A cost-effective cell phone
Written: Jul 08 '01 (Updated Jan 27 '03)
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Pros: Ergonomically and aesthetically pleasing, more features than Ben & Jerry's flavors
Cons: No day/time stamp on caller ID, flimsy antenna
The Bottom Line: Few other phones offer as many features AND maintain an affordable price.
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| dncswknivs's Full Review: Motorola V120c |
Every once in a while a product comes along that sets the standard for that category. A perfect example among cell phones is the Motorola StarTac. Sleek, slim, light, stylish, and functional, it has not only been among the top cell phones sellers, but it has held this respectable and coveted position for a number of years—a feat when you consider how many different phones are on the market.
But, Americans like change, and better yet, we like technology. Newer, faster, smaller, better. Interestingly enough, Motorola may be the one to set the new standard in cell phones by bringing to the market the 120c—a small ovalish phone that fits nicely in the palm of the hand. The features of the phone speak for themselves.
Most importantly, the phone is easy to use. Features are worthless if you can’t make sense of the menu. The menu is laid out in a sensible manner, and is easily navigable. What is really useful is the ability to change the functions of the two "soft" keys on the keypad so that you can access those items of the menu you use most frequently—the phone book for example. Also, it allows the order of the various menu selections to be changed so that you can access those most frequently used without having to scroll through others.
The "soft" keys are two small buttons straddling the menu button whose function change depending on what menu screen is displayed. They are extremely useful because they allow you to do more than one thing in a menu.
The phone has an excessive 32 alert tones, including all the annoying songs you hear erupt from people’s pockets at deafening decibels. But the saving grace is that it also vibrates in place of ringing, and there is a setting in which the phone will vibrate, and if not answered will then ring—useful if you left it in your pocketbook on vibrate and forgot about it.
The antenna is relatively small compared to most phones. It measures about 1 inch in the down position, and 2 1/4 inches when extended. It is the telescoping type so over time it’s questionable how much abuse it can take—the more moving parts, the more likely they are to break. It requires a gentle touch to extract and store it.
The phone is tri mode, dual band, operating with CDMA 800/1900 MHz and analog 800 MHz signals. It has a backlit display.
Among the more "techy" and fun features of the phone, those that go beyond the call of duty, is the built in voice memo recorder that allows up to 2 minutes of recording time. Useful for things like small reminders and where you parked your car at the shopping mall.
It also supports voice dialing—just say the name and it dials it. I like this feature because I don’t have to go into my phone book and look for a name. However, it takes a while to program all your numbers in and record the voice. If you forget how you recorded a person’s name you could dial the wrong number too. For example, if you have two friends named Rob. You might call one "Rob" and the other "Smith" in order to differentiate in the voice dialing.
Soon to be released will be an AM/FM radio headset that uses the phone’s lithium ion battery to power it. The phone can tune and store stations. This is a novel idea—especially for anyone who has to commute on the train or bus. And, if a phone call comes in while you’re listening, it automatically switches you to the call.
The battery life claim is rather astonishing. They say you get over 300 hours of standby and 4.5 hours of talk time. After using the phone for some weeks I’m assuming that when they calculated standby they had turned off every extraneous feature on the phone which could possibly suck up power like graphics (sorry no games on this phone) , sound, and backlit keypad options. But, with generous use it can still hold 4-5 days worth of power without a recharge (which only takes a couple of hours).
On top of the regular calling functions, Motorola is following every other company with the seeming motto that "our products do everything." The 120c also supports Text Messaging and has an Internet Microbrowser. To make messaging and browsing easier they have added a predictive text entry program called iTap (how originally named) which predicts possible letter/word combinations as you type and presents you with choices in order to make the task of punching out a coherent thought on these small keys much easier. It works fairly well too.
Aesthetically, the phone is easy to handle and pretty neat to look at. Even better, Motorola includes a free phone "wrap" (depending on where you buy it). It’s sort of like a wet suit for a phone. Made out of a thin sheet of rubber, it hugs the outside of the phone as if it were a pair of spandex shorts. It makes the phone easier to grab and hold on to, and much less likely to break or scratch of dropped. It does make it harder to get in and out of pockets though. But in comparison to a clunky leather case, Motorola deserves a thumbs up for this neat little accessory—available in a profusion of colors of course.
Most features about the 120c are positive. There are however, a few realistic complaints: The antenna seems a bit flimsy, and the telescoping feature does nothing to improve reception or stoutness over the single piece whip antennas of old. The closely spaced keypad buttons are sometimes difficult to use, but that’s the sacrifice made for a smaller phone. Older people may find the small text size on the screen difficult to read—luckily they can change the view from three lines of text to two which increases size just a bit—not by much though.
At the price of $69.99, the tri-band 120c is definitely a bargain. I would chose this as your next phone if it’s time to upgrade—even in place of a StarTac.
1/27/03
Update: Having used the 120c for one and a half years I can now offer plenty of insight on some of the rather vague suppositions above. To keep it simple and brief:
-battery life is actually what the manufacturer claims and is still the longest battery standby time on the market
-the antenna is possibly the flimsiest style ever introduced by motorola and will break easily...even if properly cared for
-while the phone has respectable signal strength, the newer version, the 120e, has even better reception
-the price of the phone has since been lowered to the FREE status as Motorola introduces the 120c in its place. Expect to see the 120e discontinued and no longer offered within 6-10 months. It was one of the most frequently sold phones in the last two years, so if you were happy with it, consider the 120e as a possible upgrade.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 0.00
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Epinions.com ID:
dncswknivs
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Location: USA
Reviews written: 70
Trusted by: 23 members
About Me:
Traveler and writer, I've traversed four continents and 16 countries.
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