Motorola V3im: iTunes on Razr hits the UK

The Motorola Rokr E1 was a disappointment to Crave. We yearned for an iTunes-compatible mobile phone -- but instead we got a mediocre MP3 player and a chunky handset. The Rokr E1 advert used famous artists, including Madonna and Iggy Pop, to sell the concept that you would be able to carry your favourite music with you wherever you went.

Unfortunately, you would only be able to store around 100 songs on the phone's memory, which in this day and age is a tiny fraction of most people's MP3 collections. The other and more important fault with the Rokr E1 was its unimpressive design, which didn't remotely gel with Apple's famous white smoothness.

Motorola seems to have learnt its lesson, however, and has gone back to what it's good at -- making Razrs. The Razr V3im isn't really a new phone, just the V3i with pre-loaded iTunes software. (This was available on the V3i when it first came out in the US.) Unlike the Rokr E1, this phone looks great and has an expandable microSD (TransFlash) memory card slot that will apparently support 1GB cards.

But, and like John Prescott it's a big but, when we looked into the small print, we noticed the phone still has the annoying 100-song cap. Perhaps that's why there hasn't been much hoopla over the launch of this handset in the UK. Even though it's available from O2 now, Motorola isn't shouting about it.

We're not sure what's going on, but since the phone is on O2's Web site, and when we called them up they told us we could get one within five working days, we're not complaining -- this one's just between Crave and you. Expect a review soon. -AL

Update: a short review of the Motorola Razr V3im is now live.