Motorola V70

07 Aug 2002 18:33

The V70 may not be a bargain, but it certainly is slick.

To make a call, you rotate the cover 180 degrees and expose the V70's blue backlit keypad. With the cover open, the phone is effectively a more normal size, and is fairly comfortable to talk on for long periods of time. True, the keys are a tad small and may not appeal to those with larger fingers, but we didn't suffer any misdials. However, we had a little trouble pressing the two-button, rocker-like internal navigation key since it was so closely located to the LCD's edge. Conversely, we didn't have any difficulties with the identical rocker key found on the outside of the phone that's used to navigate menus when the keypad is covered.

The V70 is also customisable; the circular silver bezel that frames the menu is interchangeable with gold, silver, or white accessories. You can even wear it around your neck by inserting a lanyard into the hole at the top of the phone. The menu is customisable as well, so you can reorganize the menu list and program shortcuts. Motorola has also made it much easier to use and make changes to the 500-name phone book.

The V70 has a fair range of features, although it's by no means the most feature-rich mobile on the market. You'll find a calendar, a currency converter, a calculator, voice-activated dialling, 64 ring tones (32 of which are customisable), vibrate mode, SMS, conference calling, three games (Blackjack, Mindblaster, and Paddleball), wireless Web access, and the ability to sync PIM contacts with the phone via Starfish Software's TrueSync software. TrueSync isn't supplied, and will cost you around £25 (inc. VAT) extra, including the cable. The V70 is GPRS-enabled, so you'll have always-on access to the wireless Web providing your service provider and tariff supports it.

We were impressed with the phone's battery life. Motorola gives standby battery life at 145 hours and talk time at 215 minutes. As far as call quality goes, it was acceptable, though less than stellar. The phone is loud enough, and we could typically hear callers fine, but callers said they occasionally heard static on the line. Additionally, in areas where we didn't get a strong signal, call quality was hit-and-miss.

Overall, the V70 is a compact, stylish phone that's a pleasure to use; you may just find yourself opening and closing it just for fun. If there's a downside, it's the hefty price tag. But those who want the phone of the moment will probably be able to overlook that minor obstacle.

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