Two things to take into account when reading this review:

1. The Nokia 1260 was my previous phone, so maybe I have lower expectations than some others when it comes to getting a new cell phone.

2. The area I live in (Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area) has very excellent GSM service with AT&T (#2 service in this region according to a Washington Post survey, Verizon, #1, is the only company that serves the subway system). In most cases the service I get on my new phone is the same or better than what I got on AT&T's TDMA network. The only time I would ever dream of leaving this area is to travel to another large city. So most likely don't look to this phone or service if you don't live in a big city. I won't complain much about AT&T here because this isn't a review for AT&T.

Alright having said that...

I took my cell phone number off my parents' plan and started my own new account with the same phone number. They allowed me to change my plan and phone since essentially it was like a new account. Sure why not. After much comparison, I went with the T721 over the Samsung x426 and the NEC 515. It was more expensive in the end, but since the others were all mail in rebates and the T721 carried only instant rebates I went with that. In addition AT&T gave me an additional $20 off. Also there was a very bizarre glitch that happened when I separated my account and it was 4 days before I got cell service back, but AT&T credited my account for that. During those 4 days I learned a lot about the features of the phone aside from making calls.

Startup:
Often irritatingly slow. There is a picture of a girl holding the same model phone. Would be nice if she wasn't there. Also there is an annoying loud startup sound, which to my knowledge you can't turn off. Thus, I avoid turning off my phone except on airplanes.

Key pad:
Nice large keys. The green call button and the red hang up button are opposite the Nokias I was used to, but I got that figured out. There is a navigational arrow pad, which I find easy to use. There are also 3 function type keys across the top (see Menus).

The Menus:
Took a bit of getting used to after years of Nokia use. There are 4 main icons on the screen that allow me to quickly navigate to certain features. I could set what I wanted these icons to be, so I chose message center, phone book, calendar, and recent calls. There are also two keys that allow me to select ring styles (soft, loud, vibrate, etc) or mMode. You can change the ring style button to be something else. mMode you cannot change. Anyways this menu made it easy to get to the features I use the most from the main screen. There is another key in between the mMode and ring style keys that takes you to the full main menu (you can have it display icons or a list). I like how the submenus are organized. Particularly with the message center which breaks it down into voicemail, text messages, email messages etc. All in all pretty easy to figure out the menus.

Address book:
Much much better than my previous phone. Makes it easy to store more than one number for a person. When you navigate to the contact list it automatically lists all the names in the address book (alphabetical by default). You can quick jump to letters of the alphabet by using the keypad. Also the phone lets you set a ring tone, speed dial, and voice tag for the person (haven't used voice dialing yet, will report on this if I ever get around to it). Also you can store an email address. No place to store mailing addresses, which would be convienent since I don't have an address book outside of my laptop computer. However I can text message myself important addresses through the AT&T website and save them if I know I will need them when on a trip.

Call quality:
No different from my Nokia phones of the past. Clear sounding calls, like a regular telephone in my house. There are volume adjustment keys on the side of the phone which make it easy to tone the call volume up or down mid conversation. Again, any problems with static or dropped calls almost always had to do with being in poorer reception areas.

Battery:
Talk-time wise, it is hard to judge. Since I use it as my main phone, usually I am at home or in the car plugged into a charger anyways when talking. Standby time wise, I had a period where it was not plugged in for about 3 days, during which time I did use the phone a bit to talk and to look at my calendar, check voice mail etc. The battery indicator still says the battery is full. There are some power saving features of this phone, such as screen illumination time etc. I have mine set very low, which gets annoying when I want to look at something, but the screen has gone dim from a few seconds of inactivity. But I figure I am saving power. The phone charges very quickly, much quicker than my old Nokias. I like that the charger "hooks" into the phone a bit, so if I'm at home or driving and on the phone, the charger cord doesn't pull out (as it did all the time on aforementioned Nokias). You press a little release button on the cord and it lets go of the phone.

Now for the fun stuff:
This is my first flip phone and I like it rather much. I feel like I can hear better and people can hear me better since the mic is near my mouth. The keys are much larger (good for when wearing gloves). I had the strange problem of never being able to find my much larger Nokia 1260 in my small handbags because of the dark color, but I can find my silver T721 with no problem. It also allows for changeable faceplates (I think I will go with pink!).

Though I have heard some complaints about polyphonic ring tones being too soft, I find them to be just fine. There are 7 levels of ring volume, and I never put it on 7 because I actually find it too loud. The polyphonic ring tones are also much more pleasant when I am sleeping and I set the phone to a soft tune at a low volume so as not to scare me awake. Also the T721 comes with something you can't find on a lot of phones these days. Ring tones that sound like a phone ringing.

The external caller ID displays the date, time, signal strength, battery power. The main screen of the phone does the same. The display on the outside is plain LCD with blue backlighting (no need to waste battery power on a fancy color caller ID here). The main screen is nice and large and in color. You can even pick a color scheme (I went with green). The colors are not as vibrant as some other phones I have seen but they are good enough to make things look nice. There are wallpapers as well (sunflowers for me).

I rather enjoy having the calendar, since as I said before, everything is on my laptop, and you can't exactly carry that with you everywhere. I usually program in my work schedule, which changes from week to week, and then have the phone sound an alarm one hour before work, so I never have to think about what time to set my actual alarm clock to in order to wake up each day. There is an optional USB/software kit you can get that lets you sync with Outlook. I hope to get that sometime in the future and will report back.

There are some games that came with it, racing and Breakout. I erased the racing game because I don't like racing games. I don't particularly like Breakout either because I am very bad at it, but for now it stays. You can also download more java games if you want, but for some reason the really good ones, like Bejewelled claim they will work on the T720, but not the T721.

Complaints:
I am annoyed that you can't get ringtones, wallpapers, or games without signing up with mMode. I plan to do mMode when I have a steadier job, but in the meantime, I am missing out on some fun customization things.

The phone has a lot of really shiny parts that get fingerprints etc. all over it pretty easily. I find that I am constantly wiping it on my shirt to remove fingerprints.

Because this does not seem to be posted on the epinions site, specs (from AT&T Wireless):

Weight: 3.56 ounces
Dimensions: 3.54 inches tall x 1.87 inches wide x .98 inches thick
Battery: 750 mAh lithium-ion
Digital Talk Time: up to 6.5 hours
Digital Standby Time: up to 230 hours
Warranty: 1 year on phone and accessories (limited to defects in material and workmanship)
Technology: GSM/GPRS 850/1900 MHz
*All talk, data, and standby times are approximate and depend on network configuration.

Included Accessories:

750 mAh lithium-Ion Battery
Travel Charger
Belt Clip Holster w/spring
Headset

Update:
Did end up getting mMode and am enjoying ringtones and access to CNN when on travel. I've had this phone now for well over a year and it works just as well as when I first got it. Since AT&T became Cingular I have considered taking advantage of getting a new phone and "new" plan, but I continue to hold off as this phone has lots of extra features AND doesn't have a camera, which is important as I need my phone at work, but can't have a camera phone at work. I did install a few games on the phone, such as Snood, but I discovered that the phone really only has room for one "really fun" game at a time. I also discovered that by turning the phone to "silent", start up and and shut down sounds went to silent as well.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 129
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy