Jacob Allred

Verizon XV6700

Jacob Allred •
#electronics

Last week I got a brand spanking new Verizon XV6700 cell phone.

Yes, it is expensive. I ended up paying something like $300 ($100 IR) for the phone, and it comes out to like $96 a month for service (that includes unlimited EVDO broadband internet, and also slow internet for those in non-EVDO areas…). I opted for no SMS plan because I can just go online and get my email whenever I want.

This article outlines the basic features of the phone, the things I hate about the phone, and the things I love about the phone. To save you time I’ll let you know right now that my overall opinion is that this phone is awesome! I love it! (I’m telling you this now because I hate reading a long review only to find out that the final rating is that the product sucks. People need to be more upfront about this kind of thing.)

This phone can be found at Verizon’s website.

XV6700

Here are all features from Verizon’s website:

Basic Information

Basic Features

The Bad Points

So no phone is perfect, and I’m a generally pessimistic guy, so we’ll start with the downsides of this phone.

First of all, the phone ships with several limitations. For example, it cannot, by default, be used as a tethered modem for your laptop. It also doesn’t allow you to use WiFi and make calls at the same time. Both these limitations can be overcome by using the MultiIssueFixer. Once the patch is installed, the phone works perfectly as a modem for your laptop, and also fixes that nasty no WiFi/phone at same time problem.

The second problem I ran into is the on-screen keyboard. This gizmo has a pop-out keyboard, so why would I want to use half of my screen as an on-screen keyboard? So why not just disable it? Well, Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, decided that everyone wants some sort of data entry and so they don’t allow you to disable it. But I found a fix at Pocket PC Magazine Forum! This article shows you how to install a null Software Input Panel (SIP). This SIP doesn’t show anything on the screen, so even if it is activated by the Pocket PC, it doesn’t actually do anything. Yay! Problem solved!

The Good Points & Conclusion

So now that we’ve covered the downsides of the phone, whats great about it?

First of all, even though they don’t have EVDO in my area, the standard internet service provided works great! Not blazing fast by any means, but easily fast enough to load eBay and Half.com without any troubles.

I’m also very satisfied with the keyboard. Takes a bit of getting used to, but the buttons are large and easy to click and backlit. The only downside here is that it is obviously designed for a right-handed person, and I’m left-handed. But that’s understandable and not too big of a deal.

The phone charges off of USB, and takes less than 4 hours to go from no charge to full charge. Considering the amount of juice this thing takes, that’s an awesome charge time.

So overall, I’m happy I bought this phone! I’d recommend it to anyone!