Beware of slow but unstoppable phone death!
Written: Aug 09 '06
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Pros: Large memory, easy to dial
Cons: Quits taking charge, badly designed on/off switch
The Bottom Line: Don't bother with this obsolete weakling. It will stop taking a charge.
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| rogerelke's Full Review: Nokia 6340i |
This review deals with the Nokia 6340i cellular telephone of the "GAIT" variety.
It was touted as the best thing out there for widely distributed cellular telephone compatibility when I got the device in early 2005, receptive to both digital and analog service. As a Great Plains and severe weather photographer (go to http://www.skypix.ws for samples), I travel a lot to very remote places like Ekalaka MT, Paducah TX, Ulysses KS, Last Chance CO, Mullen NE, Philip SD, and other windswept bastions of days gone by.
"This rocks," I thought, "I'll be able to get digital signals in the cities and interstate highways, and latch onto old analog signals from remote providers in the Great Plains." You know them -- those podunk little local outfits with names similar to Stella Mae's Cell Company and Doofusville Voice Service that gouge the hell out of you on minutes unless you have a nationwide, flat-rate, cross-carrier plan (like me).
Cingular (and most other companies) dropped such analog support for newer phones right after I got this one, and switched to totally different technology (full GSM). As someone who travels a lot, for business and pleasure, I was quite pleased to be able to snatch hundreds upon hundreds of minutes of roaming, analog voice signals from the podunk phone carriers, who slammed Cingular with their outrageous roaming and long distance charges while I paid that nice, flat rate. I felt not the least sorry for Cingular, either. If they didn't want to be gouged by Stella Mae or Doofusville, they shouldn't have offered the Nation plan on that phone to begin with. Reap what you sow.
Then came the fly in the ointment. This POS phone stopped accepting electric charge a little over one year after I purchased it! For awhile it was hard to charge, but some wiggling and cussing usually got it going. Then it wouldn't work off my plug-in charger at all, and a couple months later, not off my car charger either. A voltmeter revealed the battery was fine, but no charge was getting to it. The phone was less than a year and a half old! What a shoddily made piece of crap. So much for the myth of Japanese excellence in manufacturing.
I ordered a replacement phone of the same type off EBay and...same problem! It wouldn't charge either. I tried the AC-conversion and car charger he sent, as well as both of my car chargers and my AC charger for the old phone. Same results, different phone. Enough is enough. I've upgraded my plan and phone.
Avoid the 6340i, especially used ones. You may lose charging capability at any time, without warning, thereby finding yourself in need of another phone and another 2-year plan.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 60
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy
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Epinions.com ID:
rogerelke
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Location: Norman, OK, USA
Reviews written: 28
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
Meteorologist, severe storms forecaster/researcher/chaser and photographer, happily married, with two great kids.
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