Motorola Razr V review

Nothing to get excited about here

Motorola Razr V
Does the V stand for 'Very Good'?

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In the modern world of big screen TVs and tablets, watching a movie or TV show on a tiny 4.3-inch screen doesn't seem like the best viewing experience. But sometimes, the best screen is the one you have on you, and with that in mind, the Razr V is hardly the best media experience.

The device's 4.3 inch screen is not only small, it also only has a 540 x 960 resolution, making it a lesser product than the HD screens currently on the market.

Motorola Razr V review

What the phone lacks in video quality, it makes up for in audio. The rear speaker does a fantastic job of playing back the soundtrack of a video, with plenty of emphasis in the midrange without completely dropping out the bass notes.

While it doesn't compare to a good set of headphones, the speaker quality here is still far better than many other handsets on the market.

Speaking of headphones, the jack for the Razr V is located bang in the middle of teh chunky top end of the phone. It's far from a dealbreaker, but we found the position awkward, adding unnecessary bulk to the device.

The fact that the Razr V doesn't have an HD screen has one small advantage though - you're much less likely to fill up the paltry 2GB of usable on board storage with a single video.

There is a MicroSD card slot available to counter this paltry amount of storage space, but given its an extra expense, it kind of undoes some of the value proposition this handset holds.

Music

Motorola Razr V review

You can drag and drop your tunes over to the phone via a connected USB cable. Music playback is simple - there are two apps for controlling your tunes preinstalled on the device.

The first is Play Music, which is Google's own music playback app. It's clean and simple, and doesn't really do anything other than play music.

The other is called Music, and it offers a bit more. Along with playing back your own music stored on the device, you can also access tunewiki from within the app to share your music socially, comment on friend's music tastes and view song lyrics easily.

Music quality is fine through both apps. Neither offers the simplicity of the iPod app on the iPhone 5, but there are worse ways to listen to music.

For those interested, there's also an FM radio app, but it only works when you plug in a pair of headphones.

Having spent the past decade editing some of Australia's leading technology publications, Nick's passion for the latest gadgetry is matched only by his love of watching Australia beat England in the rugby.