Just bought this Motorola V300 mobile phone and I feel its the best phone I have had to date! My last phone was a nokia and I was a bit worried about getting used to a different menu system - but I have to say I find the motorola menu EASIER and more USER FRIENDLY than nokia!!!!
Its light weight and funky with excellent ringtones.
The only downside is the poor battery life compared with nokia - but this is out weighed by the overall strengths of this phone.
I would highly recommend the motorola v300 to all!!

I have had the Motorola V300 mobile phone for about a month at the time of writing this is the second one as i had to take the first one back to the shop because the phone kept freezing on me, if i tried to delete messages from my inbox it would suddenly freeze then would not allow me to send messages also when the phone was switched off the outer display would light up and not allow me to switch it on when i tried so had to take the battery out to reset it all which incidentally keeps happening on the replacement. On the plus side the phone is of good quality, looks nice is relatively easy to use once you get used to its features, i had always had nokias before and still find them easier to use compared to the v300 but wouldnt go back to them now. The screen can be difficult to see outside but is good quality as regards photos, there is a fair number of ringtones some good some not so, the phonne is quite heavy but you get used to it but is to be expected for what features the phone has on it eg camera, you can get a large number of phone book entries in it also you can have photo id in the phone book memory in the main i am pleased with the phone apart from the odd problem with the software but they may sort this out eventually with later models of this phone.

The Motorola V300 seems to have a lot of problems according to my T mobile dealer. I had to request a replacement because it would not turn on. When it did work it would call 911 by itself and did not end a call when you flipped it closed.

This Motorola V300 is fantastic!!!! At first glance this mobile phone can look hard to use but after a short time the menus become easier to use. The battery life does let this phone down but then most colour screen phones have bad bettery times. The aerial is annoying so I purchased a short stumpy one that looks better - and actually gives better reception. The user booklet that is supplied is as good as useless as it tells you nothing really about navigating the menus or what different icons on the homepage mean. I used to be a Nokia only phone user but am definatly impressed with the V300 functionality if only the manual would tell you how to do things like assign photos to phonebook. As I say i am used to Nokias where the booklet takes tou step by step through every function which is where the V300 manual lets you down. It does come with a cd-rom but I haven't got round to installing it yet - (only had phone 2 days!). Even if cd-rom does help I'd prefer it in a booklet for quick reference so don't have to keep starting up the PC.

The Motorola V300 mobile phone tends to switch itself off and for the display to vanish or for the time to freeze. Have to remove and replace the battery to sort it out. The cover tends to flake, even when the phone has been looked after from day one. Instructions came on a cd rather than in paper manual, the manual on the cd is too big to print off, 158 pages! Can honestly say I will not be having another Motorola and I will return to Orange, as they have been great over the 5 years that I was with them, also had no issues with any of my Nokias. I am dissapointed that I would have to lose my phone for a period of time whilst is gets fixed. I believe when you look at the amount you are paying then an imediate replacement should be offered, if the phone becomes faulty. Poor coverage with T-mobile and the people who have tried to call you do not get an opurtunity to leave a message, they hear it as though you have just hung up on them.

The Motorola V300 is a Great Mobile Phone
GREATLY let down by the battery life

I will start this review first with the POSITIVE things:

* good camera (all modern phones have non-professional camera, but the one provided in the V300 is enough for most people)
* battery autonomy (after one months of charging it quite often, now I charge it every 5-6 days)
* "soft feel touch" (good feeling of quality),
* robust feeling when opening and closing the phone (shell phones seem normally very fragile),
* reception quality is very good (better than my previous Nokia 7110 which was already very good),
* very intelligent ITAP dictionary (helps a lot in writing faster and is better than T9 logic of Nokia phones).

I will focus now on the long list of NEGATIVE experiences, reporting some problems that I submitted to the customer support. They answered very fast to these questions, but I guess that they didn't have many chances to actually solve these problems.

* T-Mobile software (banner, music and logo)
* Switching off/on by itself
* Network operator settings management
* Melodies management
* Low battery alert
* SMS memory


-> The problem that most disappointed me, the T-MOBILE SOFTWARE in general <-

At the moment the only place where you can buy the V300 is from a T-Mobile shop, or whatever other shop which is basically reselling a T-Mobile phone. These phones are called "branded" phones, because they have additional features according to the phone operator from which they are coming. You will get a T-Mobile V300 also if you pay the full price to have an unlocked phone, without contract with a T-Mobile SIM card.
You would think that it's not a big issue, but in reality what they are selling you is not the regular V300 advertised in the Motorola website, but a "T-Mobile Motorola V300". You will realize that the use of other SIM is yes allowed (to send/receive phone calls, SMS, surf internet) but not welcome, just like if in Microsoft Windows you install a different browser than Internet Explorer.

The V300 is full of T-Mobile gadgets that you can't delete: for example a T-Mobile melody while switching on and off the phone, "t-zones" logo appearing during the internet connections also with other providers, and dozen of links trying to connect in various ways to "t-zones" servers. In Motorola's slang these links are called "banners", and just like in the internet environment, they are trying to invite you to leave what you where doing and to connect to the "mother" T-Mobile.
You find these banners everywhere in the phone, for example within the melodies, the games, the wallpapers and the screensavers. This means that you will click on them believing that you are loading a game from the phone, but in reality you are starting to pay to T-Mobile!! And there is no warning message to tell you that the next operations are not for free, but are at the owner's expense!! If you don't have a T-Mobile card, these attempts to connect are useless and expensive: the phone attempts to connect, starts to pay, and then realizes that you don't have a T-Mobile card (too late!!!).
I tried to prevent the phone from accessing these banners but even blocking all the WAP access features from the "security->lock application", the phone is still free to access these features. So you can't block these banners.
And what is worse, you can't even delete them, because "they are part of the original T-Mobile software" (just like Internet Explorer and Windows). Part of the phone's features are useless, because these banners are not working. They will just stay in your phone, on top of every page (so that they are more visible, and you can hit them easily by mistake), and remain there inactive. But at least they will contribute to your phone operator's incomes, because every time you hit them you will pay immediately.

Even if it seems incredible, Motorola doesn't offer neutral software for people who don't want the T-Mobile brand version. And what is worse, nothing is mentioned in the official Motorola and T-Mobile websites.


-> HARAKIRI (software mistakes)

The phone is turning of by itself from time to time (that's what I called HARAKIRI) even if the battery is full. After I turn it on again, I see that the battery has three lines, and the phone is working normally.
Answer from Motorola was to try to turn off the "battery save mode" (what is this mode, does it turn off automatically the phone to save battery ?!! ). By the way, in the instructions manual it's nothing written about this option.
One time the display of the V300 remained blocked in its screenshot after snoozing the alarm clock. In that occasion I couldn't do anything with the phone, the keypad was not working.
Sometimes it happens also that the phone is switching off and on by itself when I'm in a WAP session. It's a strange problem, because I don't have to put again the PIN code, but anyway the phone call is interrupted and I have to connect to the server again (spending more money). It happened also while making a browser update through an SMS.


-> NETWORK OPERATOR SETTINGS <-

I downloaded some network operator settings (excellent service from Motorola website). I'm using regularly three SIM cards (due to my work, I need different cards for different countries), and I quickly reached the maximum number of settings that I can store on the phone. Counting three settings for operator (MMS, WAP-CSD and WAP-GPRS), if you have many SIM cards it's easy to reach the maximum. This can happen for example if you give the mobile to your girlfriend, or if one day you want to change operator.

The problem is that you can't replace the settings arrived via SMS, because beside these settings it's a small symbol of a padlock, that means that you can't delete them. And if you have already the maximum, the phone is refusing new ones or modification to the old ones.
Answer from Motorola is that you have to reset the phone (losing the address book, photos, melodies, games and so on, that cost a fortune in terms of time and money). Or send the phone to them and they will cancel the settings for you (but not for free, as they clarified).


-> RINGTONE management <-

I downloaded a polyphonic melody that I can listen to, and is correctly appearing in the "downloads" menu. But the same song is not appearing as an available ringtone from the "change ringtone" menu in the settings. Other songs that I downloaded from the same website are instead appearing both as downloaded items and as available ringtones, so I don't understand what is the problem with this song. I tried to bypass this problem from the "downloads" menu: I can "apply this song as ringtone", but when I receive a telephone call and this ringtone is selected, no sound is coming from the phone. Answer from Motorola was to download melodies only from Motorola's website (!!!!)
Additionally, Motorola changed once more the logic for composing a song directly from the phone. I think that including all Motorolas, there are at least five completely different ways for input of new melodies. This means that you can't use most of the melodies listed in websites for do-it-yourself composers. Once more, the best way is to pay and directly download a melody from internet.


-> SWITCHING ON/OFF MUSIC <-

The music while turning on and off is from the T-Mobile TV spot (very loud and ugly in my opinion). You would want to set another music because you don't care about T-Mobile and you don't want to hear this jingle every single day, or eventually you don't want to have any start music at all, not to disturb your neighbors. Well, it's impossible, because it's part of the original software (official answer).


-> LOW BATTERY ALERT <-

The phone makes a loud noise when the battery is low. So far so good, other phones wait till the very last minute to do it. The problem is that the V300 will make this alter also if you set the phone to mute !! This means that when you are at the cinema or during a conference, the V300 will give you the nice feeling of being undesired from the others. You may want to turn off the phone then, and here comes the most stupid of all the stupid things !! The phone will continue to make this alert even if you turned it off !!! If it has low battery it will continue with this sound all night long !! Think about it if you are in a train, and want to sleep or you are in a meeting and you can't plug it to a battery charger !!
The only way to stop the sound is to put it to charge or (if you don't have the charger with you), to open the cover and take off the battery. Who programmed this sound alert ?


-> SMS memory <-

I also noticed that you can't save SMS. If take away your SIM card, put a new one from a friend, and then put again yours, all the messages that you had on that card are definitely GONE !! They are no-where.


-> CONCLUSION <-

Basically it's a phone with a good hardware and good basic calling functions. This shows a step in the correct direction from the old fragile Motorolas.

B U T: it's costing 300 EUR, not 100 EUR , it has only TWO games and a firmware that MUST be improved in reliability and cleverness. If you don't have a T-Mobile card, part of the phone's features are wasted.
Being only youth and software problems, I'm confident that Motorola can do something quickly, including something for the mobiles already sold. For example they could offer a service to register their product in their website, where according to the serial number they could inform us about software updates or possible product recalls.

I think that all the users should have the right to choose if they want the T-Mobile branded phone or not. If Motorola advertises a non-branded phone in their website, then they should sell exactly what they promise.

A further remark: T-Mobile probably thinks that their customers are so proud of having sounds and images from their beloved company that they will like to show them to everybody. For example, concerning the switching on/off loud music, the customers will be so happy to hear every single day this T-Mobile melody, that they will never want to change it (because anyway, they are part of the original software and they can't be changed).
Do they really think that the customers are so stupid and crazy about T-Mobile marketing gadgets?
I'm not sure if the V525 is having similar problems with Vodafone, but my personal opinion is that there is a tendency to bind the user with a phone operator for the rest of his life (or at least of the phone's life). And this is happening using some tricks learned in the PC software business.

I have had this my Motorola V300 less than a week but I find that about 1 in 10 calls get through to me even though the phone indicates I have full coverage. I never had this problem with my old Nokia and its not limited to certain locations its happening everywhere.

I had Samsung S300M with data cable for some time. It was little and gentle and I was very happy. But then I saw Motorola V300 for first time. It is awsome - I sold my samsung mobile phone as fast as I could and bought the V300.

The phone is great - it is much larger and heavier than S300M but for me it's more comfortable (I have large hands ;-). Features are awsome - especialy MP3 ringtones which you can upload to phone by data cable (it is very cheap in my country (Poland) - I paid $5 for it (Allegro.pl)). Display is incredible - much better in my opinion then S300M had.

Everyone who owes V300 should buy data cable - then the fone shows what it really can do. Uploaded MP3 files sounds great - only thing is to remember that they have to be encodec with constatnt bitrate (when they were encodec with VBR/ABR then V300 couldn't play them). Uploaded images looks great and there is very easy way to manage our contact list. You can also dowload images from the phone to your computer.

Additionaly there is a possibility to upload Motorola V600 flex that unlocks video playback in V300 - then the only difference between the phones is absense of bluetooth in V300.

I have had 3 of these Motorola V300 mobile phones, (the first 2 where faulty), if you was to but one of these make sure that it's a new one. great value for money, and great features.

I love this Motorola V300 mobile phone, its great, the only thing i find a bit frustrateing is when it switches itself off.... but doesent do it verry often... its a smart, funky mobile phone.. and im proud to use it in front of people :o).. and i only pay £13.50 a month get 100 free texts and 18 houres talk time... its also half pay as you go !and i got it for £80.00

This Motorola V300 is by far the best mobile phone in the world, all my friends love the way the outside feels so smooth and the keys are practically frictionless great for text addicts. All of the ringtones are unique and crazy and some people dont like that but i love it. overall this phone could only be made better by adding a video capture and play back unit

I got my Motorola V300 a week ago, and so far am pretty pleased. It looks good, photos are great, and I find the menu much easier to navigate than I thought. The sounds are also much louder than my previous T720, and the whole thing responds more quickly. Also the i-Tap is improved so is faster.

BUT - the instruction book is a disgrace. You get this great thick booklet, so you expect detailed explanation. Instead most of it is about T-mobile applications and translations into a million foreign languages. Yes, there is a CD, but who wants to load it into a computer every time you need to look something up? And who wants to print out 180 pages of manual onto A4 paper to carry around? I phoned Motorola to ask them about this and they told me it is a condition T-mobile insisted on that they gave out the manual in this way. There seems no way out of this, I would appreciate it if anyone has any answers.

My other complaint is about using the hands-free car kit. I got this phone knowing that it is compatible with the kit I got (retractable, no earpiece,but with microphone and loudspeaker) for my T720. That was brilliant. You plugged the thing in and it was immediately connected with the loundspeaker on so that you could hear everything going on,phone ringing, the person answering, etc. With this, although it fits, you have to wait till the connection is made (and you don't hear the person picking up so you have to look at the screen), then press the "speakerphone" key. Of course this is all wrong - you shouldn't have to watch the screen while driving! Perhaps there is a way round this, but I haven't been able to find it and I'm very dissapointed, as I often use the phone while driving and need a good hands-free option.

Apart from that, I do like the phone, and it has already attracted many comments about its looks and functions. Incidentally, even without a decent manual I have been able to find my way around a lot of the menu quite easily. Perhaps that is because I was used to the T720.

If anyone has any ideas about the hands-free business, I would be very interested.

i've had my Motorola V300 mobile phone now since the beginning of november i too have problems with it turning itself off then all is well and good again its down to the phone software t-mobile say they will exchange it for a new V300 though, as for connecting to pc forget it no data cables or software out as yet although i've tried the V60 cable it fits it but the software is not compatable so i think we'll have to wait for the verdict on the phone to pc thing :o)

I would recommend this Motorola V300 phone to any one that wants a camera phone and that is willing to pay the price for it. it has all the features you need and more. there are other phones other than nokias! so make a change :-)

Motorola V300 phone is a must get......well worth buy

I have a Motorola V300, I previously owned a gx20 untill the screen got smashed and the insurance company offered me this one in return. I have to say i was imperesed, the gx20 was big and ugly but did take better pictures but so can the v300 and its smaller. the sound of mp3 ringtones are great and crisp clear. the camera also has a option to zoom in 4 times which i found enoying because the picture came distort.

but all in all i found this phone too hard to use. so i am going back to using the good old Nokias (the best). nokia 7250i to be exact that i have heard good things about.

The Motorola V300, has a better camera than the E715, but is lacking a flash... who neeeds a flash! lol... Battery life is 10 times better on the V300 than on the E715! i own both, i switch once for a while with my sisters phone all you have to do is switch sim cards! The V300 is a lot heavier than the E715 so if your a guy who likes to have a light phone. Go with the E715, but if you care about features, go witht he V300!

The Motorola V300 is a model full of good functionality. This mobile phone provides much power and functions in a sleek design. It does, however, have some flaws. First, the keys are too small for the average hand. Second, there is no option to change the font size on the display which makes it challenging for those who have less than average vision. Third, it does not allow dead ringer ring tones. Lastly, the waste clip is poorly designed. All in all, it is a good phone.

I have to say the Motorola V300 mobile phone is the best cell phone I have seen out there for its price. I have been shopping for cell phones for the past 2 months, searching through almost all the wireless providers' phones. For the combination of style, features, and the provider, this would have to be my #1 choice. I'm a 19.99 a month person, so T-Mobile is my place to go, seeing as they have the best plan for that price (60 anytime and 500 weekend). I wanted to stay with T-Mobile, but if I found a different phone, I would have switched.
The Motorola V300 is a very attractive phone, with the sleek blue cover and sharp silver interior, I have to say its one of the most attractive phones out there.
Before switching to my V300, I had a Nokia 3360(or 3390, I can't remember), a good phone. It was difficult to talk on though, because of it being so short and the reception was terrible at times, which is why I find the V300 so refreshing. Every time I've had a conversation on it, it has been completely clear.
I love the look of the interior, with its alternating keypad, which can be tricky to master at first, but I found within a few text messages, I was fine with it. The menu was very easy for me to master. I found that if I just played around with it for a minute or two, I could easily find out what I needed to do to go to a certain place, such as sending a text message.
I would recommend this phone to anyone because I found it easy to learn, easy to make calls, texts messages and whatnot.
I got this phone for $99.95 with a $100 mail-in rebate at CarToys. They were extremely helpful, at least the guy I talked to was. At most other places, the price it $99 to $199, so I suggest going to CarToys unless you are upgrading, then just call T-Mobile and threaten to discontinue if you don't get a good price for it.
I hope this review helps!