Verizon Wireless Razzle – with a ‘twist’

For:

Swivel design, navigation panel buttons are big and hence easy to press, the QWERTY keyboard too feels comfortable, plenty of features for messaging and music

Against:

Inclusion of just a 1.3 mega pixel camera makes this bad as an overall multi media phone. There is no EV-DO so you can’t download songs over the air. Doesn’t have a 3.5 mm headset jack.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The display of the phone is 2.2 inches big, has a resolution of 220 x 176 pixels with 262k colors. The phone has a 1.3 mega pixel camera and it comes along with a self portrait mirror. Supported audio formats are MP3 and WMA. The task bar key on the side gives a task bar for applications’s shortcuts. It gives you access to Contacts list, My Pictures menu, My Music menu, VZW services, Messaging menu, Recent Calls list, dialing interface and a list of all the handset’s tools. This key is also used to lock the screen.

Verizon Wireless Razzle is a CDMA phone with support for 1800/900 bands, Additional features include music control, voice command, microSD card slot, Rhapsody, speakerphone, intelligent typing (T9). Downloadable content includes music, ring tones and games. Other than the task bar key, on the sides, there is a volume rocker button, charger jack and camera button. PIM features on the phone include notepad, stopwatch, world clock, tip calculator, standard calculator, to-do/tasks, calendar and alarm.

Razzle Dazzle:

Verizon Wireless Razzle has an attractive design and yet looks simple. It is a typical rectangular phone, has a smooth matte black finish and has curved edges. The phone is lightweight and the most attractive part about it is that the bottom half can be twisted to access the music player keys. This is not a new feature but still nice to have in a cellphone.

Inside Dope:

Verizon Wireless Razzle is one of those smart phones which can is great for messaging and provides great music too. We think it can be used by business men as well as the youth. The Verizon Wireless Razzle cell phone looks like a business handset with the full sized QWERTY keyboard and when you swivel it around, you get dedicated keys for controlling music playback. There is a bit of downside though, we were disappointed that there is a 2.5 mm headphone jack. We would have preferred a 3.5 mm jack for plugging standard earphones. For messaging enthusiasts, the keyboard is tilted to one side which is great ergonomics for typing messages and e-mails. We also liked the task bar shortcut key on the sides that gives you shortcuts for various applications on the cell phone. There no EV-DO either, so you cannot download songs over the air. The handset costs $19.95 with a two year contract from Verizon Wireless. The phone is manufactured by Pantech and is marketed, developed and distributed by PCD.

Display

The display of the Razzle is 2.2 inches big and gives a resolution of 220×176 pixels or 262k colors. Though not the best display, the photos look good and the text is sharp. You can adjust the menu layout, change the backlight time, menu position, size of the menu and dial fonts and the format of the clock.

Navigation array and keyboard

The navigation array consists of two soft keys, clear key, speaker phone button, circular toggle with OK button in the center and the Send/End keys. The latter buttons are located on the outer edge of the device. The direction keys can be programmed to start any applications of your choice. The navigation array buttons are flat on the surface of the phone but there is enough space between the keys so pressing them is comfortable. All the keys are big enough except the four way navigation button but there weren’t any major issues.

The lower part of the handset can be turned to access the music buttons. We really liked this feature and we think this is a great way to reduce the button clutter on the keyboard. The keyboard is tilted which gives you better ergonomics while typing. The buttons on the keyboard are small but they are again segregated from each other so you don’t get a lot of mis hits, even for people with thick fingers. The number buttons are colored in green. The space key can be used as Quick Note shortcut key and there is a dedicated key for messaging which opens up a new text message.

On the music side, there are four buttons, a key to open the music application, pause/play, previous and next track keys. The music keys cannot be used when it is at the back of the phone and same holds true for the QWERTY keyboard.

Phone book and PIM features

The handset comes with 1000 entry phone book. A single entry can take street address, IM screen name, two e-mail IDs and 5 phone numbers. You can make groups of your callers, photo caller ID too is supported. You get a choice of 27 ring tones and alert tones. PIM features include notepad, world clock, stop watch, alarm clock, calendar, tip calculator, standard calculator, speaker phone and vibrate mode. There is also an e-diary for you to pour your thoughts in. Advanced features include GPS along with turn-by-turn direction service by VZ Navigator, plus a wireless Web browser.
Messaging features

The handset is message-centric and comes with tools like multimedia and text messaging, instant messaging (Yahoo, Windows Live and AIM), mobile e-mail with mobile Web e-mail. Mobile e-mail service costs $5 a month, it is Verizon’s downloadable application which delivers e-mail directly in to your phone’s inbox. Mobile Web e-mail opens the Web browser and gives access to e-mail services from Verizon.net, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail and Windows Live.

Music features

The Razzle has a simple and clean interface for music and the tracks are divided into genres, albums and artists. You can edit and create play lists on the move, shuffle and repeat modes are there. There are six sound effects like Bass, Pop, Classic, Jazz, Rock and Normal. You can minimize the music player and get on to other things on the device. There is also airplane mode if you want to groove to your music while onboard. There is there no EV-DO, so you cannot access V Cast Music with Rhapsody to download music over the air. The music quality is good and it would have been better if there was a 3.5 mm jack included. Speaker phone quality for music is not so good, it distorts at highest volume.

Camera

The 1.3 MP camera on the back has self portrait mirror and can take pictures in four resolutions – 160×120, 320×240, 640×480 and 1280×960. The settings on the camera include three shutter sounds along with a silent option, four effects for color, six presets for white balance, brightness and self timer. Photos were really bad but you cannot great pictures from a 1.3 MP rated camera. The camera cannot shoot videos.
Games and personalization

The Razzle doesn’t come with any games but you can download games and applications on to it. You can personalize the device with various display themes and wallpaper. You can use your own pictures as wallpapers on the display. Other downloadables include alert tones and sounds and you can download Verizon store from the wireless Web browser.

Call quality

The call quality of the Razzle was good, we could hear what our friends were speaking clearly and our friends too gave us similar results. There was a bit of background noise while on the calls but it wasn’t that irritating. Speaker phone calls were very bad. We could hear what our friends were saying and vice versa but our friends said that we sounded quiet and we had to place the phone closer to our mouth to solve this problem.

Battery life

Razzle has a rated battery life of 4.77 hours for talk time and standby time is 15.25 days. In our lab tests the battery lasted for little over than 6 hours which is more than rated talk time.

Verdict:

We just couldn’t get enough of the swivel; we were twisting the Razzle all the time in our labs. The handset is good for music and messaging. We would have called it a great multi media phone, if there was a 3.2 mega pixel camera. We will recommend this phone to both business men and youth for the music and messaging features that it offers.