CTIA 2005
I have a personal problem with the SLVR V8. Technologically it's great, it has a great form factor and has excellent features, however the black makes it look heavy and the silver keypad looks out of place. But much of that can be overlooked when when you're holding the phone in your hand.
Since, like the Penck, it's hard not to hold KDDI phones as the gold standard in design, we naturally compared the SLVR V8 to the Talby when it was announced at 3GSM. But the Talby is cute and white. The light color makes the phone look smaller and friendlier. Motorola apparently knew they had missed the Talby mark too, and answered us with two silver SLVRs (SiLVRs?) announced at CeBit.
This was the first time we got to see and touch the new silver SLVRs, and few things about them surprised us. First, in the initial pictures the keypad looked much smaller than the V8's keypad. It's not. It's nearly, if not exactly, the same size, and just as easy to dial. Second, we thought to ourselves, who's going to miss the TransFlash slot when the v280 looks so slick and will cost less than the v8?
As shown in the initial pictures, the buttons on the v270 are actually raised like buttons. While this sacrifices the super smooth profile of the other designer phones, it adds to the usability. It was easy to feel around and text on this keypad. Considering this phone has clean lines, relatively simple (but high tech) styling, no camera, Bluetooth, and a more traditional keypad, it's a no brainer to predict this will be every salaryman's dream phone when it is launched.
If you think this year's SLVRs are thin and hot, just wait til next year. Motorola CEO Ed Zander said they are working on making the SLVRs half as thick - just 6mm - for the 2006 line. Where will they put the battery?
CES 2006
Review: LG VX-8100
LG VX-3300 / 3280
LG VI-125
LG VX-8100
