15 Jul 2008

Ouch.

I've carried a Motorola RazrV3c for over two years. Only complaint was the battery life. Had to plug it into a charger almost daily. I bought an extended battery which defeated its most redeeming feature - thin - BUT I only needed to charge the phone about every 3 days.

Now to the W755. It goes back Friday. Battery life? Fully charged, ONE ten minute conversation, one wake-up alarm, charge me screen showed up barely 26 hours later. Tried it again yesterday, dying this morning. One bar on the battery indicator. By all reviews the phone's supposed to have what, over FOUR hours talk time and 300 hours STANDBY? Can I sue for false and misleading advertising?

Screen is small but legible to these 51 year old eyes - I'm still young enough to appreciate technology, old enough to resent it. MAJOR problem is the buttons/click wheel. I have to use my fingernail to select functions and even THAT's iffy.

No software supplied for Windows XP and even when you DO register for and download the driver from the Motorola Developer's site (developer.motorola.com), using the phone as a peripheral device you STILL can't get the photos or phone book off the thing. You CAN transfer MP3 files however. Rhapsody also works but only for MP3s. Tried using bluetooth, I can SEND files to my computer, CAN'T push files TO the phone.

Reception - even with max bars - is crappy. Kind of a weird dropout effect like a subtractive sine wave none of our other phones has this special feature. Seller assures me there's nothing wrong with the phone.

Having the same problem as another poster, and a problem with the RAZR: I get notices that I have voicemail or missed messages but the phone didn't ring. Sometimes I get the notice HOURS after the network's gotten the message in its system. Our LG phones don't have that problem. Or any others for that matter.

What else...

Oh, the 4GB limit on the microSD is a joke. As is the location (UNDER the battery). Who thought of THAT one?

Audio jack is 2.5mm, NOT industry standard 3.5mm and although the phone store will sell you a clunky (huge) dongle for the phone to plug into the USB port to use your 3.5mm plug, not only is it expensive ($12), but now your power/USB port is blocked so you can't use the phone as an MP3 player in your car with a charger. The little plastic plugs covering the USB and phone jacks are hard to pull out (you need good fingernails or a pocket knife) and very likely over time - maybe weeks - break off which will make the jacks look like the original RAZR anyway so why the mfr even bothered is beyond me.

PROS: small, light, can change the displays and actually SEE the clock on the outside of the flip cover.

Upset? Yeah. Disappointed. I don't think this was thought out very well.

Oh, and why Friday? The LG Dare is back in stock. Verizon doesn't carry the iPhone, and this is a good compromise, at least for the next two years.