Motorola W490 User Reviews

I hate this phone. It doesn't get reception IN MY HOUSE. The sound quality is awful and I have to ask people to repeat themselves all the time. The worst thing? I have the "grape" color and for some reason the purple paint on the keyboard started to flake off almost immediately. It's almost completely gone. When I make a call, usually there's a paint flake on my face when I'm done. Really??? Also it is horrible to text with...it never suggests the right words and it never learns any new ones. Texting is torture. The only positive thing I can say is that it can hold a charge longer than my last phone. I am thinking of buying another phone outside of my contract. I can't wait much longer, this phone is a piece of garbage.

I HAVE HAD THIS PHONE FOR TWO YEARS AND MY BROTHER HAS HAD IT FOR FOUR YEARS THE SAME PHONE! very good picture qualityif you go to the pic quality option and push best. there has been no phantom dialing, the back has not came off, and this phone is very nice as long as you take care of it and don't do anything stupid with it. i have three brothers. this phone has gone through games of catch, soccor, and my fave lets see if my sister's phone will bounce on wood! but yet it still works perfectly

 From a lot of the reviews I've read on here, my W490 has worked for much longer than expected -- I got it in March 2008 and it just started messing up last night. Out of nowhere, the screen lit up and wouldn't go off for anything. Pressing any button on the keypad, even mashing all of the keys, gave no response. Then came the beep-boop symphonies it decided to improvise and perform for me on the spot. It started making every sound possible in the middle of the night, so I just took the battery out (since holding down the off button wouldn't even work). When I woke up, I replaced the battery and found that I had new text messages, but of course, couldn't open them no matter what. I've had it for a year and 11 months, ALMOST at the 2-year/new phone mark, so I'm DEFINITELY not getting a replacement for the W490 model.Considering that every person who's ever had this phone is doomed to have the same disappointment and frustration, I'm wondering why this phone is still being sold. DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE.

agree, that i liked the phone, liked the text, etc; agree that camera not good, and the back plate doesn't want to stay on; having it in ur pocket, the ring style will change having hit something in the pocket. the problem i had, was when i went to wash an exterior door; and water squirt reflected off de do' and getting on me; next day, it when it started having problems ... phone will work .l.

 Let's get to it. I first got this phone July 08 and everything was working fine and dandy until around November of the same year: It suddenly started repeatedly pressing the 4 button. I thought it was just a glitch of some type so, I took the battery out, put it back in, turned it on, 444444444444444444.... So, I called up T-Mobile, they tried to help, then told me to send the phone in and they'll send me a new phone, no charge. Great. Once I got the new phone it was working fine until about 4 months. It was freezing and what not then it was doing the phantom dialing once again with the 4s. SO! I called up t-mobile again, they told me to send it in again, did and the new phone worked for a few months more, guess what happens? The same Goddamn thing. So, blah blah blah I get the new phone same thing happened, got another one but this timeeee, they sent me a broken one! GET THAT!! I turned it on and the screen started flickering in and out. The the left side of the screen, I noticed, was darker than the right. So, I called up t-mobile, they tried to help me, told me to change the brightness but, nope. It was broken. So, they sent me another one and by the time it arrived, the broken phone's screen was just completely black, the backlight must have died. So, yeah. Now, the phone I have right now won't hold a charge for longer than 20 minutes and now, it won't even charge in general. You'd think T-Mobile would have just sent me a DIFFERENT brand new fucking phone but no, they're too cheap. So, in July I'll say **, T-Mobile.

I "upgraded " my phone with a new 2 year commitment back in February 2008, thinking I was getting the best of phones, a Motorola, even though it wasn't quite what was top-of -the-line which was the Motorola Razr. I instead as advised to get the W490, which had somewhat higher battery capacity of 48 hours as opposed to the Razr's 35 or so hours. Expecting to have the so-called "Cadillac" of cell phones, it turned out I had the Yugo of cell phones. With 2 phones for 2 lines, mine was the first to fail. One day, after charging the phone, I went to dial a friend and instead the phones keypad went nuts, putting in random numbers steadily across the screen, which shortly devolved later to include random letters as well. I had the phone replaced and since that time the replacement has performed well, up to today, but based on what I'm hearing, who know how long that will hold up. As for the other line, about 2 months after buying it, it was subject to a power failurew, and the battery would only hold power for 6 hours after which the "battery Low" warning would come on. I managed, after begging, to get a battery (T-mobile assumes that only the phone body itself needs needs replacement even though it was clearly a total phone power problem. They replaced it as it was still under warranty. A while later, problems with bad reception and power drainage occurred even with low usage (6 calls within  a 24 hour period0 but didn;t warrant warrant warranty replacement. Finally, after the warranty expired, the phone's display had blackouts, and a crazy vertical striped screen and then no way to access the screen.I called t-mobile who told me they couldn't do anything because of the warranty expiration. I am going to call Motorola and demand a replacement. From what I read, Motorola should replace these phones with a better one, NO QUESTIONS ASKED !!!

This phone is terrible.. the screen turns white everytime i open it..and i have to restart my phone to use it.. it turns white everytime.....terible phone....dont take this phone ever again......and dont waste money behind this....

I have has this phone for 14 months now. For the first year it was a great phone. I love the design, and arrangment. Things seem to be where they should be and i found it easy to use and learn on. My major issue with this phone is that it keeps doing this phantom dialing of the number 8 key, sometimes the * key. around 10 months it first started doing this and happened few and far between working GREAT! Now after 14 months it will not stop doing this. I turned it on this morning and it will not stop dialing the number 8. I went to T-Mobile who told me that my warranty expired 2 months ago and so i would have to buy a new phone. WTF! The woman at the store mentioned that she sees this issue alot with Motorola phones especially this model. She also said that she sees people who have had these phones for years with no problems, so it is possible that you will get lucky and not buy one of the many lemons out there!
I have had 2 other Motorola phones and loved them, having none of these problems. If you are looking for a new phone that will last you, don't buy this one! I am sad to see this phone go, it has been a favorite. 

Well when my phone started doing whatever it wanted mainly dial the number 8 until i wanted to punt it across the room, I decided to google the problem and low and behold, it's not just me. The phone was always pretty slow on the uptake, it would have a lag time between one application to another. I have had problems with it freezing so I had to take out the battery and put it back in and it would usually be okay...unfortunatley, not this time. I have had the phone 2 years but it appears to be finished now. Luckily, we had an extra phone lying around that I can use but it sucks because i can't retrieve my numbers and I wasn't smart enough to put them on the SIM card, that's the last time I make that mistake. Luckily, my contract is up and because I'm not a huge fan of tmobile anyway, I'm gonna sign a new contract somewhere else and get a brand new phone. Right now I don't want to give up trying to get the numbers out of this phone but every time i flip it open it goes 8 crazy and I can't do anything to stop it but close it again. After this, I wouldn't recommend this phone.

I have had the same ongoing problems with T0mobile sending me refurbished phones to replace "new" ones. It has been with several different brands. I don't think it's just the phones, it's T-Mobile! They are taking us to the cleaners! I decided to stay with them instead of paying Verizon $10 a month more for their plan. you get what you pay for! Once my contract is up with T-Mobile, it's bye- bye!

I've had this phone for about a year & a half, and I have to say that for the most part, I've been pretty happy with it.  I would probably call it average.  My biggest issue from the beginning is the camera, it takes *really* bad pictures, so if you're planning on taking lots of photos with your phone, then this one isn't for you.  Pictures are blurry even when the phone is resting on a surface, no matter how still you hold it the pictures are very blurry.  And the colors aren't good, either.  Also, I've never been able to get the back cover for the phone to fit on quite right, but its not a huge problem.
Otherwise, I've been mostly happy with the phone.  However, I have had the "phantom dialing" thing, occasionally... where the phone will go crazy and dial 55555555555 or something, nonstop... but that has mostly been (for me anyway) when the phone has been exposed to water.  And yes, this phone (or mine, at least) is VERY water sensitive.  I can't use it with wet hands at all.  But whenever it has had this problem, it has been easily fixed by taking the battery out/the back cover off, and drying it with the hair dryer.
After a year and a half, though, I think my phone may be on its way out.  Recently I have had problems charging the phone, I'll plug it in and it will not charge.  But I think that was a problem with the charger, because I tried the charger for my boyfriend's old RAZR, and that works fine.  But the phone is getting very laggy and slow lately.  I'll get a text, and have to push the key 2 or 3 times before it will open the message, and that sort of thing.  Also, the circular toggle key on the phone is wearing out.  It works fine, but it is cracking around where the arrows are.  So I'm wondering how long that will last.  Also, sometimes when I open the phone, the white screen comes up and then it takes a few seconds to show anything on the display.
Otherwise, I've liked this phone.  The overall construction is sturdy, I've dropped it many times and nothing has broken.  I haven't had to replace it at all, unlike many other reviewers.  It is very easy for texting.  I like the overall appearance of the phone, and that it is available in many colors (mine is green).  Like I said, my biggest complaint from the beginning has been the very poor camera quality.  But maybe I just got lucky and got a "good" phone.

This phone has the best feeling keypad compared to most phones.  I like the size, screen, features.  But right off the bat some kind of visual artifact appeared on the external LCD screen, looked like a tiny all-spark from Transformers.  It's there whether the phone is on or off.  Right in the fricken center.  It kind of interferes with being able to see the date/time on the front.
Then I dropped the phone in a tidepool in hawaii (not a nice sandy one, but a rough lava one) and a wave came in and bashed the phone around in the tidepool.  I reached in and got it, a bit scratched up (the phone), immediately opened it and hosed it off with fresh water, and....  it still worked!  But then it started going crazy.  The good news was, the screens still looked perfect (no water under the glass or in the LCD, yessss...).  So I did what anyone would do, used my special screwdriver from the multiple MOTO's I've had, and took the thing completely apart, dried, sanded, and cleaned everything I could with alcohol and q-tips, blew it out with an air compressor and a blow dryer, and let it sit for a week.  When I came back to it, the keypad didn't work at all, nada.  I *could* use the phone with my bluetooth earpiece/mic in voice-recognition mode, with the phone closed.  So, I let it sit for a couple more weeks.  Then I remembered that T-Mobile suggested once to put a different person's sim card in the phone and see if that helps (of course, she put *my* sim card in her phone, and it ERASED MY SIM CARD...),  so I found a sim card laying around the house, put it in my phone, and it seemed to work perfectly.  Yesssssssssss... no shelling out $$$ for a new phone, no renewing my contract to get a cheap phone, no messing with used iPhones on eBay and figuring out how to unlock it etc... MY W490 WORKS AGAIN.  Put my sim card in, and voila, it works!!!!!  That is, it worked until I took the mini micro SD card out to do some file management in a card reader, and put the storage card back in the phone.  Then, all of a sudden... yep, RANDOM NUMBERS from hell again.  7777777777777777  with the odd 9999999 tossed in.  And that's where it's at right now.  After all I've been through with this phone, I really hoped that it was working again.  Maybe it will again, who knows.  But now, I am forced to consider it untrustworthy.  I don't really blame Motorola for it (it wasn't their waterproof model after all), but my stepdaughter has the W490 also, and she's been through the same thing that many on this blog have been through, the random numbers, the trading in of refurbished phones, etc.  So, I hate to say it, but in spite of the fact that my phone has been through surf and washing machines, it is flawed nonetheless, in its manufacturing, in some way.
It's too bad, because I really do like just about everything about the phone.
If anyone has any suggestions for resurrecting the phone from random number entry, I'm all ears...

NEVER get this phone!!!! It looks good at first, but its not worth it! I have had SO many problems with this phone. It won't charge with ANY charger into an outlet in a wall. I have to use a USB cord plugged into the computer to charge my phone, then it doesn't even hold a charge!!! Also it randomly changes my ringtones...(to prove it, it JUST happened when i got a text) My phone will NOT vibrate anymore it just goes to silent or some random setting. The memory on the phone is not good at all. The space fills up so quickly. Also if you are a texter and sometimes send long messages, if its long it will change to an attachment message and that just makes everyting go slower. Overall this is a horrible sucky phone that you SHOULD NOT get!

this phone is as bad as it gets, it wore out way too fast, the buttons press themselves, i can be txting or doing anything else and t-zones come out the blue and when im talking the 6 & 5 button keep repeatedly getting pressed, if your thinking about buying this fone, you might as well buy your neigbors' dog poop

I got this phone for my birthday almost two years ago. It isn't well made, the D-Pad came off after a year of use, the speaker phone started to die. My contracts were deleting themselves, and I couldn't text because the rest of the key-pad was wearing away. My phone was never brought to the beach, pool, tub, stink, and I never used it in rain or near water at all [ expect while drinking water. Suddenly the white water do near the battery indicates water damage ? Died after a year of getting it, I've had samsung and nokia phones before and after that phone and they are much better.

This phone is not well made at all. After just over a year the, the keyboard on it stopped working. Only button that operates is the power button now. Looked on T-Mobile's site, and a bunch of other people posted the same issue with the W490  - keyboard fails after six months to a year of use. When I called T-Mobile tech support, even pointing out it seems to be a common issue, ie a manufacturer's defect, their answer was "to-bad" "your screwed". Switching to AT&T and the I-Phone.

I think that this phone is a pretty decent phone. I've had it since December 2007 and it still works fine. It never really froze on me, unlike all the other reviews. Calling and texting works fine. Its other features are pretty good as well. I would recomend this phone, but it really is a personal preference. I mean if you want to just use a phone for basic functions, then this would be a great phone.

  We bought my daughter's W490 for her birthday.  We paid full amount, close or over $200.00.  The charging port broke within 6 months.  We were under warranty so it got replaced.  Silly me, I though I would get a NEW phone as a replacement.  Be advised that there is no such thing once you have had the phone for 15 days.  You actually have 14 days after purchase to return the phone and get your money back, but once that 15th day has arrived, your screwed.  You could have paid $300.00 and on that 15th day it breaks down for any reason,  you would still get a piece of junk refurbished phone as a replacement.   Let me reinterate..You get a piece of CRAP refurbished phone.  I really don't think people know this.  We are talking $200.00 here and in this economy, you most definitely want to get what you paid for.  We did not.  So, phone failed, we get the USED PHONE/REFURBISHED REPLACEMENT and it lasts 7 months and the same problem occurs - a defective charging port.  Well, they tell me that they cannot replace it again as my original phone's 1 yr warranty has run out.  I tell them, give me a supervisor and go on to tell her that I have yet to get a phone from you that has actually lasted a year and I paid $200.00 for it.  Well, she hems and haws and finally agrees to send me ANOTHER PIECE OF CRAP REFURBISHED PHONE.  All the while, I am thinking,....... how long will this one last?  I'll try to remember to write back and tell you. 
  So, I started thinking....What a racket this could be if they are really just selling us refurbished phones for NEW ones!  It is possible.  I mean really, how are we to know?  Now I'm not saying they are, I'm just saying, could this happen?  So I track down the original phone's Manufacturing Number and call Motorola.  I mean, I wanted to see if it was ever repaired and sent out before I bought it.  Well...they Couldn't find it in their system.  How convenient.  I was told by a customer service person at T-Mobile that Motorola would have it on record.  I mean, they have to have a manufacturing number for every phone they have made.  They said they didn't have the number in the system. What can you make of this? 
  Another note, my phone was made in Singapore, need I say more.
  It's up to you if you buy one of these, but I hope my EXPERIENCE has helped you choose wisely.  Good Luck and remember, "The big guy never really cares about the little guy UNTIL YOU QUIT BUYING HIS PRODUCTS!"
 
 
 
 

Everytyme I use  the phone a white screen pops up&it often presses the number 4,&7.idk whats wrong with this pone but it is garbage.the look of the phone is great,but the phone itself is not worth buying.so please dont buy the Motorolla W490.!!!!!!!!!!!

My phone is failing like all others, the white screen of death as it is called has possesed this phone. Suggestions?
Im thinking of just trashing this phone then buying a unlocked phone and using the sim card.

after a year and half after use, the phone is showing the white screen of death, sometimes when i flip it open it dials the same person. Somtimes the main screen goes dark and the keypad lights up, then minutes later it starts functioning. I took this phone to a tmobile store and they told me that a software update would fix all these problems; so i went onto tmobile.com and after an hour of looking for  software updates i came to this site http://www.t-mobile.com/motoupgrade/  Yet when you input your phone number in the pop window, nothing happens, so i went to to motorolas site and downloaded their software update program, and yet another problem, Motorolas software updater checks to see if the phone is under warranty before upadting, mine is not. After about 20 mins of playing around with that program i found a flaw that would let me update the phone without it being under warranty. 3 hours later the phone is done updating, yet after 10 minutes of use the phone started acting up again!!!!.

So, in the beginning, this phone was working fine. I got it for free so it was whatever but, then about 6 months later, it started acting up. i.e. Dialing random numbers, turning the volume up and down, the buttons were worn (which shouldn't happen), and also, when I got this phone, it was the last green one there and they had to dig for it; etc. It was like it have a mind of it's own but, I figured it was just because I dropped it twice. So, I exchanged it for another and was on my second phone. This one worked fine until about another 5 months later. It was doing the same thing as the last one. Soo, I called in a whatnot, saying this shouldn't have happened again. I didn't drop it or anything so again, they sent me another one. This time around, I turned on the phone and as I was entering my contacts, the left side of the screen started to flicker like a flourescent light hen stopped but, the left side of the screen was noticably darker than the right. So, once again, I called in and they ran me through a few tests like turning the power off, reseting, changing the brightness, etc. But, nothing worked and it was still faded. So, they're sending me a new one AGAIN. But now, as of this morning, when I turned my phone on, the screen was totally black although the phone was on. Occasionally, it'll flicker in but, just for a second. It really pisses me off that I'm going to be on my 4th phone soon. Besides the exchange, I think they should send me a totally different phone for free. I don't feel like going through this crap again.
Btw, the color of the phone is lime green and I'm starting to the that maybe the green one's are defective. D:

Looked at a few people's posts and they all seem to have the same problems...I haven't had any of them. Doesn't drop calls, texts fine, It was a free phone with plan so I expected to have to get a new one but after 2 yrs, W490 holds up great--even though I suck and drop it all the time. Only problem is the back cover pops off easy, but also pops back on easy...no biggie. The music player and camera are both good.

I am on my 4th phone since August of 2008.  The phone keeps going down on battery and it will get hot while I talk on it.  Don't waste your money on this phone.

This phone is a joke...I have the same prob alot of the others have had with this damn thing....I cant close it or the screen goes white or black....what a joke, for paying so much for the cel bill, and cel's themselves, u think that since so many people have the same damn problem, that they'd recall it and give u a free phone in its place, and from what I gather from the reviews before mine, if i send it back...they send me a BRAND NEW shiny piece of crap...WOOT Can hardly wait!