Last month, I stopped using my SE K750i on the Cingular/AT&T and switched to a LG CU500v and noticed a boost in voice quality and reception. A year ago, I sold the CU500 a month after it came out citing extremely dodgy reception and frequently dropped calls (more than a K750i would). And just yesterday, I recieved a Moto V3xx from a friend moving overseas.
Now as I understand it, the K750i is a triband GSM phone in the Asian market with one frequency band designated for the US. V3xx is also a triband phone, with one dedicated frequency band for the Asian/Euro networks. AND the CU500 is a quadband, with all supporting GSM frequencies for wherever you are (except the rarer almost outdated band of 400 MHz). Both the V3xx and the CU500 have an additional "coating" of 3G on it, specifically the support of the newer HSDPA (EDGE is 2.75G and is an enhancement of GPRS in GSM), and the HSDPA on the V3xx is twice as fast as implemented on the CU500 (which isn't that important I guess).
So now I sorta' know why I've observed a boost in reception with the newer handsets. I suppose back when the CU500 came out, the 3G standard wasn't fully deployed or tweaked on the Cingular/AT&T network as it was quite new to them (I think). But knowing the CU500 supports the two American GSM frequency bands, shouldn't reception be as good as any handset on the market? And shouldn't my K750i do moderately well since GSM is fully deployed on their network for some time now? I guess the K750i used one of the bands not favoured more than the other? Because everywhere I went, the reception and voice quality was poor; I'd get full bars when outside but 1-2 bars of decreasing voice quality and sometimes a looooong pause when I MAKE the call.
I read somewhere that HSDPA/UMTS isn't used only for data but for voice as well, specifically that both the V3xx and CU500 have the ability to handoff calls in process from UMTS/EDGE to GSM but not back. Is this true? Because after a year when I ditched the CU500, the reception in my apartment is better than compared to before (in 3G) and calls don't drop as often as they do than the K750i.. however, I can make calls at home without any problems or signal degradation with the V3xx. Some phone that is..
Now I'm split between the CU500 and the V3xx for some obscure reasoning. Back when the Moto V3 came out, it was a "proven" popular handset embraced by celebrities to just common folks like us. The V3xx has the same overall design to the original only it is abeit larger and wider than before (I think to accomodate the 3G technology). The unit feels good in my hands, especially to touch as it's covered entirely with some sort of metal, compared to the hard plastic of the CU500. In my experience, black plastic handsets will eventually begin to shine from all the bodily oil from our hands. And the V3xx is severely a fingerprint magnet, WTF!
The CU500 snaps the flip screen when opening and closing quite firmly but on the other hand, the V3xx is significanly lighter when opening and can sometimes slouch closed when held upside down.
The CU500 has a TFT external screen where you can take photos, record video, and listen to music without ever opening the flip screen while the V3xx has a STN external screen where you can do none of the above except take pictures. I would've thought Moto would have TFT screens on both the internal and external screens due to its popularity and on demand-like status but STN screens are a thing of the past! .. I can understand why some companies would still use STN displays due to them being less expensive than their counterparts but the lower image quality and slower response time of the screen just puts a dull taste in my mouth when flashing a brushed-metal phone to my friends.
I'm still a traditionalist when it comes to the handsfree functionality of mobile phones. I got over myself when the K750i integrated the charger, audio jack, and the handsfree port to the end of the unit but got bored of it really fast when I switched to bluetooth headphones/mic. The CU500 still includes a 2.5mm audio jack for handsfree operations or just listening to music. Slap that with front and center buttons makes me look like I'm pulling out an oversized mp3 player whenever I want to listen to music. On the other hand, I've gotta' flip open the V3xx just to get to the music controls..
Since I do alot of travelling, I also want a phone that'll let me smoothly transition into their different networks without too much trouble in terms of reception. The K750i did it for a time but better reception is hard to come by when you're relying on one frequency band. Which brings up my ultimate fear: will my V3xx become a K750i when I'm in an Asian country? Because the V3xx is just that: a triband phone in which the UMTS frequencies are set to the GSM standard in America .. in other words, I won't be able use UMTS if I go to Japan or something. However, the quadband feature of the CU500 just brings my fears to rest as I can seemlessly float from one network to the other, without too much trouble than swapping out SIM cards.
Battery life is okay for me as both the V3xx and CU500 fare quite well. As a matter of fact, you can go into the CU500's service mode and turn off the UMTS feature to conserve battery life. How you do it with the V3xx will come to me in time if it hasn't already for the rest of us geeky folks, knowing that the initial popularity of the V3 has drawn lots of support from the modding scene. I wish I could say the same for the CU500..
The UI of the V3xx is abit confusing to me than the CU500 and the camera takes worse off pictures compared to the other even though they're both rated at 1.3 MP. Usually when I jack up the quality settings on my CU500, it'll dump 200-500 Kbyte pictures onto my memory card compared to the higher settings of the V3xx, which dumps most between 20-60 KBs. And doesn't the V3xx run on an nVidia Goforce chipset? I would've expected Moto/AT&T to come up with a UI that has smooth effects like an iPhone or something, not cheap animated boxes like before. But I suppose this'll give modders a run for their money, like all the homebrewing for major gaming consoles out there ..
A couple other things I've noted about the V3xx is the music player's crappy functionality. First, it has no visualization compared to the CU500. Well, I suppose that's a good thing since visualization on the external STN screen would be totally unacceptable. Secondly, whenever I listen to music and change the EQ settings, the music stops. On the CU500, it'll continue playing the song while you tweak the EQ so you'll know how it sounds like. But other than that, this is the only major bug that I've encountered so far.
So right now, I'm sticking with the CU500, while my V3xx is free from the torments of my greasy hands. Unless someone has a better reason to use the V3xx over the CU500 ..
Now as I understand it, the K750i is a triband GSM phone in the Asian market with one frequency band designated for the US. V3xx is also a triband phone, with one dedicated frequency band for the Asian/Euro networks. AND the CU500 is a quadband, with all supporting GSM frequencies for wherever you are (except the rarer almost outdated band of 400 MHz). Both the V3xx and the CU500 have an additional "coating" of 3G on it, specifically the support of the newer HSDPA (EDGE is 2.75G and is an enhancement of GPRS in GSM), and the HSDPA on the V3xx is twice as fast as implemented on the CU500 (which isn't that important I guess).
So now I sorta' know why I've observed a boost in reception with the newer handsets. I suppose back when the CU500 came out, the 3G standard wasn't fully deployed or tweaked on the Cingular/AT&T network as it was quite new to them (I think). But knowing the CU500 supports the two American GSM frequency bands, shouldn't reception be as good as any handset on the market? And shouldn't my K750i do moderately well since GSM is fully deployed on their network for some time now? I guess the K750i used one of the bands not favoured more than the other? Because everywhere I went, the reception and voice quality was poor; I'd get full bars when outside but 1-2 bars of decreasing voice quality and sometimes a looooong pause when I MAKE the call.
I read somewhere that HSDPA/UMTS isn't used only for data but for voice as well, specifically that both the V3xx and CU500 have the ability to handoff calls in process from UMTS/EDGE to GSM but not back. Is this true? Because after a year when I ditched the CU500, the reception in my apartment is better than compared to before (in 3G) and calls don't drop as often as they do than the K750i.. however, I can make calls at home without any problems or signal degradation with the V3xx. Some phone that is..
Now I'm split between the CU500 and the V3xx for some obscure reasoning. Back when the Moto V3 came out, it was a "proven" popular handset embraced by celebrities to just common folks like us. The V3xx has the same overall design to the original only it is abeit larger and wider than before (I think to accomodate the 3G technology). The unit feels good in my hands, especially to touch as it's covered entirely with some sort of metal, compared to the hard plastic of the CU500. In my experience, black plastic handsets will eventually begin to shine from all the bodily oil from our hands. And the V3xx is severely a fingerprint magnet, WTF!
The CU500 snaps the flip screen when opening and closing quite firmly but on the other hand, the V3xx is significanly lighter when opening and can sometimes slouch closed when held upside down.
The CU500 has a TFT external screen where you can take photos, record video, and listen to music without ever opening the flip screen while the V3xx has a STN external screen where you can do none of the above except take pictures. I would've thought Moto would have TFT screens on both the internal and external screens due to its popularity and on demand-like status but STN screens are a thing of the past! .. I can understand why some companies would still use STN displays due to them being less expensive than their counterparts but the lower image quality and slower response time of the screen just puts a dull taste in my mouth when flashing a brushed-metal phone to my friends.
I'm still a traditionalist when it comes to the handsfree functionality of mobile phones. I got over myself when the K750i integrated the charger, audio jack, and the handsfree port to the end of the unit but got bored of it really fast when I switched to bluetooth headphones/mic. The CU500 still includes a 2.5mm audio jack for handsfree operations or just listening to music. Slap that with front and center buttons makes me look like I'm pulling out an oversized mp3 player whenever I want to listen to music. On the other hand, I've gotta' flip open the V3xx just to get to the music controls..
Since I do alot of travelling, I also want a phone that'll let me smoothly transition into their different networks without too much trouble in terms of reception. The K750i did it for a time but better reception is hard to come by when you're relying on one frequency band. Which brings up my ultimate fear: will my V3xx become a K750i when I'm in an Asian country? Because the V3xx is just that: a triband phone in which the UMTS frequencies are set to the GSM standard in America .. in other words, I won't be able use UMTS if I go to Japan or something. However, the quadband feature of the CU500 just brings my fears to rest as I can seemlessly float from one network to the other, without too much trouble than swapping out SIM cards.
Battery life is okay for me as both the V3xx and CU500 fare quite well. As a matter of fact, you can go into the CU500's service mode and turn off the UMTS feature to conserve battery life. How you do it with the V3xx will come to me in time if it hasn't already for the rest of us geeky folks, knowing that the initial popularity of the V3 has drawn lots of support from the modding scene. I wish I could say the same for the CU500..
The UI of the V3xx is abit confusing to me than the CU500 and the camera takes worse off pictures compared to the other even though they're both rated at 1.3 MP. Usually when I jack up the quality settings on my CU500, it'll dump 200-500 Kbyte pictures onto my memory card compared to the higher settings of the V3xx, which dumps most between 20-60 KBs. And doesn't the V3xx run on an nVidia Goforce chipset? I would've expected Moto/AT&T to come up with a UI that has smooth effects like an iPhone or something, not cheap animated boxes like before. But I suppose this'll give modders a run for their money, like all the homebrewing for major gaming consoles out there ..
A couple other things I've noted about the V3xx is the music player's crappy functionality. First, it has no visualization compared to the CU500. Well, I suppose that's a good thing since visualization on the external STN screen would be totally unacceptable. Secondly, whenever I listen to music and change the EQ settings, the music stops. On the CU500, it'll continue playing the song while you tweak the EQ so you'll know how it sounds like. But other than that, this is the only major bug that I've encountered so far.
So right now, I'm sticking with the CU500, while my V3xx is free from the torments of my greasy hands. Unless someone has a better reason to use the V3xx over the CU500 ..