How to set up your Motorola RAZR

PREFACE

This has been a long time coming and I'm finally getting around to it! I've had numerous family members and friends purchase a RAZR only to discover upon their first use that its initial set up utterly and completely sucks big donkey ass (and then you know who deals with it). What a lot of people don't realize is that while a team of monkeys were responsible for the default settings, most of the UI can be customized to make this physically fantastic phone suitable for actual everyday use.


CHAPTER I

Basics
So we have a common point of reference, I labeled a picture of the venerable RAZR with the following letters:

A) Soft key - that means this button's function will change depending on what you're doing.

B) Soft key - that means this button's function will change depending on what you're doing.

F) Action/Option Menu key - this button's function also changes depending on what you're doing, but it's important to note that it will always perform an action or show you options for what you may want to do (ie. If you're viewing a picture, pressing this key will bring up options to send it, delete it, etc).

Q) Dirctional pad & okay/selector button - the outer circle moves cursors and the highlighting box thorough menus, the selector button in the middle confirms selections

S) Smartkey - why this is on the phone, I'm not really sure. It's like a third nipple, largely useless, but for those who are into them, is a great extra button.


CHAPTER II

Setting up your RAZR buttons
Yep, that's what you're all here for, right? Please let me say that I will be going over how "I" like my phone set up. Mileage will vary depending on your uses and particular tastes. But I think what I'll be going over will be a great starting point for you to massage your RAZR to just how you like it.

- Press the Menu Key (F) from just opening the phone to get into the Main Menu.
- Select Settings by using the Selector Button (Q)
- Select Personalize (you can do a LOT of customizing from this point on)
- Select Home Screen
- Select Home Keys (and you wonder why you never found this area)

My Home Keys settings: (adjust options by using the left or right using the Directional Button (Q) or using the Right Soft Key (B) to bring up Change options)
Icons: Hide (I just need to read options, not see tiny icons)
(the next four settings refer to the directional pad short cuts which are accessed from your home screen)
Up: Recent Calls
Down: Pictures
Left: Calculator
Right: Datebook (I can sync my iCal with my phone, so I'm sure PC users should be able to find a way to sync with Outlook calendars as well)
Left Soft Key: Camera (B) (this probably the only default setting I kept)
Right Soft Key: Address Book
Smart Key: Bejeweled (S) (I've also set this up as my bluetooth access but for my purposes, I've never really found anything that's been super useful to attach to this button).

You could have also set up your Main Menu from the Personalize screen which allows you to reorder your Main Menu items and make then show up as words rather than giant icons (not that I really use the Main Menu any more since the phone has been set up).


CHAPTER III

Setting up/Using the Address Book
This is another thing that drives people crazy. The Motorola Address Book has a lot of short falls, some can be fixed, others you'll just have to live with.

- Press Menu Key (F) from the Address Book
- Scroll all the way down (or scroll up and warp) to the conveniently located Set Up option

My Phonebook Setup settings: (adjust options by using the left or right using the Directional Button (Q) or using the Right Soft Key (B) to bring up Change options)
View by: List (viewing by picture is nice, but the assigned pictures are too small, or if you have a lot of contacts, the amount of space that viewing by picture takes up is not very practical)
Sort by: Name
View: All Contacts
Search Method:Find (this setting is paramount, as it will now allow you to enter more than one letter to find a contact, rather than being greeted with every person under "b" and then having to scroll through them all).


CHAPTER IV

SIM Card Monte
A lot of people are happy to have all their stuff on a SIM card (the thin Chiclet wafer you surgically shove into the back of your phone's innards) but then find that they cannot assign ring tones or photos to a particular contact. This is because they're told "to keep all their info on the SIM card so that it will be easy to swap phones". Of course this is pretty useless advice because it's easy to transfer your contacts to your phone and then back into the SIM card should you ever need to swap phones (which rarely happens). Also, I think cellular reps are told to tell customers to keep everything on their SIM because it's easier for THEM when you bring in your phone with a problem. But in the meantime, you can't take advantage of fun features like caller ID ring tones and photos!

So how do you do transfer your contacts from your SIM and into your phone?
- Go to your Address Book
- Press the Menu Key (F)
- Select Copy
- All to Phone (if all your info is in the SIM)
- All to SIM (this option shows up if any info is in already in the phone)
- When asked, I would suggest selecting Replace instead of Merge, so you don't end up with a bunch of duplicate entries.

Easy, huh? The process takes a minute or two depending on how many contacts you have. Please also note that if you transfer contact info to your SIM card from your phone, all the extra info you have in your contacts (attached ring tones, photos, id info such as mobile, work, home etc.) will be stripped off, so only the bare bones of the contact info is kept in your SIM.


CONCLUSION

Well that's all I can stand to write about the RAZR. There are few more things you can customize, but the above info should at least get you through the night. Also, it's more than likely this info will work for other Motorola phones as their set ups are all the same or very similar across their product lines. I hope this post has been as helpful as it is enlightening, and that a cult-like religion is developed from it.