Cons: Lousy phone! Bad speakers, poor functionality, not intuitive, JUNK, JUNK, JUNK! Avoid this phone.
The Bottom Line: Avoid this phone. There are many better models available, and Motorola definitely missed the mark with this one. It has a lot of bugs and poorly designed features.
morning_angel's Full Review: Motorola V400 Cell Phone
This phone is an unmitigated piece of junk! I am on my FOURTH Motorola V400 in six months, and we are ready to do another exchange, moving us up to FIVE! When I switched to Cingular, I bought two of this phone, one for myself, one for my husband. I'll preface this by saying that my husband is not a geek like I am. I bought him a camera phone mainly because he is a truck driver, and I wanted him to be able to SEE what I was telling him about, as well as share pictures with me for the same reason (When I SAY the basement has SIX inches of water, I MEAN it has SIX inches of water...SEE!?!)
He had a difficult time using the phone, since many of the menus are absolutely not intuitive. Besides the menus being difficult, the buttons are on the small side as well. One of the biggest complaints he had was that he could not hear the phone. I concur, sound on this phone is definitely a problem and 2 of the phones went back for that reason. The speaker is a problem, and Motorola is aware of it, but has to date failed to resolve it. He ended abandoning this phone altogether, since he also had problems with seeing the screen in bright light.
My phone has been more of a problem for me than my husband's was for him, probably because I am still trying to use it. As I said, the speaker is a problem. You often cannot hear the person you are calling and have to disconnect, sometimes even reboot the phone and hope that it works. I have also had problems with the phone rebooting itself while I was using it. This is a problem particularly during text messaging. Sometimes the button that indicates to the phone that it is closed can stick, and then it doesn't know you've closed it. So basically, sometimes it shuts off when you don't want it to, and other times it won't shut off when you DO want it to...pretty contrary if you ask me!
Text messaging is difficult at times. It is hard to save a message as a draft if you are interrupted during writing. If you close the phone, the message is gone. Also, if you select a person to send the message to, and then want to add something else to the message before you send it, you cannot go back.
Another problem area are the external buttons on this phone--they are a major nuisance. It is inevitable that you press the buttons simply by handling the phone. I personally have yet to go through one day without resetting the ring profile from in my pocket or purse at least once during the day. Also, another one of the buttons often gets pressed while you are opening the phone. If you are trying to place a call, that is a nuisance, since it thinks you are trying to voice dial.
Speaking of voice dialing, I found it to be so bad that it is not worth using. I know a lot of people have said that about voice dialing in general, however I found my old Nokia to be pretty good in that area.
If you do have a ton of problems and have to send the phone back, you will lose any photos you have taken and any ringtones you have downloaded. Perhaps I am missing the point of the SIMM card somewhere, but I thought it was so that you could keep your settings as you move from phone to phone.
The only way around losing your photos is to email them to a computer (and pay the data fees to your phone provider) and then email them back to your phone when you get your new one (and pay the data fees to your phone provider again.) There is no way to keep your ringtones, since your provider would not want you to transfer them from one phone to another (why would you pay for them if you could just bum them from your friends?!)
Yes it has a camera, and yes, the camera has a zoom feature, but quite frankly, unless all you hope to do with the photos is use them on your phone, the quality is pretty poor.
The ringtones, wallpaper/screensavers, and games that come on the phone are pretty pathetic. The ringtones are the worst. I figured that I would just settle for one, and not be too picky about it, but they were just lousy and I ended up buying a few just so that it was tolerable.
Speaking of the ringtones, if you put the phone on "Vibrate and Ring" it does not do both at the same time. First it vibrates a few times, and then it rings. It’s pretty easy to miss either or both. The volume of the ringtones is limited and I would say that if you work in a loud environment, this would definitely become a problem. You will miss more calls than you catch.
I personally did not have a problem with the color screen on my phone. I compared it to some others and the color and picture seemed clearer and more vivid than most I saw. I was impressed with the screen.
Overall, I consider this phone the worst that I have ever owned. To compound matters, it wasn't even a free phone! I actually paid for this piece of trash! The only reason that I have continued to exchange it for the same model is because I have become so disgruntled with Cingular for selling such a piece of junk that I refuse to put another dollar in their pocket to buy an "upgrade" phone from them. ("Upgrade" as they call it still costs you money, PLUS you have to renew your contract with them in order to do it!) My replacement phone will be a private purchase, and definitely NOT a Motorola.
UPDATE: The last Motorola V400 lasted exactly ONE WEEK before the screen died on me! Interestingly, Cingular is no longer carrying the V400 as one of their phones, and offered to send me another model, but not another make (meaning it had to be a Motorola) they said I could have the Motorola V551, which I received yesterday. Hopefully this one will be better than the V400!
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): $59.99 Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy
This unlocked cell phone is compatible with GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. Not all carrier features may be supported. It will not work with CDMA...More at Amazon Marketplace
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