Motorola Razr V3c review (gray, Verizon Wireless)

Samsung and Sprint beat Motorola to the punch in introducing a slim 3G phone with the Samsung MM-A900, but Motorola and Verizon aren't far behind. Of course, the Razr V3c's EV-DO support means you can sample Verizon's V Cast offerings. You can tap into hundreds of streaming video clips, including updates from CNN, ESPN, and AccuWeather and content from providers such as Nickelodeon, E Entertainment, VH1, and Comedy Central. Keep in mind, however, that only major urban areas get EV-DO coverage; take a look at CNET's quick guide to 3G for a complete list. We expected to see this phone come with an MP3 player, but there's not one available on the final product.

You can personalize the Razr V3c with a variety of wallpaper, screensavers, display themes, and sounds. If you want more options or ring tones, you can download them via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. You don't get any games, but there's BREW support if you want to buy any titles.

We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) Motorola Razr V3c in San Francisco using Verizon Wireless service. Call quality was good: improved over the original Razr V3's and on par with that of the Samsung MM-A900 for Sprint. Audio quality was very loud and clear, and our callers reported the same conditions on their end. Unfortunately, speakerphone quality was greatly diminished. While this is to be expected, it still was much too scratchy. We connected quickly to the Plantronics Explorer 320 Bluetooth headset and enjoyed decent call quality.

V Cast reception was mostly good, though it cut out a couple times in buildings. Video quality was decent as well, but it was choppy and pixelated compared to that of Verizon's other V Cast phones such as the Motorola E815. Still, it did the trick for short clips, and download speeds were serviceable.

The Razr V3c has a promised talk time of three hours and a promised standby time of 7.5 days. In our tests, we beat the rated talk time by 50 minutes and raked up 10 days of standby time. According to FCC radiation tests, the Razr V3c has a digital SAR rating of 1.14 watts per kilogram.