14 DAY TRIAL // Motorola, better known as the inventor of the RAZR design, seems to be running out of ideas when it comes to building a new face for its handsets. Even if people are still buying RAZR-like phones, perhaps Motorola should start to give a chance to its other exceptionally good models like Z6 or Z8. I'm not saying this because I don't like the RAZR look, but even 'love' can turn to 'hate' if it's too much. Now, back to our Motorola RAZR maxx V6 Ferrari, there has been an increasing trend in the mobile industry that made handset manufacturers join forces with brands that have nothing to do with mobile phones. LG and Prada, Motorola and D&G, Samsung and Bang & Olufsen and many more partnerships have been made either for marketing reasons or simply to improve a handset's functionality (yeah right). Such collaborations resulted in luxurious devices that were more or less successful on the market. What improvements did Ferrari add to the common Motorola RAZR maxx V6? Hmm, about none in terms of technical specifications, and too little if we think about its design.
The limited edition MotoRAZR Maxx V6 Ferrari Challenge Mobile Phone has been launched on the market in February 2007, but Ferrari store already sold all the stock. The price in Europe nears 500 Euros, while in US you can get it much cheaper, only USD $525.
Design
The phone features the unmistakable RAZR form that has been successful for such a long time and made Motorola jump directly on number 1 spot for handset sales in USA. Following the huge success of its RAZR handset, Motorola decided to apply it on all its clamshell models ? more or less. Motorola maxx V6 is such a case, and obviously its Ferrari clone too. There are no major differences between the 2 handsets other than the fact that the limited edition cover features the Scuderia Ferrari logo on its front and the Ferrari name on the back. The handset looks like the usual slim clamshell with RAZR design, only that this time the compound used in manufacture is of higher quality than its predecessors.
On the upper part of the left side of the clamshell you'll notice a dual volume key and a small button that enables the user to access a small menu on the secondary display. The bottom part of the left side of the handset features the miniUSB port. The right side of the phone features the camera button and a small eyelet for a wrist strap with the Motorola logo that has been included in the sales package. The front cover of the handset features a mirror-like surface which makes fingerprints very obvious. Right under a small secondary display you'll be able to notice some touch keys that act like controls for music player. Unfortunately they are not that responsive, but you might get used to it if you insist on controlling the music player with the phone folded. Under the music controls the clamshell bears a small Motorola logo that flashes blue the moment you're receiving a call. This is accompanied by 2 glowing blue lines found on both the phone's extremes.
The 2 Megapixel camera has been placed above the small display and features a 2 LED flash. The measures of the device (104 x 53 x 15 mm and 105 grams) place it in the medium sized clamshell class. The phone looks pretty sturdy and solid, so you don't have to worry about the closing mechanism. Unfolding the clamshell will definitely make you believe that you'll be able to text for hours with it. Unfortunately, even if it features a "huge" keypad, the keys are pretty hard to push, which obviously lowers the responsiveness. Otherwise the RAZR-like layout of the keypad looks pretty cool, and features a big 4-way navigation D-pad for an easier browse through the menu and a special button (under the D-pad) which activates the Internet browser.
Those of you who like to make video calls will be happy to find that the phone features a secondary camera placed above the main display. The back cover of the clamshell has been manufactured from a rubber-like material that helps with the adherence. This is very nice to the touch and together with the glossy compound on the front cover makes the clamshell look stylish and classy. MotoRAZR Maxx V6 Ferrari comes with a very handy red leather phone holder featuring the Prancing Horse logo in the sales package. I think this is more to catch more eyes, because it doesn't have too much practical use, especially because it's pretty thick and cannot be kept in a pocket.
Display and Camera
Both displays of the clamshell are of a highest quality, not to mention that the phone also features a built in nvidia GoForce 3D 4800 GPU. Unfortunately, it isn't hardware accelerated for 3D midlet and it is only used for camera. Thus display benchmark scores are not that impressive, but you should know that images displayed look quite sharp indoors, as well as outdoors.
The small secondary LCD TFT display on the front cover supports 65k colors and 120 x 160 pixel resolution. The main 2.2'' display supports 262k colors and a better resolution (240 x 320 pixels). Even if it's not a low energy consumer display it still makes it as one of the best displays on the market, and definitely the best that has been embedded in a Motorola handset.
The 2 Megapixel camera features a 2 LED flash, 8x digital zoom, but lacks any autofocus capabilities. Even with the GoForce GPU that has been implemented the 2 Megapixel camera cannot make miracles. The quality of the pictures is average (not mediocre) for such a camera module, while clips recorded are looking very crappy. That's also because the camera only records videos at QCIF (176 x 144 pixels) resolution in 3GP format.
On the other hand, for pictures you can choose from a wide range of resolutions, but the best is obviously 1600 x 1200 pixels. Depending on what quality you select for snapshots (Good, Better and Best) the pictures will be bigger or smaller in size.
The sample snapshots show the average quality of the camera module, but you might want to take in consideration that this is one of the speediest on the market. Overall, owners of the phone will be able to use the camera almost in any environment with some medium success on the quality of the pictures.
The sample below has been executed under 360 watts of continuous tungsten light, especially created to test the quality of the camera module.
Menu and Software
MotoRAZR maxx V6 Ferrari limited edition features Motorola's older operating system Synergy, which is more like a user-interface. The one that has been integrated in this model has been reshaped and redesigned a little and looks very much the same as the one run by V3 model. Even if it cannot be compared with Nokia's user-interface in terms of accessibility and leaning curve, Synergy is still easy to use by people that owned Motorola handsets before. For easy access the standby screen has been given a cross-like graphic completely customizable, which enables user's access to various applications and functions of the phone with only one click. If you don't like it you can always remove it and stay with the logo of the operator and the battery and network bars.
The Phonebook can store up to 1000 contacts, which is more than enough for any mobile freak. There are some useful slots that you can fill in for every contact like E-mail, Nickname or even Video number. You can personalize almost everything starting with the Home Screen, Main Menu, Skin or the greeting message. You can also choose from a vast range of screensavers, all dedicated to the Ferrari F430 and to the Ferrari Challenge USA Pirelli Trophy. These are copyrighted so you won't be able to copy/send them to another mobile phone, nor will you find them included in another Motorola handset. Also when you switch it on or off the phone reproduces the unmistakable roar of the Ferrari F1 engine. Besides the fully customizable capabilities (graphic and sound), the phone also includes one feature that should not miss in any handset these days - Phone status. This is the place where you can find info about almost anything that this phone features under the hood (battery, memory, phonebook i.e.).
Other applications that you'll find very useful include: Alarm, Calendar, Calculator, World clock, Backup, Voice Recorder and even an Aeroplane Mode. For those who are heavy Internet surfers, the Opera 8.0 browser will meet all demands. The browser can open any page no matter its size and it's compatible with Flash and Javascript. Unfortunately it doesn't feature landscape mode, but overall it's very speedy.
Communications
MotoRAZR maxx V6 Ferrari features HSDPA 3.6 Mbps (High-Speed Downlink Racket Access) technology, that seems to give it fast Ferrari surfing, data transfer and download speeds. Besides HSDPA the user benefits from a whole range of data transfer technologies such as: UMTS, EDGE and GPRS. We have managed to reach speeds of up to 314 Kbps download and 108 Kbps upload on the UMTS network of our operator.
Quite good for a Motorola device that had few problems in the past. The Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity supports A2DP, but only registered average data transfer speeds (58 KB/s). You can use the miniUSB port to synchronize the phone with your PC, but don't forget to set the connection before (Data connection, Memory card or USB printing).
Email is fully compatible with POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 protocols and accepts SMS, MMS, as well as sound messages. iTap (T9 replica) function will greatly help those who are frequently using SMS texting.
The quadband (GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900) network compatibility gives this handset virtually worldwide coverage. Not to mention that it has a very good GSM signal reception (one of the best). Pity that you cannot change networks from UMTS to 3G and that will eat your battery faster. In-call sound is very loud and clear, in fact this is basically one of the best Motorola RAZR clamshells in terms of sound and signal reception.
Processor and Memory
Motorola's maxx V6 Ferrari handset embeds an ARM9 family processor running at speeds of up to 260 MHz. The above average CPU assures that the phone won't lag behind when accessing numerous applications at the same time. When you say Ferrari you obviously think speed, high speed in fact, well the CPU looks like it fits the theme.
Even if there's only 50 MB internal memory available to the user, you can use a microSD card to expand that up to 2 GB. You'll find the microSD slot card under the back cover of the phone. You don't need to pull out the battery, which means the memory is hot-swappable.
Multimedia
The clamshell features a basic music player that supports MP3, AAC, AAC+ music formats. The music sound is average and the music player offers only limited features like Spatial audio and Bass boost. These are not enough to really boost the quality of the vibes, but overall it is acceptable. If you run music on the background you'll be able to use the external display to control the music. Again the touch keys under the secondary display are very tricky to use, so be patient or don't use them at all.
The integrated video player also seems basic, with few features. There's also a nice application called Media Finder which looks like a media file manager. Basically it can find any music or video file either on your phone's memory or on the memory card.
Battery
The clamshell features a 900 mAh BZ60 Li-Ion battery which has a stated talk time of only 3 hours and a standby mode of 330 hours. That's a little bit too low for a heavy user, but we already know that RAZR fans are less interested in what kind of battery their favorite phone includes. We were forced to charge the phone once every 2 days on an average use. No surprises here because RAZR-like phones never amazed through their batteries.
Impressions
The RAZR look strikes again. This is one stylish and classy clamshell, no doubt about it. It looks slim and glossy and fits great in your palm or in your pocket. Not to mention that the Ferrari logo will surely impress anyone who puts his eyes on it. What's crazy about it is the fact that it's a very competitive clamshell, high functionality and latest technologies making it more than worthy of its price.
The Good
The first thing that should be reminded here is the fact that it features HSDPA technology and video call capabilities. There's a long list with good things that makes this phone so desirable, pity that it has been produced in limited number. The great display, RAZR-like design, 2 Megapixel camera, microSD card and support for A2DP are several features that should make you want this masterpiece.
The Bad
Maybe more features added to the music player, as well as the correct working of the touch keys under the secondary display would've turned this 'baby' into a perfect Motorola RAZR. Those who are usually listening to the Radio will be disappointed, as the phone lacks an FM Radio.
Sales package
Motorola RAZR maxx V6 Ferrari handset European travel battery charger Headset USB cable Red leather phone holder with Scuderia Ferrari logo Motorola BZ60 battery (900 mAh) Wrist strap with Motorola logo
Photo: Tudor Raiciu for Softpedia.com