TMOBILE MOTOROLA V188 PHONE Review

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(More customer reviews)I was getting tired of my Cingular-issued Samsung x427 and their overpriced plans and decided to switch over to T-mobile. I have never seen a cell phone worth paying hundreds of dollars for, so after a thorough analysis of all the phones T-mobile was offering for free, I settled on the Motorola v188. It was a toss-up between the v188 and the Nokia 3220, and I probably would have went with the 3220 if it didn't have such a lousy directional pad and didn't look like a toy. Overall, the v188 is a decent phone and I don't regret choosing it, although there are quite a few annoyances that may or may not be specific to this phone, or the Motorola line in general. I will discuss them below.
First, a few good things about this phone. It looks sleek and professional and has a backlit external display that shows the phone's vital signs as well as the time and a select few other options that vary by service provider. Pushing the volume up/down keys while the phone is closed will show you the current ring style, though i wish it would display something useful like the current date or at the very least -change- the current ring style. Reception is excellent (no dropped calls) but this of course also varies by provider and coverage. As a basic phone, it functions rather well, but when it comes to many of the extraneous features (and even some core ones), this phone loses its luster.
Don't get me wrong; I didn't buy the v188 because I wanted a personal entertainment center. But I don't think it's too much to ask to have simple things like a functional calculator in which you don't have to scroll through a list in order to use any given mathematical operation, including decimal placement and the enter key.
Cosmetics:
When I first started using the phone, I was stunned by how bright the keypad lighting was. In a dark room, the phone looks like a weapon from TRON and it is difficult if not downright impossible to read the letters/numbers on the keys. This wouldn't be so much of an issue if Motorola had included an option to disable keypad lighting, but alas, they have not. (The keypad light brightness was an issue I had during the first few months of usage, but I am editing this review to mention that the light source has dulled over time so it isn't quite as bad anymore.)
On that note, there is no brightness setting for the screen itself. There is a contrast setting, but that doesn't help when you're trying to read small black letters printed on a bright white screen.
While by now I am accustomed to the keypad layout, I found it odd that the send button is colored green, but the end button is colored blue like every other key on the keypad. It made it difficult to find at first.
Construction:
Seems sturdy enough for the most part, but the back of the phone feels as if it is hollow; every time I grip the phone, the back of it gives in a little. On the plus side, the phone feels very solid when flipping open or closed.
Functionality:
The processor is a little sluggish. I type text messages using iTap rather quickly and the phone has a hard time keeping up with my typing, which results in words I didn't intend to say being inputted into my messages.
On the topic of messaging, there is no indicator to tell you how many messages your message actually consists of unless you are keeping track of the character count. You are only notified that you're sending more than one message once you hit the send button. If you have unlimited messaging then it's irrelevant, but if you're paying for a fixed number of messages then you may find yourself wasting additional messages containing the last word or two from your original message.
Another thing about messaging- the phone apparently has the ability to automatically clean your inbox and outbox after either x number of messages or x number of days, but this feature does not seem to work at all for me--my mailbox is constantly full even though it should clean itself after 10 messages accumulate. I would be interested to know if others have this problem as well or if my phone is defective.
Voice dialing is a nice feature to have on a phone. Cell phone SIM cards are probably the greatest thing invented since the discovery of fire. Unfortunately the two features do not mesh well; you cannot enable voice dialing for numbers stored on your SIM card.
The phone also allows you the ability to set custom ringtones for individual people in your contacts list, but once again if those contacts are stored on your SIM card you won't be able to use this feature either.
You can store multiple telephone numbers for each entry in your contacts list, but you won't be able to differentiate between those numbers. This means that unless you belong to MENSA and can associate long strings of numbers with names and locations, you won't be able to distinguish between a cell phone number, a work phone number and a home phone number. The phone instead uses some kind of categorization system for differentiating between personal, business and other numbers, but it is so unintuitive it isn't even worth mentioning. I believe this categorization method is also not compatible with SIM cards, but I could be wrong. I will retract this statement if someone who knows what they're doing says otherwise.
There is no one-key solution to toggle vibrate mode. The best you can do is press volume down + 0, but the phone will still make noise in the process. If you want to toggle vibrate mode and be discreet about it, you have to navigate to Settings/Ring Styles/Style/etc. I got around this by establishing the Left arrow key as a shortcut to the Ring Styles menu, but the whole point of this diatribe is that Motorola does not offer one-key vibrate toggling like every other major phone manufacturer, and their two-key solution is not discreet.
Miscellaneous:
The calculator sucks. Seriously. Go to a T-mobile store or kiosk and perform this exercise on the phone to see what you're up against. Pretend you just paid for dinner that cost $42.50 and you want to tip the waiter 15% of that. Try calculating what the gratuity will end up being. Do a few calculations using different numbers and different operations. Whoever designed this calculator is probably the same type of person who puts on leather and latex gear and beats up people for money on the weekends.
The ringtone selection is lousy unless you throw office raves regularly. There are probably around 30-35 different ringtones; of those, most are generic techno/trance songs and a handful of those are actual telephone "rings." Of those only two or three are actually audible in a public setting.
Speaking of audibility in a public setting, the receiver volume is much too low. If you're talking on the phone in church or the library then the highest volume setting can be deafening, but if you're walking down the street or you are in a busy cafe or something then the highest setting may not be enough.
On the same subject of inaudibility, switching to the speakerphone isn't much help. The speakerphone is much louder than the receiver, but whoever you're talking to will probably sound as if they are talking through a tin can. Furthermore if the volume is high enough you won't be able to understand anything the other person is saying because their speech will be so garbled.
When the phone rings, the ringtone plays through the speakerphone on the backside of the phone. That works well enough, but if you put a clamshell case on this phone your speakerphone will be nullified and your rings muffled. If you're planning on using a clamshell case, it would be a good idea to check if it has a hole in the back to accommodate the speakerphone. I don't know about OEM cases, but the generic ones I've seen do not have such a hole.
The game selection is lousy. Included on the phone are a full version of Billiards, a demo of Bejeweled, a demo of Blackjack, and some other thing called FotoFunPack. Like I said I didn't buy this phone to be my personal entertainment center, but I don't think it's too much to ask to put a fully-functional copy of something simple like Nibbles on here so I can kill some time on the subway. It has become evident to me that either the manufacturer or the service provider deliberately puts lousy ringtones and software on these phones so you are forced to purchase such frivolties from the service provider.
Verdict:
The Motorola v188 is a decent phone that probably won't let you down if all you want to do is talk. However if you want to take advantage of all the other features, you may find yourself limited by the firmware and/or the hardware.
If you are considering this phone, I strongly encourage you to head to a T-mobile store or kiosk and use their demo phone to make a phone call (if possible) using both the receiver and speakerphone, type a few text messages, do basic arithmetic using decimals on the calculator, and toggle into vibrate mode and back a few times. If they don't have a demo phone then utilize their 14-day trial period to run through these exercises. This should give you a feel for how well this phone's functions and features will serve you in most of the situations for which you may need it.

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Billed as an entry-level phone, the Motorola v188 is actually a feature rich beauty with quad-band global coverage capability. Instant messaging, MP3 ringtones, dual displays, USB connectivity and gaming support are all here-- a significant step up from entry level phones of the past. It's the perfect companion to T-Mobile service.
Design The phone features a sleek clamshell design with a large 128 x 128 color display with 65,000 colors. The outside cover of the handset sports a supplementary 96 x 32 monochrome display that can display time, call information, battery and signal strength, and more. A stub antenna is placed on the top right side of the unit. Up and down buttons for volume control are placed on the left side. Most of the phone's features and on-screen menus are controlled by a five-way center button on the handset's control pad. A USB-capable data port is housed on the unit's top edge. There's a standard jack to accept universal hands-free headsets on the bottom of the handset, next to the phone's charging port. Face plates are available so you can create the look you're after on the phone's outer casing.
Calling Features The v188 supports polyphonic ringtones as well as MP3 ringers, allowing you to use portions of your favorite songs to alert you to incoming calls. You can also assign pictures and ringers to your most common callers. A number of ringtones come preloaded on the phone and more ringtones can be downloaded from T-Mobile's t-zones service. There's even an included application, MotoMixer, that enables you to mix your own ringtones.
Speed dialing, which allows you to call pre-programmed numbers with one button is built in, as is a vibrating alert. A built-in speakerphone makes it easy to talk without having the phone to your ear. Voice activated dialing makes calling your friends, family and associates as easy as saying their names.
Messaging, Internet and Tools The v188 has all the bases covered when it comes to messaging and Internet connectivity. The phone features support for AOL Instant Messenger (T-Mobile messaging charges apply), and there's also a built-in web browser for t-zones downloads and mobile web browsing. T-Mobile's t-zones service lets you receive and send emails, read news headlines, get weather updates, download games and ringtones, and more. Traditional text messaging, as well as picture and sound messaging are also supported by the phone. iTap text entry, which is a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit-- a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.
A number of handy software tools are bundled with the v188 including a voice memo recorder, a calculator, a notepad, a calendar and an alarm clock.
Imaging and Entertainment The v188's USB connectivity can be used to transfer pictures, sounds and graphics to the phone's memory from your PC. Screensavers, themes and wallpapers can be set to your tastes. The v188 is Java enabled, meaning it supports games and application downloads written on the Java platform. Games are available via the T-Mobile t-zones service.
Vital Statistics The v188 weighs 3.39 ounces and measures 3.39 x 1.77 x .9 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 3.75 hours of digital talk time, and up to 14.5 days of digital standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.
What's in the Box Motorola v188 handset, lithium-ion battery, power supply/charger, user's manual.

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