Motorola RAZR2 V9m User Reviews

Overall User Rating
Build quality
4
Camera quality
7.5
Performance
6.5
Display
8.5
Battery life and charging
4
Rating breakdown (out of 10)
User reviews
5

Looks Good, Feels Good. But Crap.

Phone owned for less than a year

I live in winnipeg. It got hot one day, high 30's (Celsius) then colder (about 18C) 2 days later. That was enough to cause enough water to condense in my phone and cause water damage!! which voided my warranty! I'm not sure if the water actually damaged it, but there is a little litmus strip inside the back of the phone which turned red, and totally voided my warranty!. That's a $360 phone ruined by a 25 degree change in temperature.

It also kept sending and receiving duplicates when not in perfect reception which is extremely annoying to you and those you're texting.

Battery struggles to make it any longer than 12 hours, even when just texting. Make a 20 minute phone call and you it drains your phone battery to almost nothing.

I will never buy a phone made by Motorola again, or use motorola. This phone was just crap. Battery sucked, reception was often iffy, and a change in temperature was enough to void the warranty and ruin the phone. So if you live anywhere with any moisture you're phone warranty could be potentially voided.

(Also the bowser is terrible.. Very very slow and doesn't load most things.

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7

Motorola V9 Razr2 Review

Phone owned for less than a year

Wonderfule Phone, The camera quality is wonderful, this phone has saved my life on more occasions than I would like to mention! very handy and durable for everyday use. It comes in different colors though mine is black. I purchased mine at pashacell.com and got in 3 days with free shipping included. I would definitely recommend them.

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1

NO FIRMWARE UPDATE AFER I YR WARRANTY- SHAME, SHAME !!

Phone owned for

Tried to update my V9M 's firmware when it would not find or pair with a bluetooth speakerphone.
After connecting it to the computer and logging on to the Motorola site, eventually I got a message saying it was out of warranty.

A call to Motrola Customer (non)Support was equally frustrating, I could not get past the frontline reception, who kept putting me on hold to get someone in the background to give her answers to my questions.

With that kind of service, I will be selling my Moto Shares , and this will be the last Product that I will buy from them.
Will also NOT recommend their products to friends and associates.


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8.7

RAZR2 is a Keeper

Phone owned for

When I had my Razr 2 I really loved the phone. You could use the front display screen to check messages and so forth. It has a classy style. I like the size of the phone because it's large enough to get a grip onto it but not big enough to be considered bulky. It's an ultra sleek phone that you can't pass up.
I really didn't have any problems with this phone. The charge wouldn't keep up as good as I liked for it to, but I also stay on my phone 24/7. I'd recommend this phone to just about anyone.

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7.3

Finally a phone for us big handed folks.

Phone owned for

I have had this phone for about a month now or so and I really like this phone. I have big hands and this phone is large enough that I am not dropping it all the time. It also has large buttons and a large internal display. The external display is a little too large for my taste but its alright just the same. The camera on it is first rate. At 2.0 megapixels, it will take good photos in just about any light, but is best when taken outdoors. It has a memory card slot and the phone really needs it, because you just want to load it with pics, vids and music. The only problem is that the card slot is under the battery. The surface of the phone is mirror-like and very shiny which can prove a problem if you want to keep fingerprints off of it. It is made of metal and has a metal feel and is also quite heavy for a phone but is durable at the same time. The battery life is good and can last a few days on a charge w/o talking alot.
The drawbacks are that is scratches easily, the mp3 player has no equalizer, but after listening to it for awhile you really don't notice much. It really doesn't sync well with my comp unless you use a card reader or Motorola Phone Tools, which makes transfers really slow. For someone with smaller hands and fingers, could be quite a handfull. I would recommend this phone to anyone who wants a nice camera phone and has problems with all these microscopic phones on the market today.

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5.7

This phone won't stay charged

Phone owned for

I like the feel anf ease of use of this phone, but then.......From day one the phone will not stay charged. US Cellular replaced the battery twice and sent the phone in to be repaired twice, all to no results. Because of this phone and the lack of US Cellular to resolve the problem, I will leave that carrier after 11 yeasr of being with them.

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5.7

don't get it

Phone owned for

okay this phone is awsome but I broke it for times with in 2 months.  It has no inside screen protection.

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6.3

Phone owned for

I have had FIVE of these phones.....I take good care of them and then they break on me and lose all of my contacts and music....the music is recoverable but still.....the phone itself is awesome and I am going to miss it but its ridiculous that motorola couldnt make them last more than a couple of months.......that is why they quit making them...

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9.3

I dont know why........

Phone owned for

I know I'm posting another review about this phone, well i wont do another one. I'm just so pissed off that it got an 8/10 this phone at least deserves a 9/10, cmon. Its really nice and is very slim, and very tough and durable. Its  external display is huge with touch sensitive buttons aand offer haptic feedback, bluetooth, stereo bluetooh (it is maybe the only phone that provides lots of files, unlike the SAMSUNG INSTINCT. It has crystal talk which= excellent call quality, motorola is really good with their signal (i find them the best manufacturer for phones), its supports lots of music, 2MP camera which has excellent photo quality the best I've ever seen on a 2MP camera, because some arent good (like the instinct), you can watch live TV, 65k internal screen is still really nice, its 240 by 320 pixels. Full HTML browser, messaging including, predictive text messaging and MMS. You can also acces your emails on YAhoo, Gmail and so on. So this phone does not deserve a 8/10, it deserves a 9/10 if not 10/10. The only issue with this phone could be the software, but its still alot times faster than the original razr, and why do the reviewers always think about the software first, its maybe one of the last things you should think about, theres so many other stuff that they should think about. 

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9.3

Beautiful phone, AND packed with features.

Phone owned for

This phone is absolutely amazing!!! Its a really nice phone with a huge external display, and it has lots of features like  bluetooth, camera and video recorder, high speed EVDO, music player, touch sensitive external display.....and trust me those are only the basics and theres still a lot more. I really like the way motorola made this phone they thought about making it pretty tough because toughness/durability play a big role for mobile phones; well the hinge is like a rock, metal gives it a good feel and makes it sturdy all that= a sexy phone thats TOUGH.So all in all this is a great phone its is beautiful, dont even get me started with the features :) and the performance is good... I recomend everyone to buy this phone cause its got everything, it has a nice durable and sexy design, this phone is goofd for a kid cause its so durable,and adults can get whatever they want on this phone!!

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8.6

Great phone

Phone owned for

I have had this phone for a few months and i have not yet found anything wrong with it. The overall design is great, and fits in my front pockets perfectly. At first i thought it would get scratched up with the car keys in my pocket as well, but so far nothing. Being able to check messages without opening your phone is a great feature, and being able to make calls with it closed is great as well. I wish i would be able to chnage the buttons on the external display, but i will get by without it. Signal quality is exceptional. I have at least 5 bars at all times unless i am in a small town with very little towers, then i have 2. I have never dropped a call with this phone, and i go through those little towns often. Text messaging is good on this phone, just like any other phone. Battery life is good at times. depends if the phone gets a good charge or not. The only issue so far that i had with this phone is that the 2,5,7, and 9 button didn't always work. Luckily it happened within one year, and is being repaired at no cost. Friends of mine that had this phone have had a issue with the main screen, at certain angles there appeared to be a bubble. It usually happened within 2 weeks of them having it, but beings everyone was having this problem, it was repaired at no cost. GPS is great on this phone, minus the cost per month to have it! I would highly recommend this phone to anyone who wants a small, durable, and great phone.

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7.2

Phone owned for

NOTE: I originally posted this as a review for the LG Chocolate 3 vs. the v9m. Since it's so long, I don't have the time to rewrite it, but I thought it was a useful comparison.

If you read the official phonearena review, they say that this phone replaces the Motorola v9m for voice quality and reception. I had a chance to buy this phone and the v9m for a week and use them almost side by side. I also had the LG 8350.

This phone is indeed an excellent phone. It had excellent reception - and since I live and work in fringe reception areas, I've had plenty of chances to test it out. It's not a miracle - in the really bad places (like the interior bathroom in my apartment, where I tested it side by side with the 8350 and v9m) I would have small dropouts in the conversation if I was moving around. My testing and usage suggested that it had equal reception to the v9m. They both had better reception than the 8350 - places where these 2 phones would drop out little parts of words, the 8450 would lose entire words. Again, I tested it several times, often with the phones side by side.

When I got my 8350, I thought that it's voice quality was excellent. Finally - a phone that I could hear what people were saying! I've been using cell phones for 5 years, so although I was used to the fact that you can't always hear all the detail in someone's voice. I figured it was just the limit of what cell phones were capable of - all my other phones had had the same thing. Then I got this phone (the chocolate 3) and the v9m. Holy cow. These 2 phones finally have that detail back in peoples voices that's been missing. As long as I have a signal, I never had to go "What?" because I couldn't really tell what they were actually saying. It's amazing - I didn't think cell phones were even capable of that kind of voice quality. Heck, seriously, I can't even think of any landline phones I've used that had this kind of detail in the voice. Or headsets.

I would say that the Blackberry Pearl had perfect sound quality when I tried it in the store (I called my voicemail and listened to messages). But you have to sign up for a data plan to have it - erg. It was amazing, though.

Next in order would be the v9m - excellent detail and very pleasant sounding voices. It wasn't as good as the Pearl because the volume didn't go quite as loud, and my ears find something in the sound occasionally irritating. It's like some frequency is overly loud compared to the rest of the sound. To for comparison, I've had the same thing happen with lots of full size headphones, and every cell phone I've ever used (except the Pearl).

Next in order would be the Chocolate 3. It also had excellent detail in the voice. It was a little louder than the v9m, and my ears also found something in the sound occasionally irritating. But it wasn't that bad, and had excellent detail in the voices. The reason I'd rate it lower than the v9m is that the sound on the v9m sounded amazingly natural, and while the sound on the Chocolate 3 is incredibly understandable, it always sounded a little more...electronic or something and not as smooth and natural. However, it did have better volume. I should also mention that I sometime had problems accidentally breathing into the microphone on the Chocolate 3 - I'd just be having a conversation sitting in a chair, and the microphone would pick up the sound of my breath hitting the microphone (like blowing into a microphone). I had to hold the microphone a little lower to avoid this, but I felt like if it was to low the other people wouldn't be able to hear me.

The 8350's sound quality was good, but it was way below any of the other 3 phones I've mentioned so far. The volume was good, and the sound clarity was good compared to other phones I've used, but it (like every other cell phone I've used before) just didn't have that extra detail in the voice that made the conversation always understandable, every time (well...except for my friend who seems to have trouble actually talking into the microphone on *his* phone). It was a little worse than your average land line phone for voice detail. But still - pretty good. I would mention that the speakerphone on the 8350 was way louder and better than the other phones - it was nice to be able to easily hear driving directions.

Lastly, I'll mention that I had a Samsung Gleam before these other phones, and all these phones blow the Gleam out of the water for voice clarity. And, funny enough, I always though the Gleam had better voice quality than my e815 before it...

So onto other features. In "the Chocolate 3 vs the v9m" -

The Chocolate is way better for texting. It's not as wide, so it's *much* easier to text with one hand (I'm a 6" guy). And it *actually* remembers words with the t9 or whatever it's called. I can't get my v9m to remember the smiley face, so I always have to go into symbols to put in the ")" on the smiley face. And the v9m doesn't do "first letter capital" right - there's a mode for it, but unless it's the 1st word of the sentence it just doesn't work. You have to put it in "all caps" mode, hit the letter, than put it back into lowercase mode for the rest of the words. And the keys on the v9m are non-standard - "flip to next possible word" is down, not 0 like it usually is. Sometimes it like to try to autocomplete the rest of the word, and I accidentally hit the right button and it fills it in and I have to go back and delete it...eeeeerg.

The chocolate also had a better form factor. Though slightly thicker than the v9m, it's less wide which makes it way easier to hold onto. And it's *much* lighter, which makes it easier to carry in your pocket. I almost chose the Chocolate 3 based just on it's form factor (well...since it was close on reception and sound quality).

The menus on the Chocolate 3 are also better, although I had to change the default theme to get a less dark colors on dark colors scheme. They just seemed much more polished and consistent on the Chocolate than on the v9m. Not to mention prettier. :-) It appears that you could also set VZNavigator to be one of the shortcut keys on the chocolate - sweet!

Both phones had an annoying beep at the end when you missed a call, even if you hit the side buttons to silence it. All verizon phones seem to have this now - it's !@#!@# annoying. I mean, I hit the side button to tell my phone to be quite - does it have to beep *again* and annoy people a 2nd time? I'd like to be able to strip the 1st 4 seconds out of my ringtones and have "vibrate, then start ringing" on my phone, but this beep makes it next to impossible for that to work.

Both phones had good screens. I found the Chocolate 3's a little dim in sunlight sometimes - I read that the brightness is automatically set by a sensor, so a future firmware update might correct this.

The internal screen resolution on both phones is the same, though the v9m screen is slightly physically larger. I really didn't notice the difference, though.

One area that the v9m actually beats the Chocolate in is the camera - the Chocolate camera is ok, but the v9m camera is amazing. It could not only take pictures inside in the dark, it could take video inside when it's half dark, which no other camera phone I've ever used has been able to do. Fantastic.

But the v9m is way worse when it comes to battery life. I never had any issues with battery life with the Chocolate 3. I don't know that I made over 2 hours of calls in a day, but the battery just always seemed fine. With the v9m on the other hand, even after a week of use it was crappy. (I've seen the battery life get better on a phone after a couple of days of use. Sometimes dramatically, as when I first got my e815). On the v9m it seemed like I'd make 2 hours of phone calls throughout the day, and by the time I'd go to battery meter was down to "low battery". I never actually ran out of battery, though, so it's possible that the battery meter was just overly paranoid. And I was keeping it in my pocket, so it was possible the side buttons were getting pushed and I walked around. But still - not real promising.

So in the end, I had to make a decision about which phone to keep. There's a lot to like about the Chocolate 3, and the v9m has some annoying flaws. But I spend most of my phone time using my phone as a phone. In the end, I kept the v9m (and ordered an extended battery) and returned the Chocolate 3. Though the volume isn't always as good, I just felt that the v9m had more pleasant quality to it's sound. When I talked to someone, they just sounded more natural and lifelike, whereas while they were just as understandable on the Chocolate 3, they sounded more electronic. To bad though - I really preferred the form factory, weight, and texting ability of the Chocolate 3. I would highly recommend either of them to anyone else.

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9.4

Phone owned for

picture for people who are not into high-tech phone such as Iphone, Dare, and Instinct. Very thin and heavy, but it's sturdy. i dropped this phone many times. it left marks but it still works fine. touchscreen is great, just missing texting on it. never lag for me. very loud. great signal reception. battery life sucks. call quality is excellent. it's the best on the Verizon's network. very basic phone and that's all everybody needs a phone that works well.

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7.6

ALL CELL CARRIERS HAVE SOME PHONE ISSUES!

Phone owned for

AS WITH ANY OTHER CELL PHONE CARRIER THEY ALL HAVE THEIR FLAWS WHEN IT COMES TO PHONES. ONE OF THE FEATURES THAT I LUV ABOUT MOTOROLA PHONES IT THAT YOU CAN SET YOU PHONE 2 CONTACTS ONLY AND IF ANYONE CALLS THAT ISN'T IN YOUR CONTACTS IT SENDS THEM STRAIGHT 2 VOICEMAIL. I'VE HAD THE RAZOR V3M SINCE I'VE BEEN WITH SPRINT AND YES IT'S HAD IT'S FREEZES AND ALL BUT HAS NEVER SHUT OFF BY ITSELF LOL. I DIDN'T PAY A DIME FOR RAZOR2 V9M BECAUSE IT WAS A REPLACEMENT PHONE FOR MY V3M SO I DEFINATELY CAN'T COMPLAIN. WITH ANY OF THE CARRIERS OUT HERE THEY ALL HAVE THEIR PHONE PROBLEMS LOL. TRY HAVING METRO PCS A.KA. "METRO PIECE OF SHIT" LOL. NOW THAT'S BY FAR ONE OF THE WORST CELL PROVIDERS AND IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG WITH YOUR PHONE....GUESS WHAT? THEIR INSURANCE COVERS NOTHING, NADA, ZILTCH LOL AND YOU HAVE 2 BUY A NEW PHONE EACH TIME AND THEN COMES ALLTEL....EVER WONDER WHY THEY ARE CALLED ALLTEL....BECAUSE THEY DON'T TELL YOU ALL THAT'S WRONG WITH THEIR PHONES LOL. I KNOW PEOPLE WITH THESE COMPANIES AND IT SEEMS LIKE JUST ABOUT EVERYONE I KNOW IS SWITCHING 2 SPRINT, AT&T, T-MOBILE OR VERIZON. FROM WHAT I'VE HEARD VERIZON IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE THEN SPRINT OUT OF THE OTHER CARRIERS BUT SPRINT AND VERIZON HAS THE BEST SERVICE. IN THE END NO MATTER WHAT CARRIER YOU GO WITH THEY ALL HAVE FLAWS RATHER IT'S THEIR PHONES, CUSTOMER SERVICE OR INSURANCE NONE OF THEM TELL THEIR ANY OF THEIR CUSTOMERS EVERYTHING.

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8.8

I am in love....

Phone owned for

originally the MotoRAZR was a pretty decent phone, exept for the battery life. I had the V3c for two years and got the RAZR 2, and got exactly what i wanted. it has great sound quality, massive amounts of memory, and is very reliable and has the most muscle a phone could every have. it might be thin but its heavy, and i like having a sturdy phone knowing that it will not break easily.the touch screen on the front works fantastic, and themusic player is just what the doctor ordered.battery life is average, and the expandable memory can go up to 4 g's, which is about how much i need for the junki i put in my phones! although the phone gets A LOT of fingerprints, it still does shock me knowing that this phone worked way beyond my expectations. i hope this review told ou a ll on why you guys should get this phone. : )

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7.6

Phone owned for

its a little heavy to text one handed, but the buttons are big.im able to great ringtones. ive dropped it idk how manytimes and havent broke it yet,i have althought scratched it more than once on the front...but its not like you cant get a cover to help protect against that.i love the touch screen buttons on the front....people shouldnt whine about it doing stuff they dont want it to at a certain time because all you have to do is hold down the button next to the volume control on the outside and itll lock/unlock it.the battery life isnt the greatest though

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7.8

Phone owned for

I absolutley love this phone...but some of the buttons stick, or it wont send messages, or freezes, or shuts itself off, but overall its a great phone =]

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8.8

Phone owned for

Best sound quality on Verizon's Network. But battery life sucks.

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6.8

meh

Phone owned for

Here's a follow-up from my first review: It's been almost a year using this phone and am giving experiance feekback vs first impressions. UI is slow. Have had crashes, hangs and restarts while messaging (mostly). Phone call disconnects. Corners of phone are cracking. A strip of about 7 pixels on right edge of screen have died, covering up any scrollbars. There was one update early on that fixed whatever but this phone is still loaded with problems AND I HOPE TO GOD THEY RELEASE AN UPDATE!! thanks

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5

This Phone is Garbage !!!

Phone owned for

I have had this phone for only two months. One of the months it was away for repair as the crystal faceplate cracked when I left my window open at night while I slept. Keep in mind; It was May so the air was not that cold but the small amount of cold air that did creep into my room managed to crack the faceplate.

Finally got the stupid thing back from repair and have had it for about two weeks and low and behold, the same thing happened.

I DO NOT reccommend this piece of crap for anyone to buy.

PS if this happens to your phone, it is not covered by warranty !!!

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7.4

its ok, better than the origiinal razr

Phone owned for

i think it is a good phone, i havent had any problems with it.
its basically your regular flip phone except for the fact that its super thin.

the external and internal display is huge. it takes great pics/vids wit the 2.0 mgpxl camera. the 3 touch screen buttons are pretty cool i guess, i can live without them tho. it fits in the pocket great, and i love how thin it is. its easy fast and fun to text on, the buttons are all flat. the screen and call qualityy is great

the thing that sucks is that the camera doent have a flash, who cares it still takes good pics. the battery life is horrible, its short. i hate where the micro sd card is placed (u have to remove the back cover to access it). the speaker for the mp3 isnt as high as i would like. and you can NOT turn off the shutter sound for the camera =P the phone also scratches easily (not the screen but the out side of the phone)

its a great phone, deffinatly better than razr1. i would suggest the phone because it is cool and fun...i just think that its over priced...u can get cooler phones (retail price of razr2 $430, 2 yr contract signed $280)

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8.4

its OK

Phone owned for

This phone is ok, but it really can't dominate as much today as the original Razr did. The menu is ugly, but the phone over all looks fantastic. It deffinitely kicks the original Razr's but. Motorola needs to make an ultra slim touch screen phone...it would be a hit. It could probably even do as well as the original Razr did. Over all, this phone is deffinitely the most stylish phone on VZW's line up. (BTW This phone is overpriced!)

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5.6

Phone owned for

Got the phone a couple of weeks ago. Battery life was not very good at first, had to have it worked on after a week or so. Now it seems ok but will not hold the charge unless it is turned off while charging. The phone sounds nice and looks good, but it's not worth the price I paid. Going to turn it back in for a different phone.

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7.4

ok phone

Phone owned for

the retail price is about $420, i would say the phone is worth $150-200

the touch screen is cool. the only thing is that when you put it in ur poket u might turn something on at an unwanted time.

the screen is nice and big, and overall the phone is VERY thin.

texting is good. the buttons are kinda far apart.

the sd memory card is good for putting pics on it and setting them as ur screensaver, the only thing that sucks is that u have to remove the back cover in order to remove the sd card

the phone scratches pretty easily. the phone doesnt freeze that much....maybe like once a week

there are many cool features and i love the huge external display screen. the camera is wonderfull and takes amazing pics. it doesnt have a flash..but who cares.

razr2 is better than razr1 and krazr...overall its a good phone for all ages with its few flaws (just like every other phone)

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6.4

horrible

Phone owned for

this phones is the worst phone i had in my life!!! the battery life is horrible...i have to charge my phone at least 4 times a day. this is my third phone of this 2008 year. it freezes up alot. i would not get this phone at all. i am trying my best to get rid of it!!!

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