mattlana

I just changed phone providers and now have a family plan with 4 phones. I was able to get a T637 and a V551 to play with before my kids got to them! The T637 was described to me as being very, very loud on the other end. It also picks up any background noise to make the conversation very difficult. The microphone is very sensitive and seems to over-modulate my voice to the point that my son asked me to call him back on the V551. While on my 15 trial period, I will be returning the T637 and try a Nokia 6230 tomorrow.

The V551 seems like a good phone. My voice was described as being "distant or in a box". This seemed more agrreeable to everyone than having the loudness and background noise of the T637. On my end of the conversation, the voice quality was crystal clear. I will see how well it does against the Nokia tomorrow.

Both phones were very easy to get working with the HFL on the TL. The T637 displays battery strength as well as signal strength. The V551 only displays signal strength. I think I can live without the battery displayed for the clearer phone.

Being older and not up to speed on all these new gadgets and gizmos like you guys and gals......I have a question about battery life. The V551 lasted about a day for me. I have Bluetooth and HFL turned on all the time. Should I turn off the HFL when I leave the car? Then turn it back on again when I get back to the car? Do you think that is what made my battery die so quickly? I know the HFL being on uses a lot more power but I am confused as to what to do. Any help anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Howard

Stewie

FWIW, I have a T637 and don't have those problems.

As for battery life if I leave Bluetooth on all the time I'll get 3 days out of it if I don't talk too much.

Seems that if I talk using the HFL a lot then it drains the battery very quickly, more quickly than just talking a lot using just the phone. Perhaps you should plug the power cord into the phone whenever you're in the TL and that should help.

acuraddict

I hope I can help you since I've owned both phones. The 637, when used for bluetooth regularly, will drain the hell out of its battery. I think any blue tooth phone will. What I hated about the 637 is that it is delicate, the joystick malfunctioned after I dropped it off my desk onto my floor, the display gets scratched beyond belief after just one week of use, and the phone's buttons are ridiculously close together making dialing correctly the first time you dial a number very challenging.

The v551 is amazing in comparison. The sound on the HFL is far better. I no longer have the constant distortion of voices, the static sound during dialing, and people are not complaining to me about the audio quality anymore.

THE BEST FEATURE is that the bluetooth function can be programmed to automatically shut off whenever I go out of range of my TL, and then re-activate as soon as I get back in the car. This feature alone should make you choose the Motorola, but the additional advantage of never having to worry about scratching up the display or accidentally dialing a number by forgetting to lock the keys when not using the phone are also great advantages.

Battery life has been good, but I think with any bluetooth phone you've got to get in the habit of plugging it into your car charger whenever you take a long drive because batteries do drain much quicker with this function.

acuraddict

one more thing. the nokia bluetooth phones don't display signal or battery strenght on the MID, and they don't display the caller ID number when you get an incoming call. These are three very bad things.

onalake

If you find that you use the phone mostly while in the car, get a car recharger and leave the phone plugged into it while driving. This way you can talk while it's charging at the same time. I have a T637 but no TL yet and have found the sound quality ok. Not dazzling but certainly adequate for my needs of only really using it while in a car. When I use it at home on rare times, it does seem to get picked up by my PC speakers on occasion causing them to give a feedback buzz. I think with any new technology there will be growing pains while bluetooth gets perfected or at least improved.

mattlana

When I called my son's Nokia 6230, caller ID did display in the TL. I called from another phone on my plan, I do not know if that makes a difference so I will try again. You are correct, signal strength and battery indicators do not display.

Howard

mobilezen

Sony Ericsson T637 - Very excellent phone. The one I would recommend. Go exchange the phone, its not suppose to sound bad. SE makes the best vocoders out of all the mobile phone makers.

Motorola V551/505/525 - I review a V525 (same features as the other ones minus 850, edge, etc)....This one is a solid phone very good to use.

Nokia 6230 - Great phone if you want to sound like you're talking with a kazoo in your mouth. I've heard the problem has been fixed. Another friend bought a 6230b around the same time I had mine and he sounded like someone kicked him in the nuts really hard.

Hmmm... some of the voice problems you seem to be having might be from the towers. Just a hunch.

Bucfan

Acuraddict,

I did go out and purchase the V551 this morning and after "pairing" it with my car, it worked perfectly. The bluetooth even shut off automatically after leaving the car. However, once I returned to the car, it didn't automatically re-activate? I'm assuming I have a setting wrong? Can you please describe how you set up your phone for this feature? Thanks!!

Brewmaster

If Bluetooth turns off how does it know it's back in range ...

I suspect it actually reduces the level of activity to an occasional "ping" to determine if it is in range of a previously paired device.... small distinction but kind of important...

Reduced bluetooth activity would certainly reduce battery drain, so it seems like a good feature (although I haven't really noticed a reduction in battery life w/ bluetooth active on my T637).

shs111

I've got the V551, but am not sure that I've got it set so that the bluetooth turns off when out of range of the car. I'm experienced some significant battery drain. Can anyone guide me on the V551 bluetooth setting?

Thanks.

Bucfan

After spending some time with my phone this weekend I've found the setting for my phone (Motorola V551) that allows the bluetooth to turn off/on when I'm within range of my car. By going to Settings; Connection; Bluetooth; Setup; then Power. By turning this to "on", bluetooth is able to recognize when I'm within range of my car. As suggested before though, I have also noticed significant battery use this way!

Jesse Dart

That doesn't turn off Bluetooth when you leave the car. That setting turns it ON and leaves it on all the time (as stated). That is how your phone automatically pairs when you get into your car.

The only way to maximize battery life is to turn OFF Bluetooth when you leave the car.

I have the Right Softkey as my Shortcut key and setup two Shortcuts to turn Bluetooth ON and OFF. So, with two button presses, I can turn ON Bluetooth when I get in the car, and turn it OFF when I leave. That's as close to perfect as I could get it.

The other alternative is to charge the phone while you're in the car. Then you probably won't notice the Bluetooth drain as much when you leave it on the rest of the day.

mattlana

Good idea Jesse!
I have mine setup to shut Bluetooth off when out of range but I sometimes forget to turn it back on and it takes about 6 keystrokes. Gonna figure out how to make shortcuts next.

Howard

dcarlinf1

If it's anything like the V600 (my phone), turning off bluetooth power when leaving the car won't increase battery life. Once you are away from the car bluetooth doesn't cause a drain anymore. Only while paired does this happen on my v600. My solution (as others have stated) is to use a car charger and simply plug it in whenever you're in the car. My battery lasts for many days if it never gets paired even with bluetooth power set to on.