i90c - The Much Improved, Loaded with Features Nextel phone
Written: Jul 31 '02
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Pros: Size, battery, features, FEATURES, tons of capabilities
Cons: price for average joe like you and me ... only one I can think of
The Bottom Line: A feature loaded, professional looking phone that can do just about anything you would want your phone to do.
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| junebugz's Full Review: Nextel Motorola i90c |
The i90c is Nextel's second "professional" looking flip phone to come out. It's predeccesor (the i1000) had it's good points and bad points ... see my review on it if you'd like. The i90c is more feature loaded than the i1000.
I work a great deal with Nextel and it's products. The problems that I have seen with the i1000 seem non-existent with the i90. Being a flip phone, there is always a chance of stretching/pulling/bending that flip a little too far and breaking it, but in the time I have worked with them since they came out (8 months or so) we have only had 1 customer break the flip. It was a landscaping contractor who ran over it (no wonder it broke). The flip is tons more stable than the i1000 flip was.
The sound is very clear in both the earpiece (in the flip) and the external speaker (located behind the keypad) used for Direct Connect and speakerphone.
The phone has all the capabilities you need in a professional style phone. See below:
- Phonebook .. the phonebook holds 250 entries ... for one name you can enter up to seven numbers and distinguish it from a list of possibilities including Main, Private, Home, Work, Mobile, Fax, Pager, Talkgroup, IP, Other.
- Voice-activated dialing .. there are 20 voice activated dialing slots which are available and the experience I have had is they are easier to use than people make out. I hardly ever have problems with the phone not recognized what I am looking for.
- Messages .. this area on the menu will give you your voicemails, text messages, and net mail (also called Two-Way messages)
- Java Apps .. these are cool! You can add applications to have handy on your phone. There are tons of apps out there to choose from. Everything from Solitare and Poker to a Calculator Suite which will calculate the slope and help in building stairs. You can even download the apps from the phone.
- Datebook .. what a handy feature this is. You can enter an event on a certain day (if it is a recurring task ... for instance, a weekly meeting) it will show up every week. Put in the time it starts and ends and you can have the phone ring, beep, or vibrate at a specific time to remind you. GREAT IDEA! The times you can have it notify are very broad, and you also have the option to put your own time limit in.
- Net .. Nextel has many different Online options which can be purchased. The options are very broad here. You can check email with hotmail or even now with AOL. You can use the phone for AOL Instant Messenger. You can get directions, use the yellow pages, check movie times, make purchases, check the weather, calculate sales tax, bid on eBay, etc, etc, etc ... I personally love this feature!
- Voicenotes .. this is basically a voice recorder. You can record mental notes, ideas, etc in this feature to be played back later at your convenience. Great alternative for if you are driving and have to write something down (unless you live in New York ... you do have to push a button or two)1.
- Styles .. this is a good feature as well. Styles are preset groups of phone settings. For instance, the "Meeting" style puts all calls and notifications to vibrate. The "Car" style put all calls straight to voice mail. All the styles can be edited and you can even make your own styles up. So if you want to only accept Direct Connect (two-way/walkie talkie) calls and not phone calls it will be that way. If you want voicemails to ring but text messages to vibrate it will do that.
- Other options include call timers (so you can reset and not go over your monthly minutes), shortcut keys, call forward capabilities, various phone settings, a memo pad where you can type something in quickly, and a recent call list showing the last twenty calls made (whether voice or Direct Connect)
The standard battery lasts all day even with moderate to heavy usage. The slim battery will not last all day with moderate to heavy usage, but will with light usage.
All of the information to this phone is stored on a SIM card. If you remove the SIM card, the phone will not be able to be used. This is not really an anti-theft device, but will at least stop people from racking up charges if they would somehow end up with your phone.
Motorola makes an iBoard that is a foldable keyboard for this model and a few others. It works great, especially if you use the Net mode. It makes typing emails and so forth tons easier. The phone does have T9 technology which means you can type words using just the letters ... for instance ... press 843 and the word "the" appears instead of having to press 8 once for the "t" and then 4 twice for the "h" and then 3 twice for the "e". But the iBoard is great ... the keys are really close to a regular keyboard size key and everyone would probably have a fairly easy time typing away on it.
There is easy access to a headset plug on the top of the phone for those people who like using headset with the phone. The volume keys are on the side as well as the PTT (Push-to-talk) Direct Connect button.
One weird thing is you have to open the phone to power it on, but at least that way you can't turn it off on accident.
In my opinion this is a great phone. It is definitely the best with the exception of the i95 which just came out. Just can't compare to the color screen.
Oh yeah, there are several different ring tones to choose from and I believe you can even download some for a small fee.
This a great phone! The cost is anywhere from $200 - $300 normally. You might be able to find a better deal on one on eBay or someplace else, but this is the standard pricing for one ... unless you purchase one of the clear phones or pearl colored then it is more around $400.
If you are looking for a phone to do everything from, this is it!
Thanks for reading, and have a great day!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 299
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Epinions.com ID:
junebugz
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Location: Mansfield, OH
Reviews written: 73
Trusted by: 2 members
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