The SLVR, refined: Motorola's L7e

With all the facelifting, refinement, and replacement Motorola's RAZR lineup has gotten as of late, one might think the poor, overlooked SLVR series was in danger of going the way of the dinosaurs (or, perhaps more appropriately, the MPx). Actually, readers following The Boy Genius Report have known that Moto has been slaving over a hot stove chock full o' the thin candybars in a variety of flavors for a little while now, and it just so happens that the updated L7 we'd scooped -- identified back then as the L7i -- has gone on to officially become the SLVR L7e. Visually, the re-upped model is nearly a dead ringer for its pappy, save for the keypad which has taken on a decidedly RIZR-esque appearance and a "shimmering blue" hue. The microSD slot is a carryover from the L7, but virtually every other major spec has been tweaked: the cam goes from VGA to 1.3-megapixel, A2DP is now supported for wireless stereo, and the GSM radio mercifully adds EDGE for decent 2.5G data. Word has it no American carrier has expressed interest in the updated model, but thanks to support for both the 850 and 1900MHz bands, this is one phone that should be a breeze to import and use when it drops by year's end.

[Via phoneArena]

[Owen V @ Oct 27th 2006 5:27PM]

damn american carriers

[BAMF @ Oct 27th 2006 5:47PM]

The L7 also had EDGE

[SpoonDogSVT @ Oct 27th 2006 6:10PM]

Had at one point in its development, but not in final release (at least not the Cingular-branded versions).

/has an L7
//wishes it had edge

[shon Dempsey @ Oct 27th 2006 5:47PM]

can someone please let me know why you would opt for a slvr over the razr or krazr in the first place? Waste of plastic imo.

[Soonerpet @ Oct 27th 2006 6:30PM]

I have a SLVR L7 through cingular, it has EDGE service and I use it daily hooked up as a bluetooth modem to my powerbook.

[BAMF @ Oct 27th 2006 7:20PM]

I digress, I cannot find any info that shows the L7 has EDGE. I coulda sworn that it had it, I don't know where I got the idea.

Soonerpet- maybe you could go to http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest and run a speed test for us while tethered to your L7... that would solve it real quick.

[SpoonDogSVT @ Oct 27th 2006 7:10PM]

> I have a SLVR L7 through cingular, it has EDGE service

Are you sure you're not confusing EDGE with GPRS? I tether my laptop to my L7 as well, but it's still not EDGE. Cingular, Motorola, and HowardForums all state no EDGE for the L7.

[mark @ Oct 27th 2006 6:34PM]

I hope it doesn't look that grainy in real life.

[Eugenia @ Oct 27th 2006 6:49PM]

>I hope it doesn't look that grainy in real life.

That's because Engadget does the stupid thing of using high-res images that are resized down via HTML instead of taking the time of using an image editor to properly resize down their images. You must do a "view image" on your browser to see the image on its right resolution looking correct.

[Kyle @ Oct 27th 2006 7:13PM]

Where did Engadget get the idea that the current SLVR is a flop? 5 of my friends have it, including myself, and more are getting it all the time.

[Me @ Oct 27th 2006 8:16PM]

Is it faster then the current SLVR? My friend has the SLVR; I was watching him go through the menus to play "White & Nerdy" today and I could see that the menus were very slow to respond. He also has to keep it in a plastic baggie to prevent it from being scratched. I have a V3c hacked with Alltel's firmware and although it cant play music, all of the menus are fast and it doesn't get scratched because it is a flip phone.

[splash @ Oct 28th 2006 1:24AM]

Several of my friends have a SLVR too.

Does it still have iTunes? Did they improve the USB connection to 2.0?

[Ed @ Oct 28th 2006 2:10AM]

I have a SLVR, and it sucks ass. I am on my 3RD SLVR, with the second one ARRIVING DEAD!

Here are the reasons I dislike my SLVR and will most likely NEVER buy a Motorola phone again (copied verbatum from what I sent Cingular):

* Unpredictable power cycles
Can last over 4 days off one charge then one charge cycle lasts less than 12hrs

*Intermittent non-recognition of music on the phone
Sometimes the music will not even appear in the menus.
Sometimes the music appears, but once the song loads nothing will play.

To fix this, I have to shut off the phone and remove the battery and it still doesn't always work.

* Slow boot up
Can take upwards of 5-8 minutes to be 'usable', still sluggish at times

*Menu speed has slown down significantly
When I first got it, I could open the menu and select the camera and be usable within 2 seconds, now it takes over 5 seconds

*Does not maintain my user mode
When finished charging, it doesn't always restore my 'Ring and Vibe' functionality; intermittent

*Loud setting is not loud enough
-------------------------------
I hope this new SLVR is better, for Motorola's sake.

[passin'gass @ Oct 28th 2006 9:18AM]

Isn't this model the one with the highest radiation output among current cellphones? I think i read it on this site early this year...

[passin\\\'gass @ Oct 28th 2006 10:13AM]

My bad...it's the L6 that's number 1

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6602_7-5020357-1.html?tag=lnav

[Solis @ Oct 29th 2006 3:20PM]

It's also got Moto's new much-improved and beautified UI

[anthony @ Nov 1st 2006 7:24AM]

The SLVR is awesome. I would buy a new version! The only flaw is that the screen smudges easily. But that not really a big deal. I have had mine for about a year and I have 0 scratches and do not carry it in a plastic bag. Its true sometimes the batter life lasts 12 hours and sometimes 4 days but i think that is because I actually use it more that day (text messaging @ work alot)I bought mine from the UK last time and will do the same when it comes out!

[jlcool007 @ Nov 11th 2006 9:20PM]

wow!!!! i lvoe this phone already, so high tech, this will be my new phone... someone JUST stole my slvr so im pretty mad, causee it had priceless videos on it and whatnot, but now, when does this new l7e come out? i will pay 260 for it...i dont care, i jsut WANT IT NOW


when does it come to the states

[J. Arro @ Dec 20th 2006 10:53PM]

SLVR L7 isn't EDGE, it's just standard GPRS, which is around 115K bps. Which is still far better than 56K dialup, still very usable. I use the bluetooth to connect to my D-Link Bluetooth USB adapter with my notebook PC. I can surf internet on my notebook PC anywhere I am in the GSM network. It's really very handy. I will buy the L7e the week it comes out, so I can go EDGE and go even faster.

Some facts about the SLVR L7:

- NOT an EDGE phone (standard GPRS rates)

- Sound quality limited to 192K, so any MP3 songs higher than that will not play in any player.

- Does NOT support A2DP (wireless Bluetooth streaming stereo sound), so you MUST use either the Motorola stereo headset (mini-USB plug) or the mini-USB-to-headphone adapter. Thankfully, the Motorola wired stereo headset also has a mic and a multifunction button, so it doubles as a phone handsfree.

- SLVR owners have managed to use up to 1GB *SANDISK* brand microSD (transflash) chips, but have been unable to use any other brand (most experience formatting issues).

- Unbranded SLVR L7 comes with Motorola's Digital Audio Player (DAP), but iTunes loads faster and is simpler to navigate in. However, DAP can load songs directly from the phone's "audio" folder, whereas iTunes requires a special program to update its song database (either iTUnes on the PC, or another program like it). As an alternative, you can install the phone java applet "Mototunes" and have the ability to update the iTUnes database directly from the phone, making iTunes more practical.

- The SLVR L7 has a smaller resolution screen than the more popular RAZR.

- The SLVR L7 has a stronger lens over the LCD display than the RAZR.

- The SLVR L7 does not suffer from the "poor volume" complaints that the RAZR has received from many of its owners. It features a clear handset earspeaker, and a rather loud external speaker for speakerphone and music playback. It is extremely clear for a mono output.

- Both the SLVR L7 and the RAZR line are run on a variation of Linux adapted by Motorola.

- SLVR L7, much like the RAZR phones, can be "hacked" and customized quite a bit. Sources like motomodders.net are great places to get more information.

- The L7 occasionally will not end a call when you hit the red end/power button, and trying to power down turns off the display but not the phone (you can still hear the call continue on the speaker). You have to remove the battery. This is not often but it does happen once in awhile.

- The SLVR L7 has only two metal exterior surfaces: the back plate which covers the battery and upper half of the phone, and the keypad. Everything else is a superdense plastic, although it seems to resist scratches and wearing far better than the RAZR before it.

Some thoughts on the up and comming L7e:

- A2DP will make music options easier, including stereo headsets like the Motorola H800, which feature stereo Bluetooth, as well as a microphone and call headset features.

- The L7e has a far larger internal storage, which will make management of java apps, music, video, and pictures easier.

- The L7e has EDGE. No more need be said on this.

- The L7e uses the same screen resolution, so don't expect an improvement, but DO expect the resulting pictures taken with the camera to be FAR better than the L7, as it is 1.3 megapixels on the L7e, and only VGA (640x480) on the L7.

- The redesigned buttons do not appear to be a true improvement on the previous design, but rather bring the SLVR into the design cues of the RIZR as this article suggests, however there is the absence of the MENU button that on the L7 was located above the directional disc. How this will change ease of operations is uncertain, but it means you will not likely be able to refit an L7e with L7 cosmetics (or at least an L7 keypad). It does appear that the rest of the housing is the same as an L7.

- All in all, it's a marked improvement.

LOL wow I should have written the original article ;)

[Jennifer @ May 1st 2007 3:51PM]

Recently purchaed SLVR L7e, love the phone but it does just blank out once in a while. Only had it for two weeks now. Don't know why thinking it maybe just the phone. Does anyone know if the SIM card needs to be special, the SIM i have now is over four years old, does that matter?
Otherwise I love the phone and if needs to be replaced I will replace with same model, slim but not too slim, has weight so you know your holding something but not all that heavyier than normal phones, resolution is great. Sturdy, been dropped once and shows no sigh of wear.