[July 9, 2004]

Product Review: Motorola V600

BY NINA MOHADJER

Until the moment when Motorola (news - alert - quote) announced that it was building the V600, the high-end Bluetooth handset market was primarily dominated by Sony Ericsson (news - alert). Everybody I know, including myself, was delighted to find out that Sony Ericsson would get a competitor!

Forget about the limited Aston Martin models, which went out to the car owners! Since I drive an Audi A6, and not an Aston Martin, and also am not willing to pay over $1,500 for a cell phone, I was unable to review one of those!

Compared to the Sony Ericsson Z600, the Motorola V600 is not lightweight: With its dimensions of 88 mm x 47 mm x 23 mm, and a weight of 127 g, this device is approximately 15 g heavier. Personally I was not bothered by the stub antenna, unlike friends of mine who were. I was more impressed that this phone is a Quadband GSM device, and also by the extremely stylish design: A metal exterior with a satin finish that is scratch resistant. I carried the phone in my bag, which is stuffed with hairclips, pens, and other miscellaneous items, and it went unscathed. Chrome accents add to this exterior. The polished bezel covers the small 96 mm x 32 mm monochrome sub display and the digital camera.

The up/down volume rocker is placed on the left side of the handset, directly above the smart key, which is a multi purpose key that acts basically as the right soft key and could also be used as the camera shutter. The volume and smart keys used together work as a switcher for the ringer profiles.

The right hand side of the handset shows the voice command key, which is used for accessing voice dialing tags and voice menu shortcuts.

The small loop on the top of the device is designed for those people who prefer to carry their handset, or use the 5 mm jack for the headset. The bottom of the handset has the same connector as most current Motorola devices. The back has a small grill for the external speaker, which is used for ring tones and the speakerphone function.

Another pleasant view was the keypad and the display. With a high gloss finish the keypad looked very sophisticated, but unfortunately did not have enough space between the keys. But instead the keys are designed large enough to avoid misuse.

All in all a highly recommendable, chic phone with basically no negative points!

• Bluetooth Connectivity - Bluetooth wireless technology and optional accessories.

• Integrated Camera - Take great photos in seconds and create vibrant multimedia messages (MMS).

• MP3 and Polyphonic Ring tones - Hear clean, dynamic sound with the latest MP3 ring tones and rich polyphonic tones.

• Situational Lights - The cover light on your Motorola V600 glows with every call and you choose which color matches the caller group.

• GSM Quad-band* 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

Nina Mohadjer is a freelance writer who reviews products for TMCnet.