Cingular Slvr L7 by Motorola

Cingular has just released the Motorola Slvr L7 cellular phone. This phone offers all sort of new ideas that its clamshell cousin (the Razr V3) does not have. It is very sleek in its candy bar form but a little to tall for my liking.

It has built in bluetooth, integrated iTunes, a very nice display and a speakerphone. Use your headphones versus the speakerphone (lay it face down to hear it best) when listening to the iTunes. You will hate yourself in the morning if you don't. iTunes does have limitations such as a 100 song limit and it won't play the songs wireless over the bluetooth but what do you expect? It is not an iPod. The Slvr is thinner and has so many different options they really do not compare.

The built in iTunes will play when you return to the main screen of the Slvr. You just need to tell it that "yes, this is really what I want to do". When a call comes in, the music is automatically paused. A nice feature. When the call ends, you need to tell it to Play again. Not a big deal, but automatic Play might have been cooler.

MEdia Net is Cingulars Internet Browser, text message, picture swapping and ring tones central hub. You can purchase one of two plans. MEdia Basic is $9.99 and comes with 200 text messages, 40 multimedia messages and 1MB of MEdia Net. There is also a MEdia Works version which is $20 a month. This version is 1000 text messages, unlimited Multimedia messages and 5MB MEdia Net. You can see the full information here. I tried the Internet on this phone and it sped along at a nice pace. I have no complaints. I have no interest in text messaging anyone or downloading ring tones. I am sure they both work fine.

The call and audio quality coming from the Slvr are very good but for some reason Motorola scrimped on the camera quality. In a time when rival cell phone companies are doing all they can to bump up the megapixels, Motorola comes up with a low resolution VGA camera. What's that deal? Oh well, I guess you cannot have it all in one phone. I guess pictures taken in lockerrooms just won't be as clear with this phone. I am guessing it won't be all that popular with the voyeurs and the perverts. My blog...I say what I want. :)

I am quickly realizing that this is not a good phone for big hands. I dropped it 3 times in a span of about3 minutes. It tends to slide right out from between your fingers. It also gathers fingerprints like a 4 year old girl picks flowers. Argh, the fingerprints are impossible to wipe off. The numbers on the keypad are also close together, so again, the bigger hands have a tougher time dialing.

**Quick Note: It is barely thinner than the RAZR and is taller. Go with the RAZR**

Some have complained about no FM or stereo speakes? What? Where would you stuff all this? You add these two components and you may as well strap a 1985 giant silver boom box to your head. It sells for an MSRP of $199 but wait 3 months and I am sure you will get it free with a phone plan.