Motorola RAZR2 V8 Cell Phone

I purchased this phone new when I accidentally washed my Nokia 6263 and killed it. I wanted to try this phone out as I have had luck in the past with the Motorola line starting with my V600. There are two versions of the V8, one has 512MB of memory and the other has 2GB of memory. I purchased the 2GB model. There is no expansion slot on either version of the V8. The exterior of the phone is very sleek and feels comfortable on the ear. There is a large hinge in the middle of the phone, but it does not affect comfort. The first thing that is noticeable after turning the phone is turned on is that the OS has changed. The RAZR2 phones are now based on Linux which does affect the layout and menu. It took some getting used to, but I was quickly able to maneuver the menu structure. The external screen is huge and very clear. It has very limited touch screen capabilities on the external screen. One thing I would like to see on the external screen is the ability to read incoming messages. Right now, it will only notifiy if you have a message and you have to open the phone to actually read it. Being able to dial from the external screen would be a nice feature too. The music player can be controlled on the external screen which is a plus. The internal screen is just as large as the outside screen. It is very clear and I can see it in the sun. The buttons are responsive and even with my big hands, I don't accidentally hit the wrong numbers. I don't do much texting, but the phone has all the basic text entry methods, T9 multi-tap, predictive text, and you can also select just numbers or symbols. The location of the messages is a little different since it is in the Calls section of the menu, but it can be added as a shortcut. The phone also comes with the Opera web browser for mobile browsing, though I have not tried it. Battery life is very good. With Bluetooth on, I get about 3 days of standby and about 2 hours of talk. Without Bluetooth, I can go a week on standby and almost 5 hours of talk. Much better than my last phone. Camera use and media playing will reduce battery time. Speaking of the camera, it comes with a 2 megapixel camera. It is the best camera on a phone that I have had. I wish there was a flash, but your can brighten the picture up manually. Call quality is good. Voices are loud and clear and I am told I can be heard clearly, even when I have a weak signal. I live in an area that has average coverage, but this phone pulls 3 to 4 bars consistently. My only complaint about this phone is the voice dialing feature. On previous Motorolas, the voice dialing worked flawlessly. This phone has a newer version which does not work at all. It cannot understand me most of the time and it always tells me my phone is locked, which it is not. I don't know if this is a glitch with my phone or the V8 in general. I just want the old voice dialing back. It makes using a handsfree device useless as you still have to open the phone to dial. Overall, I like this phone. It is sleek, stylish, and high quality. The Linux OS allows for upgrades and modifications not previously available on other phones. The included USB cable allows you to connect the phone to a PC and use it as an external flash drive, modem, or connect to a PictBridge capable printer and print pictures directly from the phone. If you are a previous generation Razr fan, you will love this phone. It is a very versatile and I highly recommend it.