Motorola Razr V3m - pink (Verizon Wireless)

Reviewed on 12/1/06    The Motorola Razr V3m is the successor to the Razr V3c, featuring upgrades such as an integrated music player and a Micro SD card slot. The Motorola Razr V3m is the successor to the Razr V3c, both of which are exclusive to Verizon Wireless. The most notable improvement is the addition of an integrated music player, a Micro SD card slot, and support for VZ Navigator, Verizon's GPS navigation service. Otherwise, the Razr V3m looks and feels exactly the same, and it has many of the same features as its sibling. The Razr V3m retails for much cheaper than the V3c--about $119.99 for a two-year contract and $169.99 for a one-year contract--but unless you want an integrated music player on your phone, you shouldn't feel compelled to upgrade.

As we mentioned, the Motorola Razr V3m is identical in look and feel to the V3c. It boasts the same sleek profile (3.9 by 2.1 by 0.6 inches) and shares the same gray coloring, external display, controls, flip mechanism, and so forth. The Razr V3m also has the dedicated camera and video recorder key next to the navigation controls. While there's nothing wrong with keeping the design elements, we were a little disappointed that Motorola didn't increase the screen's 65,000-color output or add a camera flash. Another complaint we had was with the Verizon menu system (also found on the V3c), still a little confusing to us. For example, the music player and camera functions are hidden in the Get It Now submenu rather than having dedicated icons in the menu.

Now, we hate to sound like a broken record, but the Motorola Razr V3m is very similar to the V3c, even in terms of features. It has a 1,000-contact phone book, caller groups, picture caller ID, and ring-tone caller ID; 25 polyphonic (72-chord) tones are included with the phone. Other features include text and multimedia messaging, a calendar, Bluetooth, voice dialing and commands, a voice recorder, a vibrate mode, an alarm clock, a calculator, a note pad, and a world clock. The 1.3-megapixel camera on the V3m also mirrors that of the V3c, with many of the same settings and options. The only new item we noticed with the V3m was the addition of a self-timer function. Like the Razr V3c, the Razr V3m took pretty decent shots but nothing great. You can read about all the other camera options in our review of the Razr V3c.

The primary attraction of the Motorola Razr V3m is the addition of the MP3 player. To access the music player, navigate to the aforementioned Get It Now submenu, select "Get tunes & tones," then My Music. It supports both MP3 and AAC formats, and you can upload music to the phone or download tunes via Verizon's V Cast Music store. We liked that you can create a personalized playlist of songs. With this multimedia functionality, we're also glad to see the addition of a Micro SD card slot, giving the V3m more storage options for photos, videos, and music files. Unfortunately, you have to remove the battery in order to access it, which we found annoying.

Also new is the addition of Verizon's GPS service called VZ Navigator. For a modest fee of $9.99 a month or $2.99 per day, you get a decent GPS service and fewer reasons for getting lost. Along with EV-DO, the V3m also supports V Cast, Verizon's high-speed content service. V Cast offers a wide variety of content such as video games, TV show clips, movie previews, and application downloads, while V Cast Music is Verizon's online music store that offers speedy downloads of the latest music hits. However, the V Cast service costs $15 per month, and V Cast Music store charges $1.99 per song download.

As with the previous Razrs, you can personalize the V3m with a variety of wallpaper, screensavers, and ring tones, along with the option to download more. As for games, Tetris and Pac-Man are included, and you can download more if you want.

We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) Motorola Razr V3m in San Francisco using Verizon Wireless. Call quality was great, and callers had no problem hearing us and vice versa. Speakerphone quality was acceptable. As for the audio quality of the music when heard through the speakers, it was decent but a little one-dimensional, tinny, and nothing too impressive. The Razr V3m supports stereo headsets, but since the V3m doesn't have a regular headset jack, you'll have to purchase Motorola's stereo headset ($29.99) separately. V Cast reception was pretty good, and we liked how fast songs and stream video clips downloaded to the phone.

The Motorola Razr V3m has a rated talk time of 3 hours and a standby time of 13 days; we managed to eke out a talk time of 3 hours, 58 minutes in our tests. For standby time, we managed 10 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the Razr V3m has a digital SAR rating of 1.14 watts per kilogram.