Motorola SLVR L7 Black

Call Quality

Calls and speakerphone: Call quality on the Motorola Slvr L7 was a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes callers sounded crystal clear and we found that we had to use the side volume rocker key to lower the audio levels. Other times, calls were randomly dropped and the connection would randomly break-up. At that point, everyone knew we were using a cell phone to make a call.

Fortunately, the speakerphone quality was impressive. Calls were loud, clear and didn't suffer from conversations intermittently cutting off when two people speak simultaneously, which sometimes happens when using a speakerphone on a cell phone. Additionally, as is the case with the Motorola Razr V3, you can only turn on the speaker once you make a call.

Audio Quality: Playback of songs is acceptable but not stellar (Read: sound is tinny) through the cell phone's speakers. The Motorola Slvr L7 comes with a pair of headphones that actually plug into the miniUSB slot on the side of the cell phone, so you can't easily use your own headphones. That said, we were more impressed with the audio quality coming through the headphones than the quality of the cell phone speakers.

Ease of Use

Menu/Phonebook: As is the case with many Motorola cell phones, the menu's interface is intuitive; requiring only a couple of steps to access most of the Motorola Slvr's features. Entering and saving numbers (there's room for six phone numbers/e-mail addresses for each contact, birthday setting, and even addresses) is easy, but accessing numbers can occasionally be tiring, since the cell phone default menu is set to allow you to find a contact based on the first letter of the name. If you have 20 contacts in your phonebook that start with the letter "M," you'll have to scroll through all the "M" contacts until you find the one you want. However, if you have a lot of "M" entries in your phonebook, set the phone to Find and then you can search for names using more information.

Camera/Video: The Motorola Slvr L7 has a VGA camera and lacks a flash, so don't expect a lot from picture quality on this cell phone. You also can't snap self portraits as there isn't a mirror on the back of the cell phone next to the lens. There is good news: if you're a fan of photo caller ID, using this feature doesn't slow down cell phone operation as the Slvr has an abundant amount of memory. Video quality isn't a whole lot better. We found videos to be grainy and playback a bit sluggish. In this category, the Slvr is an interesting dilemma – it has the storage needed to make the most of pics and videos, but lacks the quality equipment (Read: Missing a megapixel camera) to do a lot with it.

Music: The Slvr L7 has something the Slvr L6 lacks – an MP3 player. And not just any MP3 player, this cell phone uses iTunes. Before we get into the details of this feature, we should note that you'll have no problem storing songs on this cell phone. Between the 60MB of internal memory and the included 512MB TransFlash storage card (a miniature storage card that is approximately the size of a finger nail), you'll be able to save about 100 songs on the cell phone.

You can playback MP3s or AAC files (songs purchased from the Apple iTunes online store). The cell phone's player supports playlists, as well as shuffle and repeat songs. To get started, you'll need to install the included software on the computer. It will work with Windows 2000 or later and Mac OS 10.3.6 or later. You can then transfer songs either via the included USB cable. We should note that you can not use Bluetooth to transfer songs and you can’t save any songs from the iTunes application as a ringtone. Bummer!

Connectivity/Bluetooth: We were able to pair the Motorola Slvr L7 cell phone with a Motorola H500 Bluetooth headset, however, we needed to consult the manual to set it up correctly. While you can connect the Motorola Slvr L7 with a Bluetooth-enabled computer, we should note that you can't use Bluetooth to transfer songs from iTunes to the cell phone and that you can only connect with one device at a time. This means you can't connect to a computer and use a Bluetooth headset with this cell phone simultaneously.

Design

Look and Feel: The Motorola Slvr sports a slim profile, though not as thin as other models recently introduced namely Samsung’s T509 and T519. The beauty of owning a thin cell phone is that you can't always tell if it's still snuggled safely in your pant pocket. Even though, the cell phone is thin, it's incredibly usable and surprisingly durable. Perhaps one of our favorite elements is the ultra-bright, colorful screen. It definitely stands out when it's on and is highly visible in most lighting situations. Our only quibble with the cell phone's design is the screen easily attracts face grease. That said, many cell phones suffer from this flaw. Keypad: There are a lot of similarities that can be drawn between the Motorola Slvr and Motorola Razr keypads. Both cell phones have that slick blue backlit numbers and lines reminiscent of something out of the movie, Tron, and the four-way navi-key works like a charm (there are no accidental selections made when using it). But there's one big difference: the actual numbers on the Slvr L7 keypad are slightly raised, making them more tactile than the keys found on the Motorola Razr.

Battery Life

We found battery life on the Motorola Slvr L7 impressive – even better than that found on the Motorola Razr. We found that we could last three to four days before needing to recharge when using the Motorola Slvr L7 to frequently make calls and send/receive text messages. Heavier cell phone users will likely need to charge the Motorola Slvr L7 every two days. We should note that using Bluetooth and the MP3 player tend to drain battery life faster.