Unfortunately, yes the colume on the RAZR is a bit low.  I experienced
similar problems, as did dother people complain about it.  I got around
it by usinig a bluetooth headset like the scala 500 which allows for a
amplified volume boost beyond what the phone offers.

Some have also reported success using seem editing to to force the
volume a little higher, but people who did this caution that if you go
too far you'll blow the earpiece speaker.  So, I never risked it.

I own two RAZR phones and the volume on both was too low.  I put up with it
for a couple of weeks but it really was almost impossible to hear a caller
in a crowded room.  Finally, I toyed around with one of these programs you
can find for free on the Net to tweak your phone.  Sure, I was scared that I
was going to accidently destroy the thing.  But, as luck would have it, the
update took two minutes, was easy and it worked just fine.  Now my RAZR is
my new favorite phone.

Now for the phonebook problem.  The phonebook is so primitive and poor that
I loath to think about it.

Jimmy