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Cellphone9 : Mobile Phones, 3G, Telco Industry, Cellular Networks, Phone Reviews

Verzio Duplii Review: Dual SIM done right?

by Jayvee on December 26th, 2007

Verzio Duplii Package

The Verzio Duplii is one of two phones (the other one is the Twinn) launched in the Philippines. It is the first “looks good like it ain’t hacked” phone that holds two SIM card slots active simultaneously.

Real estate shows off a fantastic phone design as the Duplii was engineered by former Sony Ericsson and Nokia engineers. You will notice similarities to both trademark designs with the menu screen and UI. Added eye candy to the menu is a GUI button that is animated with a tail as it moves about the grid navigation. Though it may be annoying at first, the two “i” and “c” buttons which return you to the menu and cancels actions respectively are a bit misplaced as they can accidentally pressed when making calls or navigating using the two menu buttons.

Verzio Duplii

One thing to note is the odd keypad layout with the 0, pound and asterisk keys forced over to the right side of the phone. Thus instead of a 3×4 grid for the keypad, you’re presented with a 4×3 grid. Now is this convenient? Amazingly, as far as my opinion goes, yes it is. It makes texting with two hands easier as the 0 key serves as the space bar. The pound key does the symbols while the asterisk cycles through the possible dictionaries available (T9 included). With predictive texting turned on, the directional pad serves to cycle through the possible word combinations.

Verzio Dual SIM

The two SIM slots are labeled as SIM 1 and SIM 2 with the primary SIM card being chosen through the Settings menu. This is usually the default number that will be used to send messages. Although when sending messages, the phone allows you to select which SIM to use to send out your SMS. Thus, let’s say you’re using a prepaid line on one end and a post paid on the other, you can use your prepaid line to receive SMS and reply using the other line seamlessly.

Home Screen

As for multimedia, the Duplii’s 2MP camera is nothing write home about as it doesn’t have an auto focus feature. Yes, this makes shooting fast without delay but good luck to getting nearby objects into focus. The camera is a look back into 2001. Here are some samples at QVGA quality. Maximum image size is 1600 x 1200.

Sample 1

Sample 2

Pros
Dual SIM done right
Very affordable at around less than USD $300
Bundled with two batteries

Cons
Backward camera (no auto focus)
Keypad layout needs to be relearned

Verzio Dual SIM

Bottomline

Okay, here goes. In 2008 we will be seeing an influx of these dual and yes - even tri-SIM phones from Verzio. We will be seeing Windows Mobile devices with dual SIMs as well from what I hear. The Duplii and Twinn will be marketed as the entry level phones for the workforce as many people in Asia, especially the Philippines have two SIMs - one for SMS in the office (SUN Cellular) and their personal like (Globe or SMART). The Duplii gets the dual SIM concept right. There are a few things you may need to relearn like the keypad - SMS response can be a bit slow, but this is by far the easiest - and might I add, elegant dual SIM solution out there.

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POSTED IN: Cell phone, Editorial, Mobile Monitor, The Unwired Life, Unwired Oddities, Verzio

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