2004 Holiday Pre-Preview

Yes. That's the standard V500-series design.

Here's how the model numbering works:

Start with the V500. That's the base model with quad-band and Bluetooth.

Then the V505 and V525 are just cosmetic offshoots of the V500, created so that certain carriers can have their own "exclusive" model. But the only difference is the paint colors, really.

The V400 also has the same design, but steps down in features by removing Bluetooth, hence the lower model number.

The V550 is also pretty much the same design, but steps up in features (compared to the V500) by adding video capture, EDGE, and some extra memory. The design is tweaked a bit - it has the shimmer effect instead of the perforated metal thing.

Then the E550 and V551 are the cosmetic offshoots of the V550, except they have genuinely different designs on the outside - not just new colors.

Make sense? So yes, it's no coincidence that the V505 looks like the V550 - they have shared lineage - but they have different features.