Motorola Rapture VU30 user reviews (Verizon Wireless)

3.5 stars

"Another Contender from Motorola for Verizon" on October 15, 2008 by premieregs

Pros: Great looking exterior in a good form factor
Take photos while holding like a point and shoot
Touchscreen works well w/vibration and display lock is handy
Main display is bright and clear with good contrast
Non-existant lag while navigating menus

Cons: The Verizon UI still limited in customization
Lower quality materials than typical Motorola, though well put together fit and finish wise
OK sound quality from the earpiece, speakerphone and while playing music
Outside display is dark since hidden

Summary: Features:
All of the features that you come to expect from a flip. The music player works the same as on other Motorolas, unfortunately that means that you can't navigate away from the music player to do other tasks like you can on LG's Chocolate phones (no big deal for me). You can access and operate it from the exterior touch controls. The camera works well since you can hold the phone like a point and shoot using the front display as the viewfinder, works pretty well IMO.

Touchscreen:
Responsive and provides vibration when buttons are activated. There are five areas the display responds to while in the music player or camera, the four corners and the center. One great point is that you can exit the music player from the outside unlike some other Motorola phones I've used.

UI:
The main interface of the phone speeds ahead with quick responses to your input. There is hardly any lag at any point in the menus. Although there is a new addition of a shortcut list when you press the right directional key, it's still only customizable to a point. Verizon's UI is still underneath so if you're familiar with past Verizon phones, you know what you're getting.

Build Quality/Materials:
Although this phone is put together very nicely fit and finish wise, the materials are lacking in comparison to Motorola's W755 and V9m. Thinner plastics are used which do however make the phone extremely light. The keypad works well but has the same feeling as the W755's thin plastic keypad.

Sound Quality:
To me this area makes or breaks a phone. The VU30 follows in the footsteps of the W755 in this area unfortunately. Volume is adjustable to pretty decent levels so that isn't a problem. There is some digital distortion in voices through the earpiece which can some times make it difficult to understand callers. This is just my opinion though as others have reported liking the sound quality of the VU30.

I love the form factor of this phone and the vanishing display with touchscreen on front is a nice little feature. Menu speed is awesome making tasks really easy to accomplish. The phone is also really light though a little thick. Sound quality is just OK and this is the main reason for my rating. One last thing to note is that the reception seems strong like most Motorolas.