| Motorola L6 Expert Reviews |
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Motorola L6 -- by Joni Blecher Follow me on Twitter--October 31st 2006 |
| Full Review |
| The Motorola Slvr L6 (the candy bar-style version of the company's thin line of cell phones) has the same look and feel as its sibling, the Slvr L7. Only this model lacks a way to expand memory beyond the included 10MBs (that's plenty of storage for this cell phone's capabilities). There are a few other features missing from the Slvr L6 that can be found on the Slvr L7. In particular, there's no music support. However, the Slvr L6 does have the world roaming functionality found in the Slvr L7 so you can use this cell phone abroad. If you're in the market for a thin candy bar-style cell phone that's big on design and small on features, check out the Motorola Slvr L6. |
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| Call Quality |
Calls and speakerphone: Call quality on the Motorola Slvr L6 was a bit of a mixed bag. Occasionally, callers sounded crystal clear and we found that we had to lower the volume.  Other times, calls were randomly dropped and the connection would break-up. At that point, everyone knew we were calling on a cell phone.
Fortunately, speakerphone quality was impressive. Calls were loud, clear and didn't suffer from conversations cutting off when two people speak simultaneously, which is often the case when using a speakerphone on a cell phone. Additionally, as is the case with Motorola Razr V3, you can only turn on the speaker once you make a call. |
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| Ease of Use |
Menu/Phonebook: As is the case with many Motorola cell phones, the menu's interface is intuitive; requiring only a couple of steps to access most of the Motorola Slvr’s features. Entering and saving numbers (there's room for 500 contacts, each with a slot for six phone numbers/e-mail addresses, birthday setting, and even addresses) is easy, but accessing numbers can occasionally be tiring, since the cell phone default menu is set to allow you to find a contact based only on the first letter of the name. However, if you have a lot of "R" entries in your phonebook, set the phone to Find and then you can search for names using more letters in the contact's name.
Camera/Video: The Motorola Slvr L6 has a VGA camera and lacks a flash, so don’t expect a lot from picture quality on this cell phone. You also can’t snap self portraits as there isn't a mirror next to the lens on the back of the cell phone. Video quality isn't a whole lot better. We found videos to be grainy and playback a bit sluggish. However, you should have no problem saving pictures in the cell phones 10MB of memory.
Messaging: Sending messages on this Motorola cell phone is straightforward -- no need to consult the manual. You can send messages to another cell phone number or an e-mail address. As is the case with the Motorola Razr V3, you can send text messages while on a Speakerphone call. We particularly like the Motorola Slvr's predictive text app, which quickly retained words we used most often and 80 percent of the time predicted the correct word. The cell phone also comes with three IM services (AIM, Yahoo and MSN); just enter you user name and password, hit connect and you’re good to go.
Connectivity/Bluetooth: We were able to pair the Motorola Slvr L6 cell phone with a Motorola H500 Bluetooth headset, however, we needed to consult the manual to set it up correctly. |
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| Design |
Look and Feel: The Motorola Slvr sports a slim profile, though not as thin as Samsung's T519. Even though, the cell phone is thin, it's incredibly usable and surprisingly durable. Perhaps one of our favorite elements is the bright, colorful screen. It definitely stands out when it's on and is highly visible in most lighting situations. Our only quibble with the cell phone's design is the screen easily attracts face grease. That said, many cell phones suffer from this flaw.
Keypad: There are a lot of similarities that can be drawn between the Motorola Slvr and Motorola Razr keypads. Both cell phones have those slick blue backlit numbers and lines reminiscent of something out of the movie, Tron, and the four-way navi-key works like a charm (there are no accidental selections made when using it). But there's one big difference: the actual numbers on the Slvr L6 keypad are slightly raised, making them more tactile than the keys found on the Motorola Razr. |
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| Battery Life |
| We found battery life on the Motorola Slvr L6 impressive – even better than that found on the Motorola Razr. We found that we could last three to four days before needing to recharge when using the Motorola Slvr L6 to frequently make calls and send/receive text messages. Heavier cell phone users will likely need to charge the Motorola Slvr L6 battery every two days. We should note that using Bluetooth drains battery life faster. |
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Motorola L6 Expert Rating
