Motorola Razr2 V9m (Verizon Wireless)

Reviewed on 8/15/07    Updated on: 9/5/07    Release date: 8/22/07   

As one of three carriers to land the new Motorola Razr2 V9m, Verizon Wireless is hardly unique for including the new phone in its lineup. Yet the carrier took advantage of Motorola's push for carrier customization by offering an exclusive color scheme and altering some of the phone's controls. The result is an attractive phone with brilliant call quality, but Verizon's lackluster menu interface is a bit deterrent to the phone's multimedia features. As such, Verizon's V9m doesn't quite measure up to Sprint's comparable model (we've yet to test Alltel's V9m). Verizon's Razr2 is $299 with service, $50 more than Sprint's handset.

Design
Beyond the color change, which we'll get to in a minute, Verizon's V9m is nearly identical to the other V9ms. At 4.05x2.08x0.46 inches, it's thinner than the original Razr V3, but its increased heft (4.1 ounces) gives it a sturdier feel. It also has a streamlined, sexy look with a flattened internal antenna. On the other hand, while Sprint's Razr2 is a simple dark gray, the Verizon phone's Espresso (read: brown) hue is a tad more striking. For more on the V9m's design, see our review of the Sprint phone.

Verizon's V9m also shows the Razr2's lovely externals display, which measures two inches with a 65,000-color resolution. Considering that's equal to the internal displays on many midrange phones, it's a treat to view despite the lack of customization options. As for the onscreen touch controls, Verizon chose to feature shortcuts for the camera, the music player, and voice dialing. While the first two controls are certainly useful, the latter is unnecessary since you can also activate voice dialing and commands with the button on the right spine. We much prefer the arrangement on the Sprint phone, which allows you to watch streaming video on the external display, or on AT&T's GSM Razr2 V9, which lets you browse through the recent calls list.

Like the rest of the Razr2 models, the onscreen controls feature the same tactile feedback, which is something we've come to love. Yet it's disappointing that, unlike the Sprint V9m, we didn't get the same tactile feedback on the external controls. It's not totally necessary, but still nice to have, just the same. The volume rocker and the Motorola smart key on the left spine and the aforementioned voice-dialing key are rather thin and can be difficult to find when the phone is up to your ear. Completing the exterior of the phone, the Micro USB/charger port sits on the left spine, the camera lens is just above the display, and the MicroSD card slot rests behind the battery.

Much of the interior of the phone is the same. Again, we don't get why the 2.2-inch display supports just 65,000 colors compared with the V9's 262,000-color display. It's not unusable by any means; in fact, it's perfectly fine for most uses, but we expect better on a multimedia phone.

The real problem lies with Verizon's standardized menu structure. We've railed about it many times, but bear with us as we're going to do so again here. Besides the menu's dreary, text-heavy design it's also impossible to find many things. Why put the camera under the Get it Now menu? It just doesn't make sense. You can adjust the backlighting, the time, and the brightness on the display, but you can't change the text size.

The navigation array and keypad buttons are unchanged from Sprint's V9m, save for a small edit to the navigation array. Both have a circular toggle with a central OK button, two soft keys, a clear button, and the talk and end/power keys. But instead of a speakerphone shortcut, Verizon gives you dedicated controls for the camera/camcorder.

Features
Multimedia is a big theme on all of the Razr2 models, and Verizon's V9m is no exception. As an EV-DO phone, the Razr2 V9m supports the full range of Verizon's 3G services, including the V Cast video service as well as the V Cast music store. The music player's interface is identical to those on other Verizon phones, but we like it just a bit better than Sprint's music player design.

Verizon's Razr2 V9m includes a 2-megaixel camera that's slightly different from the Sprint version. It takes pictures in four resolutions (1,600x1,200; 1,280x960; 640x480; 320x240; and a special size for photo caller ID). Editing options are plentiful and include a self-timer, brightness and white balance controls, three color effects, nine fun frames, and a digital zoom. The camcorder takes clips with sound in two resolutions (320x240 and 176x144). Clips meant for multimedia messages are capped at 30 seconds, but you can shoot for as long as the available memory permits. The brightness and white balance are adjustable and you can select a color effect. The V9m has a generous 65MB of available user memory. That's shared between all functions, so you're better off buying a MicroSD card for maximum storage. Photo quality was good but not great. Images were slightly washed out and some objects looked grainy.

The V9m has a 1,000-contact phone book with room in each entry for five phone numbers and two e-mail addresses. You can save callers to groups and pair them with a photo and any of 12 polyphonic ring tones. Other essentials include a vibrate mode, a speakerphone, text and multimedia messaging, a calculator, a calendar, an alarm clock, a notepad, and a world clock. That's not a bad offering, but the Sprint phone has a few more organizer applications. Bluetooth is also onboard, and music fans and Verizon loyalists will be pleased--and somewhat surprised--to find a stereo profile.

You can personalize Verizon'sV9m with a greeting and a variety of wallpaper, screen savers, clock styles, and alert sounds. You can always get more options from Verizon via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. Gamers get demo versions of two titles: Pac Man and Tetris. You'll have to buy the full versions for extended play.

Performance
We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) in San Francisco using Verizon's service. Call quality was very good. Voices sounded natural, and the reception was crystal clear, with none of the background hum we noticed from the Sprint model. Volume could be just the tiniest bit higher, but on the whole, the calling performance was outstanding.

On their end, callers said we sounded great as well. They did notice some slight wind noise at times, but otherwise they had no complaints. It was the same story with the speakerphone and Bluetooth headset calls. We had no real issues regarding either.

As with the Sprint V9m, the music quality on the Verizon model is quite agreeable. The single speaker at the bottom of the phone provided loud output and clarity. At the highest volume level, there was little of the distortion or bass-heavy effect that we've found on other music phones. It still won't replace your standalone MP3 player, but it does a decent job for short listening stints. Though Verizon's V Cast streaming media content is lacking when compared to Sprint's Power Vision offerings, Verizon's V9m handled the content better. There was still a fair amount of pixilation, but it made for a better viewing experience.

Verizon's Razr2 V9m has a rated battery life of 3.6 hours talk time and 12 days of standby time. Our tests revealed a talk time of 5 hours and 2 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests the V9m has a digital SAR rating of 0.71 watts per kilogram.