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]

[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.

[dave @ Jan 31st 2006 10:00AM]

saw this here - and just ordered it online...can't wait...someone better make a hack for the 100 song limit.

[NullSpace @ Jan 31st 2006 10:06AM]

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

I thought I was losing my mind! Do you think it has something to do with the metal? I keep the phone clean, I was wondering why it slowly started smelling weird over the last few months.

[Gary @ Jan 31st 2006 10:20AM]

Maybe it is your breath? Most people don't realize their breath stinks until they lick the top of their hand and smell their saliva.

The only thing I like about the Verizon version is the search contact feature. However, the rest of the Verizon's UI is pretty bad. The RAZR's contact list in the Cingular just sucks. Once you type the second letter it skips right to that letter? WTF?

[Dman @ Jan 31st 2006 10:25AM]

Anyone have opinions on screens scratching with their RAZRs (nano, anyone?)? I like this a lot but my non-flip Ericsson T610 is sooo banged up and scratched.

Yeah, yeah, the phone is two-four years old...

[karl @ Jan 31st 2006 10:36AM]

Just get a screen protector for it. I have one of those hard plastic stickies you put on the screen, and mine is fine. Even if it does get scratched up, you can change it out.

[dave @ Jan 31st 2006 11:07AM]

I keep my razr in my pocket with my keys - its not terribly scratched but the screen did crack..hasn't broken the actual display though.

[Xultar @ Jan 31st 2006 12:02PM]

Does it have the A2DP profile?

[Jason @ Jan 31st 2006 12:09PM]

Bluetooth? Doesn't look like it has it...
Bluetooth is an absolute must these days.

[Jason @ Jan 31st 2006 12:11PM]

That is, I didn't see Bluetooth on the Cingular website...

[dave @ Jan 31st 2006 12:36PM]

of course it has bluetooth...http://direct.motorola.com/ENS/Web_full_specs.asp?Country=USA&language=ENS&productid=30340&strPrimaryOption=FS&lSecondaryOption=-1

Bluetooth� Technology : Connect to PCs, headsets and other compatible devices wirelessly via Bluetooth� (note: excludes iTunes� playlist management)

Bluetooth� wireless technology enabled : Class 2

[Brian @ Jan 31st 2006 12:38PM]

Cingular's site does show Bluetooth. Below is cut and paste from the Cingular website.

Select Features:

* iTunes Digital Jukebox - play, sort, store and manage music
* VGA Camera with 4x digital zoom, video capture and playback
* Bluetooth� wirelesss synchronization

[Wry Cooter @ Jan 31st 2006 12:49PM]

Lousy camera. And I hope those flat buttons give tactile feedback or its worthless. I'm not that interested in iTunes on a phone anyway.

But those of you that get up in arms about a 100 song limit... that is already five hours worth- do you really want to be recharging your phone that often?

I guess if you are already bluetooth borg, you are itching for it.

[PEZ @ Jan 31st 2006 12:50PM]

To bad this didnt open up to reveal a keyboard. OH, wait.. thats in September.

[Russ @ Jan 31st 2006 12:56PM]

What's the audio like on the phone? The last candy bar phone I had was a Sony Ericson and everyone I talked to hated the quality; so I've been on the Razr for about a year now and been pretty happy.

[Marc B @ Jan 31st 2006 1:00PM]

I hope they made this thing louder. Why stop at 7? The multiband and i-tunes are a welcome improvement. So far, quite happy with my non-stinky Cingular Razr and my after 7pm calling package. Very few problems, but the call quality seems less clear than Verizon.

[Carlos @ Jan 31st 2006 1:20PM]

I just ordered mine .... just because is slim... and has no flip thing....

not because of the itunes (I have an ipod)
not because of the camara (640x480) sucks

[Frankenstein Black @ Jan 31st 2006 2:17PM]

Verizon will never get the lion�s share of cool new phone releases because their ESN (Electronic Serial Number), NON SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) based technology is pass?Oh, and the majority of global carriers are GSM --> UMTS --> HSDPA. Sorry #1!

[Chris von Eitzen @ Jan 31st 2006 2:36PM]

I just bought one and put a bunch of songs on it. I bought it out right for $300.00 from my local Cingular store (I know, I'm crazy for buying it***Think Visa...***). I really like it. It comes with headphones, a 3.5mm jack adapter, etc. Cingulars site lists it all. I'm using it on my Mac and just used iSync to import my contacts, etc. It was painless and very simple. I hate the 100 song cap as most of you do but I also have a Treo 650 (SprintPCS) and a 60gb Black iPod Video. I'm thinking about getting a 1gb Trans Flash (Micro-SD) for it to use it as an emergency documents backup device just in case. I like it! (Steve, Take off the damn cap already... it's just getting silly now...) I hope HOPE that it is A2DP and that a headset will follow SOON.

[Jon @ Jan 31st 2006 2:38PM]

No Edge??? What a F---ing joke. What year is this? If it had EDGE, and supported DUN, I'd buy it. 100 song limit is no big deal -- only techie dorks care about that. Can't even get a card bigger than 512 anyway.

[doug @ Jan 31st 2006 6:23PM]

I just got this phone today. This is by far the best phone motorola has ever put on the market. The phone is smaller than it looks,its faster and they worked out all the bugs that they had on the razr. Who cares about a magapixel camera thats why you buy a sperate camera with at least 5 magapixels 1-2 megapix takes a pretty crappy picture if you ask me. . 100 song cap is plenty of music to make you happy unless you sit out in the middle of no where all day long thats why you buy a ipod if that is the case. Im telling I have owned over 50 phones and this one is the best even for $300 without a contract.

[ak @ Jan 31st 2006 8:46PM]

Does it still have these problems?

The stratospherically stupid address book, for example, can handle only one phone number for each person. You must create separate entries for "Mom home," "Mom work," "Mom cell" and so on. (Hello, Moto? We're not in 1970 anymore.)

And if several friends' names begin with the same letter, you can't type SY to highlight Sylvia; that would be too obvious. Instead, pressing S takes you to the beginning of the S's. Then you have to walk through them all with the arrow key until you reach Sylvia. (Moto added a Search dialog box in some versions of the software, but it's still clunky.)

Worse, the Razr actually has two address books: one in the phone and another on the internal account information card. Good luck trying to figure out why you can't associate ringer sounds, photos or one-digit
speed-dial keys with certain contacts. (It's becase they're on the card list but not the phone list.)"

[Dominic @ Jan 31st 2006 9:53PM]

Great just what we need another ROKR in disguise. Okay but you guys have to tell me, about Moto's crazy naming scheme:RAZR=Razor, ROKR=Rocker, SLVR=Sliver?!! (not a typo, check the ad at www.cingularsleek.com)i thought it was supposed to be the Moto SILVER. Whatever. anyway looks like Apple, wants the whole world to know about this phone...the ant world. You think they would have like a front page showing the new phone, but no, its tucked away in a small bottom corner of www.apple.com/itunes/, under iTunes mobile. I guess Stevie wasn't so proud of their first iTunes+Cingular phone, what was it called again? Oh right the UGLY.

[Chris @ Jan 31st 2006 10:42PM]

Don't forget the PEBL= Pebble.

[Joe @ Jan 31st 2006 11:25PM]

If you have the phone can you please answer these questions:

- Is the volume of the speaker louder than the razr?

- Did they fix the address book?

[Jon @ Jan 31st 2006 11:55PM]

Act of purest optimism to ask, but perchance does this include the same voice-independent speech dialing that the E815 has? The features I see online are nebulous at best...I'm guessing no.

[Keylogger @ Feb 1st 2006 7:14AM]

I have had this phone for a few days now and while I like the design of the phone, there are several things I don't like about it.

Pros: Attractive Design, Nice Screen (though
there are obviously better ones out there)

Cons: Low Volume on ear speaker and Speaker-phone (this is my main complaint) overall call quality is not as good as my old phone either

GUI design and features arent as good as Nokia or Sony Ericsson

battery life should be much longer (only lasts about 3 days, my 2 year old nokia can do the same)

A few things that may not be as important (but are to me), Alarm Clock does not have snooze, Calender not as useful as others, phonebook shows both sim contacts and phone contacts with no option to change this...this is important because to have voicedial or personalized ringers you must have the entry stored on your phone, which means deleting the entry from he sim, or having repeat entries in the phonebook (one on sim, one on phone).


Would I Buy this phone again? Probably Not mainly because of the volume of the calls, everything else is relatively minor.

[doug @ Feb 1st 2006 9:15AM]

This is the answer to the question of joe on 31. The speaker is a lot louder than the razr this phone has stero speakers. Which well make louder just by that, when you play songs on itunes the songs play really loud, louder than any phone ever owned which is 50 or more phones. You need to purchase mobile phone tools to transfer photos and address book to your phone only store on phone not on sim there would be no reason to store on sim once you have this because if you lose yoru phone you can transfer the adress book in minutes via bluetooth or usb it is a must have trust me. This phone is by far the best phone out there once you by you will agree.

[Matt @ Feb 1st 2006 10:13AM]

Hello

i was wondering....for the keypad...what colour is it...i asked someone before and they said that in the UK they were bronze....what about here in America.....(for those of you who have it already...?

ty

[Mack Swift @ Feb 1st 2006 11:39AM]

Well, I found a review of the SLVR L7 on the Cingular network here:

http://www.mobiledia.com/news/43592.html

I goes through all the features, and they do like what the phone has to offer overall; however they point out that the phone is, above all, a fashion phone.

I really, really wanted to like this phone, but after this review, I really don't. The drawback is the iTunes feature. I won't use it, I don't use iTunes on the PC. And the kicker is that you cannot play regular MP3s on the phone, only iTunes music either from the store or from your CD collection. That, and the 100 song cap, turned me off from buying this phone. I know I'm not the only consumer who's saying no to DRM infected hardware; as the ROKR's sales figures clearly show.

Sorry Moto, I'll have to pass. Everything else on the phone looks great, but the iTunes only restriction has completely turned me off. Allow regular MP3s to be played ,and used as ringtones, and you have me sold. Otherwise, nice try; it's a great design marred by a one poor choice of restrictions.

[Mack Swift @ Feb 1st 2006 11:58AM]

36. Well, I found a review of the SLVR L7 on the Cingular network here:

http://www.mobiledia.com/news/43592.html

It goes through all the features, and they do like what the phone has to offer overall; however they point out that the phone is, above all, a fashion phone.

I really, really wanted to like this phone, but after this review, I really don't. The drawback is the iTunes feature. I won't use it, I don't use iTunes on the PC. And the kicker is that you cannot play regular MP3s on the phone, only iTunes music either from the store or from your CD collection. That, and the 100 song cap, turned me off from buying this phone. I know I'm not the only consumer who's saying no to DRM infected hardware; as the ROKR's sales figures clearly show.

Sorry Moto, I'll have to pass. Everything else on the phone looks great, but the iTunes only restriction has completely turned me off. Allow regular MP3s to be played ,and used as ringtones, and you have me sold. Otherwise, nice try; it's a great design marred by a one poor choice of restrictions.

[Dan @ Feb 1st 2006 12:55PM]

Picked up this phone yesterday. I am only a casual music listener on the go (to and from class pretty much). This phone is excellent in that regard. The audio quality is great, excellent battery life. itunes is slightly sluggish, but not bad. It takes absolutely forever to load music on this phone, and I really mean forever. All your mp3s must be 128kbps in order to work with itunes on this (192 if through the moto audio player). Audio quality on calls is excellent and you can't even tell when you are using the speaker phone. Overall, I really like the phone, and coming from using a Blackberry, this thing is tiny :) Get one if they aren't already sold out!

[Joe @ Feb 1st 2006 5:57PM]

Waht about the address book? do you still need to have two contacts for one person with two numbers?

[Nick @ Feb 1st 2006 6:47PM]

why do you americans go coo-coo over new moto handsets? for crying out loud, they're horrendous.

[MAL @ Feb 1st 2006 7:57PM]

I got a SLVR L7 two weeks ago, non-Cingular version. $279. Takes regular MP3 songs. But the headphones that came with it are terrible ear buds, keep falling out, not loud enough. The phone has bluetooth and only a mini USB plug - not a regular headphone jacket. I ordered the new Motorola HT820 bluetooth stereo headphones and after getting them today I find out they only work with the SLVR phone functions and not the music functions. Called Motorola help desk and was told the headphones are only for computer use - even though they are advertised for cell phone use - and that Motorola is working on a patch for bluetooth phones but is not sure when and if one will be available. Does anyone know where I can get headphones that come with the mini USB plug or where to buy a mini-USB plug adapter without buying a phone from Cingular? Thanks.

[Erik @ Feb 2nd 2006 1:53AM]

To the guy who said it doesn't play regular mp3s, of course it does. Just like the iPod, just like iTunes. As said above, it does need to be 128k. But iTunes can convert it on the fly, just like it does with the Shuffle. And it can do mp3 or aac ringtones, but it's kind of a pain to do. You'd think they would have made that part easier.

[doug @ Feb 2nd 2006 10:00AM]

could someone please answer this question. can you put a 1gb card in here and if you can, can you put more hours of music on it. I know about the 100 song cap but you can you put 1 track albums on here that are over an hour long. So that way would you be able to get around the 100 song cap with more music by converting albums to one track albums. please I need someones help on this because I want to get a bigger memory card.

[tom @ Feb 2nd 2006 3:35PM]

My concern for this phone is not with the mp3 capabilities... i have an ipod... but with the mpeg capabilities. i know that with smartphones you can load mpeg files onto them, i believe it is the same with this phone but has anyone tried it yet? There is a program: Mobile Media Maker, that claims to beable to put mpegs on the v8slvr... is that the same as the L7? If this phone can be used as a portable mpeg player I am SOLD.

[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.