Motorola Razr2 V8 (T-Mobile)

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Motorola Razr2 V8

Editor's note: This review refers to a preproduction model of the Razr2 V8. The final model of the handset may be different.

Yes, it's late to the party, as it often tends to be, but T-Mobile finally has picked up the Motorola Razr2. Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Alltel, and AT&T have been offering the Razr revamp since the summer, but only today did T-Mobile make its membership in the Moto club official. Wrapped in a lovely blue skin, T-Mobile's Razr2 is just as sleek and shiny, but you'll find an important change inside. While its competitors are selling the 3G Razr2 V9 or V9m, T-Mobile stuck with the Razr2 V8, which supports the slower EDGE networks. You can blame it on T-Mobile's lack of 3G--that's another party the carrier is late to--but the result is an equally attractive but far less powerful phone. And don't get us started on the less-effective external display. The Razr2 V8 is $249 with service. To find accessories for this phone, see our cell phone ringtones and accessories guide.

Design
We've made no secret of the fact that we think the Razr2 is downright gorgeous. The more streamlined shape, glossy exterior, and metal finish add up to a huge aesthetic improvement over the original Razr, and we think the dark blue color is the best color we've seen on a cell phone. The phone's dimensions (4.05 inches by 2.08 inches by 0.46 inch; 4.1 ounces) are the same as on the other Razr2s, and it has the same solid feel in the hand.

The V8 features the large and visually rich Razr2 external display, but it's disappointing that T-Mobile does not utilize it fully. Though the screen shows photo caller ID and it works as a camera viewfinder for self portraits, the nifty touch controls that the V9 and V9m carriers used so effectively aren't available in the standby mode on our review model. You can't access your recent calls list or the messaging menu; rather, you can use them only to control the music player. You still get the tactile feedback with the controls, but even then you must open the phone to start the player first. Since Motorola gave carriers a lot of room to customize the controls to their liking, we can't understand why T-Mobile didn't do the same.

We also weren't thrilled with the controls on either spine. Yes, they give you the same tactile feedback as on the other Razr2s, but you can't activate the camera when the phone is closed. Instead, you must open the phone, start the camera, and then close it again to get your shot. Why couldn't T-Mobile let us activate the music player or camera with the flip closed? We haven't the slightest idea. Of course, you can use the volume rocker and the Motorola smart key on the left spine to change the V8's profile, but that's hardly unique among Motorola phones. The smart key also locks the external controls but the sole control on the right spine only activates the voice-dialing feature when the flip is open.

The remaining features on the V8's exterior are mostly standard. The camera sits above the external display sans a flash while the Micro-USB port sits on the left spine. The speaker is on the rear face of the phone at its bottom end. But in an important change, the Razr2 V8 does not offer an external memory card slot.

The V8's interior also shows no changes from the other Razr2 models. The 2.2-inch (320x240 pixels), 262,000-color display is equally pleasing to the eye and the navigation controls and keypad buttons, while flush with the surface of the phone, are user-friendly. T-Mobile did a decent job with the shortcut keys. You can program the toggle to open four functions of your choice while a second customizable shortcuts menu gives you one-touch access to more applications. Pressing the smart key will open the music player, but we would have appreciated a specific speakerphone key as well. The only dedicated keys are a Web-browser control and a back button.

T-Mobile replaced Motorola's dated menu user interface with its own design, but it's not much of an improvement. Though the animated icons are pretty, the organizational system didn't always make sense. For example, to change the backlight time or the display brightness you most open the Display Settings option under the Phone Settings menu. But if you want to change the wallpapers, you most open the Themes menu instead.

Features
The Razr2 V8 has a large phonebook with room in each entry for five phone numbers, two-e-mail addresses, an instant messaging handle, two street addresses, and notes (the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts). You can assign callers to groups and pair them with one of 32 polyphonic ringtones. And for safekeeping purposes, you can sync your contacts with T-Mobile's servers. Other essential features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, an alarm clock, a calculator, a calendar, a world clock, a task list, a voice memo recorder, and a notepad. Also onboard are full Bluetooth (with a stereo profile), instant messaging, voice dialing and commands, POP3 e-mail, PC syncing, and USB (2.0) mass storage.

The V8, like all Razr2s, doesn't offer a camera flash.

The 2-megapixel camera takes pictures in four resolutions, from 1,200x1,600 down to 240x320. Editing features include three quality settings, a self-timer, a multishot mode, six color effects, six frames, an 8x zoom, and five shutter sounds. The camcorder records clips in two resolutions with sound. Editing options are limited to a choice of three quality settings. Clips meant for multimedia messages are capped at 10 seconds, or you can shoot for as long as the available memory will permit. And, speaking of which, the V8 offers about 2GB of shared memory, which is quite extensive. Photo quality was very good with bright colors and distinct objects.

The Razr2 V8 has excellent photo quality.

For listening to tunes, the Razr2 V8 offers a generic Moto media player. Though perfectly functional, the interface is exceptionally simple and offers nothing in the way of album art or music visualizations. Features are respectable without being too extensive. Besides shuffle and repeat mode, there's an Airplane setting and you can organize music by playlists.

Getting music on the phone is a relatively simple affair. This being a T-Mobile phone, it goes without saying that wireless music downloads aren't available, but you can transfer music via a USB cable. Our PC recognized our handset instantly, and we were able to drag and drop files without any problem. On our review phone, our music tracks transferred to the Pictures folder by default. The music player will play music no matter where it's saved, but you can move files around using the File Manager application.

You can personalize the Razr2 V8 with a variety of wallpapers, screensavers, and alert sounds. You can download more options, and more ringtones, from T-Mobile's T-zones Internet service over the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. The V8 only comes with two demo games--Midnight Pool 3D and Gun Bloxx--you'll have to buy the full versions for extended play.

Performance
We tested the quandband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) Razr2 V8 in San Francisco using T-Mobile service. Call quality was generally good, because, in part, of Moto's CrystalTalk technology. Voices sounded natural and there was little static or interference. On the whole, the sound quality compared favorably with AT&T Razr2 V9. Here, too, we noticed a slight echo on our end, but it wasn't enough to ruin our experience. The volume could be just the slight bit louder, we sometimes had trouble hearing in noisy locations, but the majority of the time it was fine.

On their end, callers reported few issues, though they could tell we were using a cell phone. A few callers also reported a slight background hiss but others did not detect anything out of the ordinary. Speakerphone calls were satisfactory, though the sound was a tad muffled. Also, while the volume was loud, the sound was distorted at the highest levels. Callers said they could understand us, as long we were close to the phone. Bluetooth calls were respectable; we didn't encounter significant issues.

The V8's music experience was quite pleasant. The sole speaker provided decent output and the audio quality was sharp and clear. Like with most music phones, it's not too great at the highest volumes, and we miss having an equalizer or anything of the sort, but it's a perfectly fine music player for short listening periods.

The Motorola Razr2 V8 has a rated battery life of 8.3 hours talk time and 11.6 days standby time. Our tests came close to around 7 hours and 27 minutes of talk time.