Get to know the Zune HD>>Verizon Wireless Razzle does the twist
We'll admit that we had our reservations about the Verizon Wireless Razzle. The swivel design seemed unusual and gimmicky. We weren't sure if we liked having to swivel the phone all the time when switching between different functions. The Razzle, as you can see, has a QWERTY keyboard on one side, and music player controls on the other. You switch between the two by rotating the lower half of the phone by 180 degrees.
But the quirky design soon wormed its way into our heart. The player controls make it that much easier to access the music player, and it's not that hard to swivel the phone if you want to dial a number or type out a text message. Also, when you rotate the keyboard to the front, the keyboard actually tilts upward, which gives it nicer ergonomics for texting, and it conforms to the shape of your face more when you hold the phone up to the ear. It's clear a lot of thought was put into the design of the phone.
Still, there were some things we didn't like very much about the Razzle. For instance, it is cursed with the 2.5 millimeter headset jack, which we know is a common thing, but it's a shame not to see a 3.5 millimeter jack on a phone with such prominent music player controls. It also doesn't have EV-DO, which means it can't download songs over-the-air from V Cast Music with Rhapsody. You can still use the desktop PC version and then use a USB cable to sync the songs, though.
That aside, we liked its other features, such as text and multimedia messaging, mobile e-mail, GPS with VZ Navigator, a microSD card slot (supports up to 16GB), and stereo Bluetooth. The Verizon Wireless Razzle is also reasonably priced at $19.99 with a two-year service agreement.
Nicole Lee is an associate editor for CNET, covering cell phones, Bluetooth headsets, and all things mobile. She's also pretty geeky--she likes World of Warcraft, comic books, and shiny gadgets. E-mail Nicole.
Bonnie Cha reviews the
latest smart phones, PDAs, and GPS devices, helping CNET readers get
their hands on the latest mobile electronics. 
Kent German is CNET's
cell phone editor and has been following the wireless industry for
seven years. He's embarrassed to admit he can name almost any cell
phone he sees on the street. 
Nicole Lee reviews cell
phones and their accessories for CNET, thus satisfying her love for all
things small, shiny, and digital.
