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The good: The Motorola Slvr L6 has a slim, sexy design, Bluetooth, and quality performance.
The bad: The Motorola Slvr L6 has a low-resolution display and a poorly designed keypad. It also suffers from blurry picture
quality and an average speakerphone. Plus, Cingular has deactivated some important features.
The bottom line: If you can get it at a bargain price, the Motorola Slvr L6 is a solid option for users who want a functional
phone with sexy looks, but true phone fanatics will be disappointed.
When its slim Razr flip phone rocketed to popularity last year, Motorola knew it was on to something, so it’s not surprise
the company went to work on a candy bar version soon after. But rather than be satisfied with just one Slvr, as the resulting
model came to be known, Motorola designed three that spanned the mobile spectrum. Cingular first introduced the higher-end
model, the iTunes-equipped Motorola Slvr L7, in February, and it quickly became as popular as the Razr. And now Cingular rolls
out the midtier version of the phone, the Slvr L6 (the low-tier Slvr L2 is a Cingular phone as well). Equally skinny but bearing
a different coat and an improved Web browser, the L6 keeps the Bluetooth support, the speakerphone, and the VGA camera found
in its sibling but ditches the iTunes compatibility, the MP3 player, and the TransFlash card slot. Also, while the phone is
capable of supporting push-to-talk (PTT) services, Cingular has not activated the L6 for its PTT network. Overall, the L6
is an attractive and handy cell phone, but we weren’t impressed by the keypad design, the low-resolution screen, and
the blurry photo quality. Available exclusively at RadioShack for Cingular, the Slvr L6 is way too expensive if you pay full
price, but service-plan rebates knock it down to a more respectable INR 4,061/-. Alternatively, unlocked versions average
around INR 6,093/-.
Design of Motorola Slvr L6
There’s no escaping it–the Motorola Slvr L6 is all about design. Though it largely resembles the L7 in shape,
it’s marginally shorter and slimmer than its sibling, making it the skinniest handset we’ve reviewed thus far
(4.4 by 1.9 by 0.43 inches). At 3.3 ounces, it also weighs slightly less than the L7, so you should have no trouble slipping
it in a pocket or a bag. Keep in mind, however, that the small size has its drawbacks. It’s difficult to feel the phone
vibrate when it’s in your pocket, and it can be uncomfortable to hold the phone against your ear for long periods of
time. The construction seemed mostly solid–we tried dropping the phone a few times–but as with the Razr, we’re
worried about long-term durability.
We were disappointed that Motorola chose to downgrade the L6’s display from 262,000 colors on the L7 to 65,536 colors,
or 128×160 pixels. Though it’s large enough (1.75 inches diagonally), the difference in resolution on the display is
clearly noticeable. Graphics had a washed-out effect, so the screen isn’t the best for viewing photos, browsing the
Web, or playing games. It was fine, however, for scrolling through the standard Motorola menus. You can change the backlighting
time and the brightness, but you can’t alter the contrast or the font size. Also, be warned that the glossy display
shows finger smudges easily.
Reviewed By Damian Koh,CNETAsia.com
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