Motorola V551 / V330 / V547 / V555 / V557 Specs, Features & Reviews

I absolutely love this phone. I purchased an unlocked version from EBay and have been using this phone for the past several months and am more than pleased with it. I also purchased Motorola Phone Tools & data cable from ebay and now have everything I want. I may never upgrade to another phone. Read PC Mag review of this phone. I don't use the speaker phone, but have taken videos, had picture ID with the phone #s, have created additional categories for phone #s; have added music from my pc as ring-tones; have numerous pictures of my grandson, flowers, siblings. The only fault I find is that it does not have a slot for a memory card and the battery last @ 5 days not 7 for talk time -otherwise I would rate this phone a 5. I can't imagine why it was discontinued by the Cell phone companies...maybe because it's too good! My husband has a new Samsung phone which doesn't have nearly the capacity of this workhorse phone. Yes, it's a bit heavy, but I appreciate that. It fits right in my hand and the cover makes it non-slippery. A wonderful product. I am now searching for a comparable Verizon phone for my husband-at his request!

This phone for the time I had it was the best for sure.. A lot of people complaint about it because of the reception and what not, but it was not the phone, it was the network it was under. If this phone would had come out as a CDMA instead of GSM, people would had appreciated it more..

I got my first V551 in May of 2005 and it worked fine for the first 6 months. After the 6 months, the person on the other end could hear me but I could not hear them except on speaker phone. So, I called up Cingular and they replaced it under warranty for a refurbished 551. This worked ok except for the dropped calls and awful battery life. Until the screen just stopped working! Someone sent me a text and I opened the phone and just like that the external and internal display never worked again. Called Cingular up and they sent me a refurbished V557, so far no complaints except on the external display where it should say "am" or "pm" after the time it will just be distorted! So far the V557 holds a better charge than the V551 and it actually will start charging when you stick the connector in. The Bluetooth is awesome and the camera is pretty good to be VGA. The V557 only comes with 2 wallpapers whereas the V551 came with about 8. I guess that's a reason for them to get you to spend money on downloads.

The call quality is better on the V557, but nothing compared to a Nokia. I'm waiting on the 6126 to be released for Cingular and I'm getting it. In my experience you can never go wrong with a Nokia and they are making their phones better looking. This is my 4th Moto, first was the T720 then V220, V551 and now the V557. I think I'm done with Motorola for a while. They are not all they are talked up to be.

Pros:
Good camera
Bluetooth
Good looking
Not too heavy

Cons:
Stub antenna
Dropped calls
Only 2 preinstalled wallpapers
Must go through every ring setting to turn the ringer to silent.

Overall it is a pretty good phone, just not very reliable when it comes to doing the job is was made to do...making and receiving calls.

Ok, before anyone uses my review to make a decision whether to buy this phone or not, you all should know that I own it using a prepaid account, which may make my service a little different than others.
Anyway, i got this phone about a year or so ago and up up until 3 months ago has been a great phone. The phonebook is pretty good, the sound quality, such as the ring volume and earpiece volume, has been fairly good also. But about 3 months ago, the ear-piece practically stopped working and now I have to make all my calls using the speaker-phone. It isn't that big of a deal but it is annoying sometimes when I'm in public and everyone within 20ft of me can hear all the details of my conversation. Other than that everything is great--the camera is cool and the tools like the calculator, alarm clock, and calendar are very helpful/useful.
So... the pros and cons :

PROS: SIZE is good-fits comfortably in the pocket, purse, and hand.
CAMERA is descent-the quality is average compared to other phones and can be used in the phone book as well.
SPEAKER-is very loud and clear; great for when driving because you can set it down and continue to talk.
RINGTONES-you can download just about any tone you want.
WEB BROUSING-good connectivity though I don't really use it.
DISPLAY-images are very clear and colorful
KEY SIZE-not too big, yet not too small
MENU-easily navigatable
BATTERY- Can go up to a week without charging, which is really convinient for my busy life.
CONS: EARPIECE- died on me after a year and I don't really have money to get it fixed or to buy a new phone.
PHONE BOOK-you can't have an entry with more than one number. I.e--if your want to enter your friend's home phone number AND cell number, it has to be to separate entries.
FOR EXAMPLE: Mom 555-5555 (home)
Mom 888-8888 (cell)
These would have to be two SEPARATE entries
WEIGHT- it is relatively heavy for its size

This phone is great!!
Pros:
Speaker loud and great
Camera quality is great
ringtones are loud
its has video
great color screen
lots of ringtones with phone
2 games|(one demo)
nice keypad
camera shot is instant
reception is great with this phone(t-mobile)

Cons:
The video is not really good
the menu things are slow
8 sec of video

overall...this phone is great..you should buy one

Before making my purchase, I used this website (Phone Scoop) to research cell phones. I bought the Motorola V551 in March 2005 based on the strenght of its positive reviews here. So far, I like everything about it. Thanks to all the reviewers for helping me make this good choice.

From the Toronto area, Canada.

I have Cingular, and I live in the El Paso, Texas area. The phone has surpassed my expectations and has surprised me greatly. This phone was an upgrade to my Motorola v505. At first I really missed my v505, but this v551 has cured that.

So far the phone hasn't had any of the quirks that other people have complained about, like the black screen, it looks like the bugs have been fixed. The menu system is better, and faster than that of my v505. The option of being able to put the call on speaker from the get go is REALLY nice.

Complaints: None at all!

*Overall the phone is great, no complaints and I recommend it to anyone.

It's amusing to read reviews of a few quad-band phones in which magical properties are bestowed upon the 900 and 1800 MHz bands. Everything from clear reception to curing scoliosis has been attributed to these frequencies, when the truth is that there's not a single US carrier who uses either one of them.

The value of having a quad-band phone lies in being able to use it overseas, particularly in Europe, where the networks are GSM 900 and 1800 MHz. A quad-band phone isn't going to get you better reception here in the States simply because it's quad-band; there are many different reasons why a phone might pick up a strong signal. Chief among these is antenna length.

The V557 performs better in my low-signal area than any other Cingular (GSM) phone I've used, and I've used a LOT of 'em. Where I previously received a "no network" message, I now have clear, uninterrupted reception. The V557 is also the first Cingular phone that I've used that sports an external antenna, but I have no idea if this feature actually increases the overall antenna length when compared to any of the internal-antenna models that I've used, like the Nokia 3220 or the 6030.

Aesthetically, the V557 is an absolute joy. The external display is a reverse LCD (white on black) with a blue backlight, making it easy to see even in the dark. The main screen is big, clear, and bright, and the buttons offer satisfying tactile feedback without being noisy.

The camera is merely adequate, which is probably for the best, because the 557 has only 5 Mb of memory. You'll be able to take around 90 mediocre pictures.

The phone is large and a bit on the heavy side, but when compared with a leviathan like the V710 it seems positively svelte. It's also well constructed, with no creaks, rattles, or squeaks.

I appreciate the addition of a 2.5mm headphones jack, because not everyone is a fan of Bluetooth.

All in all, the 557 is a great GSM phone with awesome reception. I couldn't be happier with it.

First off I would like to say that I am the assistant manager for a very large wireless company and I definitely research phones before purchase. This phone is great, first of all it has blue tooth technology, EDGE, camcorder, camera and multimedia options. The camera is very clear and defined, I haven't found one thing yet I do not like about this phone! The design is sleek and smooth (always Motorola). The battery life is pretty good, I would say about 3 days. The only con I've found would be that there is no camera button located on the side to take self portrait so it makes it difficult to push the button on the inside. Other than that small detail this phone is great! Motorola's are tanks, if you are looking for a phone with a lot to offer and in for the long haul, I would definitely suggest getting the 551.

Review of my Cingular phone.

I love the Motorola V551. It's a medium sized clamshell with a silver and blue plastic casing.

It's sturdy and durable, I don't even know how many times I've dropped it and its kept going with nothing more than minor scratches.

It has mobile AIM preloaded which helps me keep in touch with all my buddies, a mobile web browser that lets me check news and weather (and with EDGE data support on the phone, its way faster than my old phone). It also has bluetooth which I absolutely love as it lets me transfer my pictures and videos back and forth to the phone and lets me make my own custom ringtones and upload them.

Battery life for the first few charges are so-so, but then I noticed it got way better after the first couple of charges. It lasts me about two to three days with a good amount of talking.

Call quality is great, I think its as much the network as it is the phone. On a trip to upstate NY I hit a deadspot in the middle of nowhere (wilderness) but other than that I was pretty impressed that I've never had a dropped call. The moto is a quadband worldphone so if I wanted to even go out of the country I'd get signal.

My overall opinion is that the phone is the best value right now in a Cingular phone. I've noticed most of the sales reps I've talked to have it, and its no suprise seeing how great this phone is.