Camera

Built with a protective hardened glass, the V3m's 1.3-megapixel camera lens is activated by pressing the dedicated Camera Key, turning the LCD into a viewfinder. Snapping photos up to 1280 x 1024 px in size, consumers can leave the digital camera at home, since the V3m can capture high-resolution photos to make great prints.

Only about 50 images can be stored at the maximum resolution, but users can lower image quality to 640 x 480 px, 320 x 240 px, or 160 x 120 px to store up to 1,500 photos on the internal memory.

The 4x digital zoom lets users get closer to the action, but resolution is lost since it merely crops the image rather than moving in. The RAZR V3m also integrates several image correction features and options including Brightness (-3 to +3), Lighting Conditions (Automatic, Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, and Incandescent), Image Quality (Fine, Normal, and Economy), Color Effects (Normal, Sepia, Black and White, and Negative), and Self-Timer (Off, 5 sec, and 10 sec).

Video up to 15 seconds can be recorded as well. Captured clips are encoded in 3GP codec (H.263 and AMR format), taking advantage of MPEG-4 for delivery of video and audio.

Using the same camera as the V3c, the V3m's photo quality is mediocre compared to other devices on the market. While considerably better than VGA cameras, many manufacturers are integrating 2.0- and 3.2-megapixel cameras into handhelds. While the camera lens is good enough to take still images for 4x6 prints, the video recording capabilities are blurry and grainy at best, not usably for anything much more than amusing clips.

Basic Features

Released for Verizon Wireless, the original Motorola user interface has been replaced with a preconfigured Verizon menu found on other devices in their network. Exhibiting an overly simplistic layout, the menu structure is fast responding, but leaves only the bare essentials in usability.

The dual-band RAZR V3m operates only on Verizon Wireless' digital networks (CDMA 800 / 1900). Thus rural coverage may be spotty where analog reception may be better.

Motorola rated the RAZR V3m's 780 mAh Li-Ion battery at 3.33 and 325 hours (13.5 days) of talk and standby times respectively, offering improved battery life over the V3c. However, measurements are under optimal conditions where manufacturers and carriers often refer to the times they publish as maximum times.

< Prev Next >

This article is Copyright 2002-2009 Mobiledia Corp. and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from Mobiledia. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact us.