Screen
With the V3 closed, the front panel contains a 4096 color 98 x 64 px STN
external display capable of showing up to 3 lines of text. Common information
such as network reception, battery life, incoming calls, and events, are
displayed. Flipped open, a brilliant 262K color 176 x 220 px TFT internal
screen is revealed. In Camera Mode, the LCD also doubles as a viewfinder for
taking photos.
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TFT (Thin Film Transistor), as opposed to STN (Super Twisted Nematic),
has the circuit transistors placed on the glass at the pixel location instead
of the need to scan the pixel location. This results in greatly increasing
the response time and allows for very fast refresh rates, which is needed
for using the RAZR V3 as a viewfinder or playing games.
Audio
The V3's internal speaker has the ability to produce 22 kHz sounds including
polyphonic ringtones of up to 24 simultaneous chords. The number of simultaneous
chords playable has been steadily increasing within the industry, and 24
are fairly minimal when compared to some high-end phones that feature upwards
of 40 chords. With more chords, more realistic sounds are capable by overlaying
several instruments.
 Nevertheless,
most will not miss it. A steady migration from polyphonic ringtones to MP3
tones has been taking place in the market, and fortunately the RAZR V3 supports
both file formats.
Conventional ringtones utilize the MIDI file format, which recreates
sounds by essentially playing "musical notes." Thus the more simultaneous
chords that could be overlay meant more realistic sounding ringtones.
MP3s on the other hand are not "sheet music," but rather straight
recordings. Ringtones are much a thing of the past. Nowadays, for the most
realistic melodies, with both music and vocals, MP3s are the standard. The
benefits of MP3 recordings as opposed to MIDI files are tremendous. Aside from
the obvious quality difference, MP3 recordings do not have to be just music.
Its versatility allows creative users record and set anything they want
to their ringer, alarm, alerts, events, etc. Whether it is voice, sounds,
or music, the possibilities become endless.
 Additionally,
the V3 has speakerphone functions. For incoming calls, volume is
sufficiently loud, and voices sound natural, having excellent clarity
and range. While outgoing voices are received cleanly with minimal
distortion. However, as with all loudspeakers, environmental noises are
picked up easily. Regardless, the Motorola RAZR V3 speakerphone function
allows users access to a quick handsfree feature.
Messaging
Standard messaging features such as SMS and MMS are present on the V3.
Text messaging is intuitive and not hindered by the unorthodox keypad. However,
instead of the more widely used T9 predictive text standard, the RAZR features
the Lexicus Software iTAP method. Essentially they are very similar, but loyal
T9 users may find it difficult to break old habits.
MMS functions are simple to use and convenient, allowing consumers to express
more than just words by adding pictures, video, and sound to their text
messages. So instead of just sending text, users can create multimedia birthday
or holiday greetings, or vacation postcard messages. Charming predefined
MMS templates are also included for common events people might encounter.
With the V3's built-in camera, photos can be combined with text to produce
an endless mixture of multimedia messages limited only by imagination.
 Real-time
chat programs are preinstalled as well. Users can logon and start typing
away with their buddies. Wireless Village instant messaging (My Friends)
goes beyond previous mobile chat features. The Wireless Village
specifications define how the instant messaging provides an open connection
with existing IM providers, such as AOL, ICQ, Yahoo and MSN, so users can
use the most popular chat programs.
Wireless Village allows people to share personal information about their
status, (On-line, Off-line, or Busy), location (Home or Work), and moods
(Happy or Angry) with their friends and colleagues. Additionally, services
will allow users to participate in private or public chartrooms with search
capabilities. Ultimately network operators will be able to provide meeting
and conferencing type of services with shared content.
Email accounts that support POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP protocols are also
accessible, allowing users to stay connected with family and friends by
checking and sending email messages anywhere on the go. The V3 stores emails
and text messages dynamically, depending on memory available.
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