Motorola V500

I find the Motorola V500 to be ideal for my needs, as I do not need or want features such as video cameras. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a medium range phone with basic features. It is good value for money and very easy to use.

I found the Motorola V500 to be a great mobile phone. However, the only problems I did have with it were when the speaker stopped working, so I could only hear my calls via loudspeaker (quite embarrassing!), and every time I accessed WAP, my memory decreased. By the time I had finished with my phone, my memory had gone from 5000kb to 584kb. How this happened I do not know.

Generally it is an excellent phone that I would definitely recommend.

The Games, WAP, Multimedia Messages, Camera facilities and ringtones are GREAT!

After previously being an owner of a Nokia 3120, I was relieved to finally have a phone in my mits with some features!

When first handling the Motorola V500 mobile phone I discovered how weighty these handsets really are, which is mostly due to the supplied SNN5683A Lithium Ion Battery. The battery covers almost the whole of the handset when removing the back cover, but it is relatively thin. The battery is easy to remove and so is the SIM card, which sits under one static and one movable clip.

The handset can be switched on with one press of the power button, but as with all Motorola's, it takes its time. The phone is annoyingly sluggish when scrolling through menus, and often feels like it has stalled, but it is fast enough to put up with. The phone book only allows you to search by single letter, and not by phrase, unlike Nokia phones. Despite this, the display is nice and clear, and the phone allows for multiple colour themes and wallpapers. Screensavers are pretty useless since most would simply close the handset once they have finished using it, and the timeout on the display is very close to the screensaver.

Support for a GPRS web browser and Java applications is particularly welcome, and some basic bluetooth support also comes in very useful. It is also possible to pair the phone with a laptop (with a bluetooth dongle) or a PDA, and access GPRS internet by dialing a code your provider will give you through the Dial-Up Networking service. The phone's Bluetooth service does not feature a Serial service which is used for system operations on the phone, but this would only really be used by the really technical-minded of people. Bluetooth does however allow you to transfer files and photo's between other devices, and also has support for a wireless headset. A slight annoyance is the fact that the phone only allows Bluetooth to be discoverable for a maximum of 60 seconds, and there is a tight limit on the number of devices you can have paired with the handset. It is obvious that the Bluetooth was only designed for light usage as it is often known to crash and require a reboot of the handset when trying anything too complex.

Polyphonic ringtones are supported and are produced at a decent quality and volume, meaning your phone can be heard in even some of the noisiest of environments. You can also upload your own tones to the handset's (approximately 4Mb) internal memory, supported in both MP3 or AMR format. Support for video would have been welcome, but perhaps it is a little too much to expect considering the small internal memory.

The camera is 0.3 mega-pixel with up to 4X digital zoom, but I would strongly recommend not using the digital zoom since it shrinks your photos practically beyond recognition! Despite the poor quality of the camera, I have found it possible to enhance photo's taken with the phone using software (not provided) to quite an impressive quality. Scrolling through photo's is, yet again slow and tedious, so it is probably a good idea to regularly back up images to your computer or portable device and clear the images off the handset.

Call quality is quite good and has a good volume output, which is useful for noisy environments. The handset supports any standard hands-free kit through a small jack on the top. However, the built-in speaker phone is perfectly adequate for using in quiet environments.

SMS messages actually appear slower on the screen than I am typing, sometimes delayed by a few seconds! Despite this, the predictive text is very good and learns from previous entries.

The phone features some impressive security features, allowing you to lock individual features on the phone with an "Unlock Code" (this is not the same as the PIN code). Pressing the "menu" key on a prompt for the unlock code allows you to override this with the phone's security code instead. There are a couple of bugs in this feature meaning that you are unable to block web access or camera features, but otherwise it works fine.

Battery life is good, but the adapter can sometimes take some fiddling with to get the phone to start charging. However, there are newer mains adapters available for Motorola phones which do not have this problem.

To conclude, this is an ideal phone for the technically-minded and security conscious user on a tight budget. It hosts a variety of features scaled-down from more expensive models, and should satisfy the needs of most people. This phone is built to the same specification as more expensive models, their only advantage being looks, so it is a wise choice for a Motorola shopper.

Generally I am happy with my Motorola V500. It is reliable, stylish and has good features, although I have to fiddle around with the charger for a while until it starts charging, and it does scratch really easily.

Motorola V500 - I've had this phone for around 6 months now, and have found it quite straightforward to use, has plenty of features, and seems reliable. Apart from the fact that you can't see the screen in sunlight, which appears to a common failing of many mobiles, and the picture quality isn't that great, the one thing which really drives me to distraction, and which dissuades me from ever wanting another Motorola, is the side-mounted buttons. These are such a ludicrous and unnecessary feature, you have to wonder whatever prompted anyone to include them on what is otherwise a reasonably well-designed phone. Put the mobile in your pocket, and as soon as it comes into contact with anything it starts making that annoying bleeping, which you know means that it's altering the ring status, usually ending up on 'Silent', which means that you miss any incoming calls. Why are these buttons there? I only ever need to alter my ring status occasionally, and, when I do, I'm quite happy to go through the menu, or have a shortcut button on the INSIDE of the clamshell. What's the point of having a clamshell design, and then mount buttons on the OUTSIDE of the clamshell which can fundamentally affect whether or not you can hear an incoming call? Barmy!!

Ok, overall the V500 isn't really a bad phone, it all depends on the user and what you want it to do, or what you want to do.

I'll agree with other reviewers that the case is easily scratched, I've got loads on my phone, but as long as it keeps working I don't care.

Bluetooth is a great system to use, and has become invaluable to me in my day to day life, I'm forever using it, despite the fact that occasionally it has trouble connecting to devices if the Bluetooth has not been used for some time and the phone has been left on. However this is usually cured by powering down and then powering up the Bluetooth, if that fails a phone restart does the job.

The camera is really handy for taking quick snaps, it's not a proper digital camera so don't expect great results, just make sure your camera lens is clear from dust and grime before taking a pic, the max resolution is 640x480, and the phone has four zoom levels (digital not optical) On rare occasions I've found that it wouldn't save a picture, this is either due to 'Multimedia' being locked or memory full, however my friends V525 temporarily wouldn't save pictures, full stop.

Some of the Java games get annoying as not all of them work, you'll spend ages uploading / downloading games to find "(X)APPLICATION ERROR!" appear on your screen.

Actually uploading the games is quite a long process to start with, you need about 3 or 4 programs on your computer, a data cable (you cant use Bluetooth).

The handsfree speaker which is built in is quite handy if you need lots of people to hear what is being said at the same time, or have to walk away from your phone and have poor signal, however it does sap battery life considerably, so short use is recommended.

The sounds produced from the phone are great quality, the built in tones are rubbish, and can be deleted using software on your pc to save space, but the advantage of MP3 playback is brilliant, plus 'real tones' but only in 'AMR' format. The pone features the classic "Helloo Moto!!" tone as from the TV ads.

I got this phone through a trade with one of my friends, and was initially very pleased with it... Initially. Once I started using the phone I found that:

1) The charger is always loose

2) Only lasts about 3 hours if you play with it

3) Gets scratched by anything and everything

4) Bleeping whenever you go in or out of signal (such as entering or exiting a shopping centre)

5) Decides to put itself on loud when it is in your pocket (at the most awkward of times, such as in the middle of tests!)

6) Buttons do not respond!

I would personally not recommend this phone, but it isn't the worst phone in the world - I could think of many that are worse.

The phone is great is has been my first Motorola phone and so far so good. I know lots of peeps that have had the Motorola V500 about a year one of mates lately that has had his nearly a year bluetooths seems to have just stopped working I have had mine a WEEK and it has had no probs.

On the downside the camera wasn't what I expected and the battery life is poor, possible down to the bluetooth.

Have always had a trusty Nokia, but decided I would like a change so tried Motorola V500. Phone is junk. Plastic scratches easily, charger does'nt connect properly after a few weeks, outside display has gone all scrambled, switches it self off, battery life poor. I am always careful with my phones my previous nokias are all in working order, my 3310 is being used by my partner and is still going strong after five years. My 3510 I use for work and is 3 years old battery still holds charge for 5 to 6 days. As soon as I have the money I will ditch this Motorola and will never buy that make again.

I have had my Motorola V500 since October no problems until now!! Within the last week my phone has been turning its self on and off automatically my backlight changes from 60seconds down to 20seconds by its self and I have no free space at all because every day it gets less and less! I have deleted all my pictures and ringtones and text messages but still when I go to take a photo it says I have used 33% memory!