Audio

The Exilim's music player connects directly to VCAST Music with Rhapsody, Verizon's music download service. It offers unlimited access to music for $15 a month or individual songs for 99 cents per track.

The music player supports MP3, WMA, unprotected AAC and unprotected AAC+ formats.

Users can create and manage playlists and transfer their music from their phone to a PC or vice-versa.

One downside to transferring MP3's from a PC to the phone is that Verizon requires using its music management software to install them, rather than copying them straight to a folder in the memory card, which takes longer.

Messaging

Besides the standard array of messaging options (SMS, MMS, IM, Video and email), Verizon offers Visual Voicemail on the Exilim Mobile for $3 per month subscription.

Visual Voicemail shows users a list of voice messages from callers or phone numbers and gives users the choice of which to listen to first or respond by text messaging, forwarding, calling back or deleting.

Users who subscribe to Verizon's Mobile Web service for a $5 monthly fee can access their Yahoo, MSN Hotmail and AOL accounts through the Internet. Web pages are optimized for mobile view.

For text messaging, the Exilim offers the choice of multi-tap or T9 predictive text input.

Verizon's mobile IM application allows users to access their AOL, Windows Live or Yahoo instant messaging clients. Since Verizon bundles all IM's into their text message price plans and charges for data transmission, users are recommended to have a plan with unlimited text messaging.

Entertainment

Although it's built like a tank, the Exilim isn't all work and no play. Users can download and play games, video and music on the phone using Verizon's subscription and per-download services.

Verizon's VCAST Video service offers short video clips from content providers such as Bravo, ESPN and Comedy Central. Users pay up to $25 a month for unlimited downloads.

While the Exilim doesn't come with games pre-installed, users can purchase games and ringtones on a per-download basis by clicking on the phone's media center, which appears on its main menu.

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