At A Glance:

The RAZR Maxx V6 is the newest incarnation of the RAZR phone to complement the V3xx in the same vein - namely high powered 3.5G slim clamshell phones.

In the box
Charger Motorola RAZR V6 Maxx Transceiver Battery Wired stereo-headset with pick up key USB data cable CD with Mobile Phone Tools User Guide

The Design
The V6 Maxx is based on the RAZR line’s well-worn design with some general tweaking, and while it is starting to get difficult to tell the difference between the RAZR designs- it is still hard to find fault with the design. At 104 x 53 x 15 mm and a weight of 105g, it is slightly lighter and smaller than the V3xx. It does mean that the V6 is slightly thicker and wider, but this is barely noticeable.

Some aesthetics were modified, as much of the metallic surface is now covered with a rubbery material which not only looks good but doubles as a protective surface. Motorola has taken quite a step to ensure that there is balance between appeal and providing protection in its design.

Other improvements include the glass plate finish which covers the exterior screen that is prone to fingerprints and smudges, as we had to spend a lot of time to make sure it was clean.

On the glass plate, there are touch-sensitive controls for the music when the flip is closed. There are typical music controls such as next/previous track, forward/rewind, and play/ pause. The controls are lit with a blue backlight, and are located beneath the external screen.

Sunken keypads are very much a staple for Motorola phones at this point- however the keys for the V6 are wider compared to older models, and are easier to perform tasks in.

The phone has only one port- a USB/charger port, which gives the phone a uniform look, but makes it difficult for multitasking- if you are charging your phone then you can’t transfer your music onto the V6.

Features
Flip open the V6 Maxx and you will see the 2.2 inch colour screen with 240x320-pixel resolution. The display looks crisp and vibrant for the V6, more so than older incarnations.

The menu interface has adopted most of the features found in the Motorola V3xx. Most noticeably, the menu interface retains the 3x4 grids format. It also has similar applications such as the Alarm Clock, Calendar, Voice Recorder, Calculator, and a World Clock device. The music player can handle a variety of formats including MP3, WMA, WAV and AAC files.

Web browsing is provided by the Goggle search engine. The phone supports WAP 2.0 as well.

The phone comes with only 50MB. There is memory expansion available in the form of a micro-SD slot. But isn’t it time Motorola provided us with a complementary SD card already, considering that the average user uses more than 50MB of storage space these days?

The Java game preloaded on the phone is the popular puzzle Platinum Sudoku, which has the player trying to fit in nine numbers in a 3x3 grids. With 3.5G and a larger capacity, users can easily download more games.

Camera
The camera is your standard 2.0 megapixel CMOS camera, with a built-in flash. The camera has 1600x1200 pixels, video (QCIF- Quarter Common Intermediate Format) which has up to 176 ?144 pixels and a secondary video call VGA camera. In video camera mode, the phone has up to 2x zoom. Meanwhile, camera mode has 8x zoom and various effects for your pictures.

Pictures taken are brighter compared to the V3. Colours are solid and decent, but best condition for photo capture is under bright light. The flash cube for the V6 is functional but the lighting under extremely dark conditions is not uniform. The V6 also lacks autofocus, so when taking pictures, one has to be careful to avoid blurred pictures.

Connectivity
The V6 has triband connectivity (GSM 900, GSM 1800 and GSM 1900) but everyone should be eyeing the 3.5G HSDPA (High-Speed Download Packet Access) which is capable of 3.6M/bits of connectivity. The phone is tuned for high-speed Internet browsing, music downloads and video streaming.

The phone has Class 10 EDGE, USB 2.0 and Bluetooth 2.0, which should provide easy LAN and Internet access to your videos and music. The Maxx V6 supports the A2DP (stereo Bluetooth) profile, so you can link it to a pair of wireless Bluetooth headphones for listening to music.

The Verdict
The phone is yet another example of the long standing Motorola RAZR design form factor and its no wonder why Motorola has decided to stick towards the tried and true. So, if you are a fan of the RAZR form factor and fast downloads, the V6 scores points in that aspect. However, for a phone with an unchanged form factor and moderate features, we say that it is hardly worth the current RM 1,400 pricetag.

Again, the phone is difficult to recommend to non-RAZR fans, especially with the steep pricing attached and mostly average features. It is however sturdier, so if you are looking for a tough phone that looks great with 3.5G, then this one might be for you.

• Tags : Motorola RAZR MAXX V6