Motorola C975 Review

Overall Rating

Good call quality over the '3' network.
Very sturdy charger which fits snugly into the handset.
All the features under the sun.
Support for expandable memory, which is cheap as chips to buy (TransFlash).
Good quality video calling.
Fast menu's (unlike the V500).
Relatively simple to use.
Nice size and weight.
Support for up to 5 simultaneous calls, with further support for conferencing.
Can browse the web/use your phone whilst in a call.
Built-in media player software.
Handset feels well-built and sturdy (but probably wouldn't take a heavy drop). Should last if treated with care.

Poor quality battery life.
No support for Bluetooth.
Joystick is somewhat clumsy.
Some keys are a little easy to hit by mistake.

Although the Motorola C975 mobile phone is relatively chunky compared to other models, size is not an issue (particularly if you have been an owner of the Nokia 8800!). The phone does not feature Bluetooth or IRDA, but does however support TransFlash memory, which only works out at about £20 for a 512Mb memory card.

The joystick is a little clumsy, but you get used to it after about a day. On the '3' network, the handset enables you to manage up to five simultaneous calls, which support conferencing, but unfortunately not call transfer. The handset allows you to be in one or more calls and still use the phone at the same time, including scrolling through your phone book, browsing the web (although video features are disabled whilst in an active call), sending/receiving SMS messages and emails, and managing your active calls.

The hands-free kit is a decent quality, and it has a well-calibrated gain on the microphone. Calls are all carried at a decent quality on the '3' network due to the higher bandwidth on '3' transmitters. Any complaints about poor call quality probably relates to the network the phone is using (note that '3' will roam to the O2 network, even though it is still branded as '3', when out of service). Video calls are surprisingly good quality with an impressive frame rate, and very easy to use. The handset is a little quiet, but this is corrected in noisy areas by plugging in the supplied earpiece/microphone and taking the volume up to full.

Preloaded to the handset is a Java-based Motorola Media Player. The player is simple and stylish allowing you to manage playlists, albums and songs in an iPod-style manner. An adapter can be plugged into the earpiece socket on the handset, allowing you to plug in a normal pair of stereo headphones; since the supplied hands-free is only 1 earpiece. You can get one of these adapters for about £8 from a certain purple shop renowned for useless staff, or about £5 from a certain auction website ;).

The phone battery life is frankly appalling and does not last a full day, but undoubtedly Motorola's excuse would be the fact that the handset maintains a constant connection to the 3G/GPRS network, which is a significant drain on battery life. However, all is not lost. You can purchase 2 batteries and a desktop charger for £10 from the auction site, which is probably a better option to the shops, as they charge around £25 for a single official Motorola Original battery supplied with no charger.

The firmware is a substantial improvement over phones such as the Motorola V500, as any annoyances have been worked out (such as the slow menu's). Texting is particularly efficient on these handsets for previous Motorola users, but will most certainly take some getting used to for Nokia users and such.

In conclusion, this handset will cost you about £40 on '3' with £30 credit included, and it is a fantastic deal. So far I have not experienced any physical faults with the handset, or anything to make me regret my purchase. Indeed, the phone isn't going to be the best build quality in the world for a £10 handset, but considering the price - what are you waiting for?!

(p.s. I'd grab one of these phones before '3' start gluing in the SIM cards, which is what they plan to do with future models!)

Members' Comments onthomascollett's Review

• thomascollett on 7th Mar 2006

  By the way, I meant the Nokia 6600 not the Nokia 8800. Sorry about that :-)

• thomascollett on 5th Apr 2006

  Be careful about buying batteries from eBay, and similar places. If you buy from shops, make sure they are suitable for your handset and have a decent capacity. I had 2 batteries from Hong Kong for this handset, and both refused to hold charge after a couple of days of use, and whats more they even had a "Motorola Original" hologram on them (but I might note that they had identical serial numbers!). The supplied battery seems to triple in capacity if you condition it well (ie. recharge it fully, discharge it fully, recharge it fully etc). I no longer have any gripes about the battery life on the handset as mine will go for a few days now.