pimp my Razr!

November 5, 2006 11:28 AM

RazrFilter: My Verizon service just provided me with a free upgrade to a Razr V3. Now what? naturally there's lots

I really, really need to retire my poor beatup, falling apart, battery-barely-holding-charge-anymore Motorola V65. Fortunately I have Verizon's upgrade service and the Razr V3 recently hit my 'upgrade options' page.

I opted for this model not necessarily because it's 'hip' and popular but more because I like the Motorola interface, it reminds me a lot of my late, lamented StarTAC, it's a fully metal assembly and I'd prefer something that at least looks like it might survive an unplanned 20+ mph ejection off a moving bike. I'm an unrepentant cell phone abuser, so it didn't take much more than a couple weeks for my V65 to look like it'd been run thru a shredder.

So, I did a search for stuff to do with my new V3. Unfortunately it looks like the sites referenced in the last 2 AskMes related to this topic are Windows based, so if you can tell me some amazing stuff I can do with / to this phone as a Mac user, that's a big bonus.

I do have bootcamp installed on my macbook, so if I (deep sigh) HAVE TO, I'll mod it thru the XP partition, but I'd really love to find good modding sites / toys available to OSX users.

I'm also curious about what headsets people like to use with this model - I'm not entirely sold on a bluetooth headset (zomg! expensive! battery suckage!), and I know the V3 doesn't come with a 2.5mm jack, so what are my options?

oh and before you even start? I've had Motorolas forever and the highly common "address book grouping" complaint is so not understandable to me! do people NOT get how to use the 'MORE' option when entering contacts in the address book?

posted by lonefrontranger to technology (6 answers total)

Unfortunately, Verizon offers only the v3m model of the Razr. It includes Verizon's custom interface, Brew applications (instead of Java) and thus slightly less awesomeness than you might have found from other carriers.

Regardless, there are a few hacks to make life more bearable. You can begin here: http://mac.themotoguide.com/ and especially pay attention to the Moto4Lin documentation. Finally, general Razr hacking information, including the seem edits specific to this model, can be found here:
http://www.hacktherazr.com/
posted by VulcanMike at 12:02 PM on November 5, 2006

I definitely need to pickup a USB cable for my V3C. My girlfriend has a V3M, and she has the god-awful orange background on her outside LCD. And I'd definitely like to be able to do USB transfers. Thanks for the links, VulcanMike.
posted by booticon at 12:33 PM on November 5, 2006

I use a mac with my V3 (from Cingular), though I don't do any modding - just syncing everything with iSync. I did look around in some of the moto forums a bit, though, and it seems most of the software was pc based. I also didn't see a whole lot that the mods offered, beyond allowing you to skin your phone in some interface that is actually worse then the one Moto provides. =)

There is Sailing Clicker, which allows you to use your phone as a remote for your mac, and other nifty things. I *think* the v3c with verizon will work, though I know that razr support depended upon specific revisions and throwing a Java jar on it - just search the forums there for the whole deal.

You can also do stuff so that when someone calls you your mac will pop up with the address book listing of who is calling - see this thread for more on that.

I would recommend a few things re:breaking phones - make sure to get insurance for your phone once the 1 year warranty is up. Otherwise if you break the thing after 13 months you have to pay full price to replace it (currently around $200) or get a new full phone at full price. Also, there are some nice, thin silicon cases that can help prevent scratching and may prevent some damage if the phone does go flying while you are riding.
posted by rsanheim at 2:16 PM on November 5, 2006

According to Apple's iSync compatibility page, the Verizon version of the RAZR V3c doesn't support calendar sync.

Presumably this means that you can still sync up the address book, and that all that funky stuff with Bluetooth and Address Book.app -- e.g., call display popping up on your screen, sending SMS from your computer, etc. -- is still possible?
posted by mcwetboy at 4:56 PM on November 5, 2006

thanks VulcanMike, I surfed thru the MotoGuide site but didn't find anything that looked Mac/OSX compatible.

yes I'd really, really like to use the iSync and SMS features on the macbook WITHIN the OSX side of things. I mean wth, I have a bluetooth computer and now will have a bluetooth phone, shouldn't I be figuring out how to use them TOGETHER?

I agree it sucks that Verizon seems as tho they cripple their hardware with idiotic firmware solutions requiring pay-as-you-go proprietary solutions from them. But honestly they've been the best service provider for me for years, so... yeah.

hence my question about mods - what I'm really asking here is how can I use this combo of techno-gear to improve my (somewhat lack of) organisation. up til now I've mainly been using my cellphone to... uh, make phone calls on? so I'm a little bit lost and wanting to explore any and all new functionality having a bluetooth phone will open up to me.

as to my piggyback question: anyone have any suggestions as to a non-expensive, non-dorky looking headset? I don't mind wired, but I know I'll have to use an adapter for it, apparently.
posted by lonefrontranger at 5:24 PM on November 5, 2006

Verison is non-GSM, no? I didn't even think Verison had SMSs on its phones! lol! Just use Skype for SMSs. And just ditch Verison next time.

Moto4lin isn't good enough since it can't back up your phone.
posted by jeffburdges at 8:19 AM on February 25, 2007