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March 13, 2005

Motorola V3 RAZR

I am currently listening to The Trooper from the album “Rock In Rio” by Iron Maiden

Well, I caved into the constant nagging voice in my head that tells me to buy cool (read expensive) gadgets. This phone has to be one of the best reviewed phones on the planet. I think the worst thing I have read about this phone is that the buttons are to small. I have average size hands, and I have no problem with the buttons.

I went to Cingular today, and after being assured that I could return the phone in 30 days no questions asked, I bit the bullet and bought the phone. It ain't cheap my friends, but a $100 mail in rebate makes it a lot more palatable. So, the great Cingular experiment begins. I had AT&T many years ago, back in the day when they where the only game in town. As time went on they really lost there luster, and just couldn't compete. I jumped to Verizon for a few years, and when the TREO 600 came out, I jumped to Sprint. The TREO is a little pokey, but overall I was satisfied with it. As time went on I sort of realized that I don't need to carry a full fledged PIM everywhere I go, but as it is built in the phone I was stuck. The TREO is BIG. It does not really fit in your pocket very comfortably, so I decided to start looking for something a little smaller.

I only had one hard requirement. The phone had to have bluetooth. Why, you ask? Simple, 3 reasons, I want to synch with my MAC, I want to be able to use the phone handsfree in Debbie's car (Acura TL), and I want to be able to use the phone as a modem with my new HP 4700 PDA.

So where are we at so far. Well, phone quality seems to be very good. I made a few calls from home and was impressed with the quality. So far so good. I have not yet tried to synch with the MAC or the Acura. But... come on you saw it coming... for the life of me I cannot figure out how to get the modem/pda combo to work. I was able to pair the devices with no problem, and the PDA does seem to be connecting wiht the phone. After a lot of research on the web, it seems that there are several different theories on how to make this work. None worked for me. I suspect, it may because I have not signed up for a Cingular data plan, but I am just not sure. Tech support was closed for the weekend, and several attempts to add a data plan to my account via the web all failed. This is pretty much a deal breaker for me, so if I can't get it to work, the phone goes back. Which would really break my heart, since it is without a doubt the coolest phone I have ever seen, let alone owned.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE 3/13/2005 9:30am EST: This should really fall under the research before you buy rule. Which, by the way is a credo that has pretty much guided me my whole life. As my friend Brian tells me “you enjoy the hunt way more then the kill”. So this morning I decided to try out iSync with my mac. I was able to pair the phone with the mac via bluetooth - no problem. I sent a file from the phone to the mac no problem. However - no iSync support. A 30 second check of Apples website shows that all motorola phones will work with iSync as long as you're using a USB cable. What the hell is that!!! I am not happy. I am currently listening to All The Young Dudes from the album “Live” by Cybernauts


UPDATE 3/13/2005 11:16am EST: As if you cared - I am currently listening to Alt hvad du vil vide from the album “Ud af Doren” by TYG. So, first really cool and successful test with the RAZR. I was able to pair the phone with the Acura. Luckily, I had the quick start guide that comes with the car - remember the days when the quick start guide was - key goes here - anyway, I paired the phone and the car, and had my brother call me. With the stereo going, the RAZR rang first, then the car stereo muted itself, and a message appeared on the dashboard showing me the number of the person calling. Press the answer button on the steering wheel, and we where talking. He came through the stereo system load and clear. After an initial breakup, he said I was quite clear as well. I did notice that I had to talk a little loader then normal for him to hear me, but it worked. Damn it. I really want to keep this phone. If I can figure out the dial up from the PDA the phone is a keeper. Apparently, I cannot iSync with any Motorola phone via Bluetooth. I can move files back and forth between the phone and the mac. So, if the dial up can be figured out, I have achieved 2.5 of my 3 bluetooth goals for the phone. And I am currently listening to Always from the album “Egyptology” by World Party - it is foreign band day at my house.
One last thing - sorry - if you know my cell number you can still call me - I currently have the TREO forwarding to the RAZR.


UPDATE 3/19/2005 12:00pm EST: Kind of forgot where we are at, and I am to lazy to re-read everything. This is the final update on the RAZR. After a couple of calls to Cingular technical support, they hooked me up with the codes I needed to use the phone as a bluetooth modem. So I got that going, and it works very well. The big test was this week. I was in Charlotte for 2 days, and the phone worked great. Reception was fine, modem worked. I have to say the clarity and reception on the phone is very good, but the volume is way to loud. Even turned way down, the volume really is high. But if that is my biggest complaint then I guess the phone is a keeper. So, now I just have to get a new phones for Debbie, and my folks, add them to the plan, and get my sprint cell number transferred, and cancel sprint.

Posted by pmadsen at March 13, 2005 01:29 AM