Motorola L7 SLVR

Home » Reviews » Mobile Computing » Mobile Phones

Motorola L7 SLVR

Sudeep Naik, Mar 28, 2006 1928 hrs IST

Motorola has tried to cash in on the slim revolution by introducing the latest L7 SLVR.

Good sleek looks, 96 grams, Slimmer than the RAZR V3, One port for charging, USB cable and headphones, iTunes compatible, Expandable memory.

Tedious interface, Poor quality video playback, Can't listen to music while charging, No FM Radio.

Check specifications
Write Review

Expert Rating :

Latest Mobile Prices

Expert Review

The MP3 playback feature is one of the USP for the L7 and being compatible with iTunes is a bonus. It supports both MP3 and AAC formats. Ringtones are of good quality and support MP3s. The Handsfree speaker phone is another improvement we appreciate. Sound quality with the earphones is decent compared to what competitors have to offer but it's certainly not as good as the ones you come across in Sony Ericsson Walkman range of phones. Talking of music, one notable absentee here is the FM tuner.

Connectivity options are good, with full support for wireless Bluetooth connections, as well as USB, although infra-red is not supported. The L7 SLVR accepts Transflash memory cards, so the memory can be expanded up to 512 MB - very useful for storing MP3 tracks and videos. I must say we did have a tough time trying to transfer files using Bluetooth and the phone just accepts and starts incoming transfer whether you want it or not. Whatever happened to permissions?

A few advanced features include Push To Talk (dependent on your service provider), where you can use the phone as a two-way radio. Java games are good and you can download more games as well as applications as the L7 has WAP 2.0 and GPRS support. Browser support is a plus as well.

Also, the phone features a single multi functional port i.e., the same port is used for the charger, USB cable and the earphones, which clearly rules out the possibility of using the earphones while charging.

Coming down to one of the most important factor for mobiles, battery life, we can say that this is one department where the L7 SLVR scores beyond our expectations. You can listen to MP3s without being afraid of draining the battery too much. Even after listening to MP3s for almost 4 hours in four 1 hour sessions, there was hardly any drop in the battery graph. Rated Standby time is up to 345 hours and Talk time is around 315 minutes.

Conclusion
In terms of functionality, the SLVR is superior to the RAZR V3. Looks wise, it's as cool as the V3 but a clamshell phone has its own charm (a matter of individual taste). The display with 262k colours and high resolution is one of the best in this price range. The camera is typical VGA with the benefit of a video recorder, and there's a built-in MP3 player that can handle both MP3 and AAC format. Sound quality is pretty neat. Ringtones are good quality and support MP3, and there's a good range of additional features like email and quad band. Battery life is good too. The only real flip sides are the interface, the keypad and the absence of FM radio. For a street price of around Rs. 10,500 with a one year warranty this is a neat phone with ample style and features. Only if the phone software was as good, it would have been a great choice. But that's Motorola for you, I guess.

Test Unit sourced from: Perfect Relations, Mumbai