Screen

Consumers can conveniently glance at battery level, network status, and date and time on the 65K-color external screen. Manufactured from STN (Super Twisted Nematic) LCD technology, the 96 x 80 px screen is a bit lacking on brightness and vibrancy but consumes less power, prolonging battery life.

The V3m's internal display also offers 65K-colors. But by comparison, the screen is manufactured from TFT (Thin Film Transistor) technology. Providing richer contrast and brightness levels, the 2.2-inch (176 x 220 px) LCD is significantly more vivid, and ideal for watching streaming videos.

Unlike STN matrices, TFT screens have circuit transistors on the glass to provide more intense colors. By not having to scan pixel locations, TFT screens refresh faster as well. STN displays are duller and slower, but drastically improve battery life. Therefore frequently viewed external screens benefit from STN technology to display text and reduce power consumption, while sparsely-used multimedia-intense internal screens are built from TFT technology for maximum brightness and contrast levels.

Unfortunately both of the RAZR V3m's screens are the same as the V3c. While very good last year, the V3m doesn't keep up with high-end devices on the market with 262K- and now even 16.7 million colors. Although difficult to determine without a side-by-side comparison, 65K-colors is rather mediocre among video phones today.

Audio

Missing from the V3c, a fully-functional MP3 player lets V3m users access Verizon Wireless' VCAST Music Store. The new service gives customers the ability to search, preview, download, and play music over the air directly from the V3m. VCAST Music even lets users to take digital music already downloaded to their PC and sync it with the V3m via a USB cable.

Music listeners can jam in private with stereo headphones (via Enhanced Mini-USB adapter), or rock out loud through the speakerphone. Unfortunately the V3m lacks dual speaker ports for stereo sound.

Regardless, storing music on removable TransFlash memory cards, consumers can take plenty of tunes with them, without being constrained by internal memory management.

Messaging

The RAZR V3m can send text through SMS (Short Messaging Service), position layouts with EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service), and attach photos, voice clips, or recorded videos through MMS (Multimedia Message Service), all commonplace among cell phones today.

But being a Verizon Wireless exclusive, the V3m can access the most popular instant messaging platforms through Mobile IM.

Allowing customers to chat through AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger in real-time, V3m users can keep in touch with friends and family on the road. Data charges may apply.

< Prev Next >

This article is Copyright 2002-2009 Mobiledia Corp. and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from Mobiledia. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact us.