Using new technology, the V710 provides obvious conveniences not found in other Verizon Wireless phones: with Bluetooth, I can use a wireless headset or speakerphone ($60 and up, sold separately) in the car, eliminating the possibility of me accidentally wrapping a wire around the emergency-brake lever. Add to that the magical "speaker independent" voice recognition from VST — an amenity I praised last February as both safe and handy. In the relative calm of my home, the phone's built-in speakerphone provides a great way to check messages and make calls.

It may surprise you to discover that the other new high-end phone from Verizon Wireless, the $250 LG VX7000, has none of the above features. If I only measured the conveniences arising from implementing new technology, I would say the V710 was hands-down Verizon's best phone. But its hardware success is tempered by some shortcomings on the design side, epitomized by a far-from-perfect phone book.

A well-designed phone book, like those found in LG phones, lists each contact once, with slots for that person's various numbers (mobile, work, home, pager, etc.). You can find a specific name by typing not just its first letter, but its subsequent letters, so you don't have to scroll through many names to find just one. The Motorola V710 allows you to enter multiple numbers for a single name, but they end up appearing as separate entries in the phone book, meaning that I now have at least two entries for nearly every person I know. Because of that, and the fact that I can't spell out a full name, it now takes 10 clicks just to find my mom's number.

Phone book aside, I have one last gripe. The built-in megapixel camera is not worth it. Shots come out so noisy and smudged, it doesn't matter how big the file size is. I'm not saying that you shouldn't buy the phone — in fact, if you spend a lot of time on the road and really like Verizon Wireless service, the phone's voice recognition and compatibility with Bluetooth handsfree headsets make it a beneficial buy. But if you buy do this phone, you should a) prefer voice dialing to thumbing through a phone book and b) already own a digital camera.

Gadget Bonus (Sept. 30 update): The V710's phonebook is still far from perfect, but one savvy reader wrote to say how to smooth it out a bit. Under Contacts, you can alter the setting to list only "Primary Contact" instead of "All Contacts," folding each person's multiple numbers into a single listing. There are many ways to customize this phone, I might add — some are evident while others, like this one, are hidden deep within. Thanks for the tip, Bob!