Verizon Escapade User Reviews

My parents just got this phone, they both occasionally travel overseas on business and intend to take it with them when they travel. This thing is *stripped* -- 1X and GPRS only (I think not even EDGE. EVDO and UMTS are right out), very small screen, old-school browser, and so on. But, my dad doesn't use his regular phone much (he will not even read texts) and my mom does text a lot but likes the phone she has. As a primary phone, I think my dad could use it but my mom or I would not like it much. As a simple phone to use when you're heading overseas, I think it's great. Due to the very high data costs, I wouldn't dream of using data (so having a smartphone with UMTS, full browser, etc. is not useful), it's not a theft target, it's a nice small clamshell so it won't "pocket dial" at international rates. Call quality seemed average to me (in CDMA mode, haven't used it on GSM as yet.)
Text input -- I like a full keyboard (no touchscreen keyboard) but the numeric keypad has an excellent feel, for that type of text entry it's as good as it can get. Display looks good but is very small. I couldn't figure out how to zoom the photo I took, but it seems to react well to low-light, and didn't look blurry on the little screen. I have not verified the battery life (we haven't had it for 316 hours...) but if it meets specs it seems pretty good to me.
My ratings average 6.6, but I'd rate it an 8 for overseas use, and a 5 as a primary phone.