Motorola V3i Confirmed
Discontinued 8th November 2005
The Motorola RAZR V3i is an upgrade
of the RAZR
V3, with a 1.23 megapixel camera, TransFlash
expandable and iTunes.
We previewed
the Motorola V3i a couple of days ago, and got almost
everything right - except the colour. We understood
that the V3i would be bronze, but this version has an
attractive brushed metal look instead. It's possible
that other colours will follow though - Motorola have
also announced the Pink and Blue versions of the RAZR
to follow on from the Silver and Black ones.
The
improved camera is a welcome boost for the V3i, the
old handset's camera was woefully out of date, and it's
a sexy phone to bundle with iTunes too. Of course, all
of this needs expandable memory, and the V3i can take
TransFlash / microSD cards - the maximum memory hasn't
been specified however, and neither has any restriction
on the iTunes software (the ROKR
only holds a maximum of 100 tracks, for example). Output
is to stereo USB headphones, and the Motorola RAZR V3i
comes with a flight mode so that you can listed to the
music player while on an aircraft.
There's a catch with iTunes however
- not all RAZR V3i handsets will have it. Some will
come with a standard Motorola player instead, and the
iTunes handset comes with an "iTunes" key
which is a messaging key on the non-iTunes V3i. Confusing?
Yes! So, we advise that you check before ordering. (The
handset pictured is a non-iTunes V3i).
Inside
the Motorola V3i is a 176x220 pixel display, essentially
the same as the previous model, plus the etched keypad
we've seen before, but with a different backlight. On
the outside the small display is still 96x80 pixels
but has been upgraded to 65,000 colours from 4096. The
"M" logo lights up, it seems. There are no
dedicated external media controls, however. The detailing
on the aluminium case is interesting (see closeup on
right).
The V3i has Bluetooth, Motorola's SCREEN3
"zero click" information service (where the
phone automatically displays news and other items that
may be of interest) and all the usual features you'd
expect to find.
Really, this isn't a huge upgrade to
the old RAZR V3. The camera, music player and expandable
memory are all really standard in this class of handset.
What the RAZR V3i does do however is protect
Motorola's market share - the older handset is one of
the world's best selling mobile phones, and has been
a real revenue generator for Motorola.
It's a much sexier phone to have iTunes
on too. The RAZR is a real design icon, unlike the E398
that the ROKR is based on. Unfortunately for Motorola,
the ROKR has been a real flop.. but the RAZR V3i combines
a decent specification with very stunning looks and
it should probably be much more successful.
Motorola say that the RAZR V3i should
be available during Q4 2005, so it should just make
it into the shops for Christmas.
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Motorola
RAZR V3i at a glance
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Available:
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Q4
2005
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Network:
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Quad-band
GSM
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Data:
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GPRS
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Screen:
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176x220
pixels, 262k colours (main) 96x80
pixels, 65k colours (sub)
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Camera:
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1.23
megapixels
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Size:
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Slim
clamshell 98x53x14mm
/ 95 grans
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Bluetooth:
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Yes
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Infra-red:
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No
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Polyphonic:
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Yes
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Java:
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Yes
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Battery
life:
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7
hours talk / 12 days standby
approx
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