Motorola Razr V review

Getting a modern-day smartphone to kick on through to five o'clock is getting harder and harder these days. The Razr V, despite having a relatively small screen, also suffers the same issue.

While the lack of HD resolution and a fairly low-powered dual-core processor certainly help battery life, the fact that the handset only offers a 1780mAh battery that isn't replaceable means you can struggle to get through a full day.

While every user's needs are different. A standard day of browsing, email, Facebook and Twitter and the occasional YouTube video barely got us through the working day.

Do stuff like use your phone as a wireless hotspot, and you can forget about getting to lunch, let alone home time.

Fortunately, Moto has included its clever SmartActions app to try and salvage battery life by automating regular functions with triggers that use the phone's sensors.

For example, when you get home, a trigger can be set to automatically switch off mobile data, Bluetooth and GPS, and turn on Wi-Fi.

It's a clever system, and can be customised a fair bit to get the most out of your phone.

Connectivity

Without the tempting allure of 4G, the Razr V's connectivity list looks mighty average by today's standards.

Sure, there's the standard 802.11n Wi-Fi, the HSDPA speeds (up to 7.2Mbps), the Micro-USB slot and on board Bluetooth.

But with no 4G - and not even the faster DC-HSPA speeds Telstra and Optus are now offering on their networks, connection speeds aren't anything to get excited by.

On the upside, Motorola has preloaded its Vehicle Mode app, which converts the screen into big square icons that are easy to see and control while driving. Of course, you'll need to make sure the device is mounted in a cradle and you aren't moving if you don't want to get busted using it.