Daughter wants a Motorola V3 - is this phone good or bad?

My daughter wants a pink Motorola V3 for her birthday in a week or so.
However, I vaguely recall reading quite a few negative comments about
this phone online and offline. Does anyone have anything good or bad to
say about it?

Also, does anyone have any clues as to the best prepaid deal around? A
bit of a search on the net shows Virgin has the V3 for $279, but their
web site doesn't show it in pink. Do sellers charge a premium for the
pink version?

Finally, if I get a Virgin-locked Motorola V3, can I use it with an
Optus prepaid sim card like I can with a Nokia or Sony Ericsson phone
Virgin-locked phone? Or is the phone actually locked to Virgin, like LG
phones can be? Dealers just don't seem to have any idea about this kind
of thing, or at least don't want to tell buyers.

Thanks, Peter

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› See More: Daughter wants a Motorola V3 - is this phone good or bad?

On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 22:24:13 +1000, Pete wrote:

> My daughter wants a pink Motorola V3 for her birthday in a week or so.
> However, I vaguely recall reading quite a few negative comments about
> this phone online and offline. Does anyone have anything good or bad to
> say about it?

People have quite a lot to say about it, both good AND bad. To me, the
thing looks lovely but technically seems dodgy.

Have a search in the "Phones" forum here for "V3":
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-search.cfm

> bit of a search on the net shows Virgin has the V3 for $279, but their
> web site doesn't show it in pink.

I asked at Virgin's Melbourne store: they only have the silver version.

Anthony Horan wrote:

> Have a search in the "Phones" forum here for "V3":
> http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-search.cfm

I couldn't actually see a "Phones" forum there, and I only found three
threads about the V3, with two of those basically about bluetooth
problems with Apple computers. Overall, there really wasn't much
negative there.

Is there an Australian forum where people discuss mobile phones?

Thanks, Peter

> I couldn't actually see a "Phones" forum there, and I only found three
> threads about the V3, with two of those basically about bluetooth problems
> with Apple computers. Overall, there really wasn't much negative there.
>
> Is there an Australian forum where people discuss mobile phones?

You're there! My rule of thumb is, if its American or Korean, avoid it.

On Fri, 02 Jun 2006 09:02:02 +1000, Pete wrote:

> Anthony Horan wrote:
>
>> Have a search in the "Phones" forum here for "V3":
>> http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-search.cfm
>
> I couldn't actually see a "Phones" forum there, and I only found three
> threads about the V3, with two of those basically about bluetooth
> problems with Apple computers.

There's definitely a "Phones" forum there in the drop-down list where you
specify which forum to search. Just searched for "V3" then and got about 20
hits

two bob wrote:

>> Is there an Australian forum where people discuss mobile phones?
>
> You're there!

I meant a forum as opposed to a newsgroup. To lots of people, the only
forums *are* forums - either their ISP doesn't carry newsgroups, or they
don't know about them, or how to use them.

> My rule of thumb is, if its American or Korean, avoid it.

Do you have a basis for your rule of thumb, or are you just generally
anti-American and anti-Korean? And do you mean design, or manufacture,
or both? Or something else?

And does your rule mean that if it's not American or Korean, then it's good?

Regards, Peter

Anthony Horan wrote:

> There's definitely a "Phones" forum there in the drop-down list where you
> specify which forum to search.

How strange - we must be looking at different places. The entire
contents of the drop-down list at
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-search.cfm when I view it is:

Forum feedback
Choosing an ISP

BigPond
OptusNet

Internode
iiNet / OzEmail
Netspace
Westnet
TPG
Primus
People Telecom
aaNet
Exetel

Adam
Wild I&T

Regional, Satellite
Other broadband
Wireless ISPs
ISDN, DoV
Dial-up internet
Peering

DSL General
DSL Hardware
Networking
Coding & Web
IT & Telco
Peer to peer
On the internet

Voice over IP

PC Hardware
Windows
Apple
Linux/BSD

Music Lounge

General Discussion

+SiN+ Servers

Unless my glasses are getting *very* dirty, I can't see a phones forum
there :-)

> Just searched for "V3" then and got about 20 hits

I get 43 thread hits searching for "V3" without selecting a particular
forum, with all but about five threads having nothing to do with the
Motorola V3 phone.

Peter

"Pete" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> My daughter wants a pink Motorola V3 for her birthday in a week or so.
> However, I vaguely recall reading quite a few negative comments about this
> phone online and offline. Does anyone have anything good or bad to say
> about it?
>
> Also, does anyone have any clues as to the best prepaid deal around? A
> bit of a search on the net shows Virgin has the V3 for $279, but their web
> site doesn't show it in pink. Do sellers charge a premium for the pink
> version?
>
> Finally, if I get a Virgin-locked Motorola V3, can I use it with an Optus
> prepaid sim card like I can with a Nokia or Sony Ericsson phone
> Virgin-locked phone? Or is the phone actually locked to Virgin, like LG
> phones can be? Dealers just don't seem to have any idea about this kind
> of thing, or at least don't want to tell buyers.
>
> Thanks, Peter


Keep away from Motorola, some here may disagree, but there would be many
that wouldn't.

"Pete" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> two bob wrote:
>
>>> Is there an Australian forum where people discuss mobile phones?
>>
>> You're there!
>
> I meant a forum as opposed to a newsgroup. To lots of people, the only
> forums *are* forums - either their ISP doesn't carry newsgroups, or they
> don't know about them, or how to use them.
>
>> My rule of thumb is, if its American or Korean, avoid it.
>
> Do you have a basis for your rule of thumb, or are you just generally
> anti-American and anti-Korean?

15 years of observation in the industry.

And do you mean design, or manufacture,
> or both? Or something else?
>
> And does your rule mean that if it's not American or Korean, then it's
> good?
>
> Regards, Peter

two bob wrote:
>
> 15 years of observation in the industry.

Has it ever observed the downward slide in software quality from Nokia
in the past 5 years?

On Fri, 02 Jun 2006 19:29:12 +1000, Pete wrote:

> Anthony Horan wrote:
>
>> There's definitely a "Phones" forum there in the drop-down list where you
>> specify which forum to search.
>
> How strange - we must be looking at different places.

That puzzled me for a bit, then I tried the same page in IE, which I never
use and therefore am not logged in to Whirlpool with. And sure enough, no
phones forum.

Looks like certain forums on Whirlpool only show up when you're logged in.

>> 15 years of observation in the industry.
>
> Has it ever observed the downward slide in software quality from Nokia in
> the past 5 years?

Oh yeah! I think Nokia will go the way of Motorola if they dont take more
care. They are trying to break records for the release of more and more
models. They should slow down on gimmick phones and try to concentrate on
reliability.

"Anthony Horan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Looks like certain forums on Whirlpool only show up when you're logged in.

Yes, the phones forum will only show up when you sign in...

"Justin Case" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Pete" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> > My daughter wants a pink Motorola V3 for her birthday in a week or so.
> > However, I vaguely recall reading quite a few negative comments about
this
> > phone online and offline. Does anyone have anything good or bad to say
> > about it?
> >
> > Also, does anyone have any clues as to the best prepaid deal around? A
> > bit of a search on the net shows Virgin has the V3 for $279, but their
web
> > site doesn't show it in pink. Do sellers charge a premium for the pink
> > version?
> >
> > Finally, if I get a Virgin-locked Motorola V3, can I use it with an
Optus
> > prepaid sim card like I can with a Nokia or Sony Ericsson phone
> > Virgin-locked phone? Or is the phone actually locked to Virgin, like LG
> > phones can be? Dealers just don't seem to have any idea about this kind
> > of thing, or at least don't want to tell buyers.
> >
> > Thanks, Peter
>
>
> Keep away from Motorola, some here may disagree, but there would be many
> that wouldn't.

Ever since GSM, your comments are valid

"Michael" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Justin Case" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> "Pete" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> > My daughter wants a pink Motorola V3 for her birthday in a week or so.
>> > However, I vaguely recall reading quite a few negative comments about
> this
>> > phone online and offline. Does anyone have anything good or bad to say
>> > about it?
>> >
>> > Also, does anyone have any clues as to the best prepaid deal around? A
>> > bit of a search on the net shows Virgin has the V3 for $279, but their
> web
>> > site doesn't show it in pink. Do sellers charge a premium for the pink
>> > version?
>> >
>> > Finally, if I get a Virgin-locked Motorola V3, can I use it with an
> Optus
>> > prepaid sim card like I can with a Nokia or Sony Ericsson phone
>> > Virgin-locked phone? Or is the phone actually locked to Virgin, like
>> > LG
>> > phones can be? Dealers just don't seem to have any idea about this
>> > kind
>> > of thing, or at least don't want to tell buyers.
>> >
>> > Thanks, Peter
>>
>>
>> Keep away from Motorola, some here may disagree, but there would be
>> many
>> that wouldn't.
>
> Ever since GSM, your comments are valid
>
>


Yeah, its a shame they didn't follow on from the analogue brick etc, into
GSM , now that was a real winner.