Larry Garfield looks at Motorola's quad-band V505 to determine if its well-rounded feature set and great screen compensates for its heft and hefty price tag.
Review summary of the Motorola V505:
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 Price: $320.
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Full Motorola V505 Review:
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Exterior
Motorola's V505 feels somewhat heavy in the hand at 121 grams, but is reasonably sized at 89 x 48 x 23 mm and aside from the weight has a good feel. That is helped along considerably by the blue rubberized highlights on the front and back and the pseudo-grill design of the front cover, which together give the phone a sturdy and industrial look and feel.
 | The V505 is a good but heavy and expensive phone
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Flipping open the clamshell phone reveals one of the V505's best features; its screen. The 128 x 160 pixel color display is nothing short of gorgeous, with smooth lines and good color warmth. In contrast, the external display is a simple grayscale affair for caller ID that is adequate but not particularly noteworthy. The keypad is a generally traditional design, albeit with a slightly altered shape on the 8 key and, for no apparent reason, the Send and End buttons reversed from every other manufacturer in the world. There is also a dedicated menu button in addtion to the usual Send, End, Left, and Right keys arrayed around the directional pad.
The left side of the phone includes a metal volume rocker in addition to a dedicated ringer control button that calls up a menu where the user can select different classes of ringer, including Loud, Soft, Vibrate, Silent, etc. The right side of the phone includes a dedicated voice dial button for the phone's speaker-dependent voice dial capability. The camera lens itself is positioned on the front cover, off-center, next to a vanity mirror, positioned near the hinge point. The phone also has a 1.5 cm long removable external antenna on top beside a plug-covered headphone jack.
Ergonomics
As mentioned, the V505 has a good but heavy feel in the hand. That weight can cause wrist strain with prolonged usage. With the exception of the inexplicably reversed Call and Hang up buttons the keypad is well designed, and the extra rounded design of the 8 key actually aids blind-dial capability. On the down side, the keys are blue backlit, which diffuses easily and is bad on the eyes. The directional pad also doubles as quick links to four menu options, although they are not marked on the phone.
Features
The V505 is a quad-band 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz GSM/GPRS phone capable of running on every GSM network in the world. It lacks an infrared port but does include Bluetooth connectivity with the necessary profiles for connecting to Bluetooth headsets, handhelds, and PCs. The V505 supports polyphonic ringtones with a collection of simple ones included (better sounding musical tones are available for download), background wallpaper, and screen savers. There is also a speakerphone mode.
Among the included software are an SMS and MMS client, small email client, WAP browser, and a Java-based instant messaging client that supports AIM, ICQ, and Yahoo Messenger. Also included is a standard small PIM suite, video clip player, and camera application. Additional Java programs can be downloaded as well. Text input is via either multi-tap or a T9 clone called "iTAP". Users can also compose their own ringtones, albeit slowly, using an included "MotoMixer" application that lets the user modify one of a set of stock ringtones to suit their tastes.
Performance
Audio quality of the V505 is good both in normal and speakerphone mode, and reception was not an issue in testing. The 0.3 megapixel camera is very responsive, but image quality for indoor shots showed a yellow tinge to it. It also supports rapid-fire images but not video clips.
Overall responsiveness was good both in the menu and when composing text messages. The menu itself is, unfortunately, somewhat poorly organized and takes a while to navigate. Also a problem, the background image shows through the menu, and frequently conflicts with the text of the menu itself making it difficult to read.
The removable 780 mAh Lithium Ion battery is rated for 5.5 hours talk time or 190 hours standby, which was somewhat optimistic. Standby time in testing was a bit under a week.
Availability
The Motorola V505 is as of this writing available through AT&T Wireless in the United States for $199.99 USD with service agreement, or $319.99 USD without service agreement.
Price and availability
The Motorola V505 will start selling for $320 () in November 1999.
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