Motorola i215 - A Nice Basic Cell Phone But It Takes Some Getting Used To
Aug 20 '06
The Bottom Line Good for those who don't plan on talking a lot but if you are a text message junkie - you will hate this phone with a passion.
Pros Nice features, GPS, walkie talkie option, long battery life, text messaging.
Cons Buttons are too small, hard to access features, crappy games, midi style ringtones.
I purchased the Motorola i215 as part of the Boost Mobile promotion, it was $39.99 plus tax and all I have to say is this - you get what you pay for. I am going to be extremely fair in reviewing this phone but I have to tell you this up front - I am not happy with it so far and chances are this will end up going back to the store within the next few days. It's not that it is a bad phone but it seems like this is a couple of years old and doesn't have features that the newer phones have. You can't download new ring tones, you can't change the banner display, the backlight stays on the entire time you have the adapter plugged in and charger itself is completely bizarre. So with all these negatives are there any positives? You'll have to read the review to find out.
Motorola i215
This phone is a little smaller in size than my older Kyocera phone and has most of the same features however the buttons are smaller, the option keys are hard to press and sending a text message with this is a real chore. The buttons on the face of it have slants on the ends so it is really easy to press the wrong number or text letter. There is a four way directional pad in the middle of the phone that allows you to scroll through recently called numbers, access the features and for web browsing, move through screens. The thing that really sucks about this is that to the left and right of the four way pad there are two small buttons for the main menu and to exit out of options - these are the smallest of all the buttons and are hard to press correctly. One thing that flat out sucks about this is that if you stop doing something on a certain menu it doesn't go back to the main screen after a couple of minutes - it just sits there waiting for you to finish or exit out. All the other phones that I have had would give you a set amount of time then it would lock the phone or take you to the main menu - this one leaves you wide open to snoops if you leave you phone on a desk to take care of something else.
The sound when making a call is clear and there is no feedback or distortion but there are times when the entire system goes down and you have limited access to features. When I first set this up it took about 24 hours for the text messaging service to be activated - that meant no text messages in or out. When people were trying to text message me I wouldn't get any type of notification and when I called Boost they told me that there was trouble in the area. I can't slight the phone for this but even after the service was up and running it took about three to four minutes for a text message to arrive at its destination and about the same amount of time for one to make it from the caller to my phone. There are several different ways to input text and you can move through the menus to get to them pretty easily.
There are six lines of text on the phone; the top one is just for the phone icons and what is active on the phone so the rest tell you call information, text messages, preferences, time date and all the other things that this phone offers you. Some of the coolest things that this phone has are the thing that you will probably never have a use for - things like GPS location, memo pad, call timers and some of the features. OK, maybe these are things that you will use but they are things that I have little or no use for. Some of these are directly related to the SIM card that comes with this [Boost Package] - so if you swap the card with someone else or take it out all together you will lose things like your memos, contact lists and other stored information. They say that this is a safety feature for you; the information is stored on the SIM card, not your phone. One last thing, if you remove the SIM card, you will not be able to use the phone to make or receive calls - except to emergency phone numbers [9-1-1].
Unless you change the setting in the preference menu the phone will always display the time and date, IP functions, signal, battery power, contact options, menu option, keypad lock or unlock and any other features you activate. There is no way to change the banner so it will always read BOOST. That to me is completely annoying and gets under my skin. One of the good points is that I no longer have to mess around with an antenna; this one has a small little nub sticking out of the top of it instead of the older styled ones that you have to pull the antenna out. Yeah, sometimes it's the small things that impress me - that must have been what attracted me to my ex.
Keypad Lock
This should be something that every phone has to prevent accidental calls from being made. When you read through the booklet it tells you to press the menu key then the "*" key. You can sit there and do this until the cows come home and it isn't going to do anything. You have to go into the settings first then into security and keypad lock in order to set this up. After that all you have to do to lock or unlock it is to use the menu key then the "*" key and you will get a huge message on your phone as to whether or not it is locked or unlocked. You will still be able to answer calls but you won't be able to make any. You can set this up in the menu to automatically lock after 5, 10 or 15 minutes but I would like to see one for 30 seconds added to this phone.
Power Adapter
Your phone should come with a power adapter and if it looks a little on the funny side when you pull it out of the package there is a reason. The metal prongs that plug into the wall outlet are hinged so you can push them into the base when you are traveling. This is a nice feature but it is a complete pain when you are trying to get the charger into the wall. The cord that attaches to the phone flat out sucks. It isn't a standard 'plug in' type adapter, rather is it about three quarters of an inch long and you have to snap it into the base of the phone. I can't see this thing lasting too long because it is hard to get into place and the two plastic prongs on the ends look extremely fragile. If you break it then you will have to buy another charger from Motorola because this isn't a standard charger.
Tony Soprano's GPS
For some reason Boost and Motorola really pimp the GPS feature that this phone has. When I first saw it on the package I was reminded of the Soprano's episode when he ripped the GPS system out of his vehicle [or had someone else rip it out]. I have to admit, it is pretty interesting to use this but I will be completely honest - it means absolutely nothing to me. I guess if I were lost or something it would be nice but I don't really need to know exactly where I am. If I can't figure out where I am then chances are I'm in no state to be using a cell phone. In any event, this phone comes with the GPS feature. Pressing the refresh button and seeing it 'searching for satellites' is a real thrill for me.
Battery
Like most cellular phones, the battery will need to be charged once you unpack the phone. This one took about two hours to completely charge and will give you 165 minutes of talk time or 75 hours or standby time. For the most part this is pretty accurate however if you stay on the phone for more than a half hour the battery power drops about half way. When you have this charging the backlit display is lit, to me this sucks because it's not necessary. If you are playing around with the phones features, sending text messages, setting up your phone book or anything else it will drain the battery so make sure you charge this often. I have no idea what kind of battery this is because there are tons of numbers on it but it does say that it is a Motorola3.6 / 850. If you remove the battery from it the screen dies then the backlit comes on but you aren't able to use the phone.
Walkie Talkie Feature
This is something that I haven't used nor do I plan on using since Boost charges $1.50 a day to use it. When you purchase the phone straight out you get a walkie talkie number - the same thing goes when you are a prepaid customer. To make calls you have to have someone else's number or you have to give them your number in order for the calls to reach each other. Several other people have these phones and use this feature and said that it was a nice thing to have if you are on a calling plan but for the prepaid folks, the charges for it add up quickly. I can't comment one way or the other about this feature to the phone other than it has the capability to send and receive calls this way.
SIM Card
I am not sure if this is something that needs to be done if you purchase this as part of the Boost Mobile package or not so there is a chance that this section might not have anything to do with you if you are buying the phone straight out or with a standard calling plan. To get the phone to link up with the towers and computer systems you have to install the small SIM chip that comes attached to the SIM card inside the SIM package. You would think that all this modern technology would make things SIMple but it doesn't. Make sure the SIM chip is facing down or else it won't work. This is located right under where the battery goes so ignore the user manual that says "insert it to the right of your phone". There is no way around this - if you don't install the card then the phone won't work even if you call in to activate it [this pertains to the prepaid Boost system only].
Games
This phone comes with three games installed on it: Blackjack, Othello and Mindblaster. Blackjack is fun for about 45 seconds, Othello is nice but I never manage to win a game and the screen is too small to really be able to keep track of the pieces and Mindblaster is something that I haven't been able to figure out. You don't get any instruction on how to play any of the games but Blackjack is pretty straightforward. Othello is a game that I loved as a kid and was pretty excited to see it on the phone but as I said, the screen is too small and it is hard to keep track of the white and black pieces. It's anyone's guess how to play Mindblaster - I gave up on it after a couple of minutes and never bothered to see if the website had anything listed for it.
The Bottom Line
This would be a good phone for someone that just wants something for emergencies or doesn't plan on using it often. If you buy it with the Boost Package you get a $10.00 credit for airtime [up to 100 minutes] so if you buy the phone for $40.00 you are getting ten bucks of talk time for free. So, is the phone worth it? The old saying of "you get what you pay for" holds true here. The phone isn't cheap nor does it feel like it is going to fall apart but it certainly isn't as nice as the older Motorola products. The charger will almost definitely break in short order and that is just another way to rake you over the coals. Most teens would laugh if you got this for them because it doesn't have any of the cool features like downloadable ring tones, photo imaging, quick text or fun games.
I am going to give this a couple more days to see if I warm up to it but if I don't like it - back to the store it is going. I even went so far as to get the electronics manager to write that if I didn't like the phone I could return it to them for a full and complete refund with no restocking fee. I know that it's only $40.00 but it's the principal. When I purchased it there was no information about BOOST at the store so I had no idea what the pay rates were for airtime - that's one of the reasons I got everything in writing.. I had to wait until I got home to open it, call to set it up and get to a service rep to get all the airtime information. If you are looking for a phone that has a few perks to it but isn't all that fancy then this might be a nice purchase but if you want all the bells and whistles, look elsewhere.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2006 Freak369
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End Note: I wrote this several months ago and was hoping to get it added to the database so others would know that while this is an entry level phone, it is still good for people who don't want or need a lot of fancy stuff. I ended up keeping the phone and have since gotten used to it. My hopes of getting this added to the database were dashed when it was discontinued by Motorola ... but it makes no sense why it couldn't be added to the database since they are still being sold through Boost Mobile agents.
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