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Motorola SLVR L7
Rated 3.5 out of 5 If you thought the RAZR V3 was cool, you'll love the latest addition to Motorola's line of super-chic, super powerful phones, the SLVR L7. Packing all the great functionality of the RAZR V3, plus a few more bells and whistles like removable memory, the SLVR L7 adopts a thin, candy-bar form factor that is sure to turn heads. The SLVR L7 also adds support for iTunes, allowing you to play, sort, store and manage your music right on the phone. With long-range Bluetooth, support for video playback, a VGA (640 x 480) camera and a gorgeous color screen it's a must-have phone for those who want to stay on the cutting edge. 
The plot thins: The SLVR L7 is less than half an inch thick. | Design
At less than a half-inch thick, the SLVR L7 redefines the ultra-thin phone category. A large 176 x 220 color display with 262,000 colors resides above the handset's backlit control pad, which is precision cut from a single sheet of nickel-plated copper alloy. The VGA camera lens is housed on the rear of the phone, while up/down buttons are placed on the left side. There's also a highly accessible mini-USB port on the right side of the phone for data synchronization and music transfer, as well as a covered slot for inserting a microSD or TransFlash memory card. Calling Features
The SLVR L7's internal phone book can hold up to 1000 contacts while the phone's picture ID system allows you to assign pictures to your most common callers. It also supports polyphonic ringtones as well as music ringers, allowing you to use portions of your favorite songs to alert you to incoming calls. And for times when you want to be discreet, there's a vibrating alert. A built-in speakerphone makes it easy to talk without having the phone to your ear while voice activated dialing makes calling your friends, family and associates as easy as saying their names. Because the SLVR L7 is Bluetooth enabled, wireless headsets can be configured with the phone for total handsfree operation. Messaging, Internet, and Tools
The SLVR L7 is a messaging and wireless Internet powerhouse. Support is built in for sending and receiving pictures, text, graphics, sound and video via messages. When used in combination with the phone's built-in still and video camera, MMS opens up a whole new world of messaging fun. Instant messaging is supported and the phone also ships with a built-in email client with support for POP3 and SMTP protocols (carrier messaging charges may apply). Plus, there's a built-in web browser for downloads and mobile web browsing. 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. When used with a carrier data plan and the phone's Bluetooth or USB data capability, the phone can be used as a wireless modem for laptops and PDAs. A number of handy software tools are bundled with the SLVR L7 including a voice memo recorder, a calculator, a calendar and an alarm clock. Use the phone's Bluetooth capability to set up a wireless link with a Bluetooth accessory or connect to a computer or hand-held device to exchange and synchronize data. The phone also supports the SyncML PC synchronization standard, which can be used with Motorola's Mobile Phone Tools PC application to manage and synchronize contacts, calendar and other data with your PC. Imaging and Entertainment
With 5 MB of internal memory storage, plus a memory expansion slot, the SLVR L7 shines in the entertainment department. The phone's VGA camera features a 4x digital zoom, as well as video capture capabilities (up to 30 seconds in length). Capture stills and then send them to your friends via MMS messaging or email, or to your PC via USB or Bluetooth. The phone is capable of MPEG4 video playback when you receive a video message, or if you upload video to the phone via USB or Bluetooth. The SLVR L7 also supports custom graphics for wallpapers so you can dress up the phone to suit your mood. At its heart, the SLVR L7 is a music phone. Built-in stereo speakers let you listen while you work or play, and a stereo headset jack makes it easy to jam out in private to your favorite MP3s with the included earbuds. Last but not least, support for gaming is built into the phone. Have some fun during your downtime! Vital Statistics
The Motorola SLVR L7 weighs 3.5 ounces and measures 4.5 x 1.9 x .45 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 6 hours of digital talk time, and up to 17 days 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.
Features of Motorola SLVR L7:
- bluetooth® wirelesss synchronization
- english manual (book), european charger with us adapter and headset
- optional, removable memory cards store photos, music and video clips
- unlocked for use with your existing gsm 850 mhz, gsm 1800 mhz, gsm 900 mhz or gsm 1900 mhz service provider and sim card. note: this phone does not come with service or a sim card.
- unlocked phones
- vga camera with 4x digital zoom, video capture and playback
Reviews:
| the Best non-Smart phone | Rating: 5 |
All complaints of the L7 SLVR are from consumers who need to buy a Smartphone. The SLVR has great design, and awesome multi-media features like iTunes, video cam and a very bright screen for games and web-browing.
Software can be purchased to sync it with Outlook. mp3's can be used as ringtones when they are put in the Sound folder when you connect it to your computer, but not when they act as an iTune.
The keypad takes some getting used to - but I don't mind cuz I feel so cool talking with it in public.
My only complaint is that this isn't a smartphone, which would allow me to add/remove programs that I want. But this was definitly worth the money. |
| Solid phone with good iTunes support but geeky features | Rating: 2 |
This review is for the Cingular version of SLVR 7, not the unlocked version. It's not clear why the vastly more popular RAZR isn't available in the US with iTunes rather than the less spectacular SLVR model. I've always had flip phones. I like them for compactness and their screen/keyboard protection.
Basically SLVR is RAZR in a candy bar form factor. It's a little too tall to fit in a pants pocket for sitting down. As this is a new phone, accessories are hard to come by, including custom holsters.
iTunes works as advertised. The interface is adequate if not a peppy as an iPod. The 100-song limit is a mystery except maybe they wanted to disguise the slow upload speed. It has a very PC-like interface so it's pretty clunky to navigate. (Rumors of Apple designing a phone make me hope that finally a firm with some user interface expertise will enter the cell phone market!)
Motorola's radio electronics are the best in the business, but the rest of the hardware is poorly designed. The keyboard is difficult to use. I have to press the keys with my fingernails to not double press keys -- and I have small hands! The bizarre EMU Port isn't compatible with anything, so can only use Motorola's awful headset with the phone AND iTunes. There are no quality stereo headsets with microphones (wired or unwired) that will allow you to use both as of this writing. I suspect this is true for RAZR as well. My phone did come with a 3.5mm adapter to plug in good headphones, but when the phone rings you have to unplug the EMU adapter to answer a call. I tried using an adapter with my 2.5mm headset but I could only hear sound for system tones and iTunes. When it switched to phone mode, the sound was muted and apparently the microphone didn't work either. The phone needs an ESC(ape) key to help dig yourself out of dead-end menus for which none of the 3 choices is what you want. It could also use a HOME key to quickly take you back to the top menu, rather than having to go backward 15 levels.
I could live without the camera, which takes only fair pictures. Many places now confiscate your phone if it has a camera. The Cingular version wastes a lot of valuable storage real estate with silly "protected" images and movies that you can't delete.
The web browser is too slow, clunky (and expensive on Cingular) to be useful. I downloaded a few games. This was easier to do on my computer then have them sent to the phone. Their performance is acceptable but the screen is really too small -- if you want games, I'd suggest something the size of a Blackberry. Also, the phone keypad is pretty useless if you want to do any kind of text messaging.
Although the manual says you can't use iTunes for ringtones (which is true) you can use standard mp3s. You just have to connect the USB cable and drag them to the mounted RAM card, then move them to the phone RAM and assign the tone. You could also email them to yourself. Any music or sound effect could be used as a ring tone but you will need some kind of editing software (or use Trim in Apple Quicktime) to keep the length under 20 seconds. Copy protected material will have to be burned to CD first then re-imported. It seems silly to pay $2 for a 20 second ringtone when you could buy the whole song on iTunes (or perhaps you already paid for it), but you will have to go through a few steps to prep it for ringtones. Just to be clear though, you can't use ringtones directly from iTunes, you can only use sounds stored in the multimedia folder.
SLVR syncs (using iSync) with my Macintosh calendar and address book very well. Each phone number on someone's "card" in your address book becomes a separate "card" in the phone, so this can be a bit of a hassle to scroll through. You'd get even more cards if you turn on the mail and fax number feature (defaults off). The calendar sync has a bug duplicating repeating events with each sync. Otherwise the functionality of the phone calendar and phone book are acceptable.
The voice recognition feature works fine but unlike phone network-based systems, you will have to teach the phone each name (twice). A daunting task for several hundred names.
Voicemail integration with Cingular is non-existent. It dials the voicemail number but then you're on your own with a generic DTMF interface. They on-screen commands do nothing.
The phone has fax capabilities but apparently no scripts to interface with computers. And I couldn't find any for RAZR either. This seems to me to be part of basic business functionality. Sure you could fax a note from the text interface on the phone...you might have this sentence typed in 2 hours.
This is the first new phone I've bought in 5 years and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with the overall lack of integration to the phone network and standard computer peripherals. Manufacturers waste too much R&D on coming up with new designs and geeky gimmicks like ring tones while you still can't send a fax from your PC. |
| slvr is a great phone | Rating: 4 |
| After reviewing dozens of quad-band multi function phones, I decided on Cingular's Motorola SLVR7 and am not disappointed in it at all. It is very easy to set up and use--and I'm an over 50 grandmother who is a musician. It's perfect for my orchestral work because I can load it with the music I'm getting ready to perform and listen while I'm on a plane, etc. I'm glad I didn't buy an MP3 player because this is like a twofer! It has great reception as a phone and the signal is strong and clear. I can actually hear it when it rings inside my purse. Excellent! And, I bought the hot pink one--of course! |
| Get a free unlocked Motorola RAZR v3i instead! | Rating: 4 |
| Why settle for less, or commit yourself to a specific cellular provider and service plan, when you can get a complimentary unlocked top of the line Motorola RAZR v3i cell phone that works with any cellular service provider and any SIM card. I got mine free at this web site: stuffnocost.com/razrv3i |
| Get a free unlocked Motorola RAZR v3i instead! | Rating: 4 |
| Why settle for less, or commit yourself to a specific cellular provider and service plan, when you can get a complimentary unlocked top of the line Motorola RAZR v3i cell phone that works with any cellular service provider and any SIM card. I got mine free at this web site: reallyfree2u.com/razrv3i |
| Only thing to brag about with this phone is the thinness ....................................................................... | Rating: 3 |
So I got this phone about more than half a year ago when it was kinda introduced into the US market. I got this phone for free when I signed up for a TMobile plan (if you are asian you know how to get this phone for free).
Anyhow why the heck did I ever get this phone??? Everyone who has owned a RAZR has complained about their phone, but the salesperson (stupid me) convinced me that the RAZR was a significant upgrade from the RAZR and that I WON'T get the problems like the RAZR. Also, the RAZR had only 3 upgrades v1, v2, and v3 whereas the SLVR had upgrades L5, L6, and L7. You know what folks? Those upgrades don't mean jack since they really don't help out at all.
So what are the PROS and CONS of this phone???
PRO:
-I have bragging rights on people who have never seen such a thin phone (pshhhh!!!)
-It fits in my pocket so discretly
-Bluetooth works well with a Motorola Bluetooth ear piece, I had to switch to a Jabra one when I lost my Motorola Bluetooth and now I'm having all sorts of static problems
CONS:
-Compared to my OLD cheap Nokia, this phone reception is severly crappy. I get so many drop calls per day, I don't have enough fingers to count (this only happens while driving) (sigh I miss my old Nokia)
-Battery life is NOT like my old Nokia, this phone needs to be charged about 1 1/2 days (if lucky 2 days) but that is rare.
-the OS is super slow. When scrolling down from name to name, this thing doesn't move fast. IE when moving from Kathy to Kelly, the interface doesn't respond as fast as you wish. So sometimes it takes a tad longer to move from point A to point B. and this isn't just the phonebook, it is on almost every movement in the phone.
-Bluetooth... I dunno, I seemed to be "OK" when using a bluetooth earpiece but when I switched to a JABRA it didn't seem to well (see my JABRA review for that)
-Yes I know this doesn't operate like my old cheapo Nokia phone but that phone just worked. If you folks want a phone to work as a phone, stick with Nokia. I don't know why I keep on going back to Motorola but this is my 3rd one and although my first 2 were pretty good, this one stinks!!!
-Oh and camera quality is really really really bad. Not even a full megapixel.
I could go on but I got stuff to do. I laid down the basics for everyone.
So what is the answer folks? If you want a phone that doesn't work so well but to showoff (stupid me) then get this phone. If you want a phone to operate as a phone and not drop off from the face of this planet, get a Nokia or NEC or a SONY. Those puppies work great. Stay away from the Motorola RAZR (which my dad has) and this POS Motorola SLVR. Not worth it, even for free (sad to say). |
| Cool phone | Rating: 4 |
This phone has it all! Cool looking! Sleek design
However, there are 2 things Motorola needs to improve:
1- Cannot retreive the phone # from your phone book when you're talking on phone
2-Cannot see the screen unless you have to touch the key pad
Overall it's a great phone! I love it! |
By Motorola |
The Mobile Phone Saving Network