The Motorola E815 delivers premium wireless broadband connectivity via EV-DO technology with Video-On-Demand capability, a 1.3-megapixel camera, MP3 player and brilliant color screen. And thanks to Bluetooth wireless technology, fast downloading, optional storage via a TransFlash Memory Expansion Slot, speaker independent name and digit dialing, and advanced messaging its got an incomparable mobile package... [Continue reading Motorola E815 Review]
Motorola E815 Features
Large internal and external color displays with picture caller ID
Built-in 1.3-megapixel camera with 4x zoom, day and night lighting modes, auto timer, slide show viewer, and video clip capture and playback
Available 40 MB internal memory with TransFlash memory expansion slot for up to an additional 512 MB of storage
Bluetooth wireless technology for hands-free connectivity
Integrated MP3 player and 64-chord polyphonic sound engine with stereo headset support for mobile music
Personal Information Management (PIM) features including 1,000 entry phonebook, currency converter, and calculator
Office-quality speakerphone and speaker-independent voice-activated name and digit dialing
WAP 2.0 browser with next generation (EV-DO) technology for near-broadband speed downloads
Video-on-demand and music via Verizon VCAST
BREW 2.1.3 support for application, ringer, wallpaper, graphic and game downloads
Motorola E815 User Reviews
1. Posted by getchristylove
Sat Aug 18, 2007 2:00 pm
I've had this phone since September 2005 and I still liking it. I'm eligible for a new phone, but not sure if I want to give up the certainity that this phone provides.
The reception is great and have found it to be a very reliable phone. I don't use all the phones capabilities and basically use it as a phone only. I rarely use the camera but it's nice to have in certain situations. The main "extra" I throughly enjoy is using my custom mp3 ringtones. The buttons are comfortable and the internal screen is nice. The external screen is not a nice as it should be.
The only problem I've had with it during the past 2 years is sometimes it will not recognize the charging cable. This is a very infrequent problem so it's really a non-issue for me. The other thing I have noticed is it is hard to see the screen when in full sunlight. You have to turn it a certain angle to view the screen. The speakerphone is not as crystal clear as when I first bought it but it's still good. I'm always hitting the voice recogntion by mistake; it may be a tad sensitive.
An earlier poster mentioned that you cannot transfer ringtones to the phone, this is not true. And yes, you can transfer mp3 format files. I have about 10 different mp3 ringtones that I have uploaded to my phone (and just uploaded another while typing this post). I refuse to pay $2 for a ringtone and then be subjected to their music selection and the snippet of the ringtone that they want to sell. I create my own ringtones and upload it to the phone. It's not an easy process but it can be done.
I transfer the ringtone from my computer onto my microSD (transflash card). I then insert the microSD card into my phone and locate the song on the storage device. I use the "send in message" option to send it to myself in a pix message and then store it onto the phone once I get the message. Love my custom and personalized mp3 ringtones!
You can also add your own wallpapers as well by using the microSD card.
They may have come out with a USB connection cable to replace the need of the memory card. But I purchased the memory card long ago and it serves my purpose.
After seeing and holding the current selection of new phones on the market, this one seems a bit bulky and heavy. But I still like it nonetheless, so I'm unsure if I'm going to take advantage of the free phone/discounted phone upgrade through Verizon. I may just buy an unlocked phone so I won't be subjected to the restrictions imposed by Verizon (bluetooth only for headset, menu options and navigation.)
On a side note, the Motorola H850 bluetooth headset I purchased two years ago to use with this phone just died. Picked it up one day and it was dead. Have purchased a $30 jabra headset, which is okay, but the quality is not as good. Guess that happens when you're comparing a $80 and $30 headset.
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2. Posted by bliv711
Thu Feb 09, 2006 11:40 pm
I've had the Moto e815 for several weeks now. My two most recent phones were the LG VX4400 and the LG VX4650. To me, the most important things are reception, clarity of the calls and battery life. All three are EXCEPTIONAL with this phone. It blows the LGs away.
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being best), here's how I'd rate the phone:
1. Reception: 10.
I work in a building where very few cell phones get even one bar for a signal. My LGs NEVER got even one bar. This phone get 2 bars and very clear calls from my desk. Please visit the following link (http://www.nuclearelephant.com/papers/v710info.html) to learn how to change from EVRC to 13K. This will maximize clarity of calls.
2. Battery Life: 10. Once again, tremendous battery life with this phone. Just ensure you charge it fully prior to using the phone.
3. Camera: 7. I didn't buy the phone for the camera. I already have a camera for that purpose. I did use the camera to take a picture of my children and very easily converted it to the new wallpaper. More than satisfactory for this purpose. However, it's not suitable for professional photography.
4. Ringtones: 7. I've read a couple of posts that say you must use "get It Now" to transfer ringtones to your phone. Not true. There are ways to legally transfer ringtones to your phone...but as far as I know, you must use the midi format...not mp3. There are ways to hack this phone to do it, but I don't recommend it. If you don't know what you're doing, you can destroy your phone and the warranty will be voided.
5. Bluetooth: 10/1. Mixed review here. I have the bluetooth earpiece. It's comfortable and provides very clear calls from anywhere within my house. It's nice when talking on the phone while working around the house. Nothing in your hands...just leave the phone on the shelf. The bluetooth ear piece was worth every penny to me. Beware though, ensure you charge the earpiece completely prior to use. I got excited and tried to match it to my phone before it was completely charged. I had to uninstall it and do it over after it was completely charged. As far as OBEX bluetooth file transfers, Verizon has graciously disabled this feature. Yes, there are hacks to change that, but like I previously said, I use the phone as a phone.
I would HIGHLY recommend this phone. In particular, for it's reception and battery life. If all you want is a multimedia machine with no concern for reception, then consider a different phone.
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3. Posted by withoutadoubt
Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:06 pm
I had three phones previous to the Motorola E815 - 1st being the Nokia 6235i, the second being a Nokia 6256i, and thirdly the Samsung SCH-n330. All three of those phones, while getting the job done, sucked beyond all comprehension. The Nokia 6235 lagged in reception, having no external antennae, the 625i lacked in a sturdy frame, resulting in cracks and chips. The SCH was just a cheap, lousy phone alltogether. Where those phones lagged, the E815 pulled ahead amazingly. The reception is perfect - getting signal in elevators and in the middle of "nowhere". The camera does an amazing job at capturing various moments that I wish to keep. I bought a TransFlash card, which works great for transfering photos, and for taking my MP3s and creating sound bits for ringtones. The big internal screen is great, but the outer screen is lackluster, but not something to take away from the overall "greatness" of the phone. I have even purchased the Bluetooth headset, and have found it to be a great feature.
I had the choice of buying the RazrV3, but this phone far surpasses the features of the Razr.
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4. Posted by Simon
Tue May 09, 2006 4:47 pm
I just want to start off by saying this is the best phone I've ever owned. I don't care about features too much in regards to the MP3 player, camera phone, or the blue tooth features. I just want a phone that works with good reception! My first phone was a LG (3200) phone and I didn't know too much about phone. It didn't drop too many calls but the signal strength was terrible. I couldn't figure out if it was the phone or Verizon. I would see other people talking on their phone in spots I couldn't get recepetion. So I figured it was the phone, so I bought another one.
So on comes the Samsung (650). The reception was a little better.... I was able to get reception where that LG phone coudn't get reception. But after talking for about 5 minutes on the Samsung phone, the phone began to get hot and started burning my face a little. Weird to say the least... so about after a year I upgraded to a Motorola phone.
Here comes the Motorola E815. I like this phone so much that if it breaks somehow, I am prepared to buy another one. I am willing to spend whatever it costs to purchase a brand new one at retail price. This phone does and has it all. And the reception is soooo good I'll be purchasing Motorola phones for the rest of my life.
On a side note... my cousin has the LG8100 I think... and he can't get reception in his own house or at work. I guess he likes it for the features. But if I can't get reception it defeats the whole purpose of having a mobile phone.
Go Motorola!!
Simon
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5. Posted by MikePDX
Fri Jul 22, 2005 1:59 pm
I have had my E815 for about a week, after switching service from Nextel. In general, I am very pleased with the phone. Although not svelte or "cool" like the Razor, it is reasonable in size and weight, has a georgeous inside screen (but a weak outside one), gets good reception, has a good speakerphone, and is relatively easy to use. Its faults are mainly faults imposed by Verizon, not due to Motorola.
PROs:
1. Works well as a phone - good reception, strong sound, easy to use.
2. High quailty speakerphone, which you can use with the flip closed.
3. Voice recognition, while not perfect, does work, and you can train it to recognize how you pronounce numbers for voice dialing by digit.
4. VCast streaming media is actually viewable. While the screen isn't big, it is bright and resolution is high. While you can't use it to call balls and strikes, most content looks good. Content quality is also pretty good, but the range isn't that wide (although it will probably improve over time).
5. WAP Web browsing is much more satisfying than any previous phone I've had. You can read 9 lines of text at a time and the text is very clear. One minor complaint, it isn't easy to add new favorites (you have to manually enter the full url). There should be a menu option when you are at a web page to add it immediately to your favorites.
6. Big address book (1000 entries) each of which can have 5 phone numbers and 2 e-mail addresses. You can set up your own phone book categories and identify one number as the "primary" number. Theoretically, each number could have its own unique ringtone (till you run out of storage space for ringtones or go broke buying them).
7. Has a slot for transflash cards (now available in sizes up to 512 mb) for storing mp3s, pictures, videos etc. I wish they had gone with mini-SD rather than transflash, but at least there is a memory slot. Cards can be used to offload pictures and videos, and for playing your own mp3s, but they can't be used for adding your own ringtones or wallpapers to the phone (you have to pay Verizon for that).
8. Good battery life. While I haven't had any two hour calls yet, I haven't ever run out of juice in the middle of the day. Until the battery eventually starts dieing (which they all do) I probably won't have to buy a "backup battery."
MIXED:
1. The camera is relatively high resolution for a cell phone (1.3 meg) but it still isn't as good as the cheapest digital camera in the world. It is ok for asking, "What do you think of this?" or "Isn't this funny/amazing?" but I doubt you'll be framing any soon. I still haven't figured out how to take a video rather than a picture, but I'm not sure there are many circumstances where you will really want a 15 second, slightly jerky, video without sound.
2. The manual is well written but it is virtually impossible to identify the graphics they use to identify the keys you are supposed to press to do things. This severely limits the utility of the manual. Since no one carries the manual around with them all the time, make it bigger and make all the key graphics bigger. At a bare minimum make it available in PDF format (not available yet) so we can enlarge the graphics on a computer screen. While they are at it they should print the English and Spanish versions of the manual as two documents, not one, so that you only have to carry half the weight around when you are learning to use the phone.
CONS:
1. You can't use the phone as a modem. It is so frustrating to have high-speed capability on the phone, and not be allowed to use it. This is a restriction imposed by Verizon to make you pay $80/month for their broadband modem cards which most of us won't do. Verizion should make modem use available at a reasonable (i.e. $25/month price). They would get a lot more business that way.
2. You can't transfer ringtones or wallpapers to the phone. Again, the phone could do this, but Verizion won't let you to make you use "Get it Now" (aka "Pay me Now"). To add insult to injury, Verizion's selection of mp3 ringtones and wallpapers is weak, and you can't even preview most of the wallpapers without paying a fee. You also can't use a PC to review and buy ringtones and wallpapers (much more convenient than using your cellphone) and have them sent to your phone. Oh yes, and if your phone dies or is lost or stolen, you'll have to pay for them all again. Worst of all is Verizion's pathetic excuse for why it won't allow you to add your own ringtones and wallpapers. The real reason is greed. We all have our own musical tastes, and wallpaper preferences, but Verizon insists we pay for the privilege of sharing their taste.
3. No drivers available yet to sync the phone with Outlook (or to transfer content to and from the phone). I have a cord that fits, and when I plug it into my PC it even recognizes that there is an E815 attached, but it won't do anything because there are no drivers. Verizion and Motorola should not release a phone without also releasing a driver that at least lets you sync your phonebook with Outlook. No one wants to enter up to 5000 phone numbers and 2000 e-mail addresses by hand.
4. Itap predictive text works fairly well, but there should be a one button option which allows you to go back to the tap method when it can't figure out what you are trying to enter (It takes several taps to accomplish this). In addition, when you enter a character from the special characters menu like @ or . or / or ! the phone should default to taking you right back to the entry mode you were using before you entered that character (usually Itap or tap).
5. The external screen is weak. It has a much lower resolution and only 4k in colors and is difficult to read without the backlight on. You also can't customize it in any way. Motorola cut corners here to keep costs down and it shows. They should have sprung for a better, easier to read, external screen.
UNCERTAIN: :
1. Bluetooth - You can use a bluetooth headset, but I don't have one yet. The phone is capable of transfering data, ringtones and wallpapers via bluetooth, but Verizon has disabled this feature too.
Summary:
The Motorola E815 and the LG VX8100 are the best two phones Verizion currently offers (7/05). Other than the limitations Verizion has imposed on the phones, you should be happy with either one. The LG has more memory, better speakers, uses T9 predictive text instead of Itap, uses mini-SD cards for storage instead of transflash, has external controls for playing mp3s, and has a better and more customizable outside screen, but it also costs more. I also liked the feel and look of the E815 better. I also doubt I'll really be using my precious cell phone battery to play mp3s (buy an iPod) at least until they start making cell phones with the mini-hard drives in them.
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6. Posted by backwall
Sun Jul 23, 2006 1:33 pm
I did a lot of research for a new cell phone. I wanted good reception, sound, display and duration. I wasn't interested in most of the bells and whistles that came with the phone except Bluetooth which I sorely wanted for hands-free driving. The Motorola E815 fit the bill perfectly. If you want true, clear hands-free capability, not only while driving, but any and all the time, get the Motorola E815 with the Motorola H500 headpiece. I’m a retired commercial pilot use to a hands-free environment and this is as good as it gets.
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7. Posted by Steve Brooks
Sun Mar 19, 2006 4:18 pm
Yes, it takes a bit to figure out the mp3 player, but the sound is GREAT. I bought the cheap Motorola headphones on eBay ($20 total) and was impressed. Unfortunately they got caught in the car door and am now looking at other headphones.
Bought and just tried out the Motorola HT820 Bluetooth stereo headphones. DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID! I'm returning them because they only work with the phone functions, NOT the mp3 player. Something about the E815's Bluetooth 1.1...a phone needs BT2.1.
So I'll be checking out the Jabra handsfree headphones with a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter.
One problem I had with the Motorola headphones, and I've heard it from others, is the fit of the earpieces, which kept falling out of my ears.
What would be really slick is some noise-cancelling earpieces! I considered splicing on some etymotic earpieces, but don't have the hand/eye coordination of a surgeon...
Update
It just takes a little patience with Motorola's non-intuitive design. I've spent many hours setting up my own and others phones and it really does work. With playlists and shuffle. (Shuffle function only works with playlists).
Make sure that all songs are non-corrupted, file size NAMES are 32 characters or less and end with the extension .mp3. (.mp4, .wmv or anything else will screw everything up)
Transfer songs from the PC onto a TransFlash card. 512Mb cards sell on eBay for about $40 and come with an adapter to insert into a reader, an additional item to buy. I got mine at Fry's for $7, after mail-in rebate.
After transferring 490Mb or so onto the card, insert the card into the top of the phone, lettering facing the back of the phone. I've not found any difficulty getting the tiny card into the phone or back out, like some have expressed.
Get the phone to recognize the card: Media Gallery > Sounds > Switch Storage Device > TRANS T-Flash. You should see your songs listed on the screen.
Now set up the playlist: backspace by hitting the up arrow and you should see highlighted. Select it and give it a name. I give names like 1A so it's at the start of the list of songs. Then when "Audio Files" is highlighted, hit "Change" and you should see with your songs listed with boxes. Check as many boxes as you want to be in the Playlist and hit Done twice. You should see it storing your Playlist.
IF YOU DON'T, it's most likely because not all your songs are .mp3s, or they have unique characters in their names or names are too long....re-visit paragraph 2 above. Sometimes songs will screw things up for no apparent reason (to me anyways). By eliminating songs one-by-one from the Playlist, you can figure out the culprit.
For Shuffle: Main Menu > Media Gallery > Sounds > Highlight (don't Select) your Playlist > Menu > Scroll down to Sounds Setup (Select). You should see Auto Repeat (set it for Off) and Shuffle (on).
Hope this helps.
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8. Posted by Snowfyre
Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:29 am
I just switched from Sprint to Verizon and chose the E815 after reading reviews at this site. I've always had an LG phone, no frills, so this is an upgrade for me. I'm not a tech person so the reviews were really helpful. I also read through the online manual.
This phone has great reception; was able to download wallpaper/screensavers and ring tones easily from Verizon site. I was actually able to get the ringtone I had before, I did have to search quite a while for it.
Manual is very basic. I did read it, but playing with the phone is really a must to familarize yourself with all it's details. It's a great basic phone. Camera is really good...sorry no mp3 to speak of...no dropped calls like my LG, and the battery does last a long time...
Next phone I get will definitely have mp3 capabilities, but if you just want to talk and share pics, this is definitely a great phone!
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9. Posted by MVlady
Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:13 am
I just got this phone about 5 days ago. I had so much trouble with the Verizon store. They sold me the wrong accessories 3 times. I wanted the phone for the signal strength as I live in a place where I cannot get service. Just up the road I can, but not at my house. I heard this phone was good for that and I can now actually answer a call and make a call from my house. It only lasts about 1 minute before it is dropped, but I can at least answer my phone. the second purpose of the phone was the MP3 player. I have had a terrible time getting the right memory cards, the right accessories to go with this phone. The first time the Verizon store sold me stuff for a Samsung phone, then they sold me the supplies for the LG 8100. After going online I finally found info to help me. I called the customer service reps and I finally got one who actually called Motorola for me and tried to figure out how to download songs. He didn't get any answers and couldn't help me very much but he did start me off in the right directions. The reason my songs were not showing up on the phone after downloading them, was the names were too long! So I had to rename them. I have the 512 MB microSD/TransFlash card with the MobilemateSD+ card reader. The tiny little card fits into the reader and you download your songs using Windows Explorer. The card shows up in Explorer and you go to Motorola/Shared/Audio and copy the songs there. Just make sure the names are short. Then you put the card back in the phone and you go to Media Gallery Sounds and your songs are there. If only the default sounds are there, hit the menu key in the top middle of the phone and switch storage devices. Then your songs should show up. I know there is probably a way to get a datacable and be able to sync this phone, but they didn't sell me one and they said only the LG 8100 can do that. I am just your average technology challenged person and it hasn't been easy to figure this out. There are no instructions in the manual, the online guide or the cd that came with the phone. Calling Verizon and Motorola did no good. They do not know how to figure this out, unless you get someone who has this phone.
I figured out how to work this phone from reviews I read on this site.
I love the big buttons on this phone. Easy to read and the display is very nice. The camera seems to work ok althougth I haven't printed out any pictures yet.
Overall I'm happy with the phone, it is just that Verizon and Motorola do not train their sales staff very well and I'm very dissapointed with the customer service. You really have to work to get the info you need.
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10. Posted by DizzYGuY
Fri Feb 10, 2006 7:42 pm
Yes that's right the Motorola E815 I know for a fact is the best phone available for verizon customzers. They say verizon crippled the bluetooth which is true, but with a little google hunting, a USB cord, and a bluetooth dongle(You don't need both a USB works just fine but I prefer using bluetooth) for the E815 you simply can do everything you can possibly imagine with this phone. At this point I can open motorola tools and have access to transfer ringtones and wallpapers wirelessly! like magic! I put my phone on the other side of the house and I was still able to access my phone from my computer. Took me about 50 realtime hours to get this to work but in the end just when I was about to give up it worked! and was totally worth the time figuring it out. The way my phone is setup now is the way it should be, but verizon is money hungry and make you pay $2-$3 for an extremely small little mid file. People, stop using "Get it now" it's bogus, it's prolly the next best money generating way next to casinos to rob you out of yur money. Anyways the outside screen is just perfect enough to see the info you want to know quickly and simple and also displays pictures of the person if u set it that way and the inside screen is the same size as the razr 3 with 262,000 brilliant colors. I noticed that they claim the LG vX8100 has the same size internal screen, don't be fooled by that false information. I got my e815 at circuit city and held both phones ( the e815 & lg vx8100) right up next to each and the e815 does infact have a bigger screen. I'd say the lx 8100 is about 156X220 while it advertises 176X220. Not a big difference but the lg has that annoying red bar at the top while the battery info and reception bar info on the e815 overlaps the wallpaper making a more viewable area of your wallpaper. I'd highly recommend the e815. The funny thing is I sent back the moto v276 due to extremely small internal screen other than that it was a great phone, and i ordered the moto v325. During the waiting time for the v325 to get shipped and received, i realized i wanted the lg vx8100. So they said i could just bring that v325 phone when i receive it to circuit city and exchange it for the difference of any other phone. I walked in there thinking i'd come out with the lg 8100 after 3 days of fantasizing about it til i physically held both phones in my hands and fell in love with the e815's internal screen. Ok my work is done here .. have a nice day
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11. Posted by trixie8211
Tue Sep 27, 2005 1:58 pm
In order to make the best decision, ask yourself if you'd rather A. want a phone that has great service and signal strength with some good features or B. want a phone that works like crap but has all the balls & whistles. The LG VX8100 was a very nice looking phone with a good camera. The flash also lights up (diff colors) when the phone starts up or you receive a call...it just has tons of really great features but the performance is less than satisfactory. I had the phone for less than a week and had MULTIPLE dropped calls and crappy signal strength. Needless to say, I returned the LG after 4 days and got the Moto. The Moto doesn't have as many features as the LG and the menu takes a little getting used to but the phone works as a phone should. Great reception - NO dropped calls. Speakerphone & voice dialing are also great. I would choose the Moto over the LG any day!! I've had my Moto e815 for about a week now and I it.
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12. Posted by sujayghuge
Sat Jul 08, 2006 12:03 am
Motorola E815 is a sophisticated looking mobile which feels great in the hand. I had switched from Sprint to Verizon and chose the E815 phone after doing a lot of research on the internet. Reception is wonderful, audio and video quality is great, speakerphone is excellent, the internal display is great, its very easy to download ring tones from Verizon site and the bluetooth headset is a Godsend. When I am on the speaker phone the listener on the other end cannot tell and it allows you to talk with the speaker phone on and the phone closed. Battery life is very good, it catches a very good signal-No dropped calls and I never lose service. Also it comes stocked with a nice selection of ringers. The screen is large and high resolution which makes web browsing a pleasant experience with the Mobile Web 2 feature. No doubt, this is the best digital phone I have ever used!!
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13. Posted by fahim
Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:35 pm
This is a really good phone. It has great reception and sometimes i even get service in the subway. Its camera is pretty good; not the best but pretty good and you can even use the external screen as a viewfinder. You can take pictures in black and white, color, negative, or this other reddish color. It has alot of memory, 44.92 MB to be exact, not 40 like it says on this site. You can expand the memory too. By the way the flash is great. I actually use it as a little flashlight at night. The screen is really good but it seems to have some problem showing black colors. What suks about this phone is that you cant have different pictures on the internal and external screens.
It has an mp3 player so you can put all that space into good use however the sound sounds good with the speaker but when you try to listen to the songs with a headset then the sound is very low even with it turned all the way up. On average an mp3 takes up about 4 MB but i have a program called Audacity which can actually cut the size in half making it take up 2 MB. You just have to go to preference and change the bit rate to 80 and then you just save it to ur computer. You can download it from download.com. oh yea and you can create a playlist so you dont have to manually choose what song to play next after ur current song is done.
You can take 15 second videos with the phone but theyre kinda blurry but what do you expect, this device is a phone first.
Verizon's disabled alot of features on this phone but you can hack it to enable those features again. Like id pay that much for ringtones and mp3s.
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14. Posted by TommyNacc
Sun Oct 08, 2006 1:10 pm
I've had my phone since January when I came aboard the Verizon bandwagon.
Right now, I'm ready to jump off. Well, it's either me or the the phone that's going to jump!
First the phone is perfect for each and everyone of my needs. However, I have been having trouble with charging. The Moto plug which used to be standard on all Moto products is sort of screwed-up. Now I can't get my phone to charge on anything but the car charger and now that's even acting-up.
So thinking that it might be just a little bit of dust or something, I blow-out the bottom of the unit with some canned air, you know the sutff you see them use on all electronic products, well that was a HUGE mistake and I warn anyone from doing it. The dampness of the canned air iniaties the little red dampness dot on the inside of your phone which tells Motorola and Verizon both that your phone has been submerged in water (which my phone hasn't been) Now both are not wanting to help in anyway in getting th ephone fixed.
I'm not hard on cell phones, but this was inexcusable service for me on both parties account. I'm now looking into LG.
So the moral of the story is--if you see any problem with your charging, where the unit turns off instaneously when plugging a charger into it, get it down there quick before the come up with some lame excuse of not wanting to properly gurarantee their products.
This coming from a longtime Motorola user. Verison, well their just simply crooks in their own right.
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15. Posted by PLNUBABE28
Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:31 pm
I just bought this phone a few days ago, it is a great phone as far as I can tell. I had the 710 a year ago, and did not like it at all, this phone has many more features that are really cool. On this phone you can talk on it with the speaker phone on and the phone closed, you can also take pictures with the phone closed. It also allows you to push a button on the side of your phone and you can say check status and it tells you your signal strength and batter strength. The camera seems to be way better, and the volume is way better than the 710. With the 710 I could barely hear if there was any other noise going on, but with the 815 I can hear perfectly. So I do reccommend this phone to anyone who has Verizon, it is also the best looking phone out of all of the phones available for Verizon right now.
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16. Posted by kijana
Tue Mar 14, 2006 11:41 pm
I got my E815 in October 2005, so far the phone has done me good
Pros:- Best thing about the phone is the size of the keys and the display screen, makes it easy to interact and dial
- Good battery life, i actually forgot to carry my charger when staying over at a pals house for the nite yet the phone still had pretty good charge the next day when i got home
- More than enough space for contacts and memory for text messages
- Dual call display screen is really nice
- Nice auto resend feature on text messages
- Additional memory is a plus if used
- Phone doesnt heat up when used for a while, my samsung was notorious for doing that
- Recently dropped it at work but phone was fine
- Powerful speaker phone
Cons:- Motorola & Bell Mobility still havent sent me my free sandisk reader that was promised to me over 4 months ago, apparently they ran out..gave up on it.
- Bluetooth feature only works with headsets, cant send files to other bluetooth phones
- Video & Camera quality is not the best
- Phone freezes and shuts off ocasionally, especially when starting to use the camera, turning on the camera light and when charging
- Removing the back panel can make you go nuts if not careful
- Phone could be less bulky
- Weak vibrate and MP3 ringtone volume
- For those planning to get the case, be warned that the full body case annoyingly covers the mouth piece or ear pierce on the phone when open, makes it hard to hear or talk to folks at times
Overall i like the phone, wish the MP3 player had external controls but otherwise its a great phone with many capabilities. Dont expect crystal clear pictures or videos but they should suffice
-
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17. Posted by LenoreSB
Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:52 pm
Just got my E815 about two weeks ago, so far so good. Little hard getting use to the menu, since I have LG for years, and that had a great menu.
As far as getting ringers into the phone, I have read a few of your comments about that, and took it on as an adventure to figure out how to do it. And i did and it works great.
There is a program called ringtone ripper (just do a search) or go onto planetringtone.net. The program will take any MP3 and rip 30 seconds for you. Once it rips it click on preview sound, and media player will play it then save it as a .mid file. transfer it onto your transflash card, using a Sandisk reader 5-1 costs about 20.00. Put the transflash back into the phone, go to sounds and find the one you want as the ringer. click on menu and "send in message" to your own cell phone number. when you receive the text, save the file, and then store it. Don't save it as a ringer yet, otherwise, that will be the default ringer. And thats it!
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18. Posted by amwhoam
Fri Nov 04, 2005 10:09 am
It all started when I left my 120e on the spoiler of my car, drove off and it was history.
Got a V710. Within 1 year I had 6 exchanges between hardware and software problem. Moto came out with e815 and VZW upgaded me to it for NOTHING!! (Clause in vzw biz practices: should you have 4+ exchanges of a model phone you're eligable to upgrade or even go to a diff. manufacturer at no cost).
e815 works well so far. Being an engineer I may att. to detail. I can see they've made a number of changes, the nuances of which caused lotsa problems in the V710. (screen too close to keypad thus scratching, etc.).
I have hacked mine with a USB cable and the various freeware and info out there. But RE using VZW as a modem / high-speed web access. Both "dialup @ 14.4Kb/s and Higher Speed Express Network @ 60-170 KB/s is easily achieved with just the drivers Inetron.com for free DL.
And V710.org for instructions. Thing here is, Vcast service is $15.00/mo. THe deal, however, includes unlimited "Get It Now", VCAST, and Mobile Web. Meaning no minutes used for these services. Express Network is actually used by VZW to download data cust. phones at high speeds. When I link to the web via the e816 it does not show that I'm "Calling" per se, but just rather reads "packet data" transmit. So is this using my minutes. I don't know yet but we'll see. I keep hitting #646 and no signif change in minutes used although vzw puts a caveat in there that that figure may not reflect accurately.
But it beats paying AOL or SBC yahoo $30/40/50 a month on top of it all. And to boot. I can get online anywhere I can get a signal on my cell. Not too bad.
Take care. D.
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19. Posted by E815Freak
Sun Jul 17, 2005 10:41 pm
Hey everybody, i just got my phone the other day in the mail and let me tell you the only thing harder than the wait for it to ship to me was the first time i let it slip from my hands and watch it bounce on the hard concrete of my garage floor . But other than watching my poor baby take its first spill the PHONE IS ABSOLUTLY PERFECT which is hard to believe for Verizon. From the camera to the voice recongnition (which i accually use for the first time in a phone) everything is great. The look of the is phone sleek and stylish and well as the fuctions of it. so far reception and talking on it have been great even in crowded areas it sounds crystal clear and crisp which is if a relief after owning a static filled slider. Its easy to use and only took me a day to get all the little features down which im sure that i didnt discover all of them yet but im pretty good with stuff like that and i think the 24 hours straight of messing with it i covered most of them. The camera is clear which i worried about because i read on how everybody ragged the v710s camera but the pics are even clear at night. The inside screen is rediculous when you think about how nice it is for a cell phone and the outside one is decent and good enough for everyday use and alittle more. The key pad is nice and big and the buttons are spaced just right for easy texting and dialing. Even though Verizon crippled its bluetooth and its capability of transfering files from the transflash to the phone is ok because with a data cable and the right programs i fixed that in a matter of a day no problem. The battery life is great and i dont think that i have yet to see it with less then the three bars of battery life and i only charge it at night. So far the phone doesnt even get hot when i talk to my girls half the night on it . I have had it for awile now and i was probebly one of the first with it seeing as i ragged my Verizon agent to order it for me way in advance and it was deff worth the wait. I would recomend it to anyone on the Verizon network sense it is relitivly cheep if you come up for a new every two or if you start a new contract. I love my new e815 hopefully you will too.
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20. Posted by fonefreak13
Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:16 am
I have had this phone for just about 6 months and it has lived up to its hype. This is definatly the phone that i wanted. I looked at the razr and really liked it but there were two things that really made me pick this phone from razr. 1-the razr is hard to txt on (at least for my fingers) 2-everyone has one. So far besides minor problems this phone has certainly been great.
Pros:
Great feel
amazing screen
good camera (for sper of the moment pics)
smart and handsome design
GREAT keypas layout (it looks good and performs well)
Motorola menu (not verizons lowsy system)
large exterior screen
txting is a breeze (way better than T9)
reception is always there
voice quality is superb
comfortable to talk to
great speakerphone
Vcast
many features
Cons:
outside screen is a little dim and hard to read
pictures can be spotty
video is only 15 seconds
brushed metal front finish scratches easy
back looks plasticky
The biggest problem:
The charging of this phone drives me crazy it chooses to charge sometimes. It is not like you plug in and forget you have to look to make sure that it is going to charge or else it just sits there wasting ther battery.
Overall great phone, and cant wait to see what the next edition is going to be. Hope it is like a Razr V3x or V3maxx. Hope this helped.
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6 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
21. Posted by tatzl
Mon Sep 05, 2005 7:12 pm
For the last 2 years ive been using an LG VX4400. I was pretty happy with it up until about 3 months ago when the earpiece stopped working and it started overheating after 30 minutes or more of use. I did some online shopping and was gonna go and get a V710. Fortunately for me i had to wait two months for my 'new every two' from Verizon and during that time the E815 was realesed. Friday night i finally went out and got one. Im not sure why but in the Albany NY area these phones are just being released even though ive been reading reviews about them for a month or so. Anyway, im glad i have a girlfriend who loves me because i seriously have not been able to put this phone down all weekend. The functions are great. True, it seems to be geared a little more towards tech savvy individuals but if you sit down and actually read the manual you should have no problems getting started with it. So anyway, the reception is really great. I havent lost a call yet. There is a place near my apartment i refer to as 'the hill' where every phone i have owned loses reception when i drive over it; except this one. The mp3 player sounds awesome. The camera works great (remember its a phone). I spent all of labor day hiking around taking pics with it and they came out great. My $900 video camera has a multimedia card that came with it that only holds about 40 high resolution pics while the 815 can cram about 200 or so into its memory bank. Verizon offers a pix/txt bundle for 5 bucks a month where you get unlimited in plan txt messaging and 50 pix messages a month. Ill probably use all 50 of those emailing the pics to myself and saving them on my computer. By the way, i notice a lot of people are hacking this phone. As interesting as it is i have no plans to hack this phone. It does a whole ton of cool stuff without me turning into Dr. Frankenstien and frying the poor thing into oblivion. I guess all im trying to say is it really is a great phone out of the box, seem editing aside. So thats about it. Like i said i waited a long time to buy this phone and now that i have it im very pleased. Oh yeah the battery life. If your not using Bluetooth you need to go into the settings menu and turn the Bluetooth function off or it will keep searching for a device over an over. This will wear your battery out pretty quick. I ran the battery flat Friday night, charged it up Saturday morning, and havent plugged it in yet and its Monday night and i still have one bar. So go get a gosh darn E815. You will be very happy with it and if not you can come find me and ill let you have my old LG.
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22. Posted by bwcool202
Fri Jun 30, 2006 1:44 pm
About a month ago I said hello moto to the E815. It is a great phone, and I has all the features I need.
Here is the scale:
-----1-----2-----3-----4-----5-----6-----7-----8-----9-----10
Horrable Fair Perfect
Sound Quality:
Overall- 8
Regular: 10
Speaker Phone: 6
The speakerphones sound quality is not too good. I think that if motorola were to change one thing about this phone, it should be that.
Screens:
Overall- 10
Internal: 10
External: 10
The screens on this phone are GREAT, The external screen is very large, as well as the internal. I put it next to my Moms phone and found that it is two times the size. Amazing.
Personizable Features
Overall: 8
I think, that compared to other phones, this one is not as good when it comes to personizeable stuff. Of course you can take a picture and make it the wallpaper, but I am talking about more things, like taking a vidio and making it the vidio that is on the screen when you turn it on and off.
Gadgets
Overall: 5
THere are not many tools, like, there are three, 1>calc, 2> Voice Records, and 3> Datebook. That is all. I am angry at them for that.
OVERALL PHONE
9= Almost perfect.
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23. Posted by EtimesI
Sun Feb 05, 2006 10:24 pm
The phone receives and transmits well, I've never had a dropped call. I do wish Verizon had not disabled the features I bought THIS PHONE for. I concur with the other person who didn't want to key in a bunch of phone numbers and e-mail addresses. That is patently rediculous!\
Verizon will transfer your data from one phone to another phone for you for a fee, as long as the other phone is also a Verizon phone. This did me no good since I switched from Suncom/Suncom AT&T (a TRUE ripoff) to Verizon.
My fingers hit the VOICE RECORD button on the side of the phone every time I use it. This is MAJORLY annoying.
I've had one car charger and two wall chargers die. Sometimes I have to wiggle the charger connector to get a good connection.
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24. Posted by rjt1210
Sun Nov 06, 2005 4:58 pm
I've had my E815 since the 17th of August and like it overall. We changed to Verizon and the price was right.
My only complaint is the poor battery life. I used to get over a week with my Nokia phone, but it didn't have the same type of display screens and other features that will shorten battery life. Once the original battery dies, I think I'll purchase the extended-life version (or I may even get it now and keep the original as a backup). But I guess I shouldn't complain. My daughter has friends w/the Razor phones and their battery life is terrible! Cool is not always functional, I guess.
The phone itself is cool...it does far more that any other I've owned. Call quality is great, the speakerphone is plenty loud, and I really like the huge phonebook. And the not-too-big-not-too-small design is just right as far as I'm concerned.
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46 out of 57 people found this review helpful.
25. Posted by tellyman
Thu Feb 16, 2006 11:13 pm
this is a great phone esspecialy the mp3 player. i heared many "problems" about people not being able to get there phone to shuffle or play non stop. ok first go to sound then go all the way down then it says new playlist and make one then press the menu button (the 3 little bars) on the playlist and go to sound setup. is says repeat and shuffle. i called verizon and motorola they didnt know how to do this . i figured it out after messing with the phone for an hour and accidentaly getting it to work . all in all this is a great phone with all of its features i recommend this phone to anyone!
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35 out of 44 people found this review helpful.
26. Posted by glebovitz
Tue Dec 27, 2005 2:42 pm
Key Points:
1) The phone graphics and audio quality are truly excellent.
2) The manual really sucks big time.
3) The user interface is like trying to use X windows on a Linux box. Unintuitive and frustrating at first, but straight forward after you play with it for a while.
4) Verizon and Motorola have teamed up to demonstrate just how unethical and consumer unfriendly corporations can become. Neither Verizon nor Motorola gave me much of a discount on this phone, and yet they felt it was perfectly reasonable to disable use features in order to nickel and dime me to death. C'mon folks, are you really thinking that the 10 or so extra bucks you MIGHT make from me if I chose to download images and music via your crappy 3G network is worth the goodwill you would have afforded from me? After learning about the disabled features in this phone, I called Comcast and switching my home phone from Verizon to Comcast. I may be in a Verizon mobile contract, but they aren't getting any other money from me. Needless to say, Motorola won't see money from me again for a long long time.
5) If you want good service, get a phone from Sprint and Sanyo. While Sprint is poor in the customer service and billing department, I never felt deceived or misled by their practices. The Sanyo phone was incredibly easy to use.
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61 out of 78 people found this review helpful.
27. Posted by hoopla
Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:15 pm
this phone is the simplest phone...no matter what people say..you CAN use it with ease...and 'figuring it out' is nothing that you need to worry about...there are plenty hacks for this phone on the internet...and anyone can take a peek...as for the internet...the phone has FAST connections...it took a few seconds to switch pages (including typing the address)...calls - loud...camera - good for a phone (get a digital camera and quit complaining about a phone as a camera).....mp3 player - decent (again..get a device made for playing music)....this is a very customizable phone...overall
great phone
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28. Posted by tango73
Sat Aug 13, 2005 9:31 pm
I just upgraded my phone to Motorola E815 a month ago. So far I am very pleased with the phone’s feature and performance. Only downside is the battery life doesn’t stand up to its claim. I wasn’t sure if other E815 owners facing the same problem I have.
The E815 specs stated standby time for 280hrs but I only got less than 36hrs. It was worse than my older phone which only has 140hrs standby time. I contacted Verizon and they told me it is dependence to the phone usage, and other factors. But I am not a heavy user so I don’t agree with their explanation despite the customer service personal was very patient and helpful. I think they should put on a more reasonable (real life) standby time so that consumers don’t get misleaded.
The phone has a lot of features but too bad they are limited by Verizon. Otherwize it will be a perfect phone.
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67 out of 89 people found this review helpful.
29. Posted by jcase16
Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:33 am
Let me start by saying this phone impressed me in several ways. I have never used a flip phone before, but I never imagined just how much surface area one could cover with such a small phone. (Yes compared to other flip phones, this is fairly large.) I originally had a SE T610. In its case, these phones are the same size in width, height, and depth. But when you open it, the screen is huge and the keys are very large. It's a nice looking phone too. But best of all... This phone has the best reception I have ever received.
That said, I hated this phone. Motorola makes a very interesting Operating System for their phones. Everything feels backwards to me. I have used Samsung and Sony Eriksson and this was backwards to both of those. I constantly found myself canceling things when I didn't mean to. I found it very unintuitive and frustrating to use. I wanted to learn, but it just didn't seem to flow for me. The final straw was when I was going to right before I went to sleep and when I woke up. I was trying to send a short text to a friend saying "don't worry about it." This should take what, 10 seconds on a phone you know well? Well, this took at least 2-3 minutes or more. I was half asleep so I can't remember. I just remember being frustrated. This is why. On my usual phones you can use t9. I like this "English" texting... I'm used to it. I also know how to use the Abc method where you tap a key a number of times for each character. But, I switched the input from Abc to 123 like 15 times. The space is located on the pound key for most phones I have used. It is on the asterisk on this phone and the pound changes input type. To say the least this is very frustrating, but can definitely be something that you get acclimated to. When I woke up that morning, I had thought I turned my ringer down, but not only did I not turn it down, it was at full volume and blew me away... Unfortunately when I went to turn it off I snoozed it. I called that day to use my 15 day guarantee and switched to the LG VX8300.
I have to say I love the 8300. It has been easy to use, easy to navigate, and exactly what I expected it to be. Some things I like are the ability to set recurrent alarms (can't do this with the E815), the ability to change the ringer to silent and alarm only from the left volume switch, the comfortable fit in my hand (I’m a 5'8" man with smaller than average hands ), and this phone is very sleek. It's hot enough to be considered nice to look at and business enough to pull out in the office.
I hate the fact that it doesn't get the amazing reception that the E815 got, but this phone rocks. I am so happy with it. If you are looking at the two and can't decide, ask yourself these questions:
Do I want/need amazing reception?
Do I currently use Motorola or am I already used to it?
Is reception the only thing that really matters?
Do you want a large colorful screen?
Do you want large comfortable keys to press?
If the answer to these is yes, then I would go with this phone. Once again, the ONLY reason I switched was because I found the phone very quirky and unintuitive. It is still a great phone.
Hope this helps.
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30. Posted by tcolliso
Wed Aug 10, 2005 8:23 am
Just picked up the Motorola E815 this past weekend, and I love it. The phone is crystal clear, the speakerphone is plenty loud, and the internal display is great. Haven't used the bluetooth, handset is on the way. Previously I had the LG, and found operating the E815 a little different, but a couple of hours and I was used to it. It's three days later and I still have what appears to be a full charge.
The pictures I have taken are decent for a camera phone, but that's not the primary reason for my purchase. text messaging was simple, and motorolas iTAP was easy to use too. I haven't tried verizons vcast or to access the internet.
The only downside is my wife (who also purchased the E815) would like to sinc with outlook, and we don't know if we are going to be able too.
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31. Posted by fighterned
Sun Apr 02, 2006 2:02 pm
A couple of observations about the E815.
Without paying for the extra service, there doesn't seem to be a way of using MP3s.
The phone sounds like the gain is turned up to far and the speaker is struggling to keep up.
Very limited ring tones for the basic phone.
Push buttons too easy to activate when just handleing the phone.
Quick responce times when menus and selections are made.
Hands free support is troublesome. Using either the wired connection or a paired bluetooth connection with a stand alone handsfree the volume out was very weak and the voice in cut in and out.
Nice styling for the phone, but overall it is larger then I would like.
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32. Posted by adidac_23_02
Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:08 am
so i didn't do a whole lot of research on the E815 b4 i bought it but it was between that and the lg 8100 and since the 8100 was sent back to update it's software/hardware i chose the E815 (couldn't wait b/c my other phone had almost completly died....but ne ways....so i've had the phone for about two weeks and starting two days ago i ran across my first bit of problems. btw this phone has never been dropped or abused in any way.
1. the phone freezes and have to unplug that battery in order to shut off....major PITA!!!
2. after recording a video sometimes on the playback it freezes and says file corrupt but when i go to play it again it sometimes works.
3. oh the famous motorola fork style home charger!!! ahhhh i'm already getting issues with the "unable to charge" msg on my screen.
4. i haven't encountered the white screen yet but since i've had these other bugs that all motorola's have had i'm waiting....
i am upset beyond belief that this issues have not been fixed and that these are known issues and have been for quite some time.
overall the quality of the phone is not bad...camera isn't bad but the image quality of pix on the phone isn't great.....can't delete the motorola animated pix....so therefore a waste of space....well i haven't figured out how to delete them yet.....but have tried.......ringer is nice and loud as with speaker phone....voice cmd and typing is not as nice as my old lg....i hate having an antenna as i have already bent the thing....but while on that topic my signal is much better than with my old lg.......oh and i love how they put vcast prog. on there and you can't use it unless you pay the service....not to mention the typical verizon rip offs of having to pay for your wallpaper or game or mp3 b4 you can preview it....and seriously...$2.99 for a ringtone or wallpaper....greedy!!!!....ne ways i suppose i will give this two stars and could have four if it weren't for these issues already acting up!!!
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23 out of 33 people found this review helpful.
33. Posted by gougler
Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:21 pm
I have picked my E815 right after the holidays, taking advantage of the $0 promotion when signing on a 3 year term. The decision factors to go with E815 over other phone were as following (in order of importance):
1. Generally good reviews - reports of good call quality
2. MP3 support
3. TransFlash (Micro SD) support (already ordered my 512MB sandisk on eBay - should arrive shortly)
4. Bluetooth support
5. Large good quality screen
6. Decent battery life
7. 1.3 mpx camera
8. Relatively large built-in memory
9. Price!
Picked up Bell Preferred 100 plan ($30/month + GST!!!) for the following reasons (again in order of importance):
1. Unlimited after 6pm / weekends
2. 200 minutes daytime included
3. included call display (everyone else charges extra)
4. free unlimited web browser (and i tell you - mobile browser on E815 is far best i have seen so far on a cell phone)
5. 100 long distance included each month
6. unimited calls for 6 months
When cancelling my Rogers plan- I have to give credit to that guy in cancellations i spoke to - he was doing all he could to make me stay - but he could not even closely match what i got with bell for $30.
I have another phone with bell (on different plan though) for the last 3-4 years and we never had problems with it or the company so i am hopeful my next 3 years with E815 will be good too.
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34. Posted by Stoner
Sun Dec 16, 2007 9:12 pm
I've had two E815s during my two year contract. I lost the first one while traveling thanks to that clip on case slipping off of my belt. Thankfully having full equipment coverage proved a worthy investment. My first one no problems at all. My second one which came as a replacement suvived being dropped twice. The reception and big internal screen has made alot of others jealous. It has alot of good features which were available on many more expensive phones of the time which made me choose it. I've used bluetooth devices with it such as the Motorola HS500, HF820, and Bluespoon AX2 with great success; reception has been good. I use voice dialing quite often although sometimes you may have to program the phone to recognize some of your pronounciations. Always remember to fully charge phone and device before pairing them. It has a nice speaker too(helps with the alarm clock feature). Ringtones? I don't like listening to everyone elses at work(especially during staff meetings) I keep it on vibrate 99% of the time. It gets your attention even if you set it down. I've taken quite a few pictures with this phone and their good for a 1.3 mp camera(excellent at 3 feet anything over that will show when you enlarge them). It has a real nice flash I've even used it to find things at night. The video is decent and the sound louder than I expected. The phone has a large internal memory but I keep a 1GB card in it to transfer things to computor or printer. Unable to charge problems I've had. I simply disconnected the charger and reconnected it. I do alot of texting with it too. Great phone!
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2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
35. Posted by TomBham
Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:25 pm
I’ve had the E815 for 4 days now and I’d say my old Samsung A610 (2+ years old) phone held it’s own when compared to this phone. If the A610 had Bluetooth, I’d be using it now. I evaluated the LG8100 and the E815 and chose the E815 because of all of the bad press regarding dropped calls using the LG8100. My brother has an LG8100 (who sells realestate) and the calls do drop (he knows all the areas where there is weak service so he tells me just before the call will be dropped).
E815 observations:
1. The transmission and reception are fine when there is digital service.
2. When using the E815 with Bluetooth, the phone battery lasts less than 24 hours. I was AMAZED to see my phone go completely dead 22 hours after a full charge while it was set to use with my H700 headset. Fortunately, I purchased an extra battery and changed them out. In addition, I charged the battery up fully last night and started using it at 7 this morning. By 7 pm this evening the phone was on 1 bar and I’m sure it was about to turn off any minute.
3. When Verizon transferred the phone numbers from my Samsung to the E815, all the numbers were expanded, in other words, if your phone book entry had a work number and a home number, the E815 now had 2 entries for that one phone book entry (not real fun because I now have to go thru my whole phone book and combine them back together), and the speed dial numbers assigned to the entries are now different.
4. After charging the phone, it appears to loose connectivity with the headset and there is a ritual to get the headset back connected to the phone. (this happened 2 of the last 3 days) WHAT A PAIN!
Using the E815 with the H700 headset (via Bluetooth) I purchased a Motorola H700 3 days ago: (and 100% of the time the phone was no more that 3 feet away from the headset)
1 When using the headset, the transmission and reception is barely acceptable. You have to be very good at piecing words together and the person at the other end will hear you as garbled. I have a friend that also has an E815 with a H700 and our conversations are garbled when we speak! (ON BOTH ENDS OF THE CONVERSATION, not even close to acceptable) Rarely there is a clear transmission but I don’t know when to expect that.
2 After 1 ½ days of using the H700, the connectivity between the phone and headset was lost. I called the moto hotline and they were not able to help and told me to take it to the local Verizon store. I went to the store and they turned off the phone and / or reset it, then they followed the procedure to “re-pair” with the H700. It worked. (The phone got confused, not the headset)
I am not pleased with the quality of the H700 and have other friends with much older Motorola headsets that sound perfect 100% of the time. I am considering getting one of the older headsets that has the clear transmission and reception.
Summary:
Overall, the E815 has been average and in no way has it been outstanding. And I am NOT convinced that the Motorola E815 communicates that well with the Motorola H700 headset. (You would think Motorola would have this part together!) It looks like I will be purchasing another headset soon because the quality using the H700 is a ‘D+’ at best. (and I don’t know if it is the phone or the headset or both that is causing the horrible quality in the connection!!) If the phone battery problems persist when using the headset, the phone will be history in very short order. The only real positive thing about using the H700 is that it is not using battery when you have the boom closed. The boom is easily opened and easy to put on your ear when you do want to connect to a call.
As to all of the other features on the E815, I haven't used them.
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36. Posted by loas
Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:50 am
I loved this phone for the first three months that I had it. I bought 2 of them even. One for my girlfriend and one for me. She just got out of the phone this past weekend, thankfully. I bought it when it first came out mainly because the phone I went to the store for was not there and this was new. I was amped about this phone truely. At first it was great. I was looking forward to the mp3 funtion. But with the lack of availability of the cards and the price has kept me from getting one before it started to mess up. It started with her phone not wanting to charge. This is a Motorola thing with this style of charger. THAT is the biggest problem with it. One person told me of how it is not the charger but the pick-up itself that messes up. You plug it in and then mess up the jack, sounds like a poor design to me. $50 for the Transflash card that was no where to be found kept me from getting it. It started to cut off randomly on its own. There seems to be nothing that sets it off and this happened to both of us. The bluetooth will only connect to a head set, that it. No tranfering data or anything else. The speaker phone funtion is great for the person using it. The person on the other side, on the other hand, hears crackle-ing and feed-back. The water dot on the back that detects water damage ativates off of swet from being in your pocket. So if you have a problem it is going to cost you $50 to fix just because it was in your pocket long enough for a small amount of swet to get to it. By the way I am not a swetty person, it does not take much. My girlfriend went through three before the store swapped it out for a Samsung. I am holding out till I can get another phone because I refuse to pay $50 for a phone I no longer like and because I had the thing in my pocket. Like I said great phone, at first.
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37. Posted by carolinason
Sat Dec 31, 2005 1:03 pm
My Moto E815 always had charging issues and had a very short battery life. It is almost unusable at this point and refuses to successfully charge passed 2 battery level indicators in the Battery Status page. I had upgraded from a Moto TimePort and even though it had electronic noises that would black out voice for a second or two several times a minute, it never had power issues and was always usable. I cannot and do not recommend the E815 in any capacity.
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27 out of 50 people found this review helpful.
38. Posted by klaw
Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:38 pm
The phone is good, I am very happy with it as a phone. The mp3 player on the other hand, is a whole different story. I cannot play a list of songs one by one. It will stop when *THE* song end. This is like buying a CD player that play 1 song and stop!!! Motorola customer services is very bad too. They told me I am buying a phone with the ability to play mp3, and that I am not buying a mp3 player. Well, one of the main reason I pick this phone is because of the mp3 player. Other phones that doesn't play mp3 cost a lot less, so in a way I am still paying for the mp3 player. And this is a replacement phone, so I am paying it all myself, so how much I pay matter.
The user manual that come w/ the phone is not very well organize either. I tried to look for information about the mp3 player & there is very little in the manual. In the end, I have to call customer services to find out playing a list of songs one by one is impossible.
This is a phone with a lot of features, but I feel they may have been in a rush to release the product, becasue the menu and functions of the phone are a bit off. I have that "funny" feeling when using it the 1st, 2nd & 3rd times which I never experience w/ my other phones.
I almost return the phone becasue of the afore mentioned experiences, but I end up keeping the phone after speaking to a Verizon reps. because E815's sound quality is very good compare to others. If I have to choose between a suck phone & a suck mp3 player, phone win any day of the week.
Next time, I'll buy the phone from Verizon than from motorola.com. I have a much better experience dealing with Verizon customer services that Motorola's. One last thing to top if off, when I ordered the phone, I am supposed to get free shipping as part of a promotion, and the order confirmation email confirm that. I found out I was charged shipping afterall when I check my credit card statement. What's more, the 1st I call Motorola about this, I was told shipping will be refuned (after about 1/2 on the phone so the Motorola rep finally find the information indicated the free shipping promotion was in effect when I placed the order. After couple weeks & nothing show up on the credit card. I called again & this time I was told I order to get free shipping, I have to return the phone and reorder it again !!!
Hope this help.
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39. Posted by tonyrony
Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:11 pm
I can't speak for the positive commments I've read, but I've had to replace my phone once already and the new one has two bugs too.
Right out of the box, I discovered that the first E815 I had could not be turned off without removing the battery. Verizon said a software update wouldn't fix that, so they replaced it.
Now the replacement phone has been buggy too. As I re-play previously recorded voice memos, instead of re-playing the message, I find the phone takes me up one level to the Tools menu. When I select Voice Records again, one of the messages from my list will have been deleted.
Another bug I discovered has come and gone, thank goodness. On one occasion I had just connected my phone to the charger and then tried to turn the phone off. However, it got "stuck in a loop" and repeatedly cycled itself off, then on, then off, then on again ... and just kept doing that repeatedly until I removed the phone from the charger.
To top it all off, as I called Verizon customer service about these problems, the service rep frankly commented, "I don't think this is a very well-made phone." Maybe she was just trying to acknowledge my frustration, but I'm tending to agree with her.
Update
Did I say I had THREE problems? Now you can make that FOUR problems. As I look at my contacts list, all seems normal; I haven't made a change to it for a long time. However, when I try to call the number for SpeedDial position #5, although the display shows the correct name, if I look at my recently-made calls list, all the entries for SpeedDial position #5 are showing the name for SpeedDial position #7.
Now, combine all these problems with the awful sound quality on my wife's Motorola phone (a different model) and I'm ready to swear away from Motorola phones forever, perhaps.
And to make me feel even WORSE about my choice of Motorola phones, I'm reading a PC Magazine article dated June 26, 2006 (where they're discussing that Nokia backed out of the CDMA phone market) ... they said, in part, that "...Sanyo famed for phones with excellent reception and sound quality." Maybe I need to change my brand loyalty?!?!?
Tony
P.S.: I'm learning the hard way. Had I known about this great site/forum, I would have come here first to see what's going on with the latest cell phones.
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40. Posted by tonyz
Mon Feb 06, 2006 3:20 am
I got this phone mostly because of the MP3 player. The only problem is that it's a one song player. Talk about crap! It does not have a shuffle, or continous play. Every time a song is over I have to open the phone back up and press the "next" button. LAME!
You have to buy a converter for your "TFlash card" (which is 28.00) so you can connect it to your PC. Which no one told me about until after I bought the phone. And you have to buy earphones with the smaller jack that fits into your phone. (Another 30.00)
The phone does not have any games on it! I mean come on, not even the cheesy games? Whatever, you have to spend more money for that! And ringtones... more money! Wallpaper...more money! I thought I spend a lot of money buying the phone all ready!
The good thing about the phone is that it does have the "TFlash"! (which is very small chip and not very easy to take in/out of phone). You use it to transfer pics, songs, video from your phone to PC and vice versa.The pictures that I have taken with the phone comes out GREAT and it is easy to transfer to my PC as a Jpeg. The battery works good, the screen looks cool and big. It is a bigger phone than the others. The manual sucks! You better off trowing it away! The reception good. I'm just very disapointed of the "one song- no shuffle" mp3 player.
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41. Posted by Layla
Sun Oct 22, 2006 2:04 am
I've used canned air on cellphones before and its never gotten the phone damp. You don't have to hold it right up to the phone to get it to work. But I use it on my phone all the time and its safe as long as you don't hold it too close. Motorola chargers have always sucked. You have to be sure to hold the button down when you plug it in and unplug it. And while it is charging you have to be sure not to touch it. The only other problem I've seen with the E815 is the screen part of the clam shell becomes loose over time and that will make the speaker part staticy. And it is not covered by the warranty. Be careful not to push it back too far.
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2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
42. Posted by dogjosh2004
Sat Jan 21, 2006 10:19 pm
hey peeps i work for verizon and the lg8100 is a sweet phone but the signal sucks nobody can here me at all im always yelling i look like an ass in front of my cust and the outside display is great and clear and the speakers on the side r nice when u get a call but the batt sucked i could go one day and would have to charge it a pain when ur always on it and one day out of the blue it broke on the charging port fell out so i was forced to buy i new one what a bigger pain now i just got this one with dowloaded ring tones and my wallpapers and the mini sd card i bought and the lg clip cuz no phone comes with one and at the stores have the cheap ones that break so after it broke i was pissed cuz now im out like 450 dollars so i walk in to my store And bought the e815 that i never really owned moto so i was a liltte scared about it but it was the only bluetooth phone i had in stock so i call verizon and have them swicth esn i start putting the 350 numbers in there now i really mad so i buy the verizon leather case and transflash and car charge now set back another 450 well a week later im so very very happy with the e815 so much better the only thing is the outside screen is not bad but not as good is the 8100 well any way stay away from the lg vx 8100 its junk a waste
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43. Posted by Guitarmaster16
Sun Dec 03, 2006 7:22 pm
The Motorola E815 is awful. When you first get it,you think its great, everything works smoothly. After a couple months things start going wrong. The following things that happen have not just happened to my phone, 3 other of my friends have this phone and they have had the exact problems. One of the first huge problems is, out of the blue,if your using your phone, it will freeze and then reboot to the main screen for no apparent reason. Another problem were the keys. They started to not react very well when i pushed on them, then would not respond quickly, or the whole key pad would shift when i clicked it. The physical phone itself is the cheapest material ever used for a phone. The paint chips away, the plastic bends and cracks easily. The biggest problem with the phone, which is now why i have to get a new one after only having this for 6 months is the antenna broke off causing my phone to loose all signal and makes it almsot unusable. Having no antenna gives me sometimes one bar of signal and most of the time my calls wont come in. I would strongy advise against the purchase of this phone, it is horrible, save your money.
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44. Posted by McGirk
Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:52 pm
Update: Had the phone nearly a year now, still limping along, found that it only likes one charger, I sell these things, and some chargers it works fine, others it won't work at all, just continuously power cycles. The turning off problem happens more frequently now, most often while surfing the web. Battery doesn't last all that long anymore, but I do use it quite a lot.
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45. Posted by jzehaz
Sun Oct 14, 2007 1:58 pm
I have read the reviews both good and bad - my experience with this phone has been solid reliability. I have had it over two years (vzw) and decided not to upgrade it because it has been great. I do texting, have a transflash card for mp3 transfer for ringtones, but I do not web surf or listen to music with this phone. The only issue I occasionally have is that the phone will not recognize the charger. It must be some kind of software glitch. With a little booting and rebooting it gets to the point where it charges. This is an intermittant problem. I sometimes wish it was smaller, but this is not a major issue. Otherwise I am pleased with the performance of the phone.
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46. Posted by McGirk
Fri Sep 07, 2007 4:10 pm
Phone purchased at the beginning of Feb07
Large interior screen is a plus. Larger exterior screen then a RAZR. Large buttons, let's face it most of us dial with our thumbs, stop making the buttons so small. Signal is second to none. When used with the HS850 the calls are clear but are quieter then without a headset.Exterior memory card a plus. Have loaded wallpapers and ringtones with this. Can find 1gb cards online for 30 shipped.
Camera is just plain awful, but I didn't buy it for a camera, so I'm unconcerned. At times it power cycles itself for so seeming reason. This is a pain, but as long as it is infrequent, I won't complain.
Now for the only major problem with the phone. If the charger is plugged into the wall before I plug it into my phone, it will power cycle itself from one to several times before it sits in a off but charging state.
Generally, I would recommend this phone to anyone, it's signal is great, it's screens and buttons are large. But the charger system is such a problem that it's barely worth having the phone. At the same time no other phone has as strong a signal, and I live in a rural area, and keep it as a result. Don't think it'll last long enough to finish my contract though.
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47. Posted by carolinason
Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:57 am
I'm on my second e815. First one stopped charging, now the second one's main screen doesn't work.
I now have to use #1 for calls and #2 to charge the batteries. And to add to my misery Alltel can't reprogram #1 since it was bought at Verizon. Where do they find these people. I suppose stupid is the best thing to put up front when you sell JUNK!
I'm tired of buying 250 dollar phones. Please, can't a company make a phone that is simply a universal cell phone for $30!
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48. Posted by crazyman
Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:02 pm
I bought this phone late July of 2006. The store didn’t had any other phones and my phone was completely dead and the weekend was coming. I had to get a cell phone and I decided to just get this one, oh well. At first I was a bit unhappy because this phone seemed kind of old and the right tone was sure giving it an old phone feeling. But after that weekend I got use to it and I found it to be very good. The signal was amazing and the battery life was amazing as well.
After 2-3 charges I began to have my first issues with the phone. For some reason I continue to have issues with the charging. I would connect the charger to the phone and a message would pop out saying “unable to charge” and this was not a one thing issue, it continued! I had to fight with it sometimes ever over 5 minutes at a time! Because it would refuse to charge. After getting it to charge it would last days before needing to be charge again.
My phone had a few freeze times. Out of nowhere it will completely freeze on me for several minutes till I had to pull the battery out of the cell phone.
Now nearly a year of usage this phone has continue to suck. The signal has not been that great anymore. My phone has all ready had several months with drop out calls! And so far it’s only getting worst as time goes by.
I purchase a Motorola H700 just because it was a Motorola product and I figure Motorola blue tooth and Motorola cell phone should work together, right? Well wrong again! My phone will not recognize the device! After hours of trying everything from shutting my phone off, shutting the blue tooth off, recharging both products, and calling costumer service all the hope that I have is to head to a Verizon store to get some help there. They said the blue tooth might not be working, but it’s brand new!
Overall the phone is great at first. It works really well practically everywhere and even works great while your driving. But the issues will come pouring like crazy after a while. The charging is the most annoying one because I can understand signal problems but not charging problems. I’ve kept my cell phone on perfect condition EVEN bought a new charger just because I thought maybe the charger was the issue, but nope the second charger worked fast the first time but after that it’s the phone which has the charging issue.
I do recommend it just because so far it still works after a year, yet I’ve kept it on perfect condition so it varies. From all of the “great” reviews that I’ve read for this cell phone have only been from costumers that have had it for a few as 3 months. Yet anything after that I’ve seen that the reviews get bad. I know why because mine is a year next month! So it’s only gotten worst as the months go by.
SO FAR if the blue tooth is not the issue I’m just going to switch to a Razor cell phone or something.
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It is so frustrating to have high-speed capability on the phone, and not be allowed to use it. This is a restriction imposed by Verizon to make you pay $80/month for their broadband modem cards which most of us won't do. Verizion should make modem use available at a reasonable (i.e. $25/month price). They would get a lot more business that way.
I have a cord that fits, and when I plug it into my PC it even recognizes that there is an E815 attached, but it won't do anything because there are no drivers. Verizion and Motorola should not release a phone without also releasing a driver that at least lets you sync your phonebook with Outlook. No one wants to enter up to 5000 phone numbers and 2000 e-mail addresses by hand.
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.. have a nice day
it.
and have other friends with much older Motorola headsets that sound perfect 100% of the time. I am considering getting one of the older headsets that has the clear transmission and reception.
