Why the RAZR is killing Motorola

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>> It's one of the most iconic phones on the market, and
>> something that redefined the way that consumers look at
>> mobile phones. But the Motorola RAZR V3 has turned from a
>> thing of beauty into something more sinister.. because the
>> RAZR is slowly killing Motorola.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/yobb67
>
> (now let's see how long it takes Navas to mount a defense)
>

Never cared for the RAZRs. Too thin. Seemed more like a toy. Tactile
feedback was poor. Difficult to operate by feel alone. When the time came
to upgrade my antique V60t, I opted for the V365. Has most of the bells and
whistles of the RAZRs, and it *feels* like a phone in your hand.

Bob

---

› See More: Why the RAZR is killing Motorola

rjdriver wrote:
> Never cared for the RAZRs. Too thin. Seemed more like a toy. Tactile
> feedback was poor. Difficult to operate by feel alone. When the time came
> to upgrade my antique V60t, I opted for the V365. Has most of the bells and
> whistles of the RAZRs, and it *feels* like a phone in your hand.

I just upgraded my Motorola 557 to the V3xx phone now. The sound quality of
listening to people appears to be not as good as I find myself asking them
to repeat what they are saying...something I hardly never had to do with
the 557.

Over the next few days I'll swap the SIM cards on the two new V3xx phones
and the 557 and call different people and see if there really is a problem.

DTC wrote:

> I just upgraded my Motorola 557 to the V3xx phone now. The sound quality
> of listening to people appears to be not as good as I find myself asking
> them to repeat what they are saying...something I hardly never had to do
> with the 557.

As far as RAZR's go, the V3xx is supposed to be an improvement over
previous models in terms of voice quality. There have been complaints
about the speakerphone, and about some tinnieness, in the reviews, but
compared to earlier RAZRs, they are better.

> Over the next few days I'll swap the SIM cards on the two new V3xx
> phones and the 557 and call different people and see if there really is
> a problem.

The V557 has very good voice quality. The CNET review stated:

"Audio quality was spotty at times, which is typical with the Cingular
network in San Francisco. We had several dropped calls, as well as calls
that went in and out. When working correctly, the handset itself has
solid sound quality."

"http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/motorola-v557/4505-6454_7-31313291.html"

Are you comparing apples to apples here? Maybe you were using the V557
in an area with better coverage than where you were using the V3xx. The
AT&T/Cingular network in the San Francisco Bay Area is not all that
great, as CNET noted.

The deal killer for the V3xx, as CNET stated, is that it isn't a world
phone. "It's disappointing that the phone is not fully quadband like the
Razr V3. As such, it won't have as much coverage outside of the United
States. It's a baffling change to say the least, and one that makes the
phone significantly less consumer-friendly."

"http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/motorola-razr-v3xx/4505-6454_7-31987377.html"

LOL, can someone explain the difference between "not fully quadband" and
simply "not quadband." Looks like the CNET writer needs to take some
writing classes.



[Copied to alt.cellular.attws. Please post all alt.cellular.cingular
posts to alt.cellular.attws as well. The Cingular name is going away,
and alt.cellular.attws is the proper venue for posts regarding AT&T's
Wireless Service.]

SMS wrote:
> DTC wrote:
>
>> I just upgraded my Motorola 557 to the V3xx phone now. The sound
>> quality of listening to people appears to be not as good as I find
>> myself asking them to repeat what they are saying...something I hardly
>> never had to do with the 557.

> Are you comparing apples to apples here? Maybe you were using the V557
> in an area with better coverage than where you were using the V3xx.

Pretty much all the same areas about town. Had a call an hour ago and I
simply could not understand what the guy was saying...even after having him
repeat himself several times. He sounded very horse, as the other calls.

"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> DTC wrote:
>
>> I just upgraded my Motorola 557 to the V3xx phone now. The sound quality
>> of listening to people appears to be not as good as I find myself asking
>> them to repeat what they are saying...something I hardly never had to do
>> with the 557.

Make sure you have removed the tiny piece of round plastic protective
sheeting that covers the small round earpiece on the phone when shipped.


>
> As far as RAZR's go, the V3xx is supposed to be an improvement over
> previous models in terms of voice quality. There have been complaints
> about the speakerphone, and about some tinnieness, in the reviews, but
> compared to earlier RAZRs, they are better.
>
>> Over the next few days I'll swap the SIM cards on the two new V3xx phones
>> and the 557 and call different people and see if there really is a
>> problem.
>
> The V557 has very good voice quality. The CNET review stated:
>
> "Audio quality was spotty at times, which is typical with the Cingular
> network in San Francisco. We had several dropped calls, as well as calls
> that went in and out. When working correctly, the handset itself has solid
> sound quality."
>
> "http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/motorola-v557/4505-6454_7-31313291.html"
>
> Are you comparing apples to apples here? Maybe you were using the V557 in
> an area with better coverage than where you were using the V3xx. The
> AT&T/Cingular network in the San Francisco Bay Area is not all that great,
> as CNET noted.
>
> The deal killer for the V3xx, as CNET stated, is that it isn't a world
> phone. "It's disappointing that the phone is not fully quadband like the
> Razr V3. As such, it won't have as much coverage outside of the United
> States. It's a baffling change to say the least, and one that makes the
> phone significantly less consumer-friendly."
>
> "http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/motorola-razr-v3xx/4505-6454_7-31987377.html"
>
> LOL, can someone explain the difference between "not fully quadband" and
> simply "not quadband." Looks like the CNET writer needs to take some
> writing classes.
>
>
>
> [Copied to alt.cellular.attws. Please post all alt.cellular.cingular posts
> to alt.cellular.attws as well. The Cingular name is going away, and
> alt.cellular.attws is the proper venue for posts regarding AT&T's Wireless
> Service.]

"DTC" <no_spam@move_along_folks.foob> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> rjdriver wrote:
>> Never cared for the RAZRs. Too thin. Seemed more like a toy.
>> Tactile feedback was poor. Difficult to operate by feel alone. When the
>> time came to upgrade my antique V60t, I opted for the V365. Has most of
>> the bells and whistles of the RAZRs, and it *feels* like a phone in your
>> hand.
>
> I just upgraded my Motorola 557 to the V3xx phone now. The sound quality
> of listening to people appears to be not as good as I find myself asking
> them to repeat what they are saying...something I hardly never had to do
> with the 557.

Make sure you have removed the tiny piece of round plastic protective
sheeting that covers the small round earpiece on the phone when shipped.

>
> Over the next few days I'll swap the SIM cards on the two new V3xx phones
> and the 557 and call different people and see if there really is a
> problem.

Kurt wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> "Jackson" <jacksonx@no_spam.z> wrote:
>
>> "DTC" <no_spam@move_along_folks.foob> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>> rjdriver wrote:
>>>> Never cared for the RAZRs. Too thin. Seemed more like a toy.
>>>> Tactile feedback was poor. Difficult to operate by feel alone. When the
>>>> time came to upgrade my antique V60t, I opted for the V365. Has most of
>>>> the bells and whistles of the RAZRs, and it *feels* like a phone in your
>>>> hand.
>>> I just upgraded my Motorola 557 to the V3xx phone now. The sound quality
>>> of listening to people appears to be not as good as I find myself asking
>>> them to repeat what they are saying...something I hardly never had to do
>>> with the 557.
>> Make sure you have removed the tiny piece of round plastic protective
>> sheeting that covers the small round earpiece on the phone when shipped.
>>
> Removing the unit from the box helps, too.


The red tabs on all the plastic covers are pretty obvious.

I tried both of the V3xx phones and compared the audio quality to my V557.
The V3xx phones most certainly don't not sound as clear. Called Cingular
today and they're sending me a self-addressed paid shipping box to return them.

Jack D. Russell, Sr. wrote:
> The blue protective plastic covering the earpiece on the V3xx doesn't
> have a red tab on it. The speaker will be chrome/silver when the plastic
> film is removed. Of all the various phones I've owned, (I am hearing
> challenged) the audio on the V3xx is the best, hands down.

It might have been simply a different way they protect parts of the phone
during shipment, all I recall off the top of my head was five or six clear
plastic strips with an offset tab to bring attention to them for you to
remove them.

I was hoping it was just that one phone that was bad, but since I tried
both of them it narrowed it down. Callers had a distinct horse or raspy
sound when I compared them back to back with the same callers by swapping
the SIM cards.

"DTC" <no_spam@move_along_folks.foob> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Jack D. Russell, Sr. wrote:
>> The blue protective plastic covering the earpiece on the V3xx doesn't
>> have a red tab on it. The speaker will be chrome/silver when the plastic
>> film is removed. Of all the various phones I've owned, (I am hearing
>> challenged) the audio on the V3xx is the best, hands down.
>
> It might have been simply a different way they protect parts of the phone
> during shipment, all I recall off the top of my head was five or six clear
> plastic strips with an offset tab to bring attention to them for you to
> remove them.

"The blue protective plastic covering the earpiece on the V3xx doesn't
have a red tab on it. The speaker will be chrome/silver when the
plastic film is removed. Of all the various phones I've owned, (I am
hearing challenged) the audio on the V3xx is the best, hands down.
--
Jack"


Exactly, this one does not have an obvious tab on it as mentioned in a
previous post. It is a very small and not obvious piece of plastic that
needs to be removed or you will have the problem with low volume since the
speaker is actually covered with plastic sheet. The spot of plastic is only
about 1/8" to 3/16" in diameter. If you didn't remove that not so obvious
tiny piece of protective sheeting on the earpiece then that's the issue.


>
> I was hoping it was just that one phone that was bad, but since I tried
> both of them it narrowed it down. Callers had a distinct horse or raspy
> sound when I compared them back to back with the same callers by swapping
> the SIM cards.

Jackson wrote:
> "DTC" <no_spam@move_along_folks.foob> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Jack D. Russell, Sr. wrote:
>>> The blue protective plastic covering the earpiece on the V3xx doesn't
>>> have a red tab on it. The speaker will be chrome/silver when the plastic
>>> film is removed. Of all the various phones I've owned, (I am hearing
>>> challenged) the audio on the V3xx is the best, hands down.
>> It might have been simply a different way they protect parts of the phone
>> during shipment, all I recall off the top of my head was five or six clear
>> plastic strips with an offset tab to bring attention to them for you to
>> remove them.
>
> "The blue protective plastic covering the earpiece on the V3xx doesn't
> have a red tab on it. The speaker will be chrome/silver when the
> plastic film is removed. Of all the various phones I've owned, (I am
> hearing challenged) the audio on the V3xx is the best, hands down.

I think the confusing thing here is that your phone may have been packaged
differently, but nevertheless the point is...I did indeed remove all
protective covers including the red tabbed one over the earpiece.

On Thu, 17 May 2007 12:50:19 -0700, SMS <[email protected]>
wrote in <[email protected]>:

>DTC wrote:
>
>> I just upgraded my Motorola 557 to the V3xx phone now. The sound quality
>> of listening to people appears to be not as good as I find myself asking
>> them to repeat what they are saying...something I hardly never had to do
>> with the 557.
>
>As far as RAZR's go, the V3xx is supposed to be an improvement over
>previous models in terms of voice quality. There have been complaints
>about the speakerphone, and about some tinnieness, in the reviews, but
>compared to earlier RAZRs, they are better.

The V3xx (including sound and build quality) actually gets very good
reviews, both from reviewers and from users, as I know myself from
personal experience. You haven't actually used it, so you have no idea
what you're talking about (as usual).

>> Over the next few days I'll swap the SIM cards on the two new V3xx
>> phones and the 557 and call different people and see if there really is
>> a problem.
>
>The V557 has very good voice quality.

Good, but not as good as the V3xx, either in terms of quality or in
terms of volume.

>Are you comparing apples to apples here? Maybe you were using the V557
>in an area with better coverage than where you were using the V3xx. The
>AT&T/Cingular network in the San Francisco Bay Area is not all that
>great, ...

It actually is good in the Bay Area, arguably the best of any carrier.

>[Copied to alt.cellular.attws. Please post all alt.cellular.cingular
>posts to alt.cellular.attws as well. The Cingular name is going away,
>and alt.cellular.attws is the proper venue for posts regarding AT&T's
>Wireless Service.]

All that does is trash attws with partial threads, making is _less_ (not
more) usable. Kindly stop.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

On Fri, 18 May 2007 11:48:35 -0400, "Jackson" <jacksonx@no_spam.z> wrote
in <[email protected]>:

>"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> DTC wrote:
>>
>>> I just upgraded my Motorola 557 to the V3xx phone now. The sound quality
>>> of listening to people appears to be not as good as I find myself asking
>>> them to repeat what they are saying...something I hardly never had to do
>>> with the 557.
>
>Make sure you have removed the tiny piece of round plastic protective
>sheeting that covers the small round earpiece on the phone when shipped.

Yep! That seems to be a common mistake. On my V3xx it was blue.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>