theconsumR.com

This phone does the basics quite well, call quality is excellent and performance in noise ridden environments is quite good.  The phone connects to the network at decent speed s (network /signal dependant) and during testing maintains the signal quite well with very few drops outs.

The keyboard on is well laid out and has ample finger room that makes texting simpler hardware wise. The keyboard is laid out in standard form and it has a excellent feel to it, except the texting system (iTAP) makes the keyboard almost impossible to use. The software can be sometimes aggravating and makes the phone a little less preferential for texting. However, after retraining yourself to this new system it does what it’s supposed to do.

Some of the more modern multimedia uses for this phone on the Telus Mobility (US: Sprint) Network are the ability to access Mobile TV, Satellite Radio and Mobile Music (requires a subscription.) These features work well providing that you have a good network connection and are in a EVDO or better coverage area. If you don’t have a very good connection, you can still playback the music that you’ve purchased in the mobile music store or loaded onto the device via-the mini USB port.

Another important part to this phone is the camera. The camera is among some of the best mobile cameras that we’ve tested in a phone. Although the resolution of some images may be a little small, that can be adjusted with a small software tweak.

Just So You Know…

Average Battery Life

Compared to some other Motorola phones, this phone tends to consume a lot of the battery when using it beyond just a phone. Although it isn’t terrible, if you can get a higher capacity or an extra battery it would be helpful.

“Piano” Finish Very Pretty

The finishing on this phone is very attractive and is a nice aesthetic bonus to the phone. Unfortunately, since this finish covers the phone it is hard to keep clean. Not from dirt but from finger prints and oils from your hands.

Standard Connections

The one main thing that makes this phone all the more worthwhile is the use of standard Mini-USB connections. This significantly makes charging and connecting the phone to chargers/computers much easier. The only missing connection is a standard headphone jack.