Motorola V620

Discontinued
19th October 2004

The Motorola V620 replaces the Motorola V600, and is one of a number of clamshells announced at the same time. The V620 is significant because it replaces Motorola's flagship mid-market clamshell and is pitched slightly about the V500 series. The V620 is available in two variations of silver and black (see right) and is certainly quite an attractive handset. Motorola say that the covers on the V620 are changeable too.

At Mobile Gazette, we quite like Motorola clamshells in terms of design and technical features, however most of the changes to the V620 seem purely cosmetic and leave us wanting more. Part of the problem we feel is that the V620 doesn't offer much of an improvement over the new V500-series handsets recently announced.

Let's start with the screen. On the V620 it's a good 176x220 pixel TFT display in 262,000 colours, up from 65,000 in the V600. Size and weight are virtually unchanged, at 88x47x24mm and 116 grams. There's a maximum of 7.5 hours talktime and 11 days standby, which is perhaps a little better than the V600.

The V620 features video capture and playback, missing from the V600, and also MP3 and MIDI ringtones, another improvement. Most specifications are the same, with a VGA resolution digital camera, 5Mb of internal memory, email and instant messaging capabilities, xHTML web browser, MMS, Java and of course Bluetooth, plus quad-band GSM and GPRS. The interior is almost identical to the V600 too.

Indeed, the V620 is so fundamentally similar to the V600 that it's clear that this is only a very minor upgrade, and although the improved screen is welcome, there's no megapixel camera or removable memory which is what we'd expect from this class of phone. The Motorola V620 doesn't compare too well with the Sharp GX30 in technical terms, for example.

Technical features aside though, the V620 is a very attractive looking handset. The good quality screen, built-in Bluetooth and MP3 ringtone support all add up to make a good package that should appeal to a large market segment. Motorola are backing the V620 up with a campaign called "Motohip" to play on the V620's strong points.

We feel that the V620 is a bit of a missed opportunity. Although it's a pretty handset and technically competent, it's certainly not a class leader. Perhaps Motorola have something a little more impressive in the works.. we certainly hope so.

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