Motorola Rapture VU30

Reviewers say the Motorola Rapture VU30 (*Est. $20 with new contract; *Est. $100 with renewal), a clamshell multimedia phone that is also a music player, is an adequate, mid-level model with nice hardware and disappointing software. It earns middling ratings in expert reviews, positioning that is borne out in comparative analyses that find the Rapture outperforms the Nokia 7205 and Motorola W755, but comes up short against the LG Chocolate and Motorola Krave. The Nokia 7205, at roughly the same cost as the Rapture, is reported to be prettier but loses critical admiration for poor call quality. The Krave and Chocolate are said by experts to have better construction, call and audio quality; users seeking the best music player phone are directed to the LG Chocolate 3. Where the Rapture gains ground is on price point; for multimedia junkies on a budget, the Rapture may be the ticket.

At 3.5 ounces and approximately 2 inchese by 3.9 inches by 0.7 inches, the Rapture is a compact, lightweight flip phone with glossy, rounded styling. Design is one place where the Rapture gets consistently high marks from experts and owners, although some call the plastic construction "flimsy" and "cheap." The Rapture's shortcut buttons are well liked, though, and the keypad is described as pleasingly spacious, with rounded, widely spaced buttons that minimize misdials. Both the external (1.6-inch) and internal (2.2-inch) displays receive praise as bright, with sharp text and graphics. There are no complaints about reception or call clarity, which are reported to be excellent in tests. But some experts cite a "tinny" quality to voices, and there is unanimous agreement that the Rapture's earpiece volume is unacceptably low. The speakerphone suffers from a similar lack of volume, and reviewers write that turning the speaker up results in distortion. Using a Bluetooth headset delivers a better calling experience for most. The Rapture's battery life falls short of Motorola's claims; in CNET's tests it lasts a paltry two hours, 40 minutes, while most other reviewers log less than four hours of continuous talk time.

PhoneArena.com has the hands-down best review of the Motorola Rapture VU30: Thorough, detailed and balanced, it is accompanied by extensive photographic and video evidence of performance results. Also unique is its rating system, which grants an overall rating, scores for individual performance measures and rankings for desirability to different user types. CNET's coverage is less comprehensive but arrives at a similar, mediocre finding for the Rapture. Mobiledia's Jill Bauerle stands out as having the most detailed write-up of the Rapture, but her descriptive prose reveals little in the way of performance analysis or expert opinion. Owners of the Motorola Rapture VU30 write into PhoneArena's user reviews page, with mixed results that skew toward the positive.