Motorola RAZR V3i review

A nice touch is that the keypad glows slightly when in use, which is handy for making calls in the dark

Motorola's stylish ultra-thin RAZR clamshell has wowed consumers since its launch - can the updated V3i keep the magic alive?

Motorola’s stylish clamshell the V3 proved a huge hit since its release, wowing consumers with sleek, futuristic design. The fact that every manufacturer now regularly releases super-thin mobiles is testament to the impact of the Motorola V3 and its successors like the V3i.

The shiny outer casing and silver lamina keypad are what initially grab the attention. Although fingerprints soon start to take the shine off the case, a quick wipe soon gets it spic and span. The keypad is similar to that on the original V3, and instead of ridged buttons, it has a smooth surface allowing your fingers to glide over the keys. It feels slightly odd at first but you soon get used to it. A nice touch is that it glows slightly when in use, which is handy for making calls in the dark.

For something so thin (it’s only 14mm thick) and so light in your pocket (it weighs just 65g), the V3i packs a lot into its streamlined form.

Inside there’s a high-resolution colour screen with another smaller screen on the outside which displays a miniature version of your screensaver or the photo of who’s calling you when Photo ID is set up.

The 1.3-megapixel camera improves on the original V3's VGA resolution so you can take high-res pictures or low-res video (its predecessor could only play back video, not record it). The V3i’s internal memory is quite small at 10MB but you can choose to store your pictures or videos on a microSD memory card.

As well as the camera and other normal mobile phone functions, the V3i also features an in-built music player capable of playing MP3 tracks. This lets you easily manage you library to play tracks by artist, album or genre, but inevitably it lacks many of the more sophisticated features of dedicated music players such as the iPod.

A cool feature on the V3i, which is obviously inspired by Sony Ericsson’s Walkman music phones, is the Airplane Mode. This turns off phone functions on the V3i, so when you’re on an airplane or somewhere else where you can’t make calls, you can still use the V3i to play games or listen to music.

The V3i’s popularity is testament to how good it is. It has everything you’d want in a mobile phone including a camera and music player, and it has looks to die for. What more could you ask for?