At CTIA Fall 2008, Velocity Mobile announced that it started shipping its first smartphone, the Velocity 103, and we were lucky to get our hands on a review unit. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Check out our hands-on gallery for some eye candy and then read our full review to see its pros and cons.
Unlike the HTC TouchFlo interface, you can add and remove applications to the toolbar on the Velocity 103. With a longer swipe of your finger (from bottom to top), you can access a full menu of programs. However, our biggest complaint without reading the user's manual, you wouldn't know any of this functionality exists.
In practice, we found that the Velocity Odyssey interface isn't as intuitive as one would hope. We had a much easier time using the HTC Touch Diamond for Sprint (right).
Below the display, you get Talk and End keys and a trackball navigator. You can press the trackball to select an item, but we had some trouble since it was set fairly deep beneath the phone's surface.
The Velocity 103 features a 2-megapixel camera with video recording capabilities. Picture quality was pretty decent, as objects were clearly defined and sharp. Our only complaint was that some colors looked slightly flat.
Back at CTIA Spring 2008, a new company called Velocity Mobile caught our eye, impressing us with a fresh approach to the user interface. The company finally released its first model, the Velocity 103, at CTIA Fall 2008.
Recognizing that Windows Mobile isn't the easiest operating system to master, Velocity Mobile developed the Velocity Odyssey interface where you can access your frequently used applications through a shortcuts toolbar and perform actions with various finger swipes.
The Velocity 103 is a fairly attractive smartphone with a sleek, all-black chassis and compact frame (4.4 inches tall by 2.2 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep and 4.5 ounces).
On the right side of the smartphone, there's a microSD expansion slot. However, to access it, you have to take off the back cover and open the protective flap.
