Motorola VE440 (MetroPCS) – Inconsistent call quality

For:

3.5 mm headphones jack, using the built in music player is easy with the dedicated music buttons on the body, keypad is comfortable to use.

Against:

Call quality could have been better

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Motorola VE440 is 1.9 inches wide, 0.6 inch deep, 4.4 inches high and weighs 2.64 Oz. The handset is based on CDMA2000 1X technology and is based on CDMA2000 1X 1900/800 / AWS 1700/2100 band. Additional features on the phone include Intelligent (T9) typing, GPS, microSD card slot, USB and internal antenna.

The phone has 51 MB internal memory and the phone book can take is 500 names and numbers. Supported formats for ringtones are MIDI and MP3. The phone has 1.3 megapixel camera. The display is 1.9 inches big and has a resolution of 176×220 pixels with support for 65k colors. Supported audio formats are AAC+, MP3 and AAC. Connectors on the phone include microUSB, and 3.5 mm headphones jack. The 940 mAh lithium ion battery has a rated talk time of 270 minutes and standby time is 396 hours.

Razzle Dazzle:

Motorola VE440 has an interesting design. The limited edition phone has two graffiti style back covers and it is designed by someone called, Mister Cartoon. The right spine is tilted at an angle of 45 degrees and it slopes towards the display. Because of this, the three controls for music player are pretty easy to access.

Inside Dope:

There are tons of smartphones out there in the market right now and we as tech enthusiasts drool on all of them. But if you are not tech savy, purchasing a high end smartphone will mean nothing for you. All you need is a handset to make a few calls, click some snaps and maybe listen to music sometimes. It makes no sense to buy a high end smartphone for this. We conducted a survey for this and found that most of the people who own a smartphone don’t use all the features that it has to offer. Some are not even aware that the gadget has specific features. There are lots of varieties when it comes to step down phones. Some come with pretty basic features while some give you a few features like music player and camera put in. Motorola VE440 belongs to this category; it has a different body design. We have never seen this design before in a cell phone. On the body, dedicated buttons for camera and music. All these keys are pretty easy to access.

Display

The display of the Motorola VE440 is pretty basic, just like the phone. It is 1.9 inches big and has a resolution of 176×220 pixels along with support for 65k colors. It is pretty much low end but there is not much to expect in an entry level handset like this. You cannot adjust the display font but there are options for premium and free wallpapers.

Dimensions

The phone is 4.4 inches high, 0.6 inch deep, 1.9 inches wide and eights about 2.64 ounces. It is not that heavy but we did notice the bulk when we put the phone in our pocket. It is a bit heavier as compared to other handsets.

Navigation array and keyboard

There is a four way direction keypad with OK button in the middle and this makes navigation easy. There are two soft keys but they are not that easy to pressing owing to the plastic which surrounds them. There is also a discrete camera button and a back button. The red and green ‘off’ and ‘on’ buttons are quite small so make sure you press them properly. If you have wide fingers or cropped nails, you might get frustrated easily. Fortunately, the keypad buttons are domed and this makes things much easier. They are a bit plasticky and the bubbly dimensions make it easy to press. The keys are backlit and quite easy to press. We could compose text messages on it quite easily.

Phone book and PIM features

The Motorola VE440’s phone book can take in 500 contacts. A single entry can take five numbers and two addresses for e-mail. There are options for customization which include caller groups, selecting ringtone, picture, and message ringtone for each contact. All standard cell phone features are there but we are still happy with them in here. There are staid tunes of computerized clangs along with doorbell chimes. Apart from that, you get theme based ringtones which are made for street cred and this is clear with names like Snoop Pick Up Your Phone, Tatoo Gun (this has the tattoo gadget’s hum) and Going to the Carshow. Speaker phone is also there.

Feature set on the Motorola VE440 include voice commands, alarm clock, calendar, world clock, notepad, world clock, and stopwatch. There are a few advanced features like stereo Bluetooth, WAP browser, text and MMS. Finally, you get MetroPCS’s ChatLINK IM service and GPS.

Music player

Motorola VE440 has a basic music player which will work only if you have put in a microSD card. Fortunately, Motorola gives a 1 GB card bundled along with the package and the phone can take in up to 8 GB cards. Supported player formats are AAC+, MP3 and AAC.

Camera

Motorola VE440 comes with a basic 1.3 megapixel camera so don’t expect high quality photos from it. You get self timer, digital zoom, multishot mode which lets you take more options for photo taking. There are also some basic editing features like color effects and white balance. The shutter sound can be personalized.

Verdict:

Motorola VE440 is phone made for the punk rock crowd, it is a stylish candy bar phone and we also liked the dedicated music control buttons. However, the handset disappoints on call quality.