More Photos

View Best Sellers   Release Date: Q4 2005 Released For: AT&T - Discontinued Released for Cingular, the Motorola V557 is the first handset to include Motorola's SCREEN3 - an innovative technology that enables consumers to get news, sports, entertainment, and other premium content and services directly from their mobile device home screen (no buttons to push, no browsers to launch). In addition, the V557 features a VGA camera, video record and playback, and advanced messaging. EDGE technology and Cingular's consumer data services, such as Picture Messaging and Cingular Sounds, enhance the multimedia offerings and enable subscribers to share images and download MP3 ringtones with unprecedented speed... [Continue reading Motorola V557 Review]

• GSM quad-band technology for communication around the globe
• Motorola's SCREEN3 technology solution featuring zero-click access to news, sports, entertainment, and other premium content
• Integrated VGA camera with 4x zoom and dedicated one touch video capture and playback
• Preloaded FotoFun Photo Editor for editing by adding clip art and backgrounds to existing images
• Conference calling and integrated hands-free speaker
• Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), POP3 and IMAP4 client for e-mail management, and instant messaging
• J2ME MIDP 2.0 support for application, ringer, wallpaper, graphic and game downloads
• Bluetooth wireless technology for hands-free conversations
• EDGE technology for high-speed data transmission with WAP 2.0 compliant browser
• SyncML device management and Personal Information Management (PIM) synchronization

Technical Specifications
Network:	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Form Factor:	Clamshell
Dimensions:	89 x 49 x 25 mm
Weight:	114 g
Antenna:	Stub
Navigation:	5-Way Keypad
Battery Type:	820 mAh Li-Ion
Talk Time:	3.75
Standby Time:	225
Memory:	5.0 MB
Expandable Memory:
Imaging
Main Screen:	65000 colors (TFT) 176 x 220 px
External Screen:	2 colors (STN) 96 x 32 px
Camera:	0.3 MP / 640 x 480 px / 4X Zoom / Self-Timer / Video Recorder
Audio
MP3 Player:
FM Radio:
Speakerphone:
Push-To-Talk:
Multimedia
Wallpapers:	176 x 220 px
Screen Savers:	176 x 220 px
Ring Tones:	MP3
Themes:
Games:	J2ME
Streaming Multimedia:	Cingular MEdia Net Live Ticker
Messaging
SMS:
EMS:
MMS:
Email:	POP3 / IMAP4 / SMTP
Chat:	AOL / ICQ / Yahoo!
Predictive Text:	iTAP
Applications
Phonebook Capacity:	1000
Calendar:
To-Do List:
WAP:	2.0
Voice Commands:
Calculator:
Connectivity
Bluetooth:
Infrared Port:
High-Speed Data:	GPRS (Class 10) / EDGE
Wi-Fi:
GPS:
PC Sync:	SyncML
More Information
Website:	Motorola V557 Website
Discussion:	Motorola Forum

* Compare with other phones side-by-side, or Search by features. We always try to make sure our specs are accurate and complete; however there may be times when information is not known. If you come across any missing details or mistakes, please contact us so we can help other consumers.

Sanyo Katana LX	Nokia 2760	Samsung U550	Samsung T229	Motorola W490
Sprint	T-Mobile	Verizon Wireless	T-Mobile	T-Mobile
Free!	Free!	Free!	Free!	Free!

[b]THE BEST YET![/b]

well i purchased this phone a few days ago in replace of my lg 2000 which is not clearly as good as this phone. but first let me start off with the positive

outstanding reception 3-5 bars everywhere including indoors

battery life.

video camera.

wonderful call quality the best yet.

nice sleek feel.

beautiful color resoultion.

bluetooth is great.

Cons

not a variety of chat options like yahoo messenger, that is one feature I like about my lg 2000. but other than that the phone is perfect.

Was this review helpful? ::
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

Decent phone for the money, the E815's higher-powered though

I just got a Motorola V557 last week as a new replacement for my work cell phone. I have a Motorola E815 as my personal cell phone, which I got about a year ago. So this review will pretty much be a comparison between the two!

Compared to the E815 the V557 seems a little wimpy. The camera has only a 0.3 megapixel resolution, whereas the E815's is 1.3MP (noticeable difference!).

If you're into downloading and using customized MP3 ringtones, the E815's speaker is far superior. However the V557 accepts 128kbps MP3s while the E815 will cap you at 80kbps/30sec MP3s (but what's the point of allowing for higher-quality MP3s if they are played through much worse speakers?). Plus the E815's large memory (40MB) more than makes up for that. The V557 only has 5MB memory, which I used up quickly.

The E815 has a larger screen size as well, both inside and out. I haven't used the V557's Ticker feature (my company only paid for text messages, not data transfer, so it would cost too much money). But something tells me I wouldn't use it much anyway. I also haven't used the POP3/IMAP email client feature (again, data transfer costs 10cents/KB for my company), but that's one feature the E815 doesn't have.

I could go on but basically the V557 is a watered down version of the E815. The extra features it adds on (Ticker, mail client) may be useful to some, but if you're looking for a high-res camera (for a phone) and a high-quality speaker for playing MP3 ringtones, I'd highly recommend the E815 over this.

Was this review helpful? ::
32 out of 38 people found this review helpful

THE BEST PHONE OF THE YEAR!

The motorola v557 cellphone is by JD Power..."The best phone of the year" and I agree 100%. It is the 6th phone that I have in my life and I love it. I even have drop it several times on the floor at the parking lot and still in one piece and working,it has great reception and has all the features that I like.

Was this review helpful? ::
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful

ok ok im starting to agree wit jcclow

this phone is still good but......

1. the buttons rub the screen and make marks all over the display that dont come off!

2. Drop it once or twice, starts to feel like its going to break in half

3. sometimes wont make a call because network is busy(razr didnt do that)

4. buttons get scratched by the screen and wear

The things that Still work (knock on wood)

1. camera

2. batt life is ok (so so)

3. makes calls



Personaly i think this phone is not going 2 last much longer, its evenually going to ruin the screen and or break.


ok 4 the 1st cpuple weeks or so but if ur VERY easy wit phones this is 4 u, unfortuanly i am pretty rough

Was this review helpful? ::
24 out of 31 people found this review helpful

Unimpressed...

I miss my Nokia already and I've only had the V557 for 3 days.

The menus are cryptic.

There's a lack of options for your different ring settings. I want to be able to add vibration with any setting instead of having to rely on the Vibe & Ring setting and then go in and turn down the ring depending upon where I am. Example, outdoors I'd like the ringer loud with vibration... indoors I'd like the ringer quiet with vibration. Not possible with this phone. You have one option for ring and vibration.

The way the phonebook is setup is lame also. If you have a contact with 3 different numbers, when you select view instead of the three different types of numbers showing up (ie. Mobile, Home, Work) you get the first one and then you have to press the down button to select the other one and so on. The only problem, it shows you the three numbers for that person with three presses of the down button, if you press the down button a fourth time it goes to the next person in your phonebook instead of cycling back to the first person first number. If you've used a Nokia you'll see how backwards this is. Also, while you're scrolling thru all those entries, to differentiate between the types of numbers there's a cryptic little icon at the top instead of an easy to read label.

Not to mention if you use Motorola's Phone Tools to interface your phone with your PC the "Main" type of phone number is not recognized by Outlook as an option for naming a phone number. So when you set the number that the V557 is supposed to call as the primary (Main) number and then sync it with Outlook, that number ends up in limbo. You should be able to just label a number as the primary number and then add a category to it such as mobile, business or home.

The signal reception is abysmal! Places where my 2 year old nokia had full strength, this is only getting about half. When you get down to about two bars and try to dial a number, sit back and wait. It takes the phone at least 20 seconds (sometimes longer) to negotiate with a tower before it starts dialing.

The receiver speaker clips very easily. Everytime I call Cingular, the person on the other is always distorted no matter what I have the volume at. Sometimes this happens with normal phone calls also. Never happened with my Nokia.

Turn the Ticker on and it takes control of the soft keys you programmed to do something completely different. For example, I had the alarm clock programmed to open when I pressed the pad left and the tools to open when I pressed the pad right. I turn on the Ticker and both buttons get hijacked to control the ticker.

There is no missed calls menu option. All incoming calls are stored in received calls whether you answered the phone or not. Pain in the butt if you happen to receive a couple of calls and miss a couple. There's no way to distinguish between the two.

Motorola, take some hints from Nokia's cell phone design. They know how to make a truly user friendly, yet completely functional cell phone.

Was this review helpful? ::
178 out of 235 people found this review helpful

IMPRESSED!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE THIS PHONE. First of all its an awesome design. Its sleek and clean looking. The camera is great (iv'e had expirence with other camera phones) this is the 2nd best. i had a razr B4 but i took it back because it was garbage. this phone is tough.


id give it a 9.7 outta 10


I highly recommend this phone

Was this review helpful? ::
35 out of 57 people found this review helpful

This Phone is A Legend among mere mortals!

Look all of the negative reviews I'm reading on here are ludacris. You people obviously place too much emphasis on a single object, such as the cell phone. If you want the Microsoft Office, or the newest 3d graphics for the games you never play, then you go get that phone.

Now I read an earlier review on here saying that J.D. Power voted this phone as the best phone of the year, and it is just that, or it was that in 2006, it is still a very good phone. I got this phone about 2 and a half years ago and this phone has never disappointed me. Now Im a high school student and while everyone kept getting the new phone because their phones kept breaking, mine kept on rolling. I captured priceless moments on video, no matter how low the quality is compared to that of the phones of today, the point was made. I dropped this phone numerous times, it has battle scars all over, but I think it gives it character. The phone is simple and easy to understand. I don't plan on opening my phone and wondering how I get to the phone book, it shouldn't be a task. It's all right there, in your face.

Today at about 3:45 P.M. my phone blacked out. The keypad still lights up, but the screen is gone, no sound. Back in December I said I was thinking of getting an iPhone, but one day I snapped back into reality and realized I don't need an iPhone. I already have an iPod with 80GB I'll never use, and then I looked at my phone and said, "This guy right here has been kicking strong for 2 and a half years, I might as well ride it out until it feels like it can't go on." And I did just that, I never considered getting another phone, except for the 5 minutes I considered getting an iPhone, but who didn't? This phone has been through a lot, and hopefully I can get it fixed, because all I need is to call and text.I have a digital camera, I mean it's a cell PHONE. Made to make calls. It's so simple, so is the phone, I love it. Hopefully my phone can pull through this tough time and regain it's health. Say a Prayer, and thank you.

Was this review helpful? ::
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful

Motorola v557 Not up to standards

I go through cell phones like crazy, atleast 2 a year. I cannot find one that can withstand my abuse. This 557 handled it worse than most. It will not charge anymore due to bad connection in bottom of phone. Screen is scratched pretty bad by key pad. Battery life is ok, but since it won't charge properly it seems as if it doesn't hold a charge long at all. Overall I have had many Motorola phones and this is probably the worst one.

Was this review helpful? ::
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful

4th review on this phone! its terrible

ok i had this phone 4 almost 2 years.and at first its great then awesome phones start coming out like now and i hate the v557 but heres the PROS and CONS


PROS
-bluetooth

there's nothing else i like about it.
CONS
-i hate the camera it was good but so outdated now
-its pretty ugly(good for an adult phone)
-scratches really easily
-screen scratches from the buttons rubbing it.
metal casing on the front scratches the first couple days ou have the phone



im not even using the phone now because it will not charge.it says unable to charge wen plugged in.i have to use an old crappy nokia because the thing broke i replaced it once because of antenna trouble.good thing this phone is discontinued because it sucks!

Was this review helpful? ::
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful

hmm

iv'e wrote two reviews so far about this phone when i got it. its an ok phone but now its starting to get old and out dated with the samsung SYNC coming out and everything. I've had it replaced once because the antenna broke off and it was extremely scratched and cracked. the screen gets terrible after a year or so. the buttons rub the screen soo much even if your extreamly careful. when i go my new replacement i was really caregul and its already scratched. Its really annoying but im getting an upgrade soon hopefully i will get a SYNC

Was this review helpful? ::
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful