Design
The VS3 is a compact flip phone with an industrial-looking finish due to a barrel hinge and four miniature screws on the front of the handset that hold exchangeable covers in place. Panasonic provides a teeny screwdriver and a second cover in the box; it took us around a minute for a cover swap. We received black and silver covers but depending on your region, colours may vary. On the side of the hinge is a release button that can flip open the VS3 with a simple push, which means no fussing about with two hands to answer a call.
On the inside of the flip you'll find a smooth, glossy keypad with even-sized, oval buttons. There are two programmable soft keys surrounding a four-way navigation pad with a silver selection key in the centre. Down the right side of the phone are volume keys and the camera shortcut.
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We were immediately attracted to the look of the VS3 (VS stands for visual slim according to Panasonic), but at 102g and 96 x 46 x 17.6mm, it still has some weight to lose to get down to the size of the RAZR.
Features
The VS3's 1.3-megapixel CMOS camera has a handy macro mode switch at its side that generally isn't found on camera phones. Stills can be taken at five resolutions up to 1280x1024, at normal, fine and super fine image quality.
32MB of internal memory is included to store photos, videos, MP3s and Java applications. Panasonic licensed the Sega classic Sonic The Hedgehog for the VS3, which is a great way to kill time while commuting, although the graphics can get a little bit jerky when trying to get the little blue character to zoom through levels at lightning fast speed.
Infrared and a USB port are onboard for connectivity but unfortunately the VS3 doesn't support Bluetooth. The VS3 is a tri-band handset with a WAP browser for mobile Internet sites.
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Panasonic says the VS3 is good for two to six hours of talk time or up to 250 hours of standby. Under average phone and SMS usage, we got four to five days between charges. However, we noticed that playing Sonic the Hedgehog drains the battery considerably. In fact, we went from three bars of power (maximum) down to one bar after playing the game for under an hour with sound and vibration switched on. A full recharge only takes about 3 hours, though.
It has been a while since we've put a Panasonic mobile through its paces and we must say we are impressed with the overall performance of the VS3. People looking for stylish flip phone with a good camera and customisation options should consider the VS3 and the VS2, which has almost identical features but a more curvaceous exterior.
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laura_2716
17/08/2008, 03:17 PM
rating
7/10
Nice phone to look at and fun to flip open with the auto-flip. Had this phone for three years, been fairly happy with it. The battery has lasted well on this phone, I bought it brand new and have still never had to replace it.
Pros: -Huge storage available for messages
-Great that it is a flip-phone, means screen doesn't get damaged while in pocket or bag.
-Nice loud alarm
-Can personalise many different sounds for message tone, key tone and ring tone.
-Plenty of storage available.
-Fairly good camera.
-Handy calculator
Cons: -No bluetooth
-I bought a USB cable from ebay to use with my phone but it never worked for me (might have just been a faulty cable though).
-No stop watch.
-Sound in sound recorder and video recorder is pretty shocking.
-Battery life does not last all that long, have to recharge fairly regularly.
-My phone has recently started to freeze up while I am writing messages and can cause a few problems. Mostly just deleting the message and you have to re-write it again. Doesn't happen all the time though.
-Volume of ringtones is extremely quiet, even on the loudest setting. It is incredibly hard to hear it ringing sometimes and I have very good hearing.
-The sonic game on my phone is all in some asian language (I bought it on ebay from Asia, so that may be why), means it is extremely hard to play the game though. Only other game available is soccer.
-Phone chips very, very easily. I've never dropped it or anything, but just normal handling of it cause lots of paint to chip off. I even use the clear covering over it, however there are gaps in the side of the panasonic vs 2-3 cover which still allows for the paint to chip.
-Phone is a little bulky.
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dali
03/05/2008, 11:11 PM
rating
10/10
The best and most industructible phone I have ever owned! I have had it for four years, and didn't run into any problems (until now, but i'm guessing that's just because it's about ready to retire)
Pros: the screen is beautifully large and colourful
easy peasy to use
Cons: nothing!
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JD
24/04/2008, 02:33 PM
rating
9/10
This was my fav fone out off all the fones ive had eva until a drunkn incident with it! & now ma pink Panasonic VS3 is no longer!
Pros: Customising menu icons, gamez & yada
Cons: not enough memory space
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kat
26/08/2007, 03:39 PM
rating
9/10
i think it looks very very good and stuff and i cant wait to buy it
Pros: colour camara video design
Cons: no blue tooth,to pricy,skratches eaisly and need more memory
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DEVILDANNI@GMAIL.COM
15/04/2007, 12:07 PM
rating
10/10
I HAVE THE PINK VERSION OF THIS AND I THINK IT'S GREAT!!!!!
Pros: COLOR, CAMRAR, MEMMORY AND TONNESSSSSS MOREEEE!
Cons: IT SCTAHES REALLY EASYLY
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angel4tash
29/03/2007, 10:18 PM
rating
2/10
THIS fone is the worst fone i ahve ever had! the sound quality is really really bad somtimes i cant evenb hear it ring because its so quiet, theres no enternal screen so i cant see who is calling unless i flip teh fone up!, the backing of the mobile keep falling off so one day it fell off and i lost the backing, NO bluetooth, battery life is poor, it doenst store very much! the only good thing about it is the color, and the large clear screen, other than that i wouldnt recommend it to ne1
Pros: *Large screen
*Good Looking
Cons: *No bluetooth
*Poor sound quality
*Low memory and battery life
*No internal screen
*Poor backing
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ktha
17/01/2007, 07:17 PM
rating
10/10
cool phone
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aynonomys
08/12/2006, 07:37 PM
rating
9/10
Awsome phone great screen and nice feel
Pros: Aswome Flip Action
nice screen
bright
sturdy
Cons: 32MB memory
no blu tooth
video quality
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anomouse
06/12/2006, 05:18 PM
rating
10/10
hey i got this phone 4 my bday about 4 monthz ago i havent had a problem with it and am lovin it !! it is light different style and has great features on it. i got mine 4 a good price being $250 and i think that it is well worth that amount!! so to buyerz that arent sure i say go get it y not ??? LOL cya
Pros: camera, light, nice style, cheap, good 4 all adges and neat !!!!
Cons: that it dosent have bluetooth
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sxc_baby113
27/10/2006, 05:57 PM
rating
9/10
served me well
this phone has served me really well but unfortunately the silver finish chips quite easily so after a while the wear and tear really shows.
otherwise its pretty good in all areas especially the screen which is almost as clear as that on a computer.
Pros: great screen, good camera
Cons: no external screen
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