| Review of the Motorola V400 |
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The V400 is yet another variation on a theme. I’ve reviewed the V300 and the V220, which are all members of a long line of similar GSM clamshell phones from Motorola. Not surprisingly, many of the comments made here will echo those I’ve made previously for the other two phones.
The V400 is available on Fido. Last Updated: 18-Jan-2005 |
Before reading this review, please read Some Thoughts on Phone Reviewing.
RF Performance
RF Sensitivity: I was only able to test the V400 on
Fido, as I only had a pre-paid SIM to test it with. That meant I was unable to
roam on Rogers to get onto 850 MHz. What I found pretty much reflected my
experience with the other two V-series phones, and that was rather disappointing
performance at 1900 MHz.
For Fido users who can roam on Rogers, this may not be a problem, as the other
V-series phones had excellent 850 MHz performance (and likely so would the
V400). For CityFido and CountryFido users however, who are stuck with purely
1900 MHz coverage, the V400 just doesn’t cut it when it comes to RF sensitivity.
Over-the-road Performance: Like the other two
V-series phone the V400 possesses what it likely the best over-the-road
performance you’ll find in any GSM phone. Handoffs are muted slightly, and so
even if there is just as many as with other phones, you’ll find it much less
annoying. Overall the V400 was able to sustain pretty stable audio even in the
face of constant handoffs and other network maladies while on-the-move.
Click on this link for a full description of
RF Performance, and how to interpret it.
Audio Performance
Tonal Balance: This aspect of the phone is simply
gorgeous, just like the other V-series phones I’ve tested. Many Motorola phones
that I’ve tried in the past have been so endowed. There are very few other GSM
phones that balance the audio as well as the V400.
Sound Reproduction: I’d expected to be blown away
by this aspect of the phone’s performance, as the other V-series phones were
excellent in this regard. However, I ended up finding the sound a bit raspy
compared to what I’d remembered from before. This might have been because my
copy of the phone was a lemon, but I’d heard other people complain of similar
things with their V400s.
Earpiece Volume: Earpiece volume is very
disappointing. This aspect wasn’t consistent on the V220 and V300, so it seems
that some V-series phones are loud, and others are pathetically soft. Sadly my
V400 was one of those pathetically soft phones, even on Fido, which has somewhat
louder audio than Rogers.
The speakerphone feature was at least loud enough to be useable in a quiet
environment, but it really exists only for limited use indoors. The speaker
simply isn’t loud enough to have a reasonable conversation if the room noise
gets much above a slight din.
Click on this link for a full description of
Audio Performance, and how to interpret it.
Support Features
Ringer Volume: Like the other V-series phones the
V400 has a nice selection of musical ringtones that sound so good you could
listen to them for entertainment. Unfortunately there isn’t a super-loud ringer
in bunch, and like the other V-series phones I’ve tested it really falls short
in this regard. This isn’t to say that the ringer on the V400 is unusable. The
ringer is loud enough for many situations, but it will fail you in extremely
noisy environments such a roadside, or in a crowded mall or nightclub.
Keypad Design: The keypad design of the V400 uses a
reasonably traditional layout that is fairly easy to use, even without looking
directly at it. Button feel is also reasonably good, and my overall impression
of the keypad was very positive. I fall short of giving it an excellent rating
simply because the keys were just a little mushy-feeling compared to better
keypads I’ve tested in the past.
Headset: Headset output sounded great on my Samsung
earbud, but the volume wasn’t that high. When I’d tested the V300, I’d commented
on it having poor earpiece volume (like the V400), but loud headset volume. The
same does not appear to be true with the V400, meaning that you can’t get away
from the faintness of this phone, even by using a headset.
Display: Indoors the display was simply excellent.
Colors were brilliant, and the pixels were sharp. However, like the other
V-series phones the display wasn’t easy to see outdoors in direct or indirect
sunlight. It wasn’t as bad as some of the early Ericsson phones, which presented
little more than a big black hole where the display should have been when used
outdoors. The V400 CAN be seen outdoors, but it isn’t particularly easy.
Phonebook: Like virtually every Motorola phone
sold, regardless of technology, the V400 is saddled with what amounts to an old
design that needed updating years ago. It will store up to 5 numbers per name,
but beyond that it will only store an email address. No street addresses, web
pages, or text notes. Search capability is quite primitive, and it is limited to
the simple sorts of things that virtually all cell phones can do.
Conclusions
I really thought that I would like the V400, based on my experience with the
V300 and V220. However, perhaps due to the poor 1900 MHz performance, the
slightly raspy sound quality, and the really low earpiece, speaker, and headset
volumes, I found the phone far less useable than I’d expected. It’s still a good
solid phone with terrific tonal balance and over-the-road performance, but it
falls short on too many other areas for me to recommend it to Fido-only users.
Even for Rogers users the phone may prove to be too faint to hear well enough.
