Motorola VU204 Cell Phone

I got this VU204 phone from Verizon--sometimes known as the "Limerick"--about a week after it hit the market, and there was not much in the way of support for it. Have used it for more than a year, and while it's OK, some things about it are inexplicable.

As much as I use my phone I suppose my needs are beyond the capability of any $25-30 cell phone. It's easy enough to use for basic calling, but the other functions, not so good. I have not found battery life to be problematic, as some reviewers here have reported.

This phone will reject any car charger except the ones sold by Verizon. No idea why. I mean, a USB charger should be a USB charger. Generic, right? You plug it into the charger that runs my GPS system, and you get a message saying "unauthorized charger," and no charging occurs. Weird. And that means one more plug in gizmo I need to carry.

I tried downloading a ring tone right after I got the phone. Was able to download the sound file, but the phone offered no way to add it as a ring tone. Meaning, I can go and play the sound to my heart's content, but can't assign a function to it. I was told this was a software quirk. Whether it's been rectified I can't say, because I don't fuss over ring tones, generally.

The phone gives you a chance to record a voice memo, but there seems to be absolutely no way to play it back, or even find it afterwards. Nothing in the manual or online support even mentions this feature. I suppose it's a great thing if you believe in the power of confession, but don't have access to a priest...
Most annoying to me is that there is no way to set a default ring tone for the calendar and alarm clock functions. The way I use this phone I know I'd be better off with a "smart" phone, but there's the matter of cost. So, every time I set a calendar event or an alarm clock, I have to go to the list of ring tones and pick the sounds I use for these functions.

You can set the phone to read back numbers that you punch into the keypad, and that's useful. So is the voice dial system, when it works. You  can go through a complicated procedure to acclimate the phone to your voice, but if you switch from handheld to a headset or Bluetooth, it won't recognize voice commands. I "taught" my phone to understand my voice via the Bluetooth, so if I use it hand-held I don't depend on that function.

The speakerphone function works, but is not nearly loud enough.
This is the first USB phone I've owned, and I thought that would mean easy access to the computer--wrong. I was finally able to buy "Motorola Phone Tools" software, but it interfaces only with Microsoft Outlook (NOT Outlook Express) and will not "talk" to the Palm application I prefer to use on the computer. It does provide an opportunity to back up calendar events and a contact list to the computer, but no convenient way to use the calendar.
Did I mention it has a camera? It's a good thing this was not an important feature for me, because the camera seems incapable of producing a focused image.

After owning this phone for about a year, I had to have it replaced when the original one started responding erratically to keypad entries and menu commands. Verizon replaced it with no argument, and backed up the contacts list, but not the calendar events.

When my "new every two" plan allows me a credit against the cost of a new phone, I will definitely upgrade. And it probably won't be a Motorola product, since I am learning that their phones have some chronic compatibility issues. I don't use the game, internet or navigation functions, so I have no idea how they perform.