OBEX enabled and there are no limitations put on this handset for BT Transfers. I used my Motorola HSB-850 headset without problems and have transferred contacts, tunes and images without issues. I even paired the device with my built in BT system in my Acura TL. Although tunes were transferred to my phone, unfortunately, I was unable to set them as a ringtone. This may be due to the fact they are MP3 and the phone may be limited to .wav or other formats of ringtones. Not too sure on this one! The MP3's will play on the built in MP3 player so it is my opinion that the phone is not capable of MP3 ringtones but Telus may have limited them to be other formats.
This phone seemed much better in RF performance compared to the Motorola V710. The V710 is good, but still when in my basement (partially underground) with cement walls, the V710 would still find its areas to lower the RF and cut out at times. I would never lose the voice connection completely but sometimes would need to ask the person to repeat their last statement. Not with the V3c, I have been in the basement and further down into the hallway of 'kill the RF' and things work GREAT! By far the best phone available!
Although this may vary, I tested this after I did the conditional 24 hour charge on my phone. From the day I bought it I got roughly 3 hours and 15 minutes and approximately 3 days (maybe 4) of standby and then the phone died. From others I have spoken with, they said it is a standard talk time of roughly 4 hours with a day or two standby. I guess this really varies but in general, I got 3 hours 15 minutes and approximately 3.5 days of standby until the phone was completely dead and shut itself off.
Originally testing this, I was ticked off because you are allowed 1,000 entries but for a single entry name with multiple numbers, it would store them all as separate entries. I could enter my friends name with an email, home, cell, work and FAX number and it would be classified as multiple entries and not grouped as a single entry. With further testing, this can be done and you must go and make a modification to the settings in the 'phone book'.
The phone has a combination of 72 ringtones and vibrations. The supported languages on this handset are English and French.
The phone itself is typical Motorola when it comes to applications. It has the basic office applications such as calculator, date book, and so on.
This is by far the best voice recorder I used. You can store voice up to 30 seconds per recording and it picks up anything in the background so range is definitely good!
Text messaging is standard on this phone and since I don't use text messaging all that often, I would not be able to comment on it. I am assuming it supports both T9 and iTap, but this must be changed in the settings.
The packaging when purchased from Telus comes with the phone, lithium-ion battery, battery cover and charger. The charger is a mini-USB and this is much nicer than the standard two prong plastic charger that came with all prior Motorolas. I have been told that if you use a mini-USB cable and connect the phone to your computer, with Windows XP since Telus has not crippled the phone, it will allow you to do transfers as if the phone were a removable storage device. Not too sure about this and am too chicken to try in case I mess up the handset.
The keypad is identical to other RAZR phones but I like the circular navigation pad because the arrows are slightly raised and it makes it for easy navigation. The electronic components used for the lighting will cause an odd effect. If you flip open the phone and do not dial but put your ear to the earpiece, you will hear a hissing sound. Depending on how long you set the duration of your backlight, you will hear hissing until it turns off. This is only when the phone is in idle mode and if you were to place a call, when the recipient picks up, it's comparable to landline quality!
It's a typical RAZR phone but unlike the ones carried by Rogers/Fido, I find this phone to be much more durable and I love the color. I have had many compliments on the phone and it is great!
The phone is EVDO capable. Although you need a separate data kit for 1X EVDO Access, the phone does show an icon showing EV by the signal strength indicator instead of 1X proving the phone is EVDO capable.
I believe Telus has been working on updated CODEC's for the voice data compression since I find that when speaking on this handset in general, it is landline quality. The V710 was nice and close to landline quality but does not compare to that of it's successor the V3c.
The display date (format) cannot be changed on this handset. I may be missing something here but I am unable to find a location within the menu settings to change this. This does not bother me since I like it's format but others may like it to be displayed differently which is not a possibility.
MY RATING = 10/10! This is the best phone I have ever used and coupled with the competitiveness of plans Telus has released, if you a die-hard Telus fan, I would suggest picking up one of these handsets. © 2006 shaneescher. All rights reserved. Posted on GeckoBeach.com with permission. Article may not be altered without the writer's consent.
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Introduction
