Motorola's SLVR Phone Disappoints
Posted by Andrew Brandt | Friday, February 17, 2006 12:18 PM PT
There are many reasons why the iPod is so phenomenally popular. You can tell Apple put a lot of thought into both its design and user interface. The iPod is easy enough even for non-techies to use, and all but the Shuffle models have a huge capacity--in many cases, enough storage space for your entire music collection.
Sadly, it ain't so with Motorola's SLVR V7, the second cellphone-iPod hybrid from this company. (The first was the
Motorola Rokr, which was widely panned.) Unfortunately, the SLVR, which is blissfully lighter and smaller than the unwieldy, chunky ROKR, continues to suffer from the tradeoffs and compromises necessary to squeeze (or in this case, cram) two very different devices into one piece of hardware.
That's not to say the ultra sleek SLVR (pronounced "sliver") isn't a quality cell phone. With a thickness of barely more than a centimeter (less than half an inch), the SLVR is about as thin as bar-shaped phones get. It feels solid, but is light enough to hold in your hand for long conversations. It's got a decent built-in camera (VGA resolution) that can record still or video images, ties in with three popular instant messaging networks, and can send and receive e-mail and SMS. Its full-color screen is bright and easy to read.
It also benefits from having rubberized, backlit buttons on the face and an uncomplicated button layout around the sides that puts every control within easy, one-handed reach. The SLVR uses a mini-USB port as its sole data connector: You use it to charge the phone and connect accessories, and to upload music, photos, ringtones, and other data into it from a computer. The phone uses a new, microscopic-small, removable 512MB MicroSD memory card to store music and files. Additional storage costs about $90, street price, for a 1GB card.
Unfortunately, a great phone does not necessarily translate into a great music player. The implementation of the iTunes music player on the phone was just one of the disappointments. On the unit we were sent, the interface looks familiar, but it felt slapdash: Menus didn't scroll smoothly at all, instead panning jerkily left and right, as though the phone's processor was taxed by this effort.
It's also probably a good thing that the SLVR only ships with a 512MB storage card. There's an arbitrary limit of 100 songs you can put on the phone, and uploading even that many took forever: The phone's use of the older, slower USB 1.1 interface meant it took over 34 minutes to upload the 434.5MB of data that my 100 songs required.
Because the SLVR lacks the iPod's distinctive controls, it lacks some of the iPod magic. Motorola's use of a ring-shaped direction pad (which only lets you click up, down, left, or right) means you don't have the fine control an iPod gives you as you run your finger around the circumference of a Click Wheel.
This lack of fine control was problematic when I wanted to adjust the volume. There are only seven preset volume levels from which to choose, and even the lowest volume setting was just a bit too loud for me. I'm willing to acknowledge that such a criticism is subjective, but, considering that an iPod user
recently sued Apple over the risks iPods pose to hearing loss, I don't feel like I'm going out on a limb here, griping about not being able to play it at a comfortably low volume.
Note to Motorola: I appreciate that it's hard to engineer a thin phone that has a standard, one-eight-inch headphone jack. But the compromise you made with the SLVR is silly: In order to listen to your music over headphones, you must connect a special dongle to the phone's mini-USB port with a headphone jack on the other end. The dongle looks extremely flimsy; I feared tearing it apart every time I unplugged my headphones from it. And what's worse is that you have to physically remove the dongle from the phone to make or answer a call.
The SLVR also has a thumbnail-sized built in speaker on the back of the phone, through which you can play music. But as you could probably expect, the sound quality is nothing to write home about--unless you write home often about tinny music reproduction with virtually no dynamic range.
The SLVR is sure to be popular with the jet-set and cool-kid crowd. But slapping the iPod user interface into a device does not magically bestow iPod magic on that device. For me, this phone-music player hybrid isn't worth the tradeoffs.
I agree we purchased the slvr and our first one was defective so it was returned and the second also had complications so we took it back and bought a ipod shuffle and a cheaper phone and still had a hundred dollars credit left
Well hello everyone, obviously some folks didnt do much research before chunking out $400 dollars for an overpriced cingular phone. Get a factory direct unlocked version off Ebay for about $250, iTunes free the digital audio player on these is not so sluggish no song cap like the iTunes version, I mean cmon people its a nice little feature if your workin out or whatever, but no lets find everything to complain about. Great functionality, super slim and sleek design, the bluetooth handsfree always nice, transflash nice , and built in mp3 player nice , I do recomend the direct unlocked version, cingulars itunes version is a little slow, and it couldve used a standard headphone jack, but there are many headphones out to buy now that have direct volume control on the phones. And last but not least "if its to loud your to old" suing ipod for hearing damage? wow some people have nothing better to do, must be a professional telemarketer. :)
First of all the phone is retailing at $299.00 at the Cingular outlets. If you bought this phone expecting to get an iPod you bought the wrong phone. It is however a nice feature. I do not think the iTunes is the major selling point anyway. Besides that I cannot find anything negative to say about this phone. It is very stylish, with all the features of a top of the line cell phone should have. Buy an iPod if you want music. Buy the SLVR if you want a GREAT cell phone! Not to mention you can carry around 100 of your favorite songs, even if you cannot access them as quickly as you can on the iPods. Everyone who knocks this phone probabaly does not own one. I do and am very happy with it and everyone that sees it wants one!
Go to walmart to buy the phone. I paid $100 with a 2 year cingular agreement. So far I love the phone.
I have bought a slvr off ebay. It has no memory card. I have tryed to sync it with my pc using the usb cable but have had no luck getting it to connect. It doesnt even tell you where or what software is need. I have downloaded motorola phone tools 4 but havent been able to get it to work. Any1 have any sugestions?
One more question, how do i install itunes onto the phone?
Bought mine for about 150 bucks i give it a 9/10
My SLVR arrived this week. It's my professional phone! I've hushed to buy the usb cable, but sadly it seems it does't work without the cd!!!!! Where can we safely download the phone tools?
You must buy the mobile phone tools
i just got a slvr and have to say that the itunes feature is very cool, the screen size is excellent, i love the video and camera features, and i absolutley love the usb function for all the accesories. that said i have to say that this is THE worst phone ever. it is the worst customer friendly phone. you cannot use your itunes to set as your ringtones, it will not play any type of media file unless it is trademarked and licensed and preapproved by itunes (which almost all of mine was but still didn't play). to set a ringtone you are stuck with the less than most stock boring monotones with the occasional techno beat (there are 17 and six are techno and the rest are 2 to 5 monotone beats). the other alternative is to "buy" A ringtone. these are $2.49 and last time i checked i could buy a normal album for less than the price of 7 "ringtones" and have a hard copy, some literature, and a case. sorry motorola but this is the 4th phone from you in the last 2 years and nokia will have you beat no matter how much apple stock you get for selling out your phones.
Actually Andrew you do not "have to physically remove the dongle from the phone to make or answer a call." Sure you have to take out the phone but you can talk through the headphones. I am pretty sure you can sey up some kind of auto answer where you wont have to do it. Although i agree about the volume not going low enough, everything else i dont agree with. The sound up is great considering its a telephone. I have had no major problems with it.
I just got the SLVR and I was curious to know if I can transfer songs from my computer and convert them to ringtones... anyone know much about this?
need to know how to download music to my sliver from my pc
need to know how to take my slvr apart to switch faceplates
I purchased my SLVR at a Cingular store for 250 bucks, I have few complaints. Except for the fact that my computer wouldn't download Motorola Itunes. It took me a while to finally getting it to install (after deleting a whole lot of software off my comp.) After I finally got Itunes working, I liked the phone a lot more. Later on my camera stopped working so I used the warranty, and got a new one, of no charge. Motorola kicks ass, quit whining.
I bought an unlocked slvr for 200. It doesn't come with itunes, but comes with a digital audio player. Does anyone know how to download music to the phone?
MMM... I've had this phone for a few months now... Little to complain about... Sometimes it can be a bit sluggish, and sometimes iTunes doesn't function properly. It's not a big deal, I just have to either restart the phone or the application and it's fine. Also, the audio quality during calls is so bad, I seldom make calls without using the headset, because I constantly have to have things repeated when I don't (and it's not my hearing... I have extremely good hearing... It sounds as if everyone is mumbling...). The "stereo speaker" on the back isn't the best, but it is enough for speakerphone and music when I'm in a quiet place. It takes HOURS to copy 100 songs onto it, which I do often. I also HATE the 100-song limit! The camera is GREAT for a phone, the headset is pretty useful, it's sleek and stylish as HELL, and the screen is nice. Plus, I got mine for $130 at Best Buy, brand-new, the week it came out!!! So, while there are a lot of setbacks that came along with it, it is an AWESOME piece of hardware for those of us who NEED music.
Also, I found a pretty simple way of using songs on my computer as ringtones... Connect your SLVR to your PC via the included USB cable (WITH ITUNES NOT RUNNING ON YOUR PC), open the phone through "MY COMPUTER", go to: MOBILE>RINGTONE, and Copy the song (or segment of a song) that you want to use IN MP3 FORMAT (if it's not already in Mp3 format, you can use iTunes to convert it, if your default importing format is Mp3, by right clicking the song and selecting "convert selection to Mp3"). Then, disconnect your phone, go to "My Sounds", switch the device to your memory card, select the song you want, and either COPY or MOVE it to your phone. Then, switch the device back to PHONE, open My Sounds, and the song should be available to use as your ringtone... Only setback is that your phone doesn't have a ton of memory, so you can't put many full songs onto it.... I also use this nifty function to put a few extra Mp3 format songs to my card when I can't pick exactly 100 songs for my iTunes, just not copying them to the phone. HOPE I HELPED. I know it saved me several bucks!
This is a nice phone and great functionality for the money. I certainly think the mp3 player functionality can be greatly improved however. The Primordial Ooze needs to cool.
How do I find and install icons to identify and differentiate phone numbers in the address book as to home, business or mobile?