Detailed Description - Back to Top Design
Like Sprint's L7c and the GSM Slvr L7, the
Verizon Slvr looks like a bit like a Razr that's
been hammered flat. The trim profile (4.5 inches
tall by 2 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep) will
appeal to thin phone enthusiasts who are partial
to the candy bar design, and the lightweight
(3.7 ounces) ensures easy portability. The Slvr
has a solid feeling in the hand but it's
difficult to cradle it between your head and
shoulder. We weren't crazy about the bland
silver color scheme; we much prefer the dark
grey hue on the Sprint handset.
Unfortunately, Moto went for a
lower-resolution display on the Slvr L7c. While
the Slvr L7 model offers a full 262,000 colors
on its display, the L7c taps out at 65,000
colors. Some users may not notice the difference
as the display is perfectly serviceable for most
uses. Yet, it's the inconsistency that bothers
us. We don't see why our CDMA friends have to
suffer. On the other hand, the 1.9-inch display
is large enough and you can change the
backlighting time and the brightness. The Slvr
L7c uses Verizon's standardized menus, which
aren't an improvement over Moto's clunky
interface.
The navigation array is almost unchanged from
the Sprint phone. There's a four-way toggle with
a central OK button, two soft keys, and the Talk
and End/power buttons. You can set the toggle to
give one-touch-access to four user-defined
functions but Verizon slightly altered the
remaining controls. A Back button replaces the
Clear key while a camera/camcorder shortcut
replaces the dedicated speakerphone control. The
flat keypad buttons are a bit cramped and,
there's little separation between the individual
rows so users with large digits should give the
phone a test drive before buying. The keys are
brightly backlit for dialing in the dark.
You have to remove the
Slvr L7c's battery to access the memory
card slot.
A volume rocker sits on the left just above
the Motorola "smart" key. This control doubles
as the speakerphone key when you press and hold.
The Mini USB charger ports rests on the right
spine just above a control that initiates voice
commands and starts the voice memo recorder. The
camera lens is on the back of the phone without
a flash or self-portrait mirror while the
microSD card slot is crammed rather
inconveniently behind the battery.
Features
The Slvr L7c's phone book holds 1,000 contacts,
each of which can take five phone numbers and
two e-mail addresses. You can assign contacts to
caller groups, pair them with a picture for
photo caller ID, or assign them one of the 20
polyphonic ringtones. Other features include a
vibrate mode, voice commands and dialing, text
and multimedia messaging, a calendar, a voice
recorder, a calculator, a world clock, an alarm
clock, PC syncing, instant messaging and e-mail,
speakerphone, and a notepad. Bluetooth is on
board as well but unlike the Sprint handset, it
does not support stereo (A2DP) and most object
exchange profiles.
