Motorola Razr user reviews (Amp'd Mobile)

2.5 stars

"Other service providers RAZR's are better..." on May 25, 2007 by whitegreyhat

Pros: Size, Style, Cool color, MP3 Player, Good Battery Life

Cons: Flimsy, Proprietary Media, Address Book, Camera,

Summary: First of all this is a decent phone, I am not trying to bash the RAZR, since this is my third one and I love them. To start I received my Razr and it was missing the Charger, USB cable and User guide. It took about 5 attempts from Amp'd to get a resolution, which was they told me to buy my own because they were out of stock. The company has pretty much awful customer service, but I joined Amp'd when they first started about 6 months ago, it could be better now. Kudos to Amp'd for giving me the only Razr which didn't break in a month, I had 2 from Cingular which just broke within a month of normal use. Comparatively its durability seems ok, but I smartened up and bought a protective case. This is not a phone you want to drop. Even from 3-4 feet onto a carpet, you could expect damage, most commonly the display likes to burn out. The camera is pretty much horrible, even still life photos are blurry and have a poor resolution, even after tweaking all the settings. The MP3 Player on this is VERY finicky, I uploaded about 60 songs (bought a MicroSD card to expand memory) and it would try to play a song and then it would just say "file cannot be found". After hours of frustration I finally realized that if I shortened the file name length this would solve the problem. For instance if your song is named "Track_12_from_the_whatever_album" you would have to shorted in to "Track 12" also any special characters in the name or info would through the MP3 Player off. It was quite annoying to go through every file and shorten the names to get them to work, but at least it works now. On another note Amp'd does NOT let you download or create your own ring tones, which is a major downfall for me since I am not into the mainstream music they sell as their ring tones, although they do have a large collection of Rap and Hip Hop music. Also unlike other providers, AMP'd charges you a monthly fee to Access AIM, Yahoo or an Instant messenger service. Most other companies just add the messages to your text/messaging total. The most annoying thing about Amp'd is that when you send a text message to any Verizon/Amp'd customer, you always receive a text message, confirming that your message was sent about 3 seconds later. There is no way to turn it off.
Also the Address book, you cannot add numbers to a person's name, you must create different entries for a person, say if they have a work number, cell or home. There is no way to put it in one entry, you have to create one for each number, this causes a lot of clutter in your address book. There is also no way to search for names you just have to scroll through.
For me I tried Amp'd but they seem to be still inexperienced in the business of cell phones, their prices are competitive at first, but after 3 months it reverts to the normal price which the lowest plan is about 74.99. (Which they start you out at about 39.99 for the first 3 months) And that is just basic service, not including ringtones, applications, monthly subscriptions.
I am going back to a larger and more established provider as Amp'd Razr did not impress me much. It is a great phone if you want a costly phone and service with a lot of bells and whistles that don't always work properly.