Motorola E815
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Screen | 176x220 pixels, 262,000 colors |
|---|---|
| Ringtone | Polyphonic, MIDI, MP3 |
| Memory | 40MB |
| Networks | CDMA 850 and 1900 |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, USB |
| Physical size | 3.70" x 1.93" x 0.92" (94mm x 49mm x 24mm) |
| Weight | 4.06 oz (115g) |
The Motorola E815 is the successor to the V710, and like its predecessor, it is a premium phone which shares a large number of similar features, including:
- 1.3 megapixel camera with LED flash and self-portrait capability, video clips up to 3 minutes
- Video capture and playback (3GP)
- TFT LCD with 176x220 pixels supporting 262,000 colors.
- Integrated MP3 player
- Expandability via TransFlash memory cards
- Office quality speakerphone
- Speaker independent speech recognition with voice digit dialing
- High-Speed Data Technology: cdma2000 1xRTT, EVDO
- GPS Localization
Other technical data include:
- Form Factor: Clamshell
- Stub/Extendable Antenna
- Battery Life: Talk: 4.67 hours, Standby: 280 hours (11.7 days)
- 2.5 mm jack
The E815 is known for having superb reception and has received a warm welcome from many phone enthusiasts disappointed with the shortcomings of the V710. Yet, for those that have not experienced the V710, the E815 seems to be unreliable and glitchy.
Contents |
[edit] Carriers
The phone has been distributed in North America by the following carriers:
- Verizon Wireless (U.S.A.) (some features disabled)
- Alltel (U.S.A.)
- US Cellular (U.S.A.) tentative
- Aliant (Canada)
- Bell Mobility (Canada)
- AMP'D Mobile (U.S.A.) (essentially the same phone, but officially called the E816/Hollywood, featuring black housing, and offering Push to Talk (PTT) technology)
[edit] User Tips
To set up your own ring tone on a phone from a provider other than Verizon:
1) Install Motorola Phone Tools on your computer (from CD that came with phone), plug your phone into the USB port, and start the program.
2) Choose Multimedia Studio, then select File Transfer.
3) Copy an MP3, WAV or MID file to your phone. It should be placed under \audio.
4) On the phone, go to Media Gallery | Sounds. Play the file to confirm the quality is okay, then hit Menu and choose Set as Ringtone.
If you have problems with MP3 quality, try reducing the bitrate and making it mono instead of stereo.
[edit] Criticism
Unlike the V710, which inherently had no Bluetooth OBEX profile, the E815 includes OBEX compatibility. However, this feature was disabled by Verizon, as were (like the v710) the options to copy and move files between the TransFlash memory card and the phone's internal memory. However, several enthusiast groups dedicated to hacking Motorola phones exist, and despite Verizon's attempts to limit the phone's native features, several tutorials have surfaced providing detailed instructions on how to re-enable crippled features.
One of the most annoying restrictions imposed on the Verizon version of the E815 is the obscurity and deliberate lack of any documented explanation of how to upload one's own custom ringtones to the handset. Verizon Wireless has stated the reason for the restriction on uploads is a precaution against a subscriber uploading malware to their phone. A more cynical view might be that Verizon wishes subscribers to purchase ringtones from their "Get It Now" boutique. It's possible to get ringtones onto the handset using the "vzwpix" website. For a MIDI file, simply send an e-mail to xxxyyyzzzz@vzwpix.com (where (xxx) yyy-zzzz is your cellular telephone number) with 'filename.mid' as an attachment. When the message arrives at your handset, open the message, go to page 2 of the message, depress the menu key, select the 'save items' function and save the attachment as a ringtone. There is a small fee for the upload, but it's considerably less than purchasing a ringtone.
You can do the same thing with an .mp3 file, but you must change the file extension to ".mid" and compress it to a reasonable size by trimming the duration and reducing the bit rate. You will not need more than 30 seconds of audio before the call is shunted to voicemail. For some reason the handset does recognize that the file is an .mp3 despite the misleading file extension, but vzwpix will change the .mp3 to a .qpc file type before transmission to the handset. The conversion usually results in a serious degradation of sound quality and audio volume level.
If you have a transflash card, you can put a .mid file (either an actual midi or .mp3 that has its filename changed) onto the card (the file must be less then 350 mb to send). Then, view the device memory and push the menu button. Select "Send in Message" and enter a bogus address (e.g. 555-555-5555). The message will (obviously) not send correctly, but will appear in your outbox. You can then view it and save the file to your phone's memory, where it can then be used as a ringtone. Note, make sure the filename is fairly short, as longer names will not be recognized all the time. This method has the advantage of being fairly easy and self-contained, but does require the purchase of a transflash card and USB adapter (about 40-80 dollars depending on the size of the card).
Another restriction applied to this phone (by all carriers) is the inability to use QNC data, which is still the only data service available in some areas of the country and this is usually not brought up when people purchase this handset. Bell Mobility (Canada) has also been known to disable EV-DO functionality, but this can be re-enabled from settings on the phone itself and requires no hacking.
[edit] External links
- Motorola E815 official page
- Mark Venture's V710/E815 information site
- The Godfather's Motorola E815 Hacking Site
- HowardForums Motorola Section Excellent resource for E815 hacking and configuration. Detailed tutorials and discussions.
| Motorola phones | |
| A Series | A760 (2003), A780, A830 (2002), A925, A1000 (2004) |
| E Series | E365 (2003), E398, E680, E770, E815, E1000 (2004) |
| i Series | i710, i860, i870 (2005), i920/i930 |
| MPx Series | MPx200 (2003), MPx220, MpX |
| T Series | T720 |
| V Series | V60i, V120c (2002), V180, V220 (2004), V360 (2005), V400 (2003), V551 (2004), V557 (2005), V600, V620, V635, V710, V980 (2004) |
| Four-Letter Series | KRZR (2006), MING (2006), PEBL (2006), RAZR (2004), RIZR (2006), ROKR E1 (2005), ROKR E2 (2006), SLVR (2005) |
| Others | International 3200 (1982), MOTOFONE (2006), Q (2006), StarTac (1996) |
| (see also List of Motorola products#Mobile telephones and Motorola phones) Edit | |
