A Great Low-Cost Phone!
Written: Jan 04 '02 (Updated Jan 04 '02)
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Pros: Small, Stylish, Cost, Large Phonebook, Feature-packed, Trusted Brand
Cons: Weak Speaker, Somewhat glitchy, Bad Voice commands, no full color? =)
The Bottom Line: It's a low cost phones with surprisingly many features, it's a steal if you can find it for cheap and you like AT&T's calling plans
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| pika2pika's Full Review: Panasonic Allure EB-TX310 (Silver) |
Introduction
I've been a cell phone user for many years. I used to have Cingular (formerly Pacific Bell) Wireless as my service provider. I originally caught on to their service because of the GSM standard, which is by far the most advanced standard available today, in terms of sound quality and power consumption (and the most prevalent worldwide standard also). I will not go too much into GSM, because the Panasonic Allure EB-TX-310 uses the TDMA standard instead. The TDMA carrier across in the U.S. right now is AT&T Wireless, which is also my current cellular service provider. I dumped GSM in favor of this phone because: 1) GSM reception is very low compared with TDMA service in my new house, and 2) Cingular has "oversold" their service in the San Gabriel Valley (Southern California), meaning you can't use your phone even if you're within range of their ground stations. Another reason I got the phone, and very importantly, is the calling plan and cost. AT&T gave me more minutes, free nights and weekends, and free Long Distance at the same price, so I switched to AT&T instead. Since this is a review on the phone, not on the carrier, I will talk more about the phones bells and whistles
Features
(excerpts from Panasonic's website)
Tri-Mode operation (800 MHz analog, 800 MHz TDMA and 1900 MHz TDMA)
Backlid 4-line Dot Matrix LCD Display with 6 different colors
Talk time up to 140 min./200 hr. standby
Weight: 2.7 ounces
Phonebook: 250 locations - each with four numbers, plus email, backlight color, ring tone, an associated picture, and birthday alert.
Customizeable tone for messages and phone calls
Built in speakerphone
Voice dial, voice commands, and voice memo features
Vibration mode
Two-way short messaging service capability with T9 Text entry
Handsfree Headset
Standard Travel Charger
Slim Battery
Initial Impressions
First hand, the phone is very small and light in my hand. Due to its long shape and protruding antenna, it doesn't get small enough to easily become lost, but it fits comfortably in my pocket or when I'm holding it at my ears. The display is clear and large enough to read text messages. The 4-way navigation key makes it a snap to move within the menus, which is most of the time intuitive. The low-profile buttons on the phone are almost flush with the surface. While this improves the look of the phone, it makes quick button presses very difficult, but possible. The phone's speakers are clear, but lacking in bass. The sound gets drowned sometimes in noisy areas. The built in speakerphone, although a neat feature, is not up to the task. It only works in a quiet area, and the phone has to be very close. Speakerphone is clear, but again, lacking in volume and bass.
Closer Look
An important feature of a phone is its phonebook capabilities, and this is where the phone shines. It stores a large amount of phone numbers, plus it stores up to 4 per person. This makes calling a person whether at work, away, or at home a lot easier and quicker than conventional phonebooks. You can also link each person to a custom ring and display. Speaking of displays, it can display numerous pictures for standby or for calls, and you can upload more pictures with the optional link cable.
Making calls and receiving them are pretty easy, but that's not all this phone is capable of. It can send and receive text messaging if you subscribe to it with your carrier. Text Messages are easy to type due to T9 text entry method, which is a quick way of typing just the letters (and not having to press each button numerous times to get a letter) by using the phone's built in dictionary. Inputing symbols is easy too, since you can always pull up a menu to display the symbols. The 4-line display also helps. The Display background colors are selectable (6 colors), but I find only three colors blue, green, and amber to be of any use (the other colors are too dark). The contrast is also adjustable, but most people would just leave it at the default, most optimal setting.
Performance
After all is said and done, how does it work in the real world? The battery life was horrible initially, until I charged it 4-5 times to "refresh" the battery. This is how batteries usually break in, and you should always charge a battery when it's near empty, not near full. I find the battery life to be good, but your mileage might vary due to usage. The charge time is around 3-4 hours, depending on battery charge. You can purchase a faster battery charger (sold separately). It'l be nice if they sell a larger, higher capacity battery for this phone, but you're stuck with the standard one. You can always buy a second battery, though.
Most calls dial go through with this phone, if your carrier at your location has kept up to the demand, and you're in a good reception area. Calls are loud and clear if you have a strong signal, but it gets choppy with 2 or less bars. Again, this could be the terrain or carrier dependent problem, and not necessary the phones fault. The Voice dialing feature is terrible. It doesn't recognize my command most of the time, so I just gave up using it. (it only works in a quiet area).
The phone sounds pretty good when it rings, but the preset and custom melodies are too soft to be heard in a crowd. It's best to use in combination of the vibration feature of the phone. The custom melody is very complicated, since it allows for 3 channels of sound. This can make the ring very musical, but I've set to create one myself due the the complexity. You can still input regular 1-channel sound, however, just ignore the other 2 channels. You can also record memos like a regular voice recorder, at 20 seconds/clip. This can be pretty handy, like recording a small grocery list, for example, but again, the background has to be quiet in order to use this. You can also record voice conversations up to 20 seconds, which is very neat, but you can only record the other person's voice. Also, check whether it's legal in your state to do so! =) Another neat thing is that you can record a sound (yes, any sound) to be your ring. I tried the "ICQ message received" sound on the phone, and it sounds real funny! Again, it's kinda soft, so it's pretty gimmicky
Conclusion
I would highly recommend this phone, it not only packs a lot of useful features in one convenient and small package, it is also not very expensive. Depending on your location, you can pick this up for little to no money all! That's right, I got it for free with my 1-year contract with AT&T, and I even get a rebate with this. Sweet. In terms of calling performance, this phone is good, but it can be dependent on you carrier and surround area. My phone occasionally has glitches, where it would go into a wrong state and the display turns in to garbage and it sounds a really nasty tone. Thankfully, it's easily resetted with a button press, and it does not corrupt the information on the phone. I think it's only my phone, since my friends have the same phone, but they don't have the same problem with their's. If you can find this cheap for little to no pennies, it would be a steal, and it's a good buy if you don't want to spend a lot of money on a good phone!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
pika2pika
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Location: Los Angeles, California
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
Male, Chinese, Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering
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