The Motorola Slvr L7 (styled SLVR L7), also marketed as MOTOSLVR, is a candybar style
mobile phone
A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...
made by
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...
for
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...
networks. It was announced at the
3GSM fair on February 14, 2005 originally under the name SLVR V8. Inspired by the
Motorola Razr V3, the Slvr shares the same flat keypad
and was designed to be thin and compact: it was just thick which was considered very thin at the time.
Two main updated versions were also made: the Slvr L7e announced in October 2006 adds
EDGE
Edge or EDGE may refer to:
Technology Computing
* Edge computing, a network load-balancing system
* Edge device, an entry point to a computer network
* Adobe Edge, a graphical development application
* Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...
data, upgrades the camera to 1.3-megapixels, and upgrades Bluetooth capabilities. This was followed by a successor Slvr L9 (known as Slvr L72 in Asia) announced in February 2007 with a redesigned plastic keypad, upgrading the camera to 2.0-megapixels and adding an
FM radio
FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...
.
In addition, Motorola also released two cheaper handsets without the SLVR designation: the Motorola L6 has a downgraded 65k color display with lower resolution, lacks the
microSD
Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary hardware, proprietary, non-volatile memory, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of port ...
slot present on the Slvr L7, and has a different, curved keypad.
A variant of this model, Motorola L6i, has an additional FM radio. Motorola L2 is a model that removes the music player and entirely lacks a camera, while also having a raised keypad. This model was marketed specifically to corporate and government markets which generally prohibit their employees from using phone cameras. Both these models were announced on March 11, 2005 under the names SLVRcam V280 and SLVRlite V270 respectively.
Features
The L7 was originally announced as Motorola SLVR V8 in February 2005, before being renamed to SLVR L7. It is known for its dedicated
web browser
A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...
and web video downloader which critics have said is the main feature of the Slvr.
It is one of a few non-
Apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
branded phones released featuring
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
support, allowing the user to play up to 100 downloaded songs that are stored on the phone's removable
microSD
Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary hardware, proprietary, non-volatile memory, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of port ...
card. This feature only appears on units sold in the US: international Slvr L7 phones use Motorola's own music playing software and is not compatible with iTunes.
The Slvr L7 also features
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...
connectivity, a digital camera with 4x
digital zoom
Digital zoom is a method of decreasing the precise angle of view of a digital photograph or video image. It is accomplished by cropping an image down to an area with the same aspect ratio as the original, and scaling the image up to the dimens ...
and has a speakerphone.
Carried in the United States by
Cingular Wireless
AT&T Mobility, LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. Formed in April 2000 as Cingular Wireless LLC, It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless serv ...
,
Metro PCS
Metro by T-Mobile, formerly known as MetroPCS, and simply known as Metro, is an American prepaid wireless service provider and brand owned by T-Mobile US. It previously operated the fifth largest mobile telecommunications network in the United ...
, and
Cricket Communications, and carried in Canada by
Rogers Wireless
Rogers Wireless Inc. is a Canadian mobile network operator headquartered in Toronto, providing service nationally throughout Canada. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The company had revenues of just under $15.1 billion in ...
, it superseded the earlier
Motorola Rokr E1
Motorola Rokr E1 (stylized Motorola ROKR E1), also marketed as MotoRokr E1, is a candy-bar style cell phone by Motorola, announced on September 7, 2005. The phone was conceived in a collaboration between Motorola and Apple, with the Rokr E1 integ ...
, which was withdrawn from the market due to lackluster sales.
Variants
The Motorola Slvr L7e is a refreshed version finished in blue color that features a 1.3 megapixel camera, EDGE and some internal hardware changes as well as updated software, similar to
Motorola Rizr Z3
The Motorola Rizr Z3 (stylised RIZR V3), also marketed as MotoRizr Z3, is a slider-style mobile phone made by Motorola for GSM networks, and the first product under the RIZR name. It was announced on July 24, 2006 and released in the final quar ...
. This model was not sold in the US.

Motorola Slvr L71 is the name of the L7e model sold in China by
China Mobile
China Mobile is the trade name of both China Mobile Limited and its ultimate controlling shareholder, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese State-owned enterprises of China, state-owned telecommunicationsStrait deals ''The Econ ...
.
Slvr L7i is another variant. An
i-mode
i-mode (, ) is a Japanese mobile internet (distinct from wireless internet) service operated by NTT DoCoMo. Unlike Wireless Application Protocols, i-mode encompasses a wider variety of internet standards, including web access, e-mail, and ...
version of the Slvr L7 was also released in 2006.
Partnering with Motorola, various British networks released a special
Product Red Slvr
and Bluetooth H3 headset to help support
Global Fund
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (or simply the Global Fund) is an international financing and partnership organization that aims to "attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, tu ...
programs which aim to positively impact the lives of women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.
L7c (CDMA)
Similar to the original Slvr, this
CDMA
Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...
version offers a
Sprint
Sprint may refer to:
Aerospace
* Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design
*Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile
Automobiles
*Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989
*Chevrolet Sprint, a rebadged v ...
or Motorola music player which can hold as many songs as the size of the
memory card
A memory card is an electronic data storage device used for storing digital information, typically using flash memory. These are commonly used in digital portable electronic devices, such as digital cameras as well as in many early games conso ...
in the phone. It also features
EV-DO
Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO, EVDO, etc.) is a telecommunications standard for the wireless transmission of data through radio signals, typically for broadband Internet access. EV-DO is an evolution of the CDMA2000 ( IS-2000) standard which ...
high speed data. The phone was offered in the US by
Sprint
Sprint may refer to:
Aerospace
* Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design
*Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile
Automobiles
*Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989
*Chevrolet Sprint, a rebadged v ...
(in red only),
Claro,
U.S. Cellular
United States Cellular Corporation (doing business as UScellular and formerly known as U.S. Cellular) is an American mobile network operator. Its stock is publicly traded, but Telephone and Data Systems Inc. owns a controlling stake (83% econo ...
,
MetroPCS
Metro by T-Mobile, formerly known as MetroPCS, and simply known as Metro, is an American prepaid mobile phone, prepaid Wireless, wireless service provider and brand owned by T-Mobile US. It previously operated the fifth largest mobile telecommun ...
,
Cricket Communications, and a silver version for
Verizon Wireless
Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...
. The Verizon version, as with other phones from this carrier, prevent the sending of audio files via Bluetooth, although ringtones can be transferred using the BitPim software. The Slvr L7c was also offered in Venezuela by
Movilnet
CANTV () is the state-run telephone and internet service provider in Venezuela. It was one of the first telephone service enterprises in the country, founded in 1930. The largest telecommunications provider in Venezuela, it was privatized in 19 ...
.
While Sprint's Music Store/Player ("powered by Groove Mobile") will list all songs on the SD card, it fails to play any that reside above the first 1 GB of space on the card, producing "Error M506". It also fails to play random tracks if some tracks have a long pathname (directory name length plus file name length), where "long" is approximately over 32 characters.
Criticisms
When the battery is low, the Slvr emits a frequent loud beep, which is inconvenient in many settings. The beeping can be disabled by putting the phone in the silent or vibrate modes, or switching the phone off. The beeping stops when the battery is recharging.
Use by NSA

The SLVR is featured in the
NSA ANT catalog
The ANT catalog (or TAO catalog) is a classified product catalog by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) of which the version written in 2008–2009 was published by German news magazine ''Der Spiegel'' in December 2013. Forty-nine catalog ...
as a variant costing $15,000 and containing a
software-defined radio
Software-defined radio (SDR) is a radio communication system where components that conventionally have been implemented in analog hardware (e.g. mixers, filters, amplifiers, modulators/ demodulators, detectors, etc.) are instead implemented ...
for covert surveillance.
Gallery
Moto L2.jpg, Motorola L2
Motorola L6 black.jpg, Motorola L6 in black
CellPhone.jpg, Motorola SLVR L7
Motorola SLVR L9.jpg, Motorola SLVR L9
See also
*
Samsung Ultra Edition
Samsung Ultra Edition is a former series of mobile phones from Samsung Electronics that were designed to be extremely slim and minimalistic. The first range was introduced in June 2006 which included the Samsung SGH-X820, X820, dubbed the "world's ...
References
{{Motorola phones, 4ltr=yes, a=yes, android=yes, tablets=yes, c=yes, cdd=yes, e=yes, i=yes, international=yes, m=yes, mpx=yes, other=yes, q=yes, t=yes, tac=yes, v=yes, ve=yes, w=yes
Slvr
Mobile phones introduced in 2005