Everybody has one... the v120e.
Written: Apr 06 '04 (Updated Apr 06 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Clarity: |
|
|
| Portability: |
 |
|
| Battery Life: |
|
|
|
Pros: Battery life, blue backlight, clarity.
Cons: Some of the features like the browser and voice dialing cease to work at times.
The Bottom Line: I would buy this phone again if I had it to do over again. It doesn't have that many bells and whistles, but it still gets the job done.
|
|
|
| jalexandr15's Full Review: Motorola V120E |
Motorola v120e Cellular Phone
Provider: Verizon Wireless
I recently signed up for service with Verizon. With a twelve month contract, I received 400 anytime minutes and the free nights/weekend plan and a free phone with activation. I added a few accessories such as the hands-free earpiece and the car charger. Both were $29.99 from Verizon.
When the salesman was showing me the Motorola v120e, I was excited. This would be my first cell phone, also. I was mesmerized by the neon blue glowing display window and keys. And the fact that it had mp3 capabilities and integrated voice dialing made it even cooler.
I signed up for service and walked away with my new cell phone. The Motorola v120e.
Ergonomics
The v120e is a very slim and small phone. Holding the phone is very easy and won't give your hand cramps during long conversations. It can easily fit into your jeans pocket or shirt pocket (of course you might mash a few buttons unintentionally, the keypad lock is good for this.) Buttons are effortless to press and dial.
Features
v120e has several features but they come with a limit. Some are useful, some are not, some are silly and some are just plain stupid.
- VoiceNotes -
The v120e allows one to record a few (and yes, few is the key word here) memos and save them for later use. The handbook claims that you can record phone conversations while holding down the voicenote button, located on the right side of the phone. This only works if your overall conversation is roughly under three minutes after which it beeps at you telling you the memory is full, and does not record your voice, only the party you're speaking with. Another downfall to conversation recording is that it plays an audible tone both to you and the other person, so that they know you're recording.
You can store a maximum of three one minute messages of phone conversations or memos. After your limit you must delete a few to make room for more or just do without the feature.
During playback the screen tells you the name of the voicenote but does not give you the option to pause or the length of the file.
-Voice Dialing-
I have about 20 entries in my phonebook and all of them I have recorded the name so I can (or thought I could) easily call them up with just the sound of my voice. Doing this requires you to add entries into your phone book, adding your voice to the entry (via an option in the add entry screen) and saving it.
I have found that this feature doesn't work all that well, unless you try and sound like Martha Stewart and talk without flaw or error. It's next to impossible to even use voice dialing when you're somewhere with background noise... birds chirping outside or moving vehicles. Pressing the voicenote button once and saying the name into the phone (when it works properly) makes the phone search in your phonebook for the closest sounding name, says it back to you, and dials after two seconds. Unfortunately this fails to work for me since after several tries in a row, the v120e apparently thought Pizza Hut was a suitable number to dial after I said "Dad's Work". Maybe it's just the way I talk and maybe it might work for you, however.
- The phone also has a Recent Calls feature that tells you the last ten numbers you received or last ones you dialed. This is especially useful if you don't have a number programmed into your phonebook.
-Browser-
I have owned this phone seven months and I still have yet to see the built-in web browser function. I access the feature via the main menu, Browser, after that a screen tells me it's Connecting. Two seconds pass and it tells me that my security is not enabled, and to enable it will take several minutes. It forces me to enable this before it lets me connect, tells me it's Connecting again. After a few seconds of this, the phone turns off completely and turns back on and doesn't return to where I left off. I went into Security options myself and created a Security key (option to lock your phone and asks you for a password each time you power on, preventing unwanted users from racking up high phone bills), but that didn't seem to work.
-Shortcuts-
You can create several shortcuts to avoid going through several menu screens. Use Menu >> Up Button until you reach Shortcuts. This allows you to designate several Menu > # sequences to get you to where you want to go. (i.e. creating a phonebook shortcut would mean opening up Shortcuts, pressing the menu button, pressing new, and designating a number for your shortcut. Accessing this in the feature requires you from the idle screen to press Menu and the corresponding number to your shortcut in a quick manner.)
-Datebook-
The datebook allows you to enter times and dates of specific appointments you must make. You can store an unlimited amount of these and the phone will supposedly alert you when the time approaches. You can set several different time limits before your appointment for the phone to remind you from 5 minutes before to a week in advance. Your phone will alert you with an audible tone customizable via Ring Styles (again under the Menu screen, Settings) at your chosen time. I have used this feature several different times, it chooses when it wants to work. I wouldn't exactly trust the v120e to remind me of further dates and times. A few times it worked without problem and a few times a few months had past before it popped up a screen reminding me of it.
-Calculator-
My trusty portable calculator! I love this feature. It always works without problem and does basic equations (X, +, -, /, %) and gives you an option to change the exchange rate. This is accessible once again under the menu screen.
-Radio Capability-
This is an accessory-based feature which means you must have the Motorola v120e headset for this option to even appear on your phone. When plugged into the port in the phone gives you FM reception just like a Sony Walkman. As of now I don't have this device and I can't really comment on this one.
-MP3 Capability-
You can play MP3s on this phone and I really don't know how it works. I do know you have to have another device to connect to the phone (you can buy it from your service carrier)
Features on the v120e include:
Customizable Ringtones - [Gives you a list of several different ringtones preprogrammed into the phone, but does not give you the option to download any.]
Calculator
Phone Book - [Holds over 200 entries.]
Web Browsing Capability
Data In/Out
Fax In/Out
Shortcuts
Games - (nothing too exciting) [Blackjack, Mindblaster, Paddleball, Falling Numbers, Video Poker]
Text Messaging In/Out
Vibrate Feature
Reception
I'm very happy to say that with this particular issue with the phone I have no absolute problem with. I live in a wooded neighborhood and my road goes deep into a forest-like area not remotely close to a cell tower. I still have (from looking at the phone now) three signal bars (goes up to 5, meaning highest reception.) Over the period of my usage of the phone (seven months), I can count on one hand how many times my the v120e has dropped a call or lost it's service. When it has is during understandable conditions... inside a hospital cafeteria with only a few windows, going through a long tunnel, driving through the Smokey Mountains [even though most of the trip it worked perfectly!]
----
Bottom line, I would buy this phone again if I had it to do over again. It doesn't have that many bells and whistles (not many that work properly anyway) but it still gets the job done. I've talked for two hours straight on the phone with no problems. Battery lasts off the charger under normal conditions about three days, considering how much you use the backlight and the phone itself. Charging only takes a little over an hour and gives you hours of talking time, days of standby time. I would suggest this phone to anyone in need of a reliable, easy to use, durable cell phone.
So, yes. I in fact can, hear you now.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): free w/actvn
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
jalexandr15
|
|
Member: Justin Alexander
Location: Chattanooga, TN USA
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.