Verizon and Its Current Crop of Phones
11:13 pm April 9th, 2007 by Sal Cangeloso
I just read a review of the Samsung u620 over at Digital Trends and despite haveing been somewhat excited about the phone a few weeks ago, I am very much over it. The review alone is not what did it, but I have spent some more time checking into the device an am pretty sure it is not the best option (at least for me).
The phone’s main selling point is that it is one of Verizon’s two phones that can run mobile TV (Vcast TV). The last thing I need or would even want right now is mobile TV so right off the bat I should have forgotten about it, but I have been hoping to move from a clamshell phone to a candy bar style or a slider and this seemed like the one. But when compared to its main competition the LG LX9400 is it does not look as cool, the battery life is not as good, and the screen is not as large. It’s cheaper than the LG, but according to DT and some other sources it seems to be worse in just about every possible way (though it is a bit smalller and lighter).
The LG seems to be the smarter pick, but every time you want to dial you have flip the screen sideways. This means when talking it will be sideways as well. This design is ridiculous and is in need of some serious looking at from the people at LG. Yes it looks cool when its closed and it is nice to have a wide aspect ratio when viewing, but it’s a phone first and a TV second. In my case it would be phone first and never a TV (except possibly during a short trial period).
By the way, neither of these are available in the New York City market yet because Vcast TV has not been brought here. They will be coming eventually…
Other considerabler Verizon options at this point are the Samsung dual-flip u740 (which I am not sold on), the Motorola SVLR (eh…), and I don’t even know what else is worth checking out, probably nothing. As for WinMo phones there is the Q which has been incredibly disappointing and that’s about it. The main Blackberry option is the 8703 which would have been great a year or so ago, but now is well past ripe. The 8830 is on the way, which could my choice, but it’s going to be pricey and- guess what- no camera.
Things are pretty bleak right now in the Verizion camp which is especially sad since this is the lineup Verizon has had in a long time.
