L7e vs. L7i vs. L71

[Dog]

Two quick (yet wordy) questions - hope they have quick answers...

I'm seeing competing info regarding the L71 (1 != i) package. Some sites (usually auction sites) list the L71 with the detailed info. stating the included handset is an L7i while others (example (http://metroid.trustpass.alibaba.com/product/11776256/Motorola_Slvr_L7e.html)) list or imply that the L71 is an L7e (occasionally refering to MOT-L71 as in the example link).

Additionally Motorola (HK) lists the L7i (http://www.motorola.com/consumer/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=0a7957655b930110VgnVCM10000082 06b00aRCRD&show=productHome) as being only bluetooth v1.2/class 2 (click on Full Specifications in the left pane, then select Data Features) while I thought both the e and i were bt v2. MotHK/Singapore doesn't seem to have any bt specs for the L7e (http://www.motorola.com/motoinfo/product/details.jsp?globalObjectId=172) (other than 'Bluetooth Connectivity2' which could refer to version or class) and no listing at all for the L71. Ugg.

Anyone know if the L71 is an e or an i and/or what the story is with which bt version the e is? I ordered an e and received a box labeled L71. I'm hesitant to open it until I can verify whether it's an e or an i.

Any info would be greatly appreciated - even in proverb or haiku form :D

[fosco_]

stay away from L7i, it is not p2k compatible, so no mods available (at least at the moment)

[living_sword]

if ur seller can be trusted, it should be a L7e.

[yossariangt]

i have the l71...from china, asian characters on the keyboard and comes with several asian languages... works well, looks sexy, no mods, is there a way i can find out what bt version?

be happy to help, this forum has been great when i modded my l7 4517

oh, the box says a2dp and i can play mp3s over the bluetooth if that has something to do with the version..

[living_sword]

oh, the box says a2dp and i can play mp3s over the bluetooth if that has something to do with the version..

yes, if it plays music over bt then its v2.0.

[Dog]

Hey everyone - thanks for the replies! :D

A couple of quickies, then onto the meat.

* yassariangt - we appear to have the same phone - have you tried connecting with a P2K compatible app such as P2KTools?

* living_sword - please don't smite me - doesn't MP3 over b/t suggest A2DP/class 2, not necessarily version 2? I *thought* v.2 brought higher speeds, better security, and roughly half the power requirement, but A2DP was available in the bt 1.1/1.2/2.0 spec. I am cornfused. *** Update: Bluetooth A2DP - Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Distribution_Profile)

OK, on with the show...more research has revealed the following - the L71 *appears* to be an L7i or some form of budget L7e. The info suggesting this conclusion is as follows:

- L71 box says '1GB external memory support'
- Having opened and tested the phone I have to rate the reception and sound quality as poor. My 5 year old v70 has far better reception and nearly identical sound quality with its damaged speaker. I'm getting 5/5 bars in my home with my v70 and the L71 bounces back and forth between 2/5 and no network. The super loud ringer/speaker phone is nice, but the amp/speaker combo clearly aren't up to the task.
- A *lot* more web searches haven't produced any definitive clarification, but more often than not the L71 is listed with L7i specs.

On the plus+plus side, the interface is quite nice and the button features are a MAJOR upgrade from the RAZR v3. I love the fact that you can voice dial SIM entries and holding the voice dial button starts a voice memo. I miss the messages button, but the 'back up one step' button more than makes up for it - it's excellent not having to drop all the way back to the main screen from *any* of the menus/dialogues. Filtering SIM only, phone only, or both for contacts is major. I could go on and on - Moto has really come a ***long*** way since the StarTak and Vader phone.

I'm a little perplexed that you can't select the backgrounds and screensavers included in the 'Themes' unless you select the theme itself. Although I haven't tested it I'm thinking this may be true of the ringers as well (the 'use theme default' entry for the ringer tone suggests that each theme has a custom ringer). Fortunately you can select a theme, then change all the sounds (keeping the background and screensaver). Adjusting to iTap is going to take some time, but it seems to have some advantages over T7 (I can't fairly comment on any possible disadvantages since I'm not yet familiar with it).

Sadly, the terrible reception and mediocre sound quality equate to a downgrade from my RAZR :( Add the limit of 1GB external storage support and this phone just isn't worth the price of admission for me. I'll try plugging the phone into my PC tomorrow at some point and see if it's an e or an i (I'm assuming if it's P2K compatible then it's just a toned down e of sorts) - hopefully that'll help provide some clarification for those considering an L7(x) now or in the future.

Either way I'm going to ask the seller to provide a full fledged L7e (as advertised). If that can't be done the phone will be going back and I'll be grilling retailers (kindly) before sending any money. Shame on Motorola for creating such a debacle - cool, cool phones...terrible, terrible marketing department (Hello...Moto? Are you listening? Can you hear me now?) Cheap joke, sorry, had to do it :p

Does anyone have suggestions for retailers? If not permitted in posting (guilty as charged, I haven't read the rules yet, working from general netiquette), would someone be kind enough to PM me? So far all I'm seeing are retailers either claiming the L7i and L7e are the same or sliding toward listings of L7e/L71.

[living_sword]

L7e has bluetooth v2.0 which..like u said.., has higher data transmission speeds(2-3mbps), low battery consumption. A2DP doesnt depend on the version of blutooth. it can function even on v1.1 or v1.2 .

The Class of bluetooth(like class 1 or 2 or 3) specifies the range of scan. for example class1 has range of 300 feet, class 2 has a range of 30 feet.

[Dog]

Gratz - I thought class indicated capabilities. Didn't realize there was such a thing as 300ft. bt.

::: Off-topic :::
I'm curious - if 1=300 and 2=30, does 3=3? I'm using a program that unlocks my PC when my bt phone is in range and locks it again when it's out of range. Three feet would be much better than 30 - I'm guessing there might be some class 3 dongles out there? I'm also guessing that bt requires 2-way so once the phone doesn't hear the dongle both would drop the session and the PC would lock?

::: On-topic:::
Results of current research have provided the first useful haiku

The L-seven-one
Is not an exact match of
The L-seven-E

[aviwhoa251]

stay away from L7i, it is not p2k compatible, so no mods available (at least at the moment)its compatible, you just need to get the latest p2k, p2ktools 3.0.1.170 works great with it

[yossariangt]

i havent tried any modding, etc, waiting to see what others find out...

i did try the motorola phone tools, worked with the l7, doesnt seem to recognize the l71 (perhaps because its chinese) even with an update of the software

ill let you know what else i find out, but really want to brick-town

[Dog]

I've been out all day so no updates as of yet.

*aviwhoa251 - thanks for the info - from what I've seen there are currently only some flash files available (which seem to cause some users to actually lose functionality) - do you know if there any working seem/menu/etc. edits available yet?

*yossariangt - My phone came with a MotoPhoneTools CD (it appears authentic - definitely doesn't look like a burn). The CD has English and Chinese writing on it - I'll give it a try and post my findings.

That's it for now.

[Five-sEvEn]

AFAIK the L71 is the L7e.

All the specifications, features and claims of the L7e are found in the L71 that I have.

The L7i on the other hand, the true L7i is an i-mode phone without a lot of the features found on the L7e/L71, so I don't see that as relevant when comparing the L7e and L71, other than to state that a lot of ebay auctions have the L71/L7e listed as an L7i.

L7i: 70mb or something like that of space, black/silver?, old keypad
L7e: 20mb of space, blue color, new keypad
L71: 20mb of space, blue color, new keypad

In short, what I'm trying to say is that I've yet to find a feature the L7e has advertised that the L71 I have doesn't offer as well. Although I don't have any TF card bigger than 1gb, that could be the only feature the L7e may have the L71 doesn't.

Dog:
My chinese CD had a english install option and, after about an hours worth of updates (at least it felt like that long) it worked fine, and showed the L7e's skin when it booted up. Also I've had no problems with the sound quality at all. Maybe you got a slightly defective one? Or maybe I'm just lucky? To me it sounds and works just as good as any other motorola phone I've used. I haven't bought a 2gb TF card yet, but I do believe that it's possible for the L71 to support 2gb. My next purchase for the phone will conclude that.

One thing that REALLY suprised me about this phone, is that when you stick in a memory card (mine is a 1gb), you get an extra option in the video menu for CIF sized videos!

I'm shocked at the quality as I feel the videos competes with higher end Samsung phones!

The only dissapointment I have about that feature is that you have to select it each time you boot up the application. It won't keep it as a default... Hopefully there's a seem edit to remedy that.. hehe...

Also, the grip about the themes, isn't that a standard problem found among motorola phones? My last L6 had the same irritating issue.

[Dog]

*Five-sEvEn: Thanks for the info - great stuff! I'm sending my phone in for service as the sound quality and reception both suck big time (and seem to be getting worse). Regarding themes - I've always kinda done my own thing...this is the first time I've liked the wallpaper/screen saver setup with a default theme so I've never run into the issue before - thanks for clarifying :)

I've been out of town for the last week so I'm playing catch-up. I hope this info is useful to everyone...

A close friend spoke with someone who has contact with engineers within Mot (including those who worked on the L7(x)) and he passed on some interesting info to me. I have not personally verified this, but I have no reason to doubt it:

According to him the L7e/L71/L7i are all the exact same phone with the exact same specs - they are just for different markets (e is for Europe, 1 is for China, i is for SE Asia if I remember correctly). i-mode can be included as needed but is not specific to the L7i.

As for confusion regarding the Cingular L7i and the 'new' L7i - no help there and no guess as to whether Cingular is selling the 'new' L7i or the previous L7 with their own 'i' added on. My guess, based on your description of the 'i' is that what you describe is a vendor modded L7, but not the new L7(x).

The bad news - my buddy didn't make a great impression in his first contact with the person he spoke with and has since not received any replies to requests for clarification (i.e. is 1GB or 2GB 'officially' supported, is the L7(x) bt 2.0 or bt 1.2, why do the Mot Singapore pages show different specs for the different L7(x) models, etc.). However the info he did receive is supposedly valid and confirmed.

Lingering questions:

1. Has anyone actually taken apart the different L7(x) models and physically verified that the L7i is different or is this simply a misunderstanding due to the need for different P2K drivers to access the phones?

2. Why does the L71 box state only 1GB support (the vendor I purchased my phone from claims to have tested 2GB w/no plms)

[Five-sEvEn]

2. Why does the L71 box state only 1GB support (the vendor I purchased my phone from claims to have tested 2GB w/no plms)

I think I might be able to answer this question. At the time of the L7's release, 512 was the largest memory card avaliable (or so I've heard), but on this forum, people have been able to use 1gb TF cards without any problem, even though the advertised largest capacity it could take was 512.

I believe, that since the L71/L7e/L7i has been around for a while, and the box art and manual hasn't been revised since it's original induction, that's why it says the max support is 1gb, although I have yet to try out a larger capacity personally. I do believe that it can take up to 2gb no problem considering all of the specifications on the "L7e" point to that as the largest capacity, and since the L71 does indeed look and act like the advertised "L7e" so far, I believe it should be fine. But I guess, until someone tries it out, we can never be sure.

The L7, and the L7e are clearly different models as their keypad is different, and they have clearly different hardware. The L7 and the L7i(i-mode) on the other hand, maybe a lot more similar. All the pictures I can gather on the L7i(i-mode) point to that it has a 1.3mp camera, black casing, silver keypad, traditional 3 soft keys (L,R,Menu), and I've read it also has 70mb of internal storage. Also, because the features offered on the i-mode network are very different from standard GSM services, they require different hardware. All i-mode phones have a standard to follow, that apparently the first L7 did not support, so I believe that their hardware is quite different, but without them to compare side by side, I can't prove any of this.

[imix]

Hello,
Mine was sold to me as an L7i, my PC sees it as an L71.
its got English and Chinese characters on the keypad.
as well, the sandisk 2GB microsd card i have in it works FINE.
I just finished backing up the files on it using P2kTools 3.0.
I've sucessfully connected it to MPT, midway, motomidman, P2Kcommander and now P2kTools.
I'm a bit hesitant to start messing with seems yet...
if it aint broke....

[Five-sEvEn]

Well... I guess that last post confirms it.

If it says L7i on the box, then I can personally confirm that the L7i (latest one), L7e and L71 are indeed the same phone.


And I guess 2gb TF cards work fine. After that last post I wouldn't hesitate to try it.

Oh and, it's not chinese characters on the keypad, it's stroke order keys. Pretty cool if you know how to use them ;)

[Dog]

Stroke order is still a mystery to me. I have noticed on my L71 that if I pick 'stroke' text input I get what appear to be Chinese characters, where-as if I pick iTap or Tap I get 'western' characters.

Guess it's time to do some searches on 'stroke order' and see if I can take advantage of it.

imix, Five-sEvEn, aviwhoa251, yossariangt, living_sword, and fosco_ (in no particular order) - thanks so much for your input - looks like this issue can be considered resolved unless some other information surfaces.

[moto god]

I bought mine (L7i) it is a cool phone..........
Wonderful......
I am very happy..........
and the full screen video playback...........
Simply Awesome........

[kirklestat]

check it out if it can play 320 kbps mp3. it has full screen so it plays 220x176 videos and that means it can forward and rewind too right?

[ab00d]

sorry if iam asking a newbie question, i bought and slvr l7 few days ago ...

and yet i came here to see there are diffrent kinds of l7 ... how can i know which kind i have to mod it correctly?

my S/w version is R4513 does that mean its l7?

sorry if iam asking anewbie i bought and slvr l7 few days ago ...

and yet i came here to see there are diffrent kinds of l7 ... how can i know which kind i have to mod it correctly?

my S/w version is R4513 does that mean its l7?

[cash7c3]

yes r4513 is a l7

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/1845/picture1wb9.png

please read

[alienbibin]

Always backup ur seems first. Then try messing with....and it won't brick the fon in any ways....The seem files are just settings files where u can set things. Understand what seem does what and then MOD.....:):)