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Recent figures reveal that mobile phones will soon outnumber people in the UK. Currently there are 56.2 million mobile phones in use (and what about all those discarded mobiles tucked away in drawers and cupboards) while this country’s population stands at 60 million. Judging by the number of new phones being released with ever increasing feature sets then phones will overtake people sooner rather than later. Of course that is not going to stop us from falling prey to the urge to upgrade to the latest must-have communicator and fashion accessory. The Motorola V80 certainly falls into this fashion accessory category.

Simple flick the top section of the phone in a clockwise direction, switch on and flashing lights will enhance the outer rim of the phone. This attention grabbing feature can also be set to respond to the presence of music and noise around you. The rim of the phone and its key pad will flash according to user-defined settings and timings. Ring styles, audio accompaniments to activities such as opening and closing the phone, wallpaper appearance, colour style and screen saver images are just some of the other options that can be personalised.

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As well as drawing attention to your phone with flashing lights and sound effects, you can demonstrate the phone’s Bluetooth connectivity and use the supplied headset. This stubby device can fit on either ear and allows you to make and receive calls hands-free. One slight drawback when using this headset is that you are easily identified in a darkened room as the device’s indicator pulses at regular intervals in order to maintain contact. This can be disconcerting.

The Motorola V80 can capture images using either portrait or landscape orientation depending upon whether you flick in open 90 or 180 degrees. The image can be viewed on the full colour 176 x 220 pixel display before being sent as an email attachment. You can also store, view, send and receive video clips to other wireless phone users or as MMS messages.

But let’s not forget that first and foremost the V80 is a phone. Options can be set to use Caller ID, hide your own number when making a call and return unanswered calls. Choices of one-touch, speed or voice dialling can be used to supplement the phonebook feature. The phonebook can handle group mailing lists and categories plus allow a primary number for those with more than one number. Call waiting, conference and transfer calls are other supported features.

The phone’s display has a status indicator across the top of the screen. This bar holds icons representing features such as signal strength, battery level, data transmission, messages and GPRS connection. Other icons can be used to access your phonebook, recent calls log, messages and a browser for Internet connection. An additional menu contains links to games & apps, office tools, multimedia and settings. When entering text you can opt for predictive, tap or tap extended with access to a range of symbols.

Navigating through the various menu structures is carried out by using a 5-way key pad that is made up of a central mini-joystick surrounded by up, down, left and right controls. Generally this method of navigation works well although an occasional clumsy finger can product unexpected results.

Pricing for this phone will depend upon the type of contract. However a pay-as-you-go option will put a price tag of around £250 on the V0. This might seem expensive but it is a status symbol that could make you stand out from the crowd.

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