Motorola EM330 Phone, Titanium (AT&T)

Hinge Broke in 4 months/ AT&T's self serving customer service August 27, 2009

Reviewer:  Robert Sinsheimer "Bob Sinsheimer"  (Youngstown, OH USA) -

After 4 months, my AT&T Motorola EM330 became stiff in the clamshell hinge. About 3 weeks later the hinge cracked upon opening and the upper part of the flip phone separated from the body at an angle on one side. I called in. During over one hour on the phone, AT&T customer service and warranty people maintained consistently that if the hinge cracked, I must have damaged it. I pointed out the phone showed no sign of external injury like dents or scratches and I never dropped it, although I do keep it in my front pants pocket and press the phone against my face while talking which stresses the hinge. Finally I convinced them that I had not abused the phone and they said they would replace it. But there was one more step in the process. The warranty service people had me remove the battery and look at the moisture indicator. It was pink indicating water exposure. I told them the phone had never been in the drink. They told me this could have occurred after being caught in the rain or answering the phone after stepping out of the shower. But regardless, the pink indicator voided the warranty and suddenly they would not replace the phone. They kindly offered to allow me to purchase a new phone at the regular price. How convenient!!! A little moisture indicator allows AT&T to avoid the responsibility of having sold a cheap, poorly made phone. The EM330 is not a clamshell phone. It's an eggshell phone. Based on other reports, BEWARE of AT&T and BEWARE the Motorola EM330.

Nice concept, poor execution July 6, 2009

Reviewer:  framling  (Wisconsin) -

My husband and I both got this phone and have both been having the same problems. The phone often does not alert us of voicemails that have come in. We have to call the voicemail directly to find out if we have messages. The phone also misses calls. Sometimes, it just doesn't ring. We even experimented when we were having problems with finding an area with full bars and standing next to the person calling us and there was no ring and no voicemail notification. Another extremely frustrating problem we have is that when we call out, the call will cut out either before connecting or ring once and then cut out. It sometimes takes several attempts to complete a call. The phone has a tendency to drop calls while we are talking as well. We had none of these problems before, using the same carrier but with different phones. In addition, one of the specifications that sold us on the phone was its advertised battery life but it has not lived up to its advertising.

I will say that the radio is a neat feature and was very nice to have while I was still trying to use the phone. If you want to use the radio while jogging or biking though, the pressure sensitive buttons located on the outside of the clamshell are easily pressed while in a pocket or phone case.

The moral of the story is that I have returned to my old Razr and can only hope it makes it through the next two years until I qualify for another upgrade. My husband is buying a new phone at full cost. Overall this has been an expensive lesson in waiting for reviews to come out before buying a new phone. If you get this phone and have any of these issues at all in the first 30 days, I would suggest returning it because single occurrences turned into the norm for us.

Pick another phone August 15, 2009

Reviewer:  RH  (Austin) -

My son and I both have the EM330. Nice features but both of our phones cannot hold a charge. 20 minutes of talk runs the battery down. Don't believe the 7 hour talk time. Even when new, it was more like one hour. Now 4 months old it's less everyday. It becomes useless. I'd rate no star if allowed.

chevyguy1946 September 5, 2009

Reviewer:  Leon r "chevy guy"  (Pa.) -

I have had this phone for months and never had a problem with it. I do advise going on e-bay and buying a hard snap on case. They are VERY cheap and the back will never fall off. The phone is loaded with so many features it is unbelievable on a phone of this type. I even ordered another one for a back up. Maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones and got 2 great phones. I also have a sony ericsson W760a and a Nokia, I have had nothing but problems with them. Give the em330 a chance but buy a hard case for it.

Works fine until you touch it June 28, 2009

Reviewer:  Melissa "leatheraven"  (Portland, Or USA) -

I have had this phone for a week, and still have trouble picking it up without turning on the music player or changing the ring style. The buttons on the outside of the phone are way to sensitive and practically impossible not to touch. The outer screen just cracked and is no longer readable. To be fair, this happens to all of my phones, just not in the first week. I just wish they would make an inexpensive phone that had some protective padding or armor. The phone could easily be twice as thick and still fit in any pocket. They are all to flimsy for someone with an active lifestyle.

Flimsy December 18, 2009

Reviewer:  Robert D. White  (New Orleans, LA USA) -

The back cover is a joke! The clip for it broke the day I receieved it in the mail and put the back cover on. I'm not the only person who has had this problem with this phone. Personally it's junk! I tried to get AT&T to send me another back cover, but they wouldn't. I will have to try Motorolla. I never even activated the phone. With the unassigned sim it makes a great little FM radio. It's advertised above as having a 3.5mm jack. It actually has a regular 1/8 inch headset jack. I was able to attach my favorite set of head phones.

If I can't get Motorolla to replace the back then this is just 100% trash.

AT&T made me spent another $130.00 to buy another phone.

AT&T sucks your pocket book!

Lots of features, poorly designed October 11, 2009

Reviewer:  Jeremy S. Bull  (Burlington, VT, USA) -

A tempting package if you're looking for camera, radio, mp3, bluetooth, etc. Add a 2GB microSD and you get a lot of functionality.

But it's so poorly designed, I can't recommend it at all. The buttons on the side get constantly pressed in your pocket, causing music to start playing through the speaker, or turning off the phone ringer. (A sequence of multiple keypresses should be required to activate exposed buttons.) Almost as irritating is that the outside screen is so dim you can't read it in daylight, so you have to flip the phone open to see who's calling. And in general, the user interface is an old low resolution design, which does not clearly alert you to missed calls, voicemails, etc. Also note that other reviewers have reported weakness in the hinge.

If you're looking for a cheap compact AT&T phone, a better choice is the [[ASIN:B001PKTRVM LG CF360]]. My daughter picked the LG and loves it.

Related note: if you're just looking for basic phone service and don't want to pay for a data (internet) plan, call AT&T immediately you get your phone and have them block data access. All AT&T phones come loaded with 3G apps, so a few inadvertent keypresses, and you'll find a slew of unintentional a la carte data charges on your first bill.

Flimsy phone June 14, 2009

Reviewer:  Dawn E. Leader "drama queen"  (Homewood, IL) -

This phone is very poorly made. The body is a cheap, thin plastic that falls apart with the slightest bump. I'm constantly putting the back and battery cover back on. Very disappointing.

Hard to Beat for the Price January 30, 2010

Reviewer:  P. Gephardt "gephardt" 

Hard to beat for the price. I had a Nokia bar phone that could not run Bolt browser, and did not support a chip. This phone runs Bolt great, and music sounds good. I added a 2gb Sandisk MicroSD. Documents say the max supported is 2gb- I haven't tried more. The music sounds really good, but between tracks, there is a scratch or skip sound. Doesn't bother me. The browser works great, Google voice, Google maps work OK. Only $13 as a refurbished phone for prepaid use, but I just popped in my AT&T sim and was good to go. Bluetooth was easy to setup and connect with my headset and other devices. Battery life is a little wanting, but for the features and use I get out of it, it's a great device. Uses the mini usb charger, so I don't need any extra chargers!

Poor Design September 25, 2009

Reviewer:  Tech Wizard 

The hinge on this phone is poorly designed and easily breaks. Mine broke after only a few months of gentle use. The carrier, ATT, refused to replace the phone under warranty stating that this is not a know issue. However a Google of "Moto EM330 broken hinge" bring up many hits, including a statement from a Moto rep stating "Our engineers are looking into the issue". Let the buyer beware