Motorola V551 - 2
We have yet another offering from Motorola: the Motorola V551. It is a clamshell type phone borrowing its looks from its older siblings like the Motorola V400. And lately it seems that Motorola has been rehashing the same designs over and over again that it gets hard keeping up with their handsets.
In fact there is not much difference between the V551 and earlier models except with regards to its functions and features. In a way, you could say that what Motorola is doing is a little like software updating rather than developing a completely different one. Bottom line is the Motorola V551 is everything we loved about the V400 up until the V600 plus what those others models lacked.
The issue with slow browsing speed with the V400's GPRS is answered with the V551's support of EDGE, making it as much as three times faster compared to the V400 when it comes to Web browsing. And with the V551's camera capabilities, sending photos and video clips is a breeze. A bit of gripe though is that the phone book duplicates an entry every time you store a different number for the same contact person. This means that if a contact on your phone book has three different phone numbers, the V551 will make three different entries for each. While this may be fine to some, it does get tedious when searching you phone book and it does fill up the allotted number of contacts easily.
A very welcome addition is the basic POP3 / IMAP4 email client. The V551 also has excellent support of the Bluetooth wireless technology. As a gaming gadget though, the V551 fared less than desirable. Although adequate and entertaining enough for passing time during long commutes, I reckon this to be not enough for the serious gamer. But not to take away from the V551 though, it is not of course what would be consumers will be looking for when trying out this handset.
Other features that consumers may find useful like the external picture caller ID for easier and generally more fun identification, a speaker independent voice dialing capability which is fast becoming a standard among mobile phones nowadays are unfortunately lacking with the V551.
Motorola V551 Camera and Display
The Motorola V551 comes integrated with a capable VGA camera that can take photos at different resolutions with the smallest being 160 x 120 pixels QQVGA, the medium setting at 320 x 240 pixels QVGA, and the largest image resolution is at 640 x 480 pixels VGA, with all settings coming out in 24-bit color at 16 million colors. When the V551 is in camera mode, the main screen display doubles as the viewfinder while also displaying information such as the phone's available memory, much like with standard consumer digital cameras. The navigation pad on the phone also acts as the 4x digital zoom control.
The use of the V551's digital zoom is not advisable though as it is digital and as such only makes a crop of the subject and enlarges it digitally much like when an image is enlarged on a computer. As a result, images become blurry and pixilated and generally not very good. That is unlike with an optical zoom wherein the lens makes adjustments to make the subject seem nearer, as though with the lens of a telescope. But as the mechanisms for an optical zoom would render handsets heavy and bulky, it would be a while before we see that possibility happening. Not to worry though as even without the optical zoom, images captured with the V551 camera is very decent and will be sufficient for general purposes.
Motorola V551 Design and Accessories
As earlier mentioned the Motorola V551 is more like an update of their earlier handsets such as the V400 and V600 and therefore comes in the familiar clamshell design. This is far from being a problem though as this design is indeed sleek and stylish that it deserves another incarnation. When the V551 is closed, some useful information such as caller ID, battery status and signal strength is displayed to the user via a cool monochrome screen with a blue motif. At 96 x 32 pixels, the information is displayed adequately and the blue backlight makes reading text easy on the eyes. Flipping the V551's top panel open reveals the beautiful main display which at sixty five thousand color capabilities gives off a warm and vivid aura. Relatively bigger than the external display quite for obvious reasons, the main TFT screen displays information as the ones on the external screen plus more. It is also customizable with various pre-loaded wallpapers and color themes.
Summary of Motorola V551 Features
- Weight: 114 g
- Width: 49 mm
- Height: 89 mm
- Thickness: 25 mm
- Network: GSM Quad band 800 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
- Screen Resolution: (Main Display) 65,000 colors, TFT / (Secondary Display) Monochrome LCD, Blue (96 x 32 pixels)
- Data: GPRS (EGPRS) Connectivity: Bluetooth, EDGE
- Web Browser: (POP3, IMAP4, SMTP)
- Music: None
- Camera: VGA Resolution
- Messaging: MMS, SMS, PCSync
- Expansion Slot: None Tones: MP3, Polyphonic, Vibrating Alert
- Software Features: Java (Midp ver 2.0)
- Other Features:
- Battery: Lithium-Ion, 820 mAh, 220 minutes talk time, 225 hours stand by time
PROS: The Motorola has an overall great design and those familiar with their earlier models will feel right at home even with the menu navigation. Pictures are decent enough. The very low price tag is of course a plus in anyone's book.
CONS: The absence of some features like the picture caller ID, although not very crucial, may turn off a lot of the prospected market share.
Overall: If you are looking to buy a reasonably priced mobile phone without looking cheap and without scrimping on features, then look no further than the Motorola V551. As it is a mobile phone first and foremost, it does this job very well and whatever lackluster performance you might experience with its other features are secondary anyway, these may be easily forgivable and overlooked.