Motorola's SLVR L7 now available from Cingular

Just like we thought, Cingular is now shipping the quad-band Motorla SLVR v7 phone with iTunes. It features a VGA camera, 262K TFT color display and comes pre-installed with a 512MB MicroSD card, built-in stereo speakers, and includes an EMU to 3.5mm headset adapter. Available for $199 with 2-year contract and yes, it still has the 100-song limit that helped make the ROKR E1 so wildly successful. We suspect, however, that Moto's learned a little from that experience, and that this one is going to be billed as a SLVR first, and as an iTunes phone second. Get 'em while they're hot!

[Thanks, sebastien and everyone who sent this in]

[igor @ Feb 9th 2006 3:33AM]

#43 - yes, L7 and V8 (obsolete name) are the same thing. Yes, it does play mpeg videos. Mobile Phone Tools (aka Motorola Phone Tools) can put them there (and do other things, like create & transfer your own ringtones, sync the phonebook, etc).

To all the people complaining about the lack of multiple numbers per contact - read the bloody manual. The standard format of the SIM cards does not allow that (ok, MOT did that for Nextel phones but their cards are not compatible with other phones) and by default MOT phones store to the SIM card.

When you create a contact, choose 'store to phone'. Then while in the address book, hit menu and select View: 'primary contacts' instead of 'all contacts'. Then it will work like you (and I) like - each contact may have multiple numbers but will be listed only once - with the 'primary' number. There will be an icon shown indicating the type of number (main, mobile, home, work, etc) and you can go between them using 'right' and 'left' arrows. This applies to all MOT phones, not just SLVR.

To people complaining about the search method - hit menu while in the phonebook and select Search Method from 'Jump To' to 'Find'. This was available for a while on most MOT phones.

[tony @ Feb 10th 2006 12:59AM]

I bought a CD with phone tools off of Ebay and I've been able to compress MP3s to 16bit and have fit 7 complete long songs on the internal memory (7mb?) of my Razr v3 as ringtones. Am not interested in I-tunes. I'm wondering if I buy as SLVR and get a 1 GB Micro SD can I circumvent the 100 song limit (and store the ringtones on the Micro SD)?

[John @ Feb 14th 2006 4:57AM]

I just got my SLVR L7 (German firmware, off of eBay).

---

WARNING!!!
If you buy one off of eBay, there's a very good chance it's a German package. The charger is of the European type, with an US adapter. This makes it very bulky for traveling. The User Manual will probably also be in German, but most sellers seem to be including a PDF file of the US manual.

The main problem, however, is that there seems to be some sort of bug with the Bluetooth implementation. Basically, syncing over Bluetooth doesn't work with the German firmware for many people. There is a way to flash the phone with US firmware, if you're willing to take the risk.

---

Anyway, good news is, the address book has been improved (slightly) over the one in the RAZR V3. It can now store street address info. Unfortunately, that info doesn't seem to sync from my computer (iSync, under OS X 10.4.4). Normally, I'd blame Apple, since they wrote iSync, but based on Motorola's track record for pathetic cell phone software, I'm inclined to place the blame there.

Of the many GUI problems in the address book that drive me nuts, two are particularly annoying:

1) As stated by #27, the "Jump To" feature is half-@assed, where you can't enter "CR" to jump to names that start with "CR", which just about every other phone I've used can do. Instead, Motorola's phones (including the SLVR) jumps to names starting with "R", as soon as the "R" is pressed.

#44, note that "Jump To" is NOT the same thing as "Find". Perhaps, you've gotten used to Motorola's pathetic address book interface, which is why you don't understand what other people are complaining about?

2) When viewing the contact list showing only "Primary" numbers, selecting a name/number takes you to a "Detailed" view of that number. Fine, if your contacts all have just one number.

What it SHOULD do, is give you a list of all the numbers under that name.

Someone at Motorola needs to take a look at a "Real" address book. My old Siemens worked so much better, it's not even funny.

Overall, I like the phone enough to keep it. None of the Samsung or LG phones will sync with iSync, and I'm not too crazy about the Sony-Erricson offerings. I've read about some problems with Nokia address books too, so there really isn't an "ideal" phone for me.

[Jim @ Feb 15th 2006 2:40PM]

I purchased my SLVR from Walmart for $128 USD. The Cingular sture 100 yards away wanted $199 (good luck with that!) I didn't realize I could upgrade my Cingular phone at Walmart for much less! I agree that the speaker volume is horrible on the speaker phone. It's not too great on my HS850 Bluetooth headset, either! I think that for the phone not have EDGE and/or USB 2.0 capabilities is simply ridiculous (Hey Motorola, are you listening??)

[Jim @ Feb 15th 2006 2:40PM]

I purchased my SLVR from Walmart for $128 USD. The Cingular store 100 yards away wanted $199 (good luck with that!) I didn't realize I could upgrade my Cingular phone at Walmart for much less! I agree that the speaker volume is horrible on the speaker phone. It's not too great on my HS850 Bluetooth headset, either! I think that for the phone not have EDGE and/or USB 2.0 capabilities is simply ridiculous (Hey Motorola, are you listening??)

[Zach @ Feb 16th 2006 12:17AM]

Is there ANYWAY o convert to CDMA?? I know people have done i in the past to different phones. I HAVE GOT TO have this phone but i'm stuck with Verizon.

[Fizzle @ Feb 16th 2006 10:41AM]

i got the motorola SLVR a few days ago and it is quite a good phone but the downside to this phone is when your listenning to music with the headphones adaptor the song volume is too low and when you add a movie clip on the phone it does not only come in video you will also see the video audio in the sound area which is very bad for MOTO they did not take their time to make this phone properly. not also being able to listen to music with the bluetooth headset is also dum. come on MOTO you are meant to be improving and going upwards not going downwards.

Please if any1 know how i can make the volume louder on the headphones and take off the audio part of the movie clip in the sound area please tell me

Thank you

[myackenhead @ Feb 18th 2006 11:57AM]

How do you transfer pictures & ringtones? I use FutureDial and the phone will not connect.

[shaun smith @ Feb 18th 2006 5:18PM]

Can anyone please tell me how to lock the keypad. I have had the phone for a day and already made 3 calls I didn't mean too.

[Brad @ Feb 18th 2006 11:23PM]

i got this fone in the beggining of feb. i was wondering if u could use a song from the itunes for a ringtone? i herd u could somewhere... idk though, can u?

[Brad @ Feb 18th 2006 11:27PM]

ya, hit the menu button and then star

[Paul Savage @ Feb 21st 2006 8:59PM]

Do NOT bother buyuing this phone. It is utter garbage considering the state of the art and the finesse of the Nokia! Looks are ALL it's got.

Awful UI, awfullly organised tool set, AWFUL manual (that's a misnomer), awful telephone support (you'll need to speak bloody hindi or urdu to get through to them), AWFUL support software that they have the nerve to charge $30 - 50! THEN they (Moto) switch you to freakin' Cingular where the mouth breathers keep telling you they need to provision the Internet in order to get the phone to communicate with my PC via USB. Oh - OR, they will put you on hold for a "techie" for whom you can wait 42 minutes like me to be told - you guessed it - it's Motorola's gig...

Am I PISSED? You bet I am.

I bought mine yesterday. I am returning it tomorrow.

UTTER CRAP!

[korndog @ Feb 22nd 2006 8:12AM]

I bought a german version phone and predictive text seems to stay in german even after switching default language. Is there a way to load Cingular firmware with itunes on an unlocked phone?

[Kyle @ Feb 25th 2006 4:31PM]

I'm sure Verizon will have it soon. They have the RZR, and they said they made that exclusively for Cingular, so trust me, they'll prolly get it within a year -.

[dom2002r @ Feb 27th 2006 1:58PM]

How would I set an mp3 for a ringtone?

[anne @ Mar 2nd 2006 2:08PM]

Does anybody know how to convert or add songs as your ringtone? Where do I drag it to?? Thanks

[anne @ Mar 2nd 2006 2:09PM]

Does anybody know how to convert or add songs as your ringtone? Where do I drag it to?? Thanks

[vero @ Mar 5th 2006 12:32PM]

I have the slvr German version i purchased on EBAY and i'm having trouble downloading music, itunes doesn't recognize it. I don't even think it has itunes, it has a different MP3 player, does anyone know how will i be able to download music?

[Ty @ Mar 10th 2006 9:08PM]

Uh yah i got the slvr about 3 weeks ago and it runs fine but i didnt get it from cingular and didnt get the usb till today and i have no idea how to get songs on it and yes i allready have itunes for my ipod SO does anybody know what i should do EMAIL
[e-mail]


(label the mail) SLVR PHONE INFO

[dennis @ Mar 23rd 2006 8:51PM]

I was wondering does the SLVR support regular SD MMC? I bought the phone today online and I also ordered a 1G MMC without noticing that it was a regular size one and not a Micro SD, So I was wondering if that would still work with the phone...please reply

[rp @ Mar 24th 2006 1:43PM]

read the manual people!!! Thanks to #44 re: the address book issue- everyone complains about it. My 3 year old v220 supports multiple listings per contact... the search funtion is better though, just use the settings.

the skinnable themes are pretty cool too, jazzes up the interface.

mobile phone tools is the easiest way to load up ringtones to the phone- bar none. as well as contacts, calendar, etc. midi to wav to mp3 files work for ringtones. you don't even need a cable since the phone comes with one.

alternative is to connect it to your pc, open it up as flash drive folder, and find the audio folder. put your ringone in there. Then on the phone, go to "my stuff, "sounds" and hit the menu button- select storage device and then storage card. you should now see all the stuff on your storage card. select the song/file, press menu, copy, to phone, and then exit out. now you can use it as a ringtone. mp3 files are fine as long as they are less than 128kb/sec like itunes. you can only use files on the phone as ringtones.

512mb limit on the card, read somewhere 1g card pulls too much voltage for the phone to handle. with 100 songs I still have ~75mb free for pics/videos. Haven't thought about using it as a flash drive until now...

100 songs is inconveinent, but plenty of music for one sitting. it's great not to have to carry around a separate bulky mp3 player.

and to everyone who complains about the volume- have you blasted out your eardrums already? the enclosed headset is plenty loud enough to damage your ears... see ya' in a few years when you're totally deaf...

[rp @ Mar 24th 2006 1:47PM]

no, regular SD or MMC won't work. only transflash or microSD. comes with a 512 card and that's all you can use anyways.

[Bryan Kollar @ Mar 26th 2006 3:29PM]

For the person looking for that USB adapter for the headphones to use with their SLVR phone, yes, they are in stock and can be purchased here:
www.BryanKollar.com

[Jay @ Mar 27th 2006 8:52PM]

Hmmm.... If the phone is anything like the Razr you can make the phone louder by editing the SEEM, which is a hexadecimal code that contains all the functions of your phone. If yo do do this though, don't increase the volume too much else you bow the speakers. Pretty sure you can find a tutorial online for the Slvr... It's easy when you learn how to do it, but it requires you to have a USB cable for your Razr or Slvr... Also, need a few programs...

[Vicente W. @ Apr 7th 2006 6:19PM]

Hello,

Does the Slvr L7 support the 1 gb tranflash card or not? Thats all. Thanks

Vicente

[chris @ Apr 8th 2006 12:45PM]

The phone looks great. Some flaws though:
1) You need to delete the sim card entries inorder to not see the entries twice(1 on phone and 1 on sim card) I could not find where to delete sim card, but if you buy the much needed and worth it phone tools, you can do this there, and you can backup the address book onto your computer so no need for sim card entries.
2) If you personalize it with separate ringtones for different entries, you will get the same ring tone for calls and text messages, annoying.
number 1 and 2 were email responses from motorola, so this is correct info.
3) Not sure if the alarm has a reoccurence setting.
4) The missed/received calls are only 10 people, and its a list of both combined and hard to tell you missed calls b/c its not alway displayed.
5) The clock is not visible during a call and it also cannot be on the screen saver (if so, let me know how please)


other than that, the phone works great, nice size, itunes player is cool and works well with speaker phone, and you can charge your phone on the computer like an IPOD as long as it is not completely dead....so they say.

IF you get the phone, buy the phone tools for 30 bucks or so............you can edit mp3's to use as ring tones, alarm, and you can back up address book, coordinate with outlook, edit your photos on pc to put into phone or take off of phone.
thanks
chris

[Im all in @ Apr 10th 2006 4:33PM]

can someone tell me how to download songs from my pc to my L7. i bought one from ebay and all it came with really is the phone and battery and charger. just enough to use it as a phone. i'd like to use as an mp3 player as well thank you... any ideas where i can look for instructions and or what else i need. thank you very much.

[wayne elcoat @ Apr 22nd 2006 8:53AM]

i bought the new motorola SLVR L7 a few days ago from ebay the guy got it as an upgrade but he was happy with is nokia so he put this on ebay which i won for �115.00 bargain although it did not come with data lead as it was a pay as you go and no software i sync it to my pc and transfered my contacts to the phone but it did not do all my contacts ..there is a promblem with bluetooth but not that bad ..plus i`ve orded a pair of headset with the same connection as the phone so i dont need the stupid adapter so i hope it works but apart from that ..well done ..moto style is the essence ..

[wayne elcoat @ Apr 22nd 2006 2:59PM]

you can down load mp3 from my music folder but you have to pair your phone with pc ok then you got into my doc ..music then the music you want ...right click ..send to ..option bluetooth ...then moto ..then send easy i did today no probs

[wayne elcoat @ Apr 23rd 2006 11:54AM]

MMS any one having problems with sending mms fear not i have sorted it out and they get it at the other end ..lol.. well i had a problem an hour ago so i went on moto for 02 mms settings did`nt work tried o2 settings site that did`nt work went into the phone change it to wap gprs hay ..that did`nt work ..one option ..but you will not be happy do master reset ..yes you lose all your contacts but if your smart you will have them on your pc ..wont you ..any way once the reset is done put all your contacts in like me via bluetooth oh yes mine works ..lol then go back to menu that little 02 on the top select it scroll down to web sessions and you have a chice 02 mms or 02 wap gprs and yes they both work ...lol fantastic ..have a nice day ..ps i have a question how do you set up emails on this as i`ve been using my xda2s for 16 months any idea ..anyway hope you lot sort out mms ...PS hay moto got any jobs as im sorting your problems out here ...have a nice day

[Katie @ May 3rd 2006 7:37PM]

I think someone said that there was a way to make a one track album to get more songs? Can someone tell me how to do that?

[Safda @ May 4th 2006 1:44AM]

it says here http://www.cellphonestalk.com/cellphonereviews/motorola/motoslvr/intro.html

"Bluetooth (Class 2) and integrated handsfree capability."

what exactly is class 2?

[Jim @ May 4th 2006 5:52PM]

I had a Nokia 3650 prior to getting the SLVR L7 and appreciated the notes function built into the Nokia. Is there anything similar built into or available for the SLVR? I sure did not find it in the documentation or in the interface.

Kudos to the user who explained how to create multiple phone numbers for one user without creating multiple entries.

[david @ May 4th 2006 9:23PM]

hey i just got my new phone Motorola e815 and i just brought a mirco SD and i just wanted to know how can i set it as a ringtone.

[kevin @ May 5th 2006 1:49AM]

#75: class 2 bluetooth is basically the medium range bluetooth that can reach 10 m or so. i believe that the l7 uses bluetooth 1.2.

i just got this phone today and i have a few questions:

1. what is "fixed dial" and how does it apply to speed dialing/1 touch dialing?

2. how can i be able to use speed dialing (like holding down a number, pressing the number once and hittint send, etc.) from contacts that are stored on my SIM card?

3. is there any other way to get to the REAL detailed view (that shows the speed dial location, store to:, catagory, ringer ID, etc) other than changing the "speed no."?

4. How come my SIM card has 17 text messages on it and my phone says "messages full"?

thanks.

[amy @ May 9th 2006 1:48PM]

Yes, I know I am a little late, but I just purchased the phone yesterday. So, far i like it, except for the phonebook feature, as i've read many do not like.

QUESTIONS:
Is it possible to play the itunes music file as a ringtone? If so, how do I go about doing this?

thanks.

[dave @ May 12th 2006 12:40PM]

does anybody know if i can use motorola bluetooth headphones ht820 with my motorola l7 please to play audio player music though the headphones please email if anyone know please [e-mail] thats

[green9212 @ May 15th 2006 9:16PM]

Where can i buy the non-cingular version of the phone???

[Gabe @ Aug 11th 2006 7:18PM]

listen, i have to know... my psp is not loud at all, its so annoying i dont even listen to MP3's on it. is that the case with the sliver? also, can i use any head phones i want with that adapter... it will be here in the mail soon but its driving me nuts not knowing. one more thing, its not really important, but is there away around the 100 song cap? i mean they are ripping us off like 25 songs, sorta gay but whatever.


my screen name is coke can kicker on aim, so shoot me a message. [e-mail] is my email, and yahoo screen name. get in touch if you own the phone. peace. (looks like a tight ass phone though, ill post another once i get it)

[Local Business @ Aug 15th 2006 1:20PM]

I also ordered the phone from eBay and got a phone with German firmware. Does anybody have experience flashing that thing?

[jonny @ Sep 13th 2006 11:43AM]

I got the sliver. At first i loved the options and everything. but now i hate it. the itunes volume does not work separately from the conversation volume. Hooking Bluetooth to it will over ride you preset ringer. It does not automatically resume once you hang up a phone call if you where in the middle of listening to music when you got the phone call. the phone book problem witch everyone had already said something about! so no i hate this phone.

[Nicole @ Sep 14th 2006 6:01PM]

HELP! can someone email me, and tell me if they know how to make the iTunes songs my ringtone?
i have a new black slvr.
and i dont know how to work it yet, i just got it yesterday, and i cant find it anywhere online.

thanks,
[e-mail]

[Sharna @ Nov 21st 2006 5:57PM]

How can i download music on my slvr phone??

can someone please tell me!!

[delerious @ Jan 31st 2006 8:42AM]

Screw Cingular, I want it for Verizon.

[Dan @ Jan 31st 2006 8:58AM]

Does this have Moto's 'new and improved' interface, or their standard 'slow, buggy, crappy' interface? Cause the hardware's starting to look pretty decent.

[EnergyGuru @ Jan 31st 2006 9:11AM]

It's a nice looking phone and great that it has iTunes in it. Any word on whether they updated the crappy UI that was in the RAZR?

[Barrett @ Jan 31st 2006 9:34AM]

Will the keypad still smell bad like the RAZR? I don't like smelling @$$ when I am talking on the phone.

[Laurie @ Jan 22nd 2007 9:16AM]

I can't believe I read this! I thought I was nuts or something, my husbands cell phone smells like @ss everything I use it! What is up with that????????

[Finished.Law.School @ Jan 31st 2006 9:42AM]

Isn't the Sony Ericsson W600i cheaper with better/more features?
I suppose Amazon will have this Motorola cheaper than Cingular though...

[Jvijil @ Jan 31st 2006 9:43AM]

I got the SLVR about 2 days ago(NOT Cingular Version) and it has thr new and improved interface(quite fast).I got it @ Expansys-Usa.com foe about $314.