Motorola RAZR V Phone (AT&T)

The good: The Motorola Razr V3 has a striking design and comes with a worthy list of features including Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and world phone support.

The bad: The Motorola Razr V3xx isn’t a quadband world phone, and its 1.3-megapixel camera is inadequate for such a high-end handset.

Motorola marked an industry first with the unveiling of the Motorola RAZR V3 an ultra-slim, metal-clad flip phone sporting fantastically good looks along with full-featured functionality.

A voice-recorder button sits on the right side of the front flap, while a volume rocker and a dedicated camera key sit on the left; when the phone is open, the camera button acts as a third soft key.

Believe us, we’re as over the Razr as the next person, but with stereo Bluetooth, an Opera Web browser, and improved call quality, the Razr V3xx is a solid step above its predecessor.

The Motorola Razr V3xx for Cingular Wireless doesn’t bring anything particularly revolutionary to the Razr family but it does include a handful of noteworthy offerings that deserve a closer look.

PDA Apps: 8/10 As I said, I bought the phone to use as a phone…but as it turns out, the PDA features work so well, the RAZR has completely replaced my old Palm device.

Fortunately, the V3 delivers in all areas and is one instance where a cell phone has stood up to the excitement.

In a major innovation in design and engineering, the RAZR V3 team has created a phone of firsts.

On the whole it’s a spacious easy-to-use arrangement despite the lack of a dedicated speakerphone button.

Hopefully, Cingular will lower the price in the near future.

Editor’s note: We have changed the rating in this review to reflect recent changes in our rating scale.

We couldn’t help noticing the V3 is wider and a bit taller than many flip phones, but its paper-thin profile more than makes up for it.

The camera picture quality is better than the V551 and LG8000 ones, but it’s a LITTLE awkward to press the shutter button due to the thin-ness of the Razr.

IMPORTANTLY, you should get the V3 through Bestbuy , as they will give you a 2-year warranty for $40, unlike the Cingular folks who offer no warranty.

While we’ve dinged previous Razrs because they put the microSD card slot behind the battery cover, we’re more willing to let it slide this time around.

Fashioned like no other handset before it, the razor-thin V3 adds a ton of much-needed bling to Cingular’s formerly staid lineup.

The bottom line: Though its feature set didn’t live up to expectations, the Motorola Razr V3xx cell phone improves on many of the traditional Razr pitfalls that have plagued the product line since its inception.

If you get this phone you should also consider getting the Mobile Phone Tools program with data cable so you can manage photos, mp3s, ringtones, contacts, etc.

Also, the voice dialing is unreliable, the phone lacks stereo speakers, and the data settings for third-party applications are too restrictive.