We've got to give Nokia credit: they managed, against all odds, to come up with a truly unique form factor in creating the
Twist for Verizon -- a combination of shape, design, and mechanism that had never quite been seen before. Thing is, it's the year 2009 and virtually every legitimate form factor has been explored, so how'd they pull that off? In a word, the Twist is... well, weird. A perfect square that swivels 90 degrees on a chrome ring with multicolored lights isn't the most obvious way to put a phone together, but the old adage of "different strokes for different folks" definitely applies here. Follow the break to find out why.
Closed, the Twist doesn't even remotely resemble a phone -- a PMP, perhaps; some sort of Japanese electronic pet game, maybe; but certainly not a phone, much less a Verizon-branded one. You won't be making calls in this mode -- and anyone with larger hands might have a hard time fumbling with the navigation controls below the screen without dropping the microscopic phone itself -- but at least it takes up a bare minimum of pocket space without the cheap look of, say, the
Blitz. The Blitz is a much less expensive phone, true, but from the average customer's perspective once they're in the store, these two might end up getting cross-shopped since they both feature QWERTY keyboards and look roughly the same both in the closed and open positions.
With a flick on the top half of the phone, the spring-loaded chrome ring (with configurable alert lighting, no less) takes over and swings 90 degrees to leave you with a full keyboard (and maybe more importantly, something that you wouldn't mind holding to your face to make a call). When open, you get pretty much the same infamous experience you expect from any Verizon featurephone. It's not
bad, per se, it's just very red, just a touch laggy, and not nearly as slick as the software Nokia offers on its featurephones globally. We understand that from Verizon's perspective it's all about standardization in the name of better customer support, but plenty of carriers around the world manage to pull it off -- so Verizon, with its vast resources, shouldn't have a problem diversifying a bit. Anyone coming from the
Intrigue will feel especially at home, thanks to the inclusion of that unusual, vaguely social
Habitat Mode that calls up recent contacts onto the home screen.
Where the Twist really shines (by design, we suspect) is messaging. The keyboard is really quite good, with plenty of feel and key separation; we had absolutely no trouble navigating it with our fat fingers. If we had one complaint here, it's that the numeric keys don't have enough visual pop -- and they're backlit in exactly the same color as the letters -- so it's pretty hard to quickly dial without concentrating on the keyboard and watching what you're doing. We think this could've easily been solved by making the gray bars on the number keys, say, red or green and backlighting them in the same color.
The integrated browser stinks, but we weren't expecting much, and we don't expect potential Twist customers are buying this phone to browse full HTML websites. Engadget, for example, pops up this memory error, though we were able to navigate past it and load most of the important stuff on the page. It works in a pinch, but it's not pretty, fast, or easy to use.
Wrap-up
Some might say, "I don't want a phone that looks good, I want a phone that works well." There's no question that the Twist is a compromise -- no one, not even Verizon or Nokia, would dare make the argument that this is the ultimate form factor for productivity. That's not why the Twist exists. It's a sharp-looking phone that's just strange enough to turn heads, has a great keyboard for messaging, and accomplishes everything else your average midrange phone is expected to do acceptably well. (Heck, drop
Series 40 on this, swap radios, and sell it internationally as a new budget style phone -- Nokia's certainly no stranger to hawking
odd form factors in the name of fashion.) And hey, if you want the same thing with a more traditional design, just head on over to the similarly-priced Intrigue -- but for some, the Twist is just what the doctor ordered.
posted Sep 23rd 2009 1:30PM
Anyone else notice that the home screen says 1X/3G and not 1X/EV
I believe that is VZW's new standard, like pretty much the rest of the world.. BB OS 5.0 shows 3G as well.
yeah is that what Verizon now does? my dare says ev 1x
I believe the old adage "wtf" also applies.
My unboxing: http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/unboxing-the-nokia-7705-twist/
My first impressions start at the 12 minute mark of this week's podcast: http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/podcast-talking-with-matt-15/
Basically, awesome hardware utterly destroyed by crappy Verizon software... Nokia needs to make a GSM & Symbian version of this phone (or a device with a similar form factor)!
They came up with the name after consulting with M. Night Shyamalan
Crap!
I am not a Verizon customer but I ask: why would you put such a device on the market and muddy the waters (and experience) for newbie "wannabe" smartphone users by putting a device on the market that is "not all it can be" ?
I will never understand this.
"why would you put such a device on the market and muddy the waters" LOL! I'm taking a guess but I don't think Verizon is putting a gun to your head to make you purchase this thing. What's wrong with phone manufacturers trying to do something besides another iPhone clone? Variety is good! Chillax!
Hope they sell some pretty heavy duty screen protectors for this. I look at that thing, and I know that if I bought it, it'd become permanently attached to my keychain, which is handy, but potentially damaging to the phone.
I don't think they've created a "unique form-factor".. the whole square qwerty design goes back to the LG fusion or whatever it was called. But they've certainly improved on it with the swivel hinge. Even nicer if that hook can be supported for like clipping it on to a keychain carabiner
That hole doesn't look good......
Insufficient memory! LOL. Awesome fail. You know the worst part? This thing will cost you $100 with a 2 year contract (that is after an online discount, regular 2-yr contract price is $150). WTF? This makes the Palm Pre a much much MUCH better deal. I hope the moto Cliq will be free, so nobody would even bother with this pos.
Did you guys feel any shame carrying it around or did you not leave the house with it? I mean it's not like it doesn't scream girly, or flamboyantly gay if you're a dude.
@Douglas, since I'm a girl, and I'm gay, let me answer this one for you...
You're right, I felt absolutely no shame carrying this around!
But let me give you some advice: you should absolutely avoid carrying this phone around, because it would make your already tiny penis even smaller, and your already massive stupidity even bigger.
Trust me on this :)
Wow, looks like I'm a superstar now. I get a link right to my own comment from http://tweetmeme.com/story/189444575/nokia-twist-for-verizon-hands-on-engadget-mobile. That's awesome. Thanks for the advice too. I think I'll keep my N97 and E71 if that's okay with you. And it should be, since you seem to be quite the Nokia person based on your website. Nokia all the way. Frankly, I don't know what you're so annoyed about that you felt compelled to respond to my comment. It's obviously designed for girls and I could definitely see a gay dude rolling with one of these too. So what if I happen to think that? Is that not allowed? But hey, if telling someone they have a small penis makes you happy, then go for it, but you should know you it makes you sound very childish. So go ahead and keep doing that and I'll keep saying who I think certain phones would appeal to and if it happens to offend someone too bad. You really need to relax.
Oh my god haha i love you tnkgrl! i am a guy male and i really like this phone haha. but i dont think it has anything to do with me being gay.
Sorry i meant gay male
Even the Verizon internal retail listing notes this as a "female centric" phone. Insulting everyone who has something to say about the gay lifestyle does not make things easier on gays. Douglas comments didn't appear to be meant to be pointedly negative to anyone or anything other than the phone.
By the way, it also notes an est. MSRP of $230.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/23/storm-2-motorola-sholes-nokia-twist-dated-for-verizon-accordi?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_engadgetmobile
the phone is a little girly BUT it is great if you want a texting phone and having the phone doesn't make you gay