Motorola Rival in Silver (Verizon Wireless)

Calls and speakerphone: We found calls to be loud for the most part on the Motorola Rival. Although, we occasionally encountered a bit of static on our end, callers said we sounded loud and crystal clear. We rarely needed to use the side volume keys to adjust the sound. Using the speakerphone didn’t degrade call quality, and we particularly like that two people can talk simultaneously when the speakerphone is activated.

Audio quality: Playback of songs is pretty good through the cell phone’s speaker. On the plus side, the cell phone sports a 3.5mm headset jack, so you can use your own high-end headphones to listen to music (Note: Unless the headphones are cell phone-enabled you won’t be able to take calls on the, but songs will pause for incoming calls). Songs sounded much better when we listened to them using basic earbud-style phones’. The cell phone also supports Bluetooth stereo, so you can also pair it with portable stereo Bluetooth speakers or a stereo Bluetooth headset .

Menu/phone book: Like many Verizon Wireless cell phones, the Motorola Rival has a standard menu system; if you're already accustomed to Verizon cell phones, using this Motorola cell phone should be a breeze. This cell phone sports a 4-way navigation key and partial touchscreen so maneuvering through the Motorola Rival’s features is fairly intuitive. What do we mean by partial touchscreen? As you change applications, you can touch parts of the display (when it seems most intuitive, for the most part) to execute a feature. For example, in the camera mode you can press the part of the screen that says Take when you’re ready to snap a picture. However, you can’t adjust resolution just by touching the icon of that on the screen.

We particularly like how easy it is to use the phone book, which can store 1,000 contacts, each with five phone numbers, two e-mail addresses, and a picture – sorry, there's no slot for addresses. You won’t find your phone number in the contacts unless you manually enter it as a contact.

Camera/video: The Motorola Rival sports a 2-megapixel camera, and it can record videos. Although the Rival lacks a flash, we doubt that having one would enhance picture quality much. About that: Picture quality is acceptable and the camera has a pretty fast shutter, so you won’t miss many spur of the moment shots. We should note that due to where the lens is placed on the back of cell phone it’s easy to cover the lens with your finger. Activating the camera automatically places the display in horizontal mode with all commands appearing on the side of the screen. You can press the screen directly to access the bottom row of commands (My Pics, Take, and Options).

Most images were in focus, with a decent amount of details. Unfortunately, colors did appear a bit washed out. Video is about the same quality. You can snap pictures by pressing the button located on the side of the cell phone with a camera icon on it or you can press the Take word on the display. You can adjust the following features by selecting Options: Resolution, Self Timer, Brightness, White Balance, Color Effects, Fun Frames and where to store the picture. The good news is that you can send pictures via Bluetooth on this cell phone, which we did when connecting to a Bluetooth-enabled PC.

Music: As noted, listening to songs played through the cell phone’s speaker is pretty good and even better through even the most basic 3.5mm stereo headphones. This cell phone lacks audio-centric controls such as bass and treble; however, it does have other MP3 player features such as shuffle, repeat, and the ability to create playlists on-the-fly. The included music software will also provide suggestions for additional music you might like based on songs viewed on the Motorola Rival. There are plenty of choices if you choose to download music to the Rival directly over-the-air, since this cell phone supports V Cast with Rhapsody.

The Motorola Rival will support an optional 8GB MicroSD card – you can store approximately 200 music albums on a card with that much storage capacity – that’s a lot of tunes. If you plan on listening to more than just a few songs, you’ll want to get an external MicroSD card. The Rival will play back Window Media Audio (WMA), Apple’s music file format (AAC), and MP3 files. The easiest way to get your own music onto the cell phone is by synching songs from your computer via an optional microUSB-to-USB synching cable. You can also get music onto the cell phone by dragging and dropping songs onto an optional MicroSD card (as long as you have a MicroSD card adapter that works with your computer) and then slip it into the MicroSD slot located on the spine of the Motorola cell phone. Note: It is likely that you will not be able to listen to songs purchased online at a music store on this cell phone.

Connectivity/Bluetooth: We were able to pair the Motorola cell phone with a Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth headset and call quality was still quite good. We were also able to connect and send pictures to a Bluetooth-enabled PC, but unable to connect to a Bluetooth-enabled MacBook Pro.

Look and feel: The Motorola Rival just looks fun to use with its big navi-key and fairly large display. Once you realize that the display transforms parts of itself (depending on the application) into a touchscreen you know that the Motorola rival is meant to be fun to use. About that display: it’s not the sharpest display we’ve seen, but it is visible in direct sunlight. The back of the cell phone has a stylized rubberized casing, so the Rival feels durable as well. Slide the Rival to the right and to reveal a full QWERTY keypad. Those keys also appear fun to use and are quite a departure from some of the more standard keys we’ve seen on other messaging phones. Our least favorite design aspect is the amount of buttons lining the spine of the cell phone: lock key, speakerphone key (though, admittedly we’re glad there’s a dedicated key), voice command key, MicroSD card slot, camera button, microUSB port, volume keys, and the 3.5mm headset jack. Perhaps our favorite design feature is the way the white dots magically appear around the cell phone as the Rival’s orientation changes to work as soft keys. We’re also happy to report the Motorola Rival is definitely compact enough to fit in a purse and even a pocket, but could leave a bit of a buldge when the phone is stored in the latter.

Keypad: The Motorola Rival has two keypads, a touch-sensitive on-screen numeric keypad, and a four-line QWERTY keyboard that’s revealed when sliding the cell phone to the right. The numeric keypad is launched when pressing the icon with dots on it (resembling the outline of a phone pad) and you can then dial to make a phone call by pressing the numbers on the display. There’s even a bit of a vibration (out-of-the-box) when pressing keys on the screen. However, if you want to send a text message, the cell phone will prompt you to “Slide It Open” and use the QWERTY keyboard. The raised red and white-lettered keys are shaped like Chiclets. For the most part, we like the keyboard and appreciated the one touch access to emoticons, messaging and Mobile IM.

In the battery life department, the Motorola Rival had decent performance. We found that we could last a about four days before needing to recharge when using the Motorola Rival regularly to make calls and send/receive text messages. Users who barely use the cell phone to make/receive calls and send/receive messages can wait about five to six days before needing to recharge, while heavier cell phone users will likely need to charge the Motorola Rival every two to three days.

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