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A rugged walkie-talkie cell phone
- Excellent call quality
- Push-to-talk capability
- Loud, clear speakerphone
- Bright, sharp screens
- Long battery life
- Inconvenient navigation menus
- Confusing email and text features
- No flash for camera
- Choppy streaming video
- Flimsy back panel
Motorola's Adventure V750 (*Est $50 with new contract; $130 with renewal) is a rugged push-to-talk (PTT) phone designed to hold up to extraordinary physical stress and function as a walkie-talkie, as well as provide the standard calling and multimedia fare. Experts and owners alike bicker over inconsistent performance, but most agree that while it's not a top performer in any respect, the Motorola Adventure V750 is a functional multipurpose phone. Verizon's push-to-talk network and features are repeatedly held against Sprint/Nextel's Direct Connect and found slightly lacking. The most persistent expert comparisons are made between the Adventure V750 and Casio's GzOne Boulder, with reviews finding the Boulder to have superior construction, but the Adventure to have better call quality.
The Motorola Adventure V750 is a clamshell phone, reminiscent of Motorola's Razr line, but designed to adhere to military specifications for shock, vibration, dust and temperature. To the disappointment of experts, unlike the Casio Boulder, the Adventure boasts no water-resistance capabilities. It also has the unfortunate habit of losing its back panel when dropped. At approximately 4 inches tall, 2 inches wide, 0.7 inches deep and 3.9 ounces, reviewers say it's compact with a nice, sturdy feel. The external 1.6-inch and internal 2.2-inch displays are described as large and bright, though CNET and InfoSyncWorld.com's evaluations both say that they expected better resolution from such a high-caliber phone.
The keypad design is praised generally as spacious and pleasingly tactile, but criticized for dim backlighting and tiny print, but InfoSyncWorld.com's Philip Berne argues that the keypad is too spacious, hindering texting ability. Other experts say text and email functions are not very easy to use. Convoluted navigation plagues the Adventure V750 through all of its reviews, though many owners don't seem to mind opening the phone to initiate music before closing it again to use the dedicated, external music player buttons, and other similar extra steps.
Call quality is subject to less disagreement. Reviewers enthuse over crisp, instantaneous voice transmission in both regular and push-to-talk modes. The Adventure V750's speakers -- dubbed "awe-inspiring" by PCMag.com's Sascha Segan -- span the entire bottom of the phone's casing, and they're put to good use, outputting sharp audio at impressive volume. Music audio quality was similarly good, but streaming video was inconsistent, with some reviewers reporting blurry, jerky images. The 2-megapixel camera does not include a flash, something Wired's Danny Dumas calls "the stuff of dark ages," and it underperforms in general. The Adventure's battery ranks as outstanding in tests, logging around five hours of continuous usage in most reviews.
The most balanced, thorough review of the Motorola Adventure V750 is found at CNET; mobile tech expert Kent German's findings on the phone are reasonable and fairly representative of the aggregate of Adventure V750 reviews. Equally thorough, with a handy quick-reference scoreboard, is Philip Berne's InfoSyncWorld.com evaluation. Berne is the most critical of Adventure V750 reviewers; rather than comparing it with other available cell phone options, he judges the phone based on its lack of technical advancement from its predecessors. PCMag.com's slightly less comprehensive coverage highlights the Adventure V750's simplicity, minimizing technical shortfalls that are unlikely to be an annoyance to typical users. Danny Dumas of Wired delivers a concise review of the Adventure V750 that focuses on its "rugged" construction, and user reviews from PhoneScoop.com offer a glimpse into the realities of owning the phone.
| Motorola Adventure V750 Wall Charger Direct | |
(15 reviews) In Stock. |
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Our Sources
1. CNET
Kent German is cautiously optimistic in his evaluation of the Motorola Adventure V750, finding it a solidly constructed phone with decent features and good performance. Disappointments aren't many, but they are significant enough to reduce the Adventure's rating to a 3.5 out of five. Most notably, the push-to-talk call function is marred by static and insufficient volume.
Review: Motorola Adventure V750 (Verizon Wireless), Kent German, Aug. 4, 2008
One of the nicest features of InfoSyncWorld.com's reviews is the at-a-glance scoreboard summary of features and performance. The site's editors assign ratings on 19 separate indicators before calculating an overall percentage -- in the case of the Motorola Adventure V750, an underwhelming 61 percent. In the accompanying review, the Adventure is praised for excellent call quality, battery life and network speed. These compliments are overshadowed, however, by the limitations of the interface design, messaging features and music and video players.
Review: Motorola Adventure V750 Review, Philip Berne, Aug. 25, 2008
3. PCMag.com
PCMag.com's Sascha Segan begins his evaluation by putting the Adventure V750's claims of ruggedness to the test: He hurls the phone at a nearby wall. "Not nearly as tough as advertised," he notes after the back panel falls off. Aside from this failure, though, Segan is pleased with the Adventure, calling the displays big and bright; traditional and push-to-talk call quality excellent; and the media player decent.
Review: Motorola Adventure V750, Sascha Segan, Aug. 21, 2008
4. Wired Blog
This blog entry is accompanied by a photo of the Adventure V750 half-buried in dirt and straw -- appropriately so, as reviewer Danny Dumas chooses to focus on the phone's durability in this brief review. He cites the military-grade protection measures as a critical difference between the Adventure and profile-identical Razr models, then puts the phone through a series of four-foot drops and burials. The Adventure emerges mostly unscathed, though Dumas notes a flimsy back panel.
Review: Review: Motorola Rugged Phone Lacks Tough Guise, Danny Dumas, Sept. 10, 2008
The Motorola Adventure V750 reviews at PhoneScoop.com are mixed, even contentious, with contributors expressing strong disagreement with previously posted comments. The majority of users like their phones, and the overall rating for the Adventure is 3.65 out of five, based on more than 20 reviews. Call quality and aesthetic design are frequently praised, while the design of the charging port, back panel and external music controls are common sources of annoyance, as is the lack of water resistance.
Review: Motorola Adventure V750, Contributors to PhoneScoop.com
