There is a reason this phone is free
Written: Sep 10 '03
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Pros: Free with purchase of cellular service contract. Slim and compact and attractive.
Cons: Poor coverage and dropped calls, no solution offered by provider.
The Bottom Line: I would only recommend to someone who cannot afford a better cell phone, otherwise the dropped calls are unacceptable.
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| chattygal's Full Review: Samsung SGH-R225 |
The phone was free to me upon signing up for a 1 year contract of cellular service with T-Mobile.
I signed up for the service online and chose this phone because it was free. I received the phone via mail 4 days after placing the order online.
The phone is slim and compact and in my opinion fairly attractive. I like the blue light lcd background, the text is very easy to read in the window with the blue backlight on. It's small enough to easily fit into my pants pocket, or the breast pocket of my jean jacket.
The sound quality within a good service signal is loud and clear. You can also adjust the sound level to your liking.
I find the rest of the phone's menu features standard to other cellular phones under 100$.
A con is that it requires more charging than previous cellular phones I've used. When the battery bars start to go, they go very fast. I have to charge it every night and not forget or I may lose the use of the phone the next day until the next recharging session. I used to be able to go several days, up to 5, with my previous Sprint LG1010.
A huge disadvantage in the style of the phone is that the number buttons are extremely small in size and so close together. For someone who does not have dainty little fingers, this can be an issue. I have to clear and restart my dialing often because I am often hitting two number keys at once because the keys are so tiny. Forget playing Mole, a game featured on the phone, they keys are too small to play effectively. (unless you have the dainty fingers)
I wish I knew if T-Mobile service in general was so spotty in coverage, or if it's the fault of the phone, I suppose there is no way to tell unless I had access to a more expensive cell phone and tried their coverage areas using that. With this phone, I experience most of Durham, half of Middlefield, and many parts of Middletown to have no coverage at all. The strangest part is when you have a signal, you make your call, you are having no problem talking to a person using your cell phone as the call went through clear and fine, then you switch the phone to your other ear, and suddenly your signal is lost and you cannot get it back again until you move it back 5 inches to your other side. To lose your signal by moving inches or feet is not a good thing when you are on an important call. I've learned to be VERY still when talking in an area that I don't have full coverage bars showing on the phone.
Customer service by email regarding this problem has been unhelpful. They respond to my email asking more questions, I answer them and email the response back, then hear nothing. I write back inquiring what happened, and nobody had any record of my email. You repeat the entire process just to get no response, or a bot response which never addressed the original issue. I gave up trying by email. Customer service on the phone is polite, but have not been able to offer me any solution or remedy to the constant signal loss. Regarding almost no coverage in Durham, they say they offer service in Durham. I'd be happier if they would just admit that they have poor coverage there then I could stop blaming my phone and know the deal, but they'd rather convince me that my phone is fine and there is coverage in these problem areas and the problem must be me? When using Sprint, I had some coverage problems in the same areas as well, but not as bad. Some areas where I used Sprint for cell calls without trouble, I cannot do at all with this phone. Still, I cannot get an answer whether this is due to the phone itself or the provider's towers/coverage, if it would happen with any phone using T-Mobile I have no way to find out.
Anyways, the phone is cute, works average, has terrible coverage and constant dropped calls. So in my final opinion, you get what you pay for. The phone is free. It's a good start if you are new to using a cell phone, but for important phone calls, and/or if you need to be able to be reached for vital matters, you may end up having to purchase something better later and if that doesn't help, even switch to another cellular company. Still can't tell if it's the company or the phone, I'm in the dark.
Recommended:
No
Recommended for: Adventurous Technophiles - Tough and Durable
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Epinions.com ID:
chattygal
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Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 0 members
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