Affordable Phone With Loaded Features
Written: Jan 12 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Clarity: |
 |
|
| Portability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
|
|
|
Pros: small, slim, high-end features, customizeable, sturdy, easy-to-read display, price
Cons: screen can be easily scratched, antenna flimsy when fully extended
The Bottom Line: You get a lot of phone (in terms of features) for a nice price. It has an excellent battery life so that you don't have to recharge very often.
|
|
|
| breviceps's Full Review: Motorola V120c |
I bought this phone to be tagged onto my primary account for a Family-Share plan. I figure it was still cheaper to have one account, two phones instead of two completely different accounts.
The V120c is a trimode CDMA phone that can operate throughout the United States, operating on 800/1900 MHz and 800 MHz analog. What this means is that you can easily roam throughout the country with little or no coverage problems. Having signed-up under Verizon, you have more calling options in that if there is no digital signal, the phone can automatically switch to an analog connection.
List of features:
* voice-activated dialing (up to 20 numbers)
* 2-Way SMS messaging for sending and receiving alphanumeric messages that acts like an alphanumeric beeper or for "texting" use
* WAP 1.1 Enabled Microbrowser to access the Internet
* Phonebook, capable of up to 400 entries
* 32 Ring tones with a vibrating "ring"
* iTAP™: a feature that predicts what you type to make entering text easier
* synchronization with PIM devices with optional software
* Caller ID
* Multi-Language Support - English, Spanish, Portuguese, French
* Up to 300 hours standby/4 hours talk time
What's in the box?
The phone, with a choice of either black or Skye (a pastel/light blue color), standard battery, charger, and instruction manual.
The physical specs:
It's svelte appearance makes it a pleasure to carry in your jacket pocket and it only weighs a mere 4.5 ounces. It's dimensions (just the body) is approximately 5.0" x 1.7" x 1.1".
The display:
96x64 high contrast LCD pixel display with a green backlighting. It can display 3 lines of text. The screen also has a dedicated line for icons and one line for prompts
The body:
Below the screen are three buttons used to navigate through the menu and below that are your END, UP, DOWN, SEND buttons, and below that is the numeric keypad. To the right of the screen are the volume keys, to the left is the voice key to record voice notes and to activate the voice dialing function. On the top left of the phone is the power key that is somewhat depressed and in order for the phone to be turned on, it must be pressed for at least 1 second (to prevent accidental power up and power downs). To its left is the headset jack for hands-free operation. On the base of the phone is the accessory connector port to insert the charger, an accessory FM Stereo radio and other accessories. Finally, on the back of the phone is the location of the battery which is accessed via a latch release button.
Features Explained:
Accessing the menu couldn't be easier, the menu button is located on the middle of the phone. It lists: Recent Calls, Phone Book, Messages, Shortcuts, Voice Notes, Browser, Settings.
Recent Calls shows the received and dialed calls (both with time and date stamp), notepad (where you can type in alpha numeric messages for yourself), call times (the length of outgoing and incoming calls).
The Phone Book shows the name of the contact with a little icon on the right hand sign which tells you if it's a work, home, main, mobile, fax or pager number. You even have an option of storing an email address. So, per contact, you can have up to 6 telephone numbers + 1 email address. If you have the number set for voice dialing, there will be a speaker icon and when it is highlighted, the phone actually speaks the recorded prompt to activate the voice dialing, just in case you forget how and what you said to activate that contact for voice dialing
Messages when selected shows your the number of voicemails, text messages, browser alerts you have. There's also a quick note submenu for saved texting messages like: yes, no, need, directions, Where are you, etc...predefined phrases to make texting easier. When you press text messages, this is where you can actually send a text message to somebody.
The shortcut menu is a way for you to program the phone to let you get to a specific feature. For example, if you like to change your ringtones, so instead of going to several submenus, you can go to the shortcut menu and program your phone to quickly access the ringtone menu with just a press of a button.
Voice notes is where you store your voice notes that you have recorded pressing the button to the right of the screen. The phone is capable of a total of 2 minutes of voice recording.
Browser is the menu to access the microbrowser on your phone. Before using this, you usually need to subscribe via your service provider, for a fee.
Finally, the settings menu access your phone settings. The ring/vibrate access the different ring tones. You have an option for loud of soft rings depending on your location. For example, if you're in a busy place and you need to hear your phone ring, you customize your ring tones to be louder. On the other side of the spectrum if you need to have your phone ring quietly, you can choose ring tones that are quieter and softer in volume. So depending on where you are you phone is programmed to fit your needs. In addition, you can assign different ring tones for different functions. For example you can have a different ring tone for voice calls, text messaging, voicemail, data calls, reminders, and fax calls. Ring tones include: silent, continental, classic, attention (loud shrill), siren, snaggle, beep, ding dong, bits & bytes, charge, funk, boogie, Fibonacci, cosmic, uh-oh, bombs away, Rondo ala Turca, Bach Invention #1, Toccata & Fugue, Canon in D, 1812 Overture, Maple Leaf Rag, Nursery Rhyme, Cumparasita, Nessun Dorma, Hava Nagila, Chinese Melody. Vibrating tones are also included and they vary on the pattern and duration of the vibration. They include: vibe dot, vibe dash, vibe dot dot, vibe dot dash, and vibe pulse.
The phone status menu tells you about your telephone number, battery meter (a more detailed meter with 6 bars), your electronic serial number, technology (i.e. Trimode CDMA phone), software version, PRL version, data, TrueSync, and browser status (if everything's working, it should display "Ready."
Under the connections menu, you can specify if you only want to receive voice, data, or fax calls. In the In-Call Setup menu, you can specify if you want to visually see the length of time your're talking on the phone and to have the phone beep at a selected interval for those who are on a budget. Under this menu you can also choose if you want to answer the phone by pressing the send button or by pressing any button on the keypad.
In the security menu you can personalize your phone to be locked when turned on, assign a pin number and to restrict calls.
Other settings let you change the phone greeting and banner, time and date, automatically dial your PIN number, auto redial settings, duration of backlight, zoom levels (how magnified you want your text to be), scroll, language, contrast, and a master switch to reset and clear all your selections to revert back to the factory setting.
Impressions
This phone is fully loaded when it comes to features. It rivals its big brother, the newest vader, the V60c. What you're sacrificing is just the form factor for $300 less. What I would like included is to have different ring tones assigned to incoming calls to help identify who the caller is. You can visually see who it is through it's caller ID function.
For those who have big fingers, you might have a problem dialing because the buttons are small to begin with and they're oval in shape lengthwise. However, the buttons are neatly arranged in that when dialing and accessing the menu options, you can easily do so with just one hand.
I wish that the volume for the keypad could be louder. I like to have an audio feedback when I press the buttons and at the loudest setting (7), it's barely a whisper. The ring on this phone, however is opposite, especially if you choose the ring tones that register on the upper notes. The high pitched, shrilling ring tones can definitely be heard without a problem.
Being that the phone is not a flip-phone the screen is very susceptible to scratches, so my advice is to keep the sticky plastic film that came with the phone until you buy a protective hologram sticker that can be placed directly on the screen. It adds more customization and it keeps the screen from being scratched. They can usually be purchased in malls where they sell cell phone accessories for less than $10.
The reception and signal strength are both excellent. I don't have to extend the antenna all the way, although, Motorola suggest that you do so. But again, this varies with your service provider and the topography, but I'm happy with my Verizon Wireless serivce here in the Baltimore/Washington area. This is a good thing because when the antenna is extended, it's very flimsy and could be bent/damaged somewhat easily.
I also like the fact that the standby time is long on this phone. It can be on standby for 3-5 days, depending of course, on how much talktime you've done: it's inversely proportionate...the more you talk, the less standby time.
Motorola has also learned that people are individuals and they like to customize their phone to fit their personalities. I'm happy that Motorola has finally included ring tones similar to that of Nokia phones. However, you can't download additional ringtones as this is a feature of TDMA phones. I believe that additional ringtones can changed via software upgrades. In addition, you can purchase different color soft and hard wraps to customize the color of you phone. They simply snap or wrap around the front of the phone depening if you choose the soft or hard wrap. Other accessories that you can purchase are: headsets, holster, carrying case, desktop/car chargers, handsfree speakerphone adapter and other bundled accessories...all at Motorola's website @ http://www.motorola.com
The voice-activated dialing is a lifesaver especially if you're driving. By pressing just one button you can dial a phone number without having to mess with your phone since we all need to concentrate on the road instead of our cell phones.
To sum up this long review...I do like the phone. The price vs features keeps this phone accessible to the public and you get the same features as more expensive phones that are out there on the market. It's not the smallest but it's a true portable and its features alone can very well compensate for that.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 100.00
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
breviceps
|
|
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Reviews written: 32
Trusted by: 11 members
About Me:
Feel free to email me if you have any questions about my reviews.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.