Camera

Containing the same 0.3-megapixel VGA camera found on previous Motorola models, the V330 is able to capture photos at sizes up to 640 x 480 px. While superb a year ago, rapid advancements in imaging technology have pushed devices featuring 2-megapixels nowadays.

More of a novelty than a replacement for an actual camera, users should not expect to be able to print photos clearly. Other resolution sizes available include Small - QQVGA (160 x 120 px) and Medium - QVGA (320 x 240 px) providing 24-bit color depth at 16 million colors.

Pressing the Camera button on the side converts the internal screen into a camera viewfinder, with the lower portion of the display showing useful information such as available memory. Up and down key presses from the navigational pad controls the 4X digital zoom, while left and right adjusts brightness levels.

While not providing "true" zoom, as optical would, the V330 uses digital zoom which essentially crops the image rather than moving closer. So images will not gain in resolution. Due to the need to keep phones compact, moving parts required for optical zoom are not yet available.

Approximate image file sizes are 50 KB for VGA, 16K for QVGA, and 3 KB for QQVGA. With 5.0 MB of storage space, more than enough memory is provided.

But for times when photos won't cut it, the V330 can record up to 10 seconds of video. Supporting MPEG-4, H.263, and AMR Audio formats, video recording and playback sizes are at Sub-QCIF 1 (88 x 72 px), Sub-QCIF 2 (128 x 96 px), or Full QCIF (176 x 144 px) resolutions.

Basic Features

The user interface is based on Motorola's V500-series phones, so previous users will see many similarities with slight improvements here and there.

Released exclusively on T-Mobile USA, the Motorola V330 is a quad-band phone (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 GSM), making it truly a world phone, compatible with GSM networks worldwide. Motorola rated the V330's 780 mAh Li-Ion battery at 235 hours of standby and 7.08 hours of talk time.

However, those are under optimal conditions. When handset manufacturers and mobile phone carriers list talk-time and standby-time ratings, they usually include disclaimers about variable performance and often refer to the times they publish as maximum times. Actual talk and standby times are lower.

Screen

With most phones pushing 65K and up to 262K color external displays, the V330's 96 x 32 px monochrome screen is disappointing. But there is one advantage.

Grayscale LCDs consume much less power than bright and vivid screens. And with most users quickly glancing at an outer display to view information such as time, caller ID, or network status, a simple two-toned screen may be preferred to a power-hungry colorful screen that rarely gets used.

Opened, an internal TFT (Thin Film Transistor) screen is revealed, capable of displaying 65K colors at 176 x 220 px in resolution. Being TFT, it has advantages over STN matrices (such as the external LCD) by allowing quick response and refresh rates.

TFT active display matrices can achieve more vibrant colors and faster refresh rates due to circuit transistors being placed directly on the glass at the pixel location. STN on the other hand, does not, and requires the scanning of pixel locations. This results in noticeably quicker response times; refresh rates needed for using the V330's screen as a viewfinder during camera mode.

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