Verizon launches Motorola Rival

(Credit: Verizon Wireless)

Verizon just keeps releasing more messaging phones, and this time it's the Motorola Rival. It has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard plus a touch-sensitive dial pad on the front, which is similar in style to the LG Neon.

The Rival has plenty of messaging features, like one-touch access to text messages, a 2.0-megapixel camera, a 3.5mm headset jack, up to 8GB of removable memory via the microSD card slot, EV-DO with support for broadband services like V Cast Music with Rhapsody, GPS and VZ Navigator support, and more. The Motorola Rival will be available Wednesday for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year agreement.

[ejc_99]

I'm sick of phone offerings that are specific to a certain carrier. This is not in the best interests of the consumer. It limits you to the best phone your carrier offers, not the best phone on the market. It also makes prices of the phone higher since the sales of it will be less than if offered to customers of all carriers. I know carriers offer "help" with development costs for having an exclusive right to the phone, but is that "help" worth the lost sales in the long run? Case in point, I am limited to Verizon because of coverage and therefore have not bought an iPhone, which I would have. I also would own a Pre if I could. I want to spend money on these things but can't.

[zmnatz]

There's a difference between carrier exclusivity and phones that use different Cell bands. Iphone is a GSM phone. In order for it to work on verizon they would have to make another phone. They can't just cell it for both. What pisses me off is the massive influx of these stupid messaging dumphones and verizon putting their same clunky firmware on all of them. Seriously, why are there 10 phones with the same interface and design on one network. The cell makers have their own interfaces but verizon keeps adding their own.

[estrevez]

I was talking to one of the managers at verizon and they were saying they are trying to sign a deal with apple to get the iphone i also was told that verizon was originaly offered the iphone but they turned it down