I admit that I was skeptical when my parents were telling me that they were looking into Nextel/Motorola cellular phones. I already owned one of the Motorola Startac phones, which I loved because I could easily clip it to my belt, it was ultra-portable, had vibrating ring, and did what I wanted. However, after learning about all the features of the i50sx our family decided to get a set, and it has been an excellent phone so far.

Features
Standard:
* a little over 5 inches, weighs 5 oz.
* direct-connect: basically this allows you to use your phone like a walkie-talkie when connecting with another nextel phone. really neat feature.
* lithium ion battery: lasts several days, and averages 2-3 hrs talk time.
* voice-mail, messaging, etc.
* wireless web for e-mail, etc.(you can get it as part of one of their plans)
* java-enabled apps: it includes a calculator, two java games (reversi and another sega game)
* vibrating ring, different ring tones
* voice-activated dialing
* phonebook that stores up to 250 names/numbers
* memo and datebook for recording short notes and events
* colored faceplates: change your faceplate color to green, black, slate, brown, or other colors.
* belt-clip for attaching phone onto the belt

optional features:
* speakerphone
* styles: allows you to customize fonts, size, placement of things on display
* voice recording: allows you to record short messages

As you can see, it has a wide variety of features that makes it a very functional phone. The i50sx is basically a stripped down i85s phone, but you can add most of the extra features of the i85s to the i50sx if you go to a Nextel service place that can add on the features for you. From my understanding the speakerphone costs $30, styles are $10, and voice recording is $30. If you add all three to the phone price of $49 it adds up to $119, which is still less than the i85s price of $169. Obviously this isn't too shabby of a deal.

Whoo... now that all of the features are done, let's go on to how the phone operates.

Phone Operation
Basic phone operation is very easy. The power button is located on the top of the phone, you press it for a second or two, and the phone comes to life. It is a java-enabled phone so it takes about 15-30 seconds for the phone to finish starting up. This is a bit annoying, and is my major peeve against this phone. Once you get used to it however, it's not such of a big deal. Keypad is normal, with green button for send, red button to end a call. There is a main menu betton, as well as two button for quick access to the phonebook and message center (voice mail, text messages, and internet mail. You can store up to 250 numbers in the phonebook which is nice. 20 can be speed dialed, and you can also add a voice-activation to the name if you wish to use this feature. After you let it record the name, you can say the name into the phone after letting it know you want to voice-dial. The included belt-clip is nice as all you have to do is slide the back of the phone into the belt-clip. To release the phone you hit a button on the top of the belt-clip, pull the phone up and it comes out easily.

Direct Connect
One of the cool features with the Nextel phones is the ability to use it like a walkie-talkie if you know another person with a nextel phone. Once you alert the person using their specific nextel id number, all they have to do is confirm the alert and you can use them like walkie-talkies, with a large button on the left-side of the phone which you use when you talk. The speakerphone is very loud and clear, and you can hear the person perfectly without any distortion. Its basically a built-in FRS feature that is nice to have.

Sound Quality/Battery Life
The sound quality on the nextel is very good... it sounds extremely clear, with very little to no static. Voices are loud, and I usually put the volume level near the middle so that my ear doesn't get blown out by the phone. My parents have the optional speakerphone feature, and they say it is excellent and the sound quality is similar to the direct-connect speakerphone. They can leave it on one side of a room, go to the other side and talk and hear without any problems.

As for battery life, it has adequate battery life. I can usually leave it on for several days, and talk with it for a couple hours (somewhere between 2-3) before I have to recharge. Recharges take approximately 4-5 hrs, so if you just plug it in and leave it overnight that should give it a full charge.

Optional Features
The speakerphone feature for $30 is probably an excellent idea to have, especially if you use a cell phone often while driving. As I stated above, the quality is very good, and you can speak from far away and the phone will still pick up the voice.

Styles are a nice feature if you want to customize your phone with smaller text or a different font, and at $10 it is not too costly.

The voice-memo feature is the least useful feature in my opinion, as if you really wanted to record messages I'd probably suggest having a separate digital voice-recorder for that. However, if you really need it, for $30 it's not too bad of a deal.

Though I don't have it, Nextel Wireless Web allows you to check web sites, e-mail, news, and other things. Depending on what plan you pick, you may get it included or it'll be an optional feature for $5 or $10 depending on what web features you want.

Conclusion
The Nextel i50sx is an excellent value for a cellular phone, as it has a wide variety of features included, as well as upgrade options which you can get anytime you want. If you get all the upgrade options you'll basically have the same feature set as the i85s, which is pretty cool. It is not a very expensive phone, and since it has all the main features, including voice mail, phonebook, vibrating ring, datebook/memo, in addition to other things such as java apps, wireless web, faceplates, it becomes a very good choice for just about anyone. It is not too big or heavy, and the belt-clip helps as you don't have a phone in the pocket. Overall it is an excellent phone, and I'm glad that I switched from my startac to this phone. Motorola has always made solid phones, and this is yet another example of the high quality of their phones.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 49