The Hand Free Link sound quality on this phone is astonishingly better than my Sony T637 was. I can't believe the difference. Gone is the distortion and the static that was usually so annoying while the destination phone was ringing, as well as during conversations.

This phone allows the HFL to sound the way it ought to sound! Finally!

 

I'm thinking about getting one, does the signal & battery meter show up in the MID? How about incoming calls? Good to hear about the sound quality! Thanks for the review.

 

Thanks for the review. Points to you.

I want' to buy two but Don't know about Cingular. Like their roll-over program.

 

I am interested in this question as well. My V710 sounded better thru the HFL system than my T637. If the V551 displays ALL the info on the HFL then I might be convinced to switch even though I hate flip phones!

 

Hey TLS-Fiend,

Although my Profile says "Cleveland" which is where I'm originally from, I'm in Dothan, Alabama. I know RescueSwimmer is in Enterprise. Where are you?

 

I am located in the 'lowly town' of Huntsville () originally from the Florence area! I noticed you are considering a possible switch to Cingular, who is your current cellular provider?

 

I have SprintPCS and when I lived in the DC area and in Kentucky it was fine. Here in Dothan there are too many areas that are not covered. The only bluetooth that Sprint has coming up is the Treo 650 that I know of. Its not out yet, though. My '05 TL will be built on 23 NOV and delivered, after A-spec applied, some time in early December. (Merry X-mas to me!)

I'd like to try Cingular because of their Roll-Over of minutes from month to month up to 12 billing cycles. I'd like to know if the V551 is like the other Motorola phones in that it doesn't show either the battery or signal strength in the MID.

Verizon claims they have better coverage. I'd have to go with the V710 with Verizon. I don't know how it does off the main highways or cities.

Customer surveys from JD Powers and Consumer Reports say that T-mobile has the best customer satisfaction in the SE US. They only have the V600 to offer.

Its going to be a tough decision. I sort of want Verizon but I don't want to pay $250-299 per phone x 2. That's why the V551 looks good at $150.

 

Cool.. I currently have Verizon and Cingular... I recently changed to Cingular for many reasons but Verizon does have the slight edge in coverage for the places I travel. The V710 is really nice but no full HFL support. It does work great though. It will "hang on" to a signal where other Verizon phones will not, believe me I have tested it. If you decide to go with Verizon let me know. My V710 is like two months old but I may be getting rid of it soon as I do not need two cellular providers!

 

I'm interested is a Verizon phone [motorola v710 -- since it is the only bluetooth one] but am concerned about the software difficulties. Since the v551 is a newer motorola phone, I am wondering what version of the software they've installed in it. Specifically whether of not they have upgraded the bluetooth software in this phone and whether or not Acura now says it is a phone they endorse as compatable. If so, it may give me hope we will get a Verizon phone that will work. {Cingular is not much of an option because of service issues}.

Has anyone checked the software version in the v551? Are there the same signal strength and battery issues as in other Moto phones? Are there other software gliches in the v551?

 

Amazingly the MID does show the signal strength and the antennae icon. No battery strenght shown, but that means nothing to me since I'll just charge my phone when I'm in the car for any decent amount of time anyway.

 

Has anyone checked the software version in the v551? Are there the same signal strength and battery issues as in other Moto phones? Are there other software gliches in the v551?[/QUOTE]

Yes, I drove from LA to San Diego and back today with bluetooth on for about 4 hours, and I used the phone for about 30 minutes of the drive and still had full bars at the end of the trip. THIS BLOWS AWAY THE PERFORMANCE OF THE BATTERY ON THE SONY ERICSSON THAT I RETURNED!

 

AcuraAddict,

Your experience suggests at least some of the probs wtih MOTO phones with incompete info on the MID has been corrected. If the only thing that is lacking on the MID is the battery metere, I can live with that.

 

Sounds like the v551 may win out over Verizon and the V710 so far. T-mobile with the V600 is still a possibility. I just don't know about Cingular with the V551.

Decisions, Decisions.

 

I don't see how you can lose now that AT&T and Cingular are one. In theory this is the best way to go because of the combined coverage of cell sites. Right? I'm no techie, but it seems to make good sense, plus now I can talk to any AT&T and Cingular user for free. Right?

 

The only problem is that in my area, the Cingular network is, I think, GSM but the ATT network I know is TDMA. They're not compatible until ATT upgrades their networks (or, I guess, cingular upgrades now that they've merged with them). Verizon's CDMA network is more widespread here.

I'm in UCLA (the Ugly Corner of Lower Alabama), not my home town of Cleveland, Ohio. Its alright here, it just get rural fast with poor cell phone service.

 

I didn't realize they had cellular phones in Alabama. Isn't it still 1960 pre-civil rights down there? YIKES!

 

You know, its funny, the Alabama Legislature defeated an Amendment to their State Constitution to eliminate some discriminatory language because, in the wording, it included something about taxes. The excuse was that it would raise taxes and so the change failed.

Jon Stewart on a Daily Show had a skit that mentioned "Alabama Legislators had the choice of increasing taxes and improving Alabma schools or wallowing in mediocraty and ignorance and they chose 'mediocraty and ignorance'"

I'm paraphrasing put the skit was hilarious and true. My property taxes for a $280,000 house are $947 dollars a year! I moved from Maryland and was paying $4,350 per year! Alabama schools are like 48th in the Nation. That's why my wife homeschools our three daughters.

 

YUP! Scary.