Motorola W490 Reviews

81. Best phone I have owned

23 Dec 2007 by stan

92%9.2out of 10

I was torn between this phone and the krzr. I also looked at the slider and one of the samsung slider music phones.

I chose this one partly because of the bad things I heard about the krzr software (freezing and slowness) as well as the price difference (about 50 bucks).

I am not a heavy cell phone user, but I always like to have it on me so that my family can get hold of me if needed. I also wanted something that had a music capability, and could take decent pictures.

Pros: This phone feels like it is solidly built. Some of the other phones I looked at felt cheap, like they would fall apart if not handled carefully. The sound quality is better than any of my previous phones (not that I have had many). I can easily put my music on it without any problems, which is nice. It has a very good feel to it, so using it as a phone is nice. It isn't too small or too big. Keys are easy to reach and have a good feel to them. I really like using voice commands. The ones on this phone take a bit of getting used to, but they are excellent, and the phone recognizes my voice very easily.

Cons: 20 second backlight time out can be a pain, but isn't too bad. No games, just a couple of demos that you can't delete. No FM radio, which is something I wanted. That is a shame because I like listening to some Patriots radio shows. The camera is only 1.3 MP, while the krzr is 2.0, but is still much better than my old Nokia which is a fairly crappy camera with no zoom (this one has an 8X zoom). Unsure if it really has a stereo bluetooth capability, some say it does and others say no. Also to use this with your computer you pretty much have to buy the Motorola apps, which are nice, but you shouldn't have to buy.

All in all a great phone if what you want is a phone with a decent camera and a decent music player. If you want more you should probably look at a specialized phone or a smart phone. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a nicely designed phone that is a bit unique and does quite a few things nicely. Better than the Razr (not the razr2) and the Krazr overall, but doesn't have quite as many features. Next I will save my pennies for a nice Linux OS smart phone like the Razr2

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82. technological dilettante

19 Dec 2007 by Brian

90%9out of 10

Good reliable inexpensive cell (got it free).

If you want bells and whistles, cameras and music, emails and internet browsing, GPS and videos, this is not your phone.

If you want a good phone with solid "phone-like" features and extended battery life, this IS your phone. Thank you Motorola for those of us that want a cellphone that is... a cellphone.

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83. Phone volume

17 Dec 2007 by Oscar

70%7out of 10

My phone highest volume is 7, and can't change it to higher, does anyone know how change it? email plz at lgblax98@hotmail.com The 20 sec issue is really bad. Other than that, I kindda like the phone.

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84. VERY nice

9 Dec 2007 by Saul

94%9.4out of 10

I love this phone, I got it on a whim and didn't do any research but im glad i stumbled across this phone. At first I was decieved by the look i could have sworn it was like the razor 2 or something the design is nice and its very comfortable to carry and hold. Sound Quality is really really good, pictures are average, and wire less capabilites are top notch. The Digital Player is very easy to use, especially for someone who is phone dumb like myself. Not having to charge it every night is really conveinent, and typing txt messages with Itap is the fastest i've ever done it. The Voice command system is amazing and extremely accurate!!! The only thing I dont like, is I dont get amazing reception a call would never drop but from time to time sound choppy and distant, and bars are hardly ever full.

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85.

25 Nov 2007 by Mandy

90%9out of 10

I have had the Motorola W490 for about two weeks now. The phone has great signal, features and a great design. There are not many phones that are as durable as the Motorola W490 and still looks stylish. This phone has a nice clear screen which makes the phone alot more enjoyable. The battery on this phone lasts along time which is good for someone like me that talks on the phone alot. Overal this phone is a great phone and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a spectacular phone!

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86. love it, except.....

22 Nov 2007 by Sharon

98%9.8out of 10

ok, i love everything about the phone except 2 things; both pertaining to the email client on the phone. i'll mention what i love first. i love the purple metallic color. it is a beautiful shade of purple. it also has some cool features like world clock where i can see what time it is in another country. it has airplane mode, and many features that the razr doesn't have. the sound quality is great and so is the handsfree headset that comes with the phone. i love the size; it fits in the hand really well, but i wish it was as thin as the razr. it also comes with the coolest wallpaper. about the email, it has what is called an email client, instead of email thru t-zones. it takes a long time to load and you get charged .15 for every email read and/or sent from the phione. it even charges you to reread one you've already read. it overrides tzones, so even if you have unlimited tzones or tmobile web, you cannot get your free email thru tzones. a phone will have either one or the other, but not both. if you have the "new and improved" way to get email, you cannot get t-zones, and it is not improved. it takes forever to load and costs money. i am so disappointed with this. tzones loads my inbox in 2 seconds (on other phones), and there is no extra charge. the other problem is that the email notifications do not work. tech support couldn't get it to work either. if anyone else has experienced this problem, please email me at mermaid1111@msn.com. also about everyone compalining about the backlight only lasting 20 seconds, there is no way to extend that time. 20 seconds is the max. the person advising to go in to settings to extend it, is referring to the display timeout, not the backlight. that can be changed from one minute to 2 minutes but 20 minutes is max for the backlight. i kind of lovethe phone, but the email siituation is a problem for me. can someone please test out the email alerts and see if they work on your phone? i was told there is no charge for notifications, please let me know if anyone else has this problem. i don't know if my phone is defective, or if that feature doesn't work on any w490.

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87. It does not look impressed!

15 Nov 2007 by JJ

78%7.8out of 10

Just got the phone a couple days ago and I'm okay but not pleased as expected. Have not got the time to test all the features but a few complainings are: the shell design looks kind of low level, the 20 seconds black screen is annoyed. I've customized the timeout minute but the max backlight time is 20 seconds so that it will still turn to black every 20 seconds. Plus the display screen and the camera screen are getting dirty FAIRLY easily. By the way I'm having the purple one. If you are not picky for a great looking phone like me, it values for the money with a solid feature set.

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88.

13 Nov 2007 by razzo

94%9.4out of 10

I just got the w490 the day it came out at a T-Mobile store in NYC.
Comparing it to others it was alongside it had every feature, point for point of the RAZR/RIZR/KRZR that I would ever condier useful and was $49 as an upgrade as compare to $100-$150 of the others.

I don't know what that one poster is talking about this phone bieing too big?? Are you nuts? It's smaller in dimensions than any of the RAZR or its offspring...sometimes I actually freak out that I lost it 'cause I can't even feel it in my pocket!

Alost everything in the phone is cutomizable (including the screen timeout length lol!!!)

..and the battery last forever!

One complaint I have is that the txt preview options only allow you to view the message list by 'name' or 'subject', so you can either see a list of names, or a list of broken sentences, but whichever you choose you still have to open the message to be sure what's from who...kind of annoying since my crappy 2-yo Samsung gave a concise preview of the caller and message.

Another gripe is that the descibed 'Self Portrait" feature, which is supposed to activate when you hit the camera key with the flip closed, does not seem to work.
Anyone else having this problem?

If they can update the software to fix the txt preview and sort out the self-portrait feature....I'd have nothing basd to say about this phone.

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89. display timeout

11 Nov 2007 by Ed

82%8.2out of 10

For all those complaining about 20 sec display timeout go to Settings > Initial Setup > Display Timeout. There you can increase the timeout. And for the future ... RTFM before posting stupid things.

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90. Not Happy!

8 Nov 2007 by Lynn

42%4.2out of 10

I upgraded to this phone and am very disappointed. The display times out in 20 seconds and the keys are so stiff. While you're trying to connect to the web the screen goes black. you have to keep hitting a key to keep the display on. Don't like it..plus it quite big..my last samsung was much smaller. The only plus is it has good quality sound.
I still would not have got this phone if I knew about the display. Also I don't get a good signal but I guess that's Tmobile.

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