Phone rating: 
In a nutshell: The RAZR 2 V9 is a superslim 3G clamshell phone that uses premium materials in its construction to give a quality look and feel. A poor camera lets the phone down in imaging terms, but the music player is fantastic, with touchscreen controls, plenty of memory and support for Bluetooth stereo headsets. The only problem with the phone is its below-average battery life.
Best buy: *Free* from Vodafone (use voucher code VODABLUE1 to get a free Bluetooth headset when you buy a V9 from Vodafone by following this link); or £159.99 on PAYG from Three.
The Motorola RAZR2 V9 is almost exactly the same as the RAZR2 V8, except that it's a 3G version, with a high-speed HSDPA implementation of 3G, enabling fast downloads at up to 3.6 Mbps. It also allows you to make video calls on a 3G network and can accept a microSD memory card.
The RAZR2 V9 is about the same size as the original RAZR V3, and looks very much like the original. It's built from premium materials - stainless steel & chemically hardened glass - with a two-tone soft-touch housing, and looks and feels like a quality product. The RAZR2 is a much higher-spec phone than the original RAZR though. There have been some design improvements too - the flat keypad is nice and responsive - and the external screen is the largest of its kind and is touch-sensitive. The external touchscreen can be used to control the music player, and also to read and reply to text messages. When not in use as a touchscreen, the external display shows information such as the date and time, or incoming calls. It's a multi-tasking phone, so you can use the music player whilst accessing the other phone functions.
The V9's camera isn't that brilliant. At 2 megapixels and no flash, it's well below average for this class of phone. It supports low-resolution video recording plus 3G video calling. The music player on the other hand is great. The touchscreen controls enable the music player to be operated without having to open the phone, and there's full support for managing playlists on the go. The media player is Windows Media Player® 11, which supports virtually all music formats and enables easy synchronisation with a PC. The internal memory is limited to 45 Mbytes, which isn't very much for storing music, but the V9 can take microSD memory cards up to 2 Gbytes, which is enough to store around 500 tracks. There's full support for wireless Bluetooth headsets, and also microUSB 2.0 connectivity, for fast data transfers from a PC.
Another nice feature in the V9 that first appeared in the RAZR2 V8 is CrystalTalk™. This is a new technology that improves call quality by automatically adjusting the audio to take into account of background noise.
The only thing that we don't like about the V9 is the battery life. The V9 is a slimline phone with two large screens to power, and 3G too, so it isn't surprising to find that the battery runs down pretty quickly. If you're a heavy user, we'd have to say that this isn't the right phone for you. But if you can live with the battery, you'll find the RAZR2 V9 to be a very stylish and feature-rich mobile.
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Features of the Motorola RAZR2 V9 include:
- 2.0 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom
- Video camera (176x144 pixels, 15 frames/second, MPEG4 format) plus 3G video calling
- Internal display: 262,000 colours, 320 x 240 pixels (2.2 inches)
- External display: 262,000 colours, 320 x 240 pixels (2 inches)
- Music player (MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, AAC Enhanced, WAV, AMR NB, XMF, MIDI formats)
- Hands-free speaker
- CrystalTalk™
- Automatic answer (headset or car kit needed)
- Speaker independent voice recognition
- Conference calling
- Voice recorder
- Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS, email (POP3/IMAP4/SMTP)
- Pre-loaded games
- Caller id with image
- WAP, GPRS Class 12, EDGE Class 12
- Opera web browser
- Calculator, Alarm Clock, Wallpaper, Screensaver
- Memory: 45 Mbytes plus microSD memory card slot (up to 2 Gbytes)
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0
- Quadband (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) plus 3G HSDPA 2100
- Weight: 125g
- Size: 103 x 53 x 13.3 mm
- Talktime: 3.5 hours
- Battery standby: 260 hours
