Billed as an entry-level phone, the Motorola v180 is actually a feature rich black beauty with quad-band global coverage capability. Instant messaging, MP3 ringtones, dual displays, USB connectivity and gaming support are all here-- a significant step up from entry level phones of the past. It's the perfect companion to Cingular Wireless service.
Design
The phone features a sleek clamshell design with a large 128 x 128 color display with 65,000 colors. The outside cover of the handset sports a supplementary 96 x 32 monochrome display that can display time, call information, battery and signal strength, and more. A stub antenna is placed on the top right side of the unit. Up and down buttons for volume control are placed on the left side. Most of the phone's features and on-screen menus are controlled by a five-way center button on the handset's control pad. A USB-capable data port is housed on the unit's top edge. There's a standard jack to accept universal hands-free headsets on the bottom of the handset, next to the phone's charging port. Face plates are available so you can create the look you're after on the phone's outer casing.
Calling Features
The V180 supports polyphonic ringtones as well as MP3 ringers, allowing you to use portions of your favorite songs to alert you to incoming calls. You can also assign pictures and ringers to your most common callers. A number of ringtones come preloaded on the phone and more ringtones can be downloaded from Cingular's MEdia service. There's even an included application, MotoMixer, that enables you to mix your own ringtones.
Speed dialing, which allows you to call pre-programmed numbers with one button is built in, as is a vibrating alert. A built-in speakerphone makes it easy to talk without having the phone to your ear. Voice activated dialing makes calling your friends, family and associates as easy as saying their names.
Messaging, Internet and Tools
The V180 has all the bases covered when it comes to messaging and Internet connectivity. The phone features support for ICQ, AOL and Yahoo! instant messaging applications (Cingular messaging charges apply). There's also a built-in web browser for MEdia downloads and mobile web browsing. Cingular's MEdia service lets you receive and send emails, read news headlines, get weather updates, download games and ringtones, and more. Traditional text messaging, as well as picture and sound messaging are also supported by the phone. iTap text entry, which is a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit-- a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.
A number of handy software tools are bundled with the V180 including a voice memo recorder, a calculator, a notepad, a calendar and an alarm clock.
Imaging and Entertainment
The V180's USB connectivity can be used to transfer pictures, sounds and graphics to the phone's memory from your PC. Screensavers, themes and wallpapers can be set to your tastes. The V180 is Java enabled, meaning it supports games and application downloads written on the Java platform. Games are available via the Cingular MEdia service.
Vital Statistics
The V180 weighs 3.26 ounces and measures 3.43 x 1.75 x .91 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 5.83 hours of digital talk time, and up to 275 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.
What's in the Box
Motorola V180 handset, lithium-ion battery, power supply/charger, user's manual.
1 If I disuade at least one consumer from buying this piece of
junk, I will be happy.
Honestly, this is the worst tool I've ever come across. The casing is cheap plastic which lets in dust obscuring the exterior number/time display (and that display is just about the only useful thing on this phone.) You will be swabbing out the display almost daily.
It stores only the last ten numbers you receive or dial; and will also list calls you miss as "received"
accessing your address book requires pressing a sequence of numbers/keys whereas the last two phones i've had only required one.
The microphone/earpiece frequently experience feedback and echo.
I received this phone on feb. 14 and didn't even make it to april 15 before I started experiencing problems.
I also hear that the display frequently goes out. I have not experienced that personally, but I don't doubt it.
the battery length is hit and miss. sometimes i am able to go days without recharging. sometimes it's every other day. and i have extremely routine phone usage.
Please....please save yourself the aggrivation and do not buy this phone. I might also caution you away from Cingular services. I loved AT&T. Now that they merged with cinular, it's been nothing but a nightmare.
I never wanted cingular service and I still do not want cingular service.
stick with phones by samsung or (my preference) nokia.
2 Don't bother... waste of money and rise in blood pressure.
This phone is almost worthless with cingular service. Shortly after I got it, it started dropping calls regularly, even when I was stationary. Signal strenght would frequently go from full strength on standby to minimal when I made or answered a call. All I can think of is that it is cingular's service which sucks, since a friend of mine has the same phone on T-Mobile with no problems on signal strength.
Either go with a different company, or a better phone(don't bother with the freebies from cingular), or keep a VERY close eye on signal strength during the first 30 day trial period. If you wait too long, you'll have to deal with Cingular's less than stellar customer service, where the best trouble shooting they can come up with is "You are in a low signal strength area" even when full strength shows on the dispaly screen.
Needless to say, I haven't been pleased with the phone's performance, so I can't recommend it with cingular. If you decide to go with the same phone w/ different carrier, then I would say it's a good basic phone. Easy to use. The speaker phone is great for when you don't have hands-free kit handy, and the display is bright enough. Doesn't come with many frills, though. No games (only one trial game) and only basic ringtones. All in all, it's a nice phone, just $h**ty service.
3 The cons far outnumber the pros
There are too many good reviews of this phone so I felt I had to add one more against the V180. If you can afford it, skip this phone.
Before I go further into the review, I should say that my last phone was a Sony Ericsson T39m, which was top of the line back in 2002 and went through a lot of torture during the 3 years since. Because of advances in technology, I expect a cheap phone today to at least come close to matching a 3 year old phone. The V180 comes nowhere close to that. I should also qualify my review by saying that I have tested many family and friends' phones to confirm that I'm not being overly demanding.
The Good:
1. Aesthetics - The phone looks sleek and modern.
2. Size - It fits nicely in my pocket.
3. Speakerphone - Having this extra has been extremely useful, especially when in the car.
4. Shortcuts - The phone has a shortcuts menu where you can add shortcuts to just about anything in the phone. I set this to one of the programmable buttons to easily swicth between the Loud, Loud/Vibrate, and Silent profiles.
(...)
The Bad:
1. Navigation: The menus are very counterintuitive. Ex: why are tools under settings?
2. Putting it on silent: You cannot easily set the phone to silent. My T39m only required 2 clicks, which includes any menu navigation. The V180 on the other hand,, requires 11 clicks! The only way to shorten this is to use the programmable buttons and/or shortcuts.
3. Calculator: Unless you have a lot of patience, you will never use it. All of the functions (including the decimal and the "equals") are placed in a menu that you must scroll through. Calculating something as simple as a tip can be very tedious.
4. Multiple Entries: You must store each number separately, even for the same name.
5. Build quality: My T39m survived liquid spills, impacts against walls and concrete, falls from several feet high, being sat on and stepped on and crushed by solid objects - all with merely a few scratches. Treat the V180 with much, much more care. However, at this price, you can't complain.
The Ugly (these are VERY bad):
1. Memory: Why Motorola designed the phone this way boggles my mind. Your phone can store information in two places, the phone memory and the SIM. My T39m stored my information on the phone memory and I could back up the information to the SIM. On the V180, you can only have your information either on the phone OR the SIM, otherwise, the information will show up twice. So you will see your friend's cell number twice in your address book, once from your phone memory, once from your SIM, and changing one will not update the other. This means that you have to choose between being able customize entries (such as ring tones and categories, which can only be done with entries stored on the phone) or keeping your information safe and easily portable. You can't do both.
2. Battery Life: If you like to talk, do not even think of using this phone. The battery life is absolutely pathetic, even after accounting for the smaller size of the phone and the color screen. I have a talkative girlfriend, lots of family, several clients, and my cell phone is my only phone. The V180 will sometimes give up before the end of the day. It definitely won't make it through a late-night outing. I had many more clients when I had the T39m and thus had a much heavier toll on battery life. Yet the T39m, with its 3-year old battery, still lasted 3 days.
In conclusion, I will actually try to repair the minor damage on my T39m. Any phone that makes me cringe and cry for a 3 year old phone with not even a color screen is not worth the trouble.
That being said, if you just want the cheapest phone you can get in a small formfactor and sleek design, then this phone might be OK, as long as you don't talk much. I'm still waiting for a phone/PDA with Wi-Fi, which is why I got the V180 to begin with.
4 Nice phone
Overall I am happy with this phone. I got it with Cingular service and I'm Columbus, Ohio. It's got all the basic features, plus a few I wasn't expecting. I have had few problems with dropped calls, and interestingly enough, the only dropped calls I experience are mobile-to-mobile calls with a friend of mine who's also on Cingular. Other than that, reception has been fine.
What I love:
1. Speakerphone - when I use it the people that i'm talking to say it sounds fine, and they sound fine on my end.
2. Programmable buttons - there's only 2, but once you program them, what they are programmed with appears at the bottom of the screen. I put in the 2 features I use most - voice dialing and audio (changing ring tones and volume)
2. Voice activated dialing - this is my favorite feature. I programmed one of the buttons with this. All I have to do is hit the button, say the name, and it dials. It's connected to the address book, so you enter someone's information, then "train" the phone to recognize your voice saying their name, and that's it. I love it because now I never have to go to my address book or use the speed dialing feature.
3. Good ring tones and there's a pretty good variety already on the phone. I can also attach different ring tones to people in my address book.
What I don't love!:
1. Battery life - I seem to be recharging it every 3-4 days and I'm not constantly on the phone - maybe 3-4 calls a day.
2. I really hate the address book - you have to have a separate entry for every phone number, so if someone has a cell, work phone, home phone, and pager, then you have to have 4 entries for that person. It's a pain because you have to scroll through all those entries when you're going through the address book. Most people I know have at least 2, so all their names appear twice in the list. I've overcome this by programming voice dialing for my most frequently dialed numbers.
I've had this phone for about 2 months. I paid $10 for it with service activation, so I feel like I got a pretty good deal. I'd recommend it.
5 The first AND last Motorola I have and will ever own
I bought this phone in Russia, from Megafon, as a mean of communication with my family in the states while being overseas. The first two weeks I owned the phone it was absolutely flawless, with amenities galore and overall very sleek and good looking. I have owned several mobile phones, but this was the first Motorola. I do not consider myself picky about phones, simple functionality suffices just fine - I don't need all the fireworks that come with so many phones, so the V180 looked great for me, a student on a limited budget. Aside from enjoying the option of speakerphone, something I have never had on a mobile, this phone is a complete piece of garbage. For the past month now, I have been unable to dial any phone number whatsoever - everytime I even attempt to do so the phone freezes, the backlight turns off, then goes to a black screen, and finally defaults back to the main background saying "No Service" - after which a few seconds pass and it goes back to normal with full signal. I do not make many phone calls, as airtime is very expensive here, so I was able to get by with text messages locally and receiving incoming calls for a while, but that is ridiculous for owning a phone that you'd think would function! Why would you purchase a phone that you can't call outbound on? Should I want to dial a number, there is no possible way to do so, no way around it - through the phonebook, recent call lists, and even directly dialing the number on the keypad. The same goes for simply accessing my phonebook, if I attempt to edit the name of a contact in my book, it goes through those same stages and leaves me stranded, like usual.
As my first Motorola, I was excited to purchase something that has the reputation of being high quality, but such a worthless device may as well be branded 'Garbage' as it is simply nothing better. You will regret purchasing this phone, but certainly not as much as I do, because there is no possible way for me to return it. The remaining months I am here and stuck with this phone, I will have to text someone and have them call me if I want to talk with them. I just hope that I never need to make an emergency call! Thanks alot Motorola!
6 A rather unique little phone
I thought that this phone was crap the first time my sister got it, but then I realized that quality overthrew aesthetics.
So first, when you look at it, yeah you probably thought the same thing I thought. It's ugly! it looks like a cheap plastic flimsy little piece of crap, right? well, it's actually quite a quality phone, no matter how ugly it is. The phone is small, thin, compact, and lightweight, which are big plusses on phones these days.
The external screen is okay, it's small, monochrome, and easy to see. basically no more use for it than to see whos calling. When you open the phone up, the screen dissapoints you. Because you have all this space to put a big decent sixed screen and there's this little 1 inch square screen. I'm not kidding.. it's very small. I think the earpiece takes up more space. But anyway, it's for people who want a simple phone, and only a phone.
The keys are great, they are lit up very well, very textile, and easy to press. Menus are a tad confusing, but you'll get the hang of them. When you're reading text messages or something it's very easy to read because dispite the screen's small size, it's very bright and clear. A plus for people who have a hard time seeing small screens.
One thing that really impressed me with this phone is it's speaker. I thought it was just a basic phone but it also has speakerphone, which is wierd because a small minimal phone like this having speakerphone is a bit redundant, but whatever. The speaker is located on the bottom, and it really sounds great. My sister downloaded a real MP3 ringtone on her phone and it sounds like a real radio playing when it's ringing. Not like those other phones where the ringtone sounds drowned out, it's really loud and soo soo clear. I'm impressed with the sound quality.
The phone is moderately priced, my sister's is a cingular and I think it costed about 50 bucks with the plan after rebates and over 150 without rebates.
Anywho, it's a small simple phone for people who want a quality low-end phone for a low price and not much more. Probably a really reliable phone verses a big fancy camera phone that works better as a camera than it does for a phone.
If you're looking for simple phone and nothing more, look no further. If you're the type who likes more visual pleasure and high-end featuers, there's better.
7 HORRIBLE PHONE
I am on my fourth V180 in 2 months. I always take care of my phone and it sill breaks. DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE UNLESS YOU PLAN NOT TO USE IT!!!!
8 moto almost got it
Ive had my V180 for about a week and have nothing but good things to say about it, ive even gotten good comments from my co-workers on the phone, the only feature ive found not up to par is the address book, when you enter you info: name, phone numbers, ect... you can not enter there home phone number, cell phone number on the same person under the same entry, but over all I think this is a great phone.
9 The Phone is so so, the problem is the Provider
Hi, this is my first review ever of a product.
If you are like i was three months ago, looking for a phone and cell phone provider, be very careful with Cingular. For the phone a gave 3 stars, but cingular a give less than one.
First, i live in Boston, and believe it or not, there are dead spots all over. Inside my house are dead spots, and my cell phone is useless.
Second, have you ever had to cancel an account with AOL? Well, Cingular's customer service are just as bad. I bought a plan with rollover minutes, and they tell me now that there is not such a plan. I ask to talk to the supervisor and they tell me she is busy or that she won't be able to do anything for me.
Do yourself a favor and stay away from Cingular!!
10 A good basic phone
I got my V180 via a free upgrade through Cingular. This is my 3rd cell phone, first "flip up" model. Prior phones were from Nokia and Siemens. I've had it for 3 months now. I'm not into cameras, games, dowloading ringtones, etc. etc. I just want a cheap and reliable phone.
Pros -
- Great reception (Milwaukee, WI)
- Speakerphone works well.
- Average battery life. I have to charge every 4-5 days.
- Buttons are on the small side, but they work well. If you have long fingernails, maybe this isn't the phone for you.
- It was FREE FREE FREE.
Cons -
- If the phone is in my pants pocket it's difficult to hear the ring.
- Vibrations are on the weak side. If it's set to vibrate and you have it in your pants pocket, you may not be able to feel it.
- Address book sorts via first name, not last. Also, it allows only one phone number per name, so if someone has three phone numbers (home, work, and cell) you have to make three entries. There's a little symbol that tells if it's a home, work or mobile number.
- Have to crack it open to adjust ring volume.
- Manual is sketchy on the details sometimes.
Overall a good free phone. This is my first Motorola product and I am pleased.
11 Disappointing
I picked the V180 relying on CNet's review, and "satisfied" comments from my cousin and boss, both have V180s, the former with AT&T and the latter with Cingular. I picked it even though this was not a free phone then. I have had the phone for four months now. Updated review after using it in Thailand:
Anyway, the phone:
1. The battery life is terrible, I usually charge it when it drops to 1 bar (out of 3), but that happens usually on the third or fourth day - and I am not constantly on the phone, either (an hour a day max). CNet reported 9 hours of talk time and ten days of standby. Ha!
2. Flimsy build quality. Plastic, very bad. I also have a prepaid Tracfone Motorola v60, that is SOLID (though again, bad battery life). V180: I never know when it will break (hasn't in four months, though). Lousy buttons on the v180, great buttons on the v60.
3. Have to open the phone to set to vibrate, also have to lower the volume all the way to "vibrate" and then "silent". Darn thing beeps all the way through - embarassing in meetings etc. My v60 has a special button on the outside, that can be used to change the ring style without opening the phone - and with just one beep (loud/vibrate/silent/etc.) The special button also acts as the voice dial activator for the v60, whereas with the v180 I have to hit Menu/2 - 100% more work! ;-)
4. Have had the call drop ever so often (I live in Champaign, IL). A one-hour conversation with my advisor took four calls. The fourth call, my advisor says "you should get a new phone". This was just one month old. Similar results when I chat with the afore-mentioned cousin.
5. Bad call quality (volume). Have to keep adjusting the earpiece to listen to conversations. Have had reports my listeners can't hear anything, or my volume is too low. That often happens when I use a calling card (for international calls), so maybe that's the reason; then again, I have had problems otherwise as well. CNet: "good call quality" - that was the reason for choosing the v180 over the then-Motorola "free" phone (the v220). HA!
6. The AC adapter supplied is rated only for 110 V/60 Hz. I am writing this from Thailand, which has 230 V/50 Hz, but thankfully some hotel outlets ("shavers only") have 115 V (though 50 Hz?) My laptop, iPod, digital camera (Panasonic DMC-F1) all work with the included adapters and 230 V/50 Hz. WAKE UP, MOTOROLA - people do travel around the world!!
7. This is a triband phone (850/900/1900 MHz), without the 1800 MHz band (unlike what Amazon states). Only one provider in Thailand (the more expensive AIS/Thai GSM) works with the v180 - the other providers (Orange/DTAC) use 1800 MHz. However, AIS call quality to the US (~10 Baht/min) and India (~33 Baht/min) was quite good.
8. Not very loud ringtones, I have missed calls just being in another room of my apartment (no other noises/sounds). I have also missed calls keeping it in my jeans' pockets. Though I must admit the alarm function works (but then the phone's just a couple feet from my ears!)
Hmmm.... as I write this, I wonder WHY I keep the damn thing. Could it be the two-year contract, two-year wait to upgrade, and $$$ for new phones without service? Maybe. But the calling plan from Cingular is good/convenient - my chats with at least two cousins, two good friends, and my boss are free minutes, and those are the most common calls. And I have over 450 "rolled-over" minutes in four months (though I might have over-estimated my calling needs). And the Yahoo! e-mail and IM services built-in (partly Cingular, partly Motorola) are good - I don't have Internet access at home, but check e-mail on my phone instead (Gmail rocks - free forwarding to Yahoo, and 1 GB).
Hmmm.... I have to check on my mail-in rebate, which I haven't received almost two months after I mailed it in; check if I can exhange this phone (perhaps it is just this instrument). I almost feared AT&T's service culture had crept into Cingular, when they charged my $4/minute for an international call after I had signed up for their international calling plan - took me an hour's talk to get them to remove the charge, but now I don't have an international calling plan on my phone.
UGH.... if it hadn't been for my cousins and friends also being on Cingular, and the roll-over minutes, I would be tempted to switch to Verizon (my experience there being only the landline service, I must admit). Verizon's CDMA technology was another factor for choosing Cingular (GSM works in India and Thailand).
So... hopefully this review is somewhat useful, now that I see Cingular is again offering the v180 as a free phone. UGH^2 And to finish, I was about to give this phone two stars - I try not be harsh - but re-reading my review made me realize this phone has very few redeeming features. Dropped the second star.
12 All downhill after the first few days
This phone was great at first. I loved it. The speakerphone is great, battery life was great, reception was as good as Cingular could be. I love the features of this phone. But after 3 days, the external screen cracked and I have no idea how. I never dropped it, never hit it on anything. I was using it, looked at the time on the external screen and it was normal, then not even 20 minutes later I checked the time and my screen is cracked! Very wierd. I went to my service rep. and tried to exchange for a new phone. It took them two weeks to finally decide that I couldn't get another one. The reception has gotten downright terrible. If I put the phone in my pocket I pretty much don't get a signal. Calls get dropped frequently. I finally took my SIM card/smart chip out and put it in my old Samsung x427 and my signal went from one bar with the V180 to a full signal with the x427 in the same location. The phone has locked up a few times too. Couldn't even turn it off. Had to remove the battery.
DON'T GET A MOTOROLA V180
And on a separate note regarding Cingular's service:
What is this new "Raising the Bar" campaign Cingular has? I know that AT&T and Cingular merged. A friend of mine who also has Cingular told me that he talked with a Cingular employee who informed him that AT&T's towers in my region (37663 and around) went to Suncom, not Cingular. So in my area, the bar will not be getting raised. And it really needs to be!
I know plenty of people with Verizon, Alltel, Suncom, etc that get a signal in places that I don't. For example, I used to work in a dept. store in one of the local shopping malls. I didn't get a signal there unless I was standing at the entrance of the store. But other mobile phone carriers had a signal there. And this wasn't with just one phone. I've had 4 different phones and they each had this problem with reception in buildings. Also there are dead spots along I-26. I've had 2 Nokias, a samsung, and a motorola. They all had there own problems, but Cingular does too.
13 Like a Cute Little Wife: It Wants You To Buy Everything
I've had this phone for a couple of months now. I don't like gimmicks, and I won't pay for anything gimmicky, so I settled for this phone. It's actually not that bad of a phone, considering I've never liked flip-open phones. The ring selection is pretty good, and the color screen is super easy to read. The speakerphone was the biggest surprise for me and I use it often. I also like how you can re-assign many of the keys. Good idea!
Now straight to the meat:
1. My girlfriend gave me the earpiece adapter so I wouldn't have to buy one. It's easy to use, but makes phone conversations *sound* muffled. To other people, my voice sounds fine. That's a relief. But the button activator doesn't work. Whatever, I didn't buy it.
2. Unlike my Nokia, I actually can't read the outside shell-screen or the inside color-screen without major light. So usually I have to flip the phone open to get it to light up. I'm used to it by now, but I remember struggling with this. The shell-screen wouldn't be so hard to read if it wasn't built by Motorola, who has this tendency to "sink" their displays, so there is always this shadow from the outer shell covering a lot of the display, making it difficult to read. I noticed this on their standard cellphones too, a long time ago.
3. I don't mind passing the time playing cellphone games. I've played some cell phone games that were cooler than my N64. Here you're given a demo of Bejeweled. I've gotten so good at it that I get to the "Buy Now" screen before 30 seconds is up. Other games to choose from? Nope, gotta buy 'em.
4. First thing I noticed when I got this phone: you have to buy everything. The phone connects to the Internet via secret government satellite hook-up (or whatever makes this thing tick) and you can buy sounds, screensavers, desktop images, games, this, that...I felt like a Duty-Free magazine was dropped in my hands. I don't like that feeling of owning something that begs for money everytime I want to do something creative with it.
5. Two "skins" to choose from. Cingular, which isn't that bad actually, and this freaky "Hellomoto" version which has a scary creature as a logo and the word Hell seems larger than the rest of the word. You'll see it when you boot up. The color scheme is outrageous. Orange, brown, green...blech. Want more skins? "Buy"
6. Keypad glows blue, I like that. But it's actually difficult to use. My Nokia's keys were raised up, so I could slide my thumb around and depress the number I needed. With this phone, they're *slightly* raised, but are slick and my fingernails keep bumping agaist the plastic frame, so the number I want doesn't get pressed, or I keep hitting the wrong number. After two months, I'm used to this: I hold the phone in one hand and type with the other, or I depress the keys more slowly. Also, the compass at the top (with a center button) is tricky to get used to. I keep pressing left instead of up, for example.
7. The number six requires my pushing it twice before it ever works. Probably an individual phone flaw, not manufacturing...still, someone may read this and agree.
8. Service bars tend to move around like they have an itch. I noticed someone else wrote this too. Interesting. On more than SEVERAL occasions have I been disconnected from a phonecall. And my Nokia made a noise when it disconnected. This phone is silent. I've literally had conversations by myself SEVERAL times before noticing I'm not getting a reply.
That's not good, Cingular. Not happy about that. If those were business calls, I'd be very embarrassed.
Okay, all that aside: you can't go wrong with Cingular's rollover minutes. I know that has nothing to do with this phone. But that's a huge incentive, in my opinion, to go Cingular.
This phone has its physical issues, but it gets the job done, and cost me nothing. I just wanted to point out the facts. If you have to pay for this phone, I highly recommend seeking another model and comparing, first.
14 Good phone
I just got this phone yesterday and so far i really enjoy it. Probably one of my fav things about it is the the buttons, it is almost impossible to mis dial a number. I has MP3 ringtones you can dl which is a very cool feature. Probably the only complaints i have about it is the menu buttons they are small and for someone who has even semi big hands it can sometimes be a hassle pushing them and i have noticed the reception bars constanly move from 2 to 5 it is rare when i have a complete 5 bar reception, but i have not had any problmes with crappy reception yet. But overall it is a very cool phone and i would reccomend it.
15 Reception isn't that good
I swithced from T-mobile Nokia 3560 to Cingular moto V 180. The phone is good with sufficient features - good display, speaker, ringtones, USB, keys, appearance, battery life etc. But I clearly noticed a not so good reception quality. Before Moto v 180 I had nokia 6010 (for 2 weeks, with cingular) and that phone showed full signal in many places around my school like open places, roads, building tops etc. But moto v 180 never showed full signal even in places where Nokia 6010 showed full signal. So, its not the service problem. Except this I did not see any other problem. Probably my piece is a defective one.
16 Skip this one
My wife and I purchased a pair of these phones about 3 months ago. At first we thought they were great, then calls started dropping left and right. We had switched from TDMA to GSM, and I figured it might be caused from a bad signal in our area...then I noticed that as soon as the calls dropped, the signal went to full. I called AT&T to report the problem, they told me that they were aware of a software problem that would drop calls when the phone switched towers. Their resolution...reboot my phone before you place a call...I tried to humor them for awhile since they claimed the problem was being worked on. 1 month later I still have the problem. I call up to AT&T "customer service" and was told that there was a known issue with the software in the phone and that they would replace the phone for $15 each. Not willing to pay $30 to have our phones replaced I requested a service credit to cover the $30 expense (since the problem was their's, not mine) They refused, telling me "There was no physical way they could bill back the $30, becuase it was a manufacturer fee" I would ditch their service, except that I just re-upped for 2 years when I purchased this phone, and would have to pay $175 per line for early termination, and since I got a rebate from the retailer, I would also face a $150 per line fee if I cancelled the service within 180 days. What a joke!
My overall suggestion: skip this phone and don't sign a 2 year contract...even if you get a free phone.
17 Solid basic phone
I have had this phone for about two weeks now and I am very happy with it, with one small exception. The reception has been very clear, the sound is great, and battery life has been very good. These are the only things I care about with cell phones--I don't care about color screens, games, Internet access, text messaging, AIM messaging, pictures, video, yadda yadda yadda. I just want something that sends and receives phone calls reliably and clearly, and has a long-lasting battery.
The one small exception is that I had downloaded a few MP3 ringtones because they sounded less obnoxious than the included set of techno/hiphop dance tunes. Well, unfortunately the MP3 ringtones won't play because apparently there's a little problem in the way the phone recognizes the ringtone's 'filename'--every time I set a person's ring ID to one of the MP3 ringtones, it looks like it was set OK, but when I come back to the info screen for the phonebook entry, the ring ID has changed to whatever the ID used to be, plus '.mp3' tacked on the end, and now the phone apparently can't find it and plays the default 'ding' ringtone for that entry.
I should add that this seems to be specific to the downloaded MP3 ringtones, because the polyphonic ringtone I got to put on my wife's entry (the Pink Panther theme) :-) works fine.
All in all, a very nice phone and I have no regrets about upgrading from my Nokia 3590. Now if I could only get a glow-in-the-dark cover for it, I'd be set for life. :-)
18 GREAT PHONE
I absolutely love this phone! GREAT reception, GREAT color, real songs for ringtones, the black with blue light up buttons, size, so many features........... PERFECT!
If all you want is a GREAT phone without a camera....THIS IS IT go for it. You won't be sorry
19 Watch Out - Misrepresentation
One of the reason's I purchased the v180 phone was the product description under vital statistics claims this phone is a quad band phone, 850/900/1800/1900, but IT IS NOT. When receiving the phone, the v180 box and cingular's customer service both said this is a tri-band phone, 800/950/1900. Now, I have a phone I didn't want.
Next, while my phone was being shipped the phone was activated. For 8 days while UPS delivered the product, I was paying for service I had no idea I was paying for. When calling cingular's customer service, they stated I had to call amazon to resovle this problem. They went on to say with most resellers they reserve the phone number until the customer decides to activate the phone by calling customer service and is given a choice to test the phone by calling customer service to see if reception works, which give the customer a choice. As of today, if I return the phone I'm out $36 for the activation fee, shipping costs, and the time it's taking me to sort out this mess.
I also sent a e-mail to amazon's customer service, which said I would have to contact cingular to take care of these issues. WHAT? Amazon is trying to pass the blame and not take responsibilites for their actions. They disregarded my issues with the incorrect product description completely and wouldn't address any other issues.
20 Great Phone!
Like a previous reviewer, although I didn't purchase the phone through Amazon, I still wanted to write a review in the hopes that I can help someone choose a new phone.
With my T-Mobile contract coming up for renewal and my desire to replace my Samsung X-105, I headed to my local T-Mobile store. I already knew that I wasn't particularly looking for a camera phone or anything extravagant. I just wanted a solid phone that worked. Initially, I'd intended on getting a Samsung E-105, which was identical to my current phone, aside from being a flip. I discovered that none of the T-Mobile stores in my area had one in stock, and that it was on the verge of being replaced by a newer model. Not wanting to spend the extra money on the E-315 (nice, but I don't want to pay for a camera I don't need), I took a look at some of their other flip phones, and settled on the Motorola V180 (for $49 as a service renewal discount.)
So far, I'm very happy with the phone. The reception is actually better (and clearer) than my beloved X-105. I was afraid that I'd have to learn a whole different button layout, but it's surprisingly very similar to the Samsung and it took me only a few minutes to figure everything out. Contrary to many of the reviews that I've read, the plastic does not feel cheap or "plasticky" (I think this has to do with the fact that the plastic on the inside is a matte finish, whereas the outside is fairly glossy. Some people may mistake that for being "cheaper.") The phone feels just as sturdy and solid as most any other flip phone that I've looked at (aside from a few phones that are obviously geared towards heavy "construction contractor" use.) It's not as heavy as my X-105, yet has much better battery life, and I have no problems navigating the keys.
I've only found very minor complaints with the phone. Mainly, the screen isn't quite as nice as the Samsung's, with small details being slighly less well-defined and the overall size being a bit smaller. Considering the amount of real estate on the earpiece, Moto probably could've fit a slightly larger screen in. However, overall the screen is still nice and bright and a side-by-side comparison with my old Samsung doesn't leave me feeling disappointed. Also, even though the V180 only has a Contrast control, I've found the range of brightness very acceptable and comparable to the X/E-105 phones' Brightness controls.
The only other minor niggle I have is that the phone didn't come with a case or holster. Most other flips that I've looked at came with at least a holster. However, this is one of those instances where it "would've been nice, but it's really not that big of a deal." Plastic holsters are only a couple dollars and cases aren't that much more. I did like the fact that it came with an earbud, although I've yet to test that (or the speakerphone function) out.
Overall, I've found this to be a great phone and I'm thus far very happy with my purchase. As a side-note, T-Mobile has been very good to me and I've always gotten great customer service from them. Maybe I'm just lucky in that sense, but they've always worked with me when I had a question or had to extend a payment.
So unless you're looking for a camera phone or something with a high "everything" factor (ie, the Sidekick), this is a great, solid phone with just the right amount of bells and whistles for normal, everyday users.
21 A Great Phone
I was looking for my first cell phone, and I wanted something that wasn't too expensive, but worked. The Motorola V180 is great. However, if you are looking for the latest and best features, DO NOT buy this phone.
Pros:
-large address book
-GREAT RECEPTION
-vibrate feature
-external caller id
-easy to navigate menu
-many ringtones
Cons:
-no camera
-speakerphone is not the greatest, but works
-NO GAMES
-few wallpapers
-feels kinda like plastic
Overall this is a great phone that is definetly worth the money. The only thing that really upset me was that there was no games.
22 GREAT Cheap Phone
I have had this phone for about a month. I did a lot of research before I decided on this one, and I am happy that this is the one I chose.
First off...EVERY SINGLE PHONE you see will have great reviews and bad ones. I was looking for the "perfect phone" with all positives, and that phone simply does not exist. So I set my sites a little bit lower and tried to find the most reliable phone possible for the least amount of money.
From what I have seen, LG's look like garbage. I was very close to getting a free LG, but after studying reviews, I wanted to stick to a more well-known name, like Nokia or Motorola. I have had Nokia's for a while, and have been impressed by their durability. But I wanted a smaller flip-phone, so I decided to get a Motorola. The best reviewed Motorolas are the V180, and the V551. I didn't really care if I had a camera phone or not...ALL I WANTED WAS A GOOD, RELIABLE FLIP-PHONE.
My plan was to try the cheap V180, and if I didn't like it, to upgrade to the V551. Well, I don't need to upgrade. Here's what I particularly like about the V180:
1. Reception: Absolutely no problems (Orlando, FL). I've been all over the city, and it has NEVER failed me. Bravo Cingular/ATT!
2. Ring Tones: This phone has many True Tone as well as Polyphonic rings to choose from.
3. Reliablility: REMEMBER, NO PHONE IS PERFECT! Usually it is quite reliable, but sometimes calls over 20 minutes get cut off, and I have to call back. This happens to about 30 percent of my longer calls. For 2-5 minute calls, it is just perfect.
4. Battery Life: Crazy-long battery life.
5. Buttons: Not tiny, but well-spaced buttons
Of couse, since no phone is perfect, here is the downside:
1. Very few games to choose from: I don't understand why some pretty basic games are not available on this phone. If games are important to you, STAY AWAY from this phone.
2. Small screen: doesn't bother me, but don't expect to "wow" anyone with this display.
If you want a good, reliable, cheap phone, you can't go wrong here. If you want a phone with a lot of features, you will need to look elsewhere.
23 The V180 is a winner !
Competing with Samsung's successful E105 GSM phone, here comes the Motorola V180. It's a quad-band GSM world phone that should be a nice upgrade for anyone who is still using a V60 series phone. It is also a refreshing step-down from the battery-guzzling smart phones out there. I had a Blackberry 6850, and despite the rich features, it didn't have what I wanted most - a loud ring. When Motorola rolled-out this basic flip phone, I immediately went for it, and I like it!
Battery life is impressive, with a standby time of over 4 days. The ringer is loud, and includes the "continental" ring heard on Motorola candybar and iden (Nextel) phones of the late 1990's. I found that refreshing...a ring that sounds like a classic corporate ring. The buttons are not as cheesy as many of the reviewers have said. I would say the buttons are the same quality in the V400 series. There is no camera, but that's a plus in my opinion. And you can still get your weather and sports scores thanks to Cingular's MEdia service. It also has USB connectivity, so you can manage the address book and calendar using your PC. The screen is tiny by today's standards, at 180x180 pixels, but the layout is bright and clean. My advice - if you need a ultralight flip phone with long battery life, downloadable extras, and a solid design that would go with your suit, take a good look at the Motorola V180 and the Samsung E105. You don't need bells and whistles. You just need a very good phone. This is it.
24 Great Phone....Horrible Reception
So here's my story... I previously owned an LG AT&T Wireless phone that received what I would grade B reception. It worked out doors, at work, and most importantly in my condo. The only problem I had was that there were certain areas in Chicago that when I passed through would drop calls. This phenomenom also occured in my condo from time to time. Annoying but tolerable. I discovered that these dropped calls would occur when my phone was switching from AT&T's network to Cingular's network (a result of the new merger). I figured that I could alleviate this problem by switching to Cingular and buying a Cingular compatible phone. Unfortunately my new purchase, the Motorola V180, gets worse reception than my old AT&T phone. As of this writing I have had my phone for 3 days and I have been unable to use it in any building in the Wrigleyville area. I am not sure if this is a Cingular issue or a phone issue but considering my old phone could get reception in these areas and this phone is using the same network, I am very unhappy with my purchase.
Reception put aside (because Yeah, no one needs to be able to actually talk on their phone!) this phone is great in terms of all of the features it offers. Text, ringtones, etc. are very easy to use. Battery life seems great. Basically an A+ phone for the price (Free with 2yr contract) with D- reception.
I am going to return this phone (30 day trial period w/Cingular) and hopefully get one that works. I plan on changing my review if I discover that this is in fact a Cingular issue and not a Motorola V180 issue.
25 Couldn't be more pleased...
My wife and I each bought one of these phones with our new Cingular contract. Though we did not buy through Amazon, I thought a review of the phone would be useful to everyone!
First of all, these phones are very well designed for the user. Because it is a flip phone, it is very compact when "closed" yet when it is "open" it feels more like a real phone than most other cell phones do. The hinge is in no way flimsy and seems like it will hold up well. We love the color screen and various audio/picture options that this phone offers. We were both able to learn how to navigate the phone's menu system with ease.
I am also very pleased with both reception and the battery charge-life. I charge my phone 1-2 times per week and have not had any problems with "low battery" messages during a call. My last phone (a Kyocera) was terrible about losing charge very quickly during calls.
Basically, this phone performs as well as the advertisements say it does, and for a lot less than the high-end phones. We could not be happier with this purchase!
26 Cingular Deceptive
My review is on Cingular. I bought a phone w/service and was told I could return for full refund and only charged for any air time used. THEY LIE. THE PHONE DID NOT WORK IN MY AREA AND I CANCELLED THE NEXT DAY. THEY ARE CHARGING ME FOR ACTIVATION even though it never worked in my area. If you are uncertain you will keep the phone and service, DON'T BUY from Cingular. Amazon will also do nothing to reimburse.
