Sum n substance:

Thumbs up: Good call quality, unique design, wide set of features and a comfortable keypad.

Thumbs down: Small display, the photo quality is average.

Inside the trunk:

• Product Type With digital camera/digital player
• Service Provider Verizon Wireless
• Width 2.1 in
• Depth 0.6 in
• Height 2.7 in
• Weight 0.2 lbs
• Phone Design PDA
• Caller ID Yes
• Wireless Interface Bluetooth
• Additional Features TTY compatible , Speakerphone , GPS
• Short Messaging Service (SMS) Yes
• Internet Browser Yes
• Included Services VCAST
• Messaging / Data Features Text messages , Multimedia messages (MMS) , Picture messages , Instant messages , Voice mail , E-Mail , WAP Push 2.0 , xHTML Browser
• Talk Time Up to 270 min

THE WHIZ-KID SPEAKS: I don’t think I ve seen anything like this ever before. Yeah, there were many square and swivel phones which came in one by one but both of them together. Now that’s something definitely new. Let’s go ahead with this one and see how this unique handset functions…

Razzle- dazzle: This one has got a perfectly square design at 2.71 inches by 2.71 inches by 0.59 inch however the curved corners make it look somewhat less angular. Some might simply love the hip design but some might just loathe it saying that it’s weird. This one has a basic black cover though the battery cover can be changed to black or purple. It easily slips inside the pocket and is not all that clunky at 3.44 ounces.

Usually it takes a lot of effort to open a swivel phone and frankly it’s been quite some time since I ve seen one. But with this Nokia has left no stone unturned. You can easily open or close the phone with just one hand. Also this one has the pivot point at one corner rather than at the center. Though the swivel mechanism works just fine now, I hope this one doesn’t fly apart like the Sony Ericsson W600i within a few months of use.

It’s got a 2.4 inch screen which supports 262,144 colours with a resolution of 320×240 pixels. The colours and the graphics are vibrant and bright enough and it also has a landscape orientation. The display offers a huge bundle of customization options but again the menus are a bit confusing.

Below the screen there is a navigation toggle with the OK button in between. It’s got two touch sensitive soft keys on both the sides of the navigation toggle. Surrounding the exterior rim of the Twist we have a 2.5-millimeter headset jack, a Micro-USB/charger port, a volume rocker, and the microSD card slot. The camera lens is at the back of the phone and there is a huge self portrait mirror at the back of the phone.

Flipping the phone open reveals the stylish keyboard. The keys are spaced comfortably and its pretty much easy to type on it without making errors. Also the keyboard is large enough to be able to accommodate both the hands while typing. Also the keyboard is thankfully not cluttered with a lot of shortcuts. However the shared alphanumeric keys have been placed at the center of the keyboard so it takes some time too get used to it.

Inside Dope: Its got a 1000 entry phonebook and each entry can store around five numbers and two email addresses. This one has a unique feature called ‘habitat’ mode and after picking up one of the display themes ‘urban’ or ‘jungle’, your callers will be given a avatar. Click on each avatar to see a list of messages and calls between you and that contact.

The basic features that this one includes are the vibrate mode, calculator, alarm clock, a notepad, a unit and currency developer, speaker-independent voice dialing, Bluetooth, PC syncing, USB mass storage, text-to-speech, and support for VZ Navigator.

Its got a 3 megaixel camera which supports clicking photos in almost five resolutions.  It supports flash as well. However the photo quality is not all that great for a 3 megapixel camera. The photos are quite blurred and dull. The photos can be stored in the inbuilt 119MB or by extending the memory using the Micro SD slot.

It also supports a XHTML browser, which is a nice feature to have in a phone like this. But again the small screen plays spoilsport and also it’s kind of annoying to be moving the pointer using the navigation toggle. The EV-DO Rev. 0 connection was speedy enough but with a browser like that we really didn’t enjoy the speeds much.

Coming to the call quality of this one…at my end the sound was pretty loud and audible. There was hardly any display of static or interference. The signal was loud enough and with no background noise as such. On the callers end, however there were a few experiences of background noise. But on the whole it was pretty much satisfactory. Like most of the others that have been reviewed here, the speakerphones of this one too weren’t all that great. I would suggest using headphones or a Bluetooth set.

This one has a battery life of  4.5 hours talk time and 13 days standby time, which is decent enough nonetheless.

Nitty- gritty: This one is It’s available from Verizon Wireless for $99.99 with a $50 rebate and a service contract. Though it can’t be totally summed up as a multimedia phone this one is surely a headturner. It’s surely worth a shot if you want a unique phone with loads of basic features.

Sum n substance:

Thumbs up: Attractive design, dual- CDMA/GSM mode, slim lightweight, 2-megapixel camera, GPS and Bluetooth.

Thumbs down: No micro SD slot i.e. non expandable memory.

Inside the trunk:

• Technology CDMA
• Band CDMA 800/850/1800/1900 (Quadband)
• Phone Design Flip
• Caller ID Yes
• Wireless Interface Bluetooth.
• Additional Features TTY compatible , VZ Navigator , Speakerphone , Voice command , GPS , Voice recognition , GPRS support , Voice dialing.

THE WHIZ-KID SPEAKS: It’s a basic flip phone offering global roaming, and it can use CDMA and GSM simultaneously. The first non smartphone to offer this service was the Samsung Renown, and this one by Pantech PCD follows in its league. However the Escapade is aimed at the international traveler who just wants to stay connected by making a few calls here and there and doesn’t need much of the exquisite features.

Razzle- Dazzle: I ve always found the flip phone design pretty enticing, and I personally loved the design of this one too. Available in dark maroon, the construction of this one seems to be pretty good. Measuring 3.9 inches long by 1.9 inches wide by 0.9 inch thick, the Verizon Wireless Escapade is pretty much sleek and slim. At 3.4 ounces this one is quite lightweight and fits in almost as snug as a rug in a bug in your hand. Also since it’s not quite huge it can be easily slipped into your pocket.

It’s got a 1.1-inch 65,000 color external display which shows the date, battery life, signal strength, time and caller ID. The volume rocker  and the headset jack sit comfortably on the left spine whereas the charger jack, camera key, and voice command key are placed on the right. Flipping the phone open reveals a 2” diagonal 176×220 pixel TFT display, with a support for 262k colours. The only complain I had with the display was that it didn’t have any kind of brightness controls which only means that the display could easily black out when under direct sun. Also the low resolution does very less to add anything to the display resulting in grainy images and pictures.

Directly below the display is the keypad. As you can see the keys are pretty much flat, yeah they are comfortable but aren’t good enough to dial by feel. The navigation array is also pretty much roomy and offers a good dialing experience.

Inside dope: The Escapade comes along with a 500-entry phonebook. Each entry can store upto 5 numbers, two email addresses an IM screen name and a street address. The other key features offered by the Escapade are multimedia messaging, speakerphone, calculator, calendar, world clock, notepad, unit converter and a stopwatch.

Apart from the basic features this one also offers Bluetooth, instant messenger, a web browser and GPS for the advanced users. The GPS service is supported by services like Chaperone and VZ navigator.

Coming to the cult feature of the Escapade i.e. dual mode CDMA/ GSM compatibility. When  you are in the  country you can use the Verizon wireless service, and when you are out of the country you could use the preloaded SIM card with any GSM carrier.

It comes loaded with a 2 megapixel camera which lets you click pictures in four resolutions 1,600×1,200, 1,280×960, 640×480, 320×240. The images were much to my surprise pretty much vibrant and animated. The image quality was pretty decent with hardly any noise. This one doesn’t come loaded with a camcorder though.

Talking about the most important feature for a basic phone, i.e. call quality. Quite unsurprisingly the quality of calls in this one was pretty good. The voice clarity was high and it almost sounded like I was using a landline telephone displaying hardly any amount of static or interference. On the callers end too, they were pretty much satisfied with the sound quality and hardly had any issues with it. The surprising difference that this one displayed in comparision to the other basic phones was that the sound quality over the speakerphones was also decent enough and did not sound much different from the sound heard from the headset.

The battery life that the escapade offers is not bad either with 3.8 hours talktime and 13.2 days on standby.

Nitty-gritty: The Verizon wireless escapade has some tough competition in the form of the Samsung Renown. Though this one is comparatively cheaper, the feature of the Samsung one is better. But as I said earlier this one is basically aimed at the traveler who just wants to make a few calls. So if you are one of them and you need a phone at good reasonable price then this should surely be your pick.

Thumbs up: smooth slider mechanism, brilliant pictures, fab designing, good call quality.

Thumbs down: low volume  levels, slippery keypad, awkwardly placed memory card.

Inside the trunk:

• Technology GSM
• Band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband)
• Phone Design Slider
• Changeable Covers / Faceplates Yes
• Antenna Internal
• Vibrating Alert Yes
• Polyphonic Ringer Yes
• Voice Dialing Yes
• Call Timer Yes
• Conference Call Capability Yes
• Voice Recorder Yes
• Speakerphone Yes
• Wireless Interface Bluetooth 2.0
• Additional Features TV Link , Radio Data Service (RDS)

THE WHIZ-KID SPEAKS: The Nokia Supernova series has a range of four phones, out of which the 7610 looks the most interesting and promising. Targeted at a large female audience, this slider phone poses tough competition to the largest slider phone manufacturer in recent times, Samsung. This slider phone does not really face any tough competition, though there is an entire ocean of slider phones in the market thanks to the brilliant features.

Razzle-dazzle: Atleast going by the design of the supernova 7610 it is not in anyway similar to the older 7610. The older one was kind of bulky and though I don’t want to be rude, the older one was kind of a bit over the top as far as the designing is concerned. This is kind of more on the subtle design, being sleek and un flashy. Doesn’t really stand out in the crowd but is still worth all the talk. It comes with two interchangeable covers in black and red for the back but the only problem I faced is that the cover doesn’t come off all that easily. It stands kind of really slim according to nokia standards at 3.86 inches by 1.89 inches by 0.59 inch and weighs about 3.48 ounces which is pretty much light enough.

Again trying to catch the eyes of the female population, the display of this one could easily double up as a mirror. The display is glossy and is more or less like a fingerprint magnet. It also supports an impressive 16.7 million colours which is awesome and the vibrant and animated images only stand as a proof of it.

The navigation array of the supernova 7610 comprises of a four way toggle key along with the talk and the end buttons and two soft keys. The keys on the navigation array are pretty much spaced out and comfortable to use.

The slider mechanism is pretty smooth and very rarely stiff. Behind the slider is the keypad. I was kind of disappointed with the keypad, though it has the same design of flat keys like most of the slider phones, the keys are highly slippery and shiny. Also the letters and the numbers on the keys are small, I literally had to squint at times to make through the digits. This surely isn’t one of the best texting experiences that I ve had.

On the right spine of the slider is the micro-USB port, volume rocker, and the music player shortcut along with the camera shutter. The charger port along with a 2.5mm jack for headphones is situated above the phone. The Micro SD slot has been awkwardly placed behind the battery.

Inside dope: It’s got an inbuilt memory of 64MB, however it can be expanded to upto 2GB using a micro SD card. The phonebook can be used for 1000 entries with each entry saving upto five numbers, email address, URL, company name and job title, a nickname, street name and birthday.

It comes loaded with a 3.2 megapixel camera which can take pictures in six resolutions ranging from 2,048×1,536 pixels down to 160×120 pixels. I was pretty much impressed by the quality of the photos. Not only were they vibrant and bright but also they hardly displayed any noise expect for some amount of negligible noise around the edges. After you are done with taking the photos you could directly store them in the 64MB inbuilt storage or probably get yourself a new 2GB Micro SD card.

Coming to the music players, this one  is definitely the show stealer with a quality similar to the one offered by the Xpress music range, it definitely should score high on any music lovers list. It supports creating your playlists and also is also pairable with Bluetooth.

The tracks can be used as ringtones and it has support for MP3, MP4, AAC, AAC+, and WMA files. The sound quality using the inbuilt speakers isn’t all that satisfactory, I would recommend using headphones for better results.

Back to the most important characteristic… the call quality. The voice quality was pretty much crisp, clear, and the sound was clear enough with hardly any static or interference. The only complaint that I had in this department is that the volume was kind of low and the voice was not that audible in noisy places.

On the other end too, most of the callers could not make out that I was talking using a cell phone but a few of them complained about some background noise. Apart from that there were hardly any glitches atleast as far as the call quality was concerned. Here again like in most of the cases the headset calls were more satisfactory as compared to the speakerphone calls.

It has a battery life of about 5.4 hrs talktime and 12.5 days on  standby mode. Here again I would like to mention that the theme colourize feature is pretty much eye catching and is  comparatively better than anything that has been ever been offered by Samsung atleast.

Nitty-gritty: Basically a phone aimed at the masses, this one isn’t a smartphone but is a decently attractive conventional features with some real good stuffing and design. Plus the slider design is something which is totally out of Nokia’s portfolio so I assume it should gain real good popularity amongst the loyal fans of the Korean manufacturer. So surely this one could be your pick if your looking out for a conventional Nokia phone which is high on the glam quotient and has got some real good stuffing too.

My rating: 3.25 on 5