SO SMALL YOU COULD LEAVE IT BEHIND IN A TAXI, AND YOU WILL
Written: Aug 12 '02
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Pros: Very small and compact.
Cons: Maybe a little too small and compact.
The Bottom Line: What you were actually expecting a legitimate brief concise electronics review from moi.
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| JAMES23's Full Review: Motorola V120c |
I don't know about you but I love pay days. Every second Thursday the boss or one of her minions pops by my gerbil cubicle and deposits that little buff envelop like manna from heaven. It's not that there's a cheque in there. I'm on direct deposit, so I'm usually standing outside an ATM at midnight the night before to grab the funds the second they're deposited.
It's what's in there, aside from the depressing information slip showing how much I was gouged in taxes that is what I wait for. Every now and then there's some sort of junk mail insert. These are a little break in the day. Somewhere in the faceless corporation someone has paid off the payroll staff to insert these little gems to make my day.
There are ads for diet aids, travel deals, and most of all cell phones. It seems that for a period there all I was getting were ads on how my life was not complete without a cell phone and a great package deal on air time. I guess my life was deprived then because I never checked out one of those deals.
The better half must have also got those inserts in her pay at her workplace too. Last December she began that oh so subtle hinting as to what I wanted for Christmas. Obviously she hadn't picked up on my less than subtle hints for an exclusive VIP club card at Hooters. Eventually she kept on and on about how good it would be if I had a cell phone.
Come Christmas morning, surprise, surprise guess what "Santa" brought me. For those who haven't figured out that this is not a review of Hooters, yes it was a spanking new cell phone. Actually it wasn't the phone that was the real present. That was a two-year contract with Bell Mobility. The phone was an added "free bonus."The real cost of the "gift" became evident the next month. She'd had to give my credit card number to arrange for the activation. The plan of course stated that for $20.00 a month I would have 200 free minutes a month plus unlimited evening and weekend minutes. There were also the standard bells and whistles thrown in too like call display, and voice mail.
Naturally I was shocked when the first bill showed up for more than $70.00 a month later. It appears that the insert she'd used to order it had neglected to mention the one time activation fee. No big deal, especially as the phone was in my name and therefore the bill came to guess who. Merry Christmas, well as they say it's the thought that counts right.
Actually she was mortified by the bill and offered to pay it, well half anyway. Gallant idiot that I was I declined to take her up on her offer. Besides by then I was becoming used to the damn thing, and actually starting to like it.
About the same time as the bill arrived, the real reason for her "buying" it for me became apparent. You've all heard of the booty call right. I never got any of those. Allow me to introduce you another similar type of call, the annoyance call.
I swear she'd call, ask what I was doing and where I was and then hang up. Of course until I got used to the stupid thing it took a couple of seconds to respond. She even admitted that these calls were just to bug me. I considered "accidentally" leaving the phone off to avoid these, but after doing that once, I was strongly advised never to do so again. Besides the phone's design does not easily allow for that move.
With that in mind I guess we should actually get to the phone in question. As the section suggests, this is/was the Motorola V120C. Now bear in mind this is the first, well first and second as you'll see, cell phone I've ever owned. Therefore bear with me as we go over the technical aspects. Actually go read another review if that's what you're looking for. Remember I'm one of the technical Amish.
First of all this particular phone is literally loaded with gadgets and features. I know this because there was large detailed instruction book full of all the details on this. Some day when I graduate from NASA I'll actually be able to understand and program most of this stuff. Either that or I'll get one of my new 12 year old nephews to do it. After he fixes the clock on my VCR that is.
Features that I actually understand and use includes the standard ones, such as voice mail, call display, and call memory. There is also speed dial, last call display, and a phone book to store important numbers. A security measure can be used for those who want to feel important or maybe have a legitimate reason to "lock" their phones
Features that I do basically understand but have been too lazy to set up yet include personalised rings, including a silent mode that vibrates rather than rings. This I understand is great if you carry your phone in the front pocket of your jeans.
One can also identify the various numbers one stores as either home or work numbers. A cute little picture of a house or some factory shows besides the number. I'm not quite clear what you're supposed to do if the person who's number you want to store doesn't work at a factory.
There is even a voice activation feature for those too lazy to push the single key to dial a number. With this all you have to do is whisper the key word or name and the phone dials it for you. I can see certain advantages to this, but certain embarrassing social situations as well, so I have yet to venture there. Besides it looks too complicated to set up.
The phone also has a browser feature that allows text messaging and Internet connection. You can even access certain radio stations. Naturally to access these features your ISP needs to be the same as your mobile phone service. Mine isn't, so I have no idea how well these features work. Although Bell can provide digital cell service to me, they haven't got around to providing high speed Internet service to my apartment building in the wilds of downtown Toronto.
Incidentally even though I cannot access this feature there is nothing to prevent me from being billed for it. For some reason I have managed to accidentally hit the necessary combination of keys and buttons to activate my browser and more than once. It doesn't really do anything aside from add to my bill every month. On average this little design flaw is costing me between $5.00 and $8.00 per month.
There is nothing I can do about it. The feature cannot be disabled, at least I'm not able to and the buttons are easily depressed by simply being brushed against. Incidentally these are the only buttons that can be hit by casual contact. The on/off button is recessed into the housing and requires considerable effort to depress. Remember I've tried to accidentally turn it off on more than one occasion.
The phone itself is quite compact. A simple black plastic design barely 5 inches long, and an inch and a half wide. For those of you fashion conscious types, it is also available in electric blue and red. If that doesn't do it then one can always buy a whole series of designer face plates in various colours and designs. The phone is quite rugged too. I've dropped it enough times to confirm this.
The control buttons are as I noted easy to use, perhaps too easy. The screen is tiny but sufficient to list most features and numbers. The scroll features are relatively simple to use and can even be mastered by someone like me without resorting to the instruction booklet. Both screen and buttons of course light up with an annoying fluorescent green light at night. It's enough to really draw attention to the phone but barely enough to use it.
There is a small antenna. It extends about an inch from the top of the phone and telescopes out to about two inches. It is rather fragile aside from the one inch enclosed in plastic.
There is of course a whole range of accessories available. The original package included a battery, easily installed, an AC charger and a belt clip. The charger is of course a useful item but the belt clip serves only one purpose. It makes you go back to the store and buy a custom leather phone case, as it is basically a useless piece of plastic.
You really don't need a carrying case because as I said the damn thing is so tiny that it can easily fit in a pants or shirt pocket. This of course though ensures certain buttons are depressed. I soon realised that it was cheaper to shell out $20.00 for a leather carrying case than pay the browser fees each and every month.
I did refrain from buying all the other gadgets available. One of these is of course the hand's free headset option. To be honest the first time I saw someone using one of these it threw me. All I saw was someone wandering down the street carrying on what appeared to be a very animated conversation with themselves.
Naturally I presumed they were crazy as hell and crossed the street to avoid them. There are enough people that already think I'm crazy so I don't need to give them another excuse. The hand's free headset is not something I'll be getting soon.
Like I said, the whole unit is tiny. Just how tiny became obvious last Easter. I'd returned from Panama and 30 degrees plus Celsius weather to Toronto and freezing rain. My first day back at work and I was already cold wet and miserable. After work I decide to splurge and grab a cab home instead of walking or taking the subway.
I grabbed a cab and me, my briefcase, and trusty cell phone all jumped in. My trusty briefcase and I jumped out a few minutes later in front of my apartment building. It was only after I was upstairs and starting to dry off that I noticed something was missing. I'd reached for my phone to hook it up to the charger and . . . nothing, nada.
It took me a couple of minutes of frantic searching among my sodden clothes before I realised it must have fallen off in the cab. The case was of course still attached to my belt. I was quickly reminded of a lesson I'd learned years ago. Velcro does not work when its wet.* Naturally I couldn't remember which cab company I'd used. Calling all of them and asking for the dark blue one by the way is an exercise in futility.
I tried calling my cell number in the hope that the driver or whoever picked up the phone would answer and be honest enough to return it. It was nice to discover that the voice mail feature I was paying for worked. I was no left to rely on the honesty of my fellow Torontonians to return it. I'd put a return address label with my name and address on the back of the phone after I got it.
I know my fellow citizens though so I seriously doubted I'd ever see it again. The next call I made was to bell mobility to advise them the phone was lost. They immediately disconnected the number. The last thing I needed was a series of long distance charges or 1-900 charges appearing on my bill next month.
Bell Mobility also advised me that rather than completely cancel my number I could keep it and be only billed a mere $7.00 a month for the privilege of having it but not using it Considering this was cheaper than paying the penalty to get out of my two-year contract, and it may take some time to replace the phone, I went for this. Besides I'd just had a new series of business cards with my cell number on them.
I checked with my apartment insurance and yes stupidly leaving my cell phone in a cab was actually covered. One of these days I really have to sit down and read that policy through cover to cover. Naturally though there was a $250.00 deductible on the policy. The phone it turns out retails for $140.00.
My VISA Gold card is always claiming in there little inserts with the monthly bills how many extra services and privileges I enjoy because of the colour of the card and the annual fee. A quick call to their customer service department confirmed that I was in their terminology SOL. Technically I had not purchased the phone with my VISA, but the service contract. The phone was a free gift. Any ways it was more than ninety days since I had purchased that. Actually ninety-two days had gone by. Thanks VISA I'll remember that next year when it comes to time to renew my card and Master card starts sending me their offers again.
I decided to give it a week or so before going out and getting another phone. Maybe some bugger would decide to turn it in, after trying to use it and realising it didn't work. Yeah right, about now it's probably being used by a free lance recreational pharmaceuticals salesman to discuss his "import" problems.
Up until then it was not a necessity. Before getting one I used to look down at cell phone people as worthless yuppie scum. Then I became one of them. Annoyance calls aside it was just a convenience, a toy, and yes God help me a status symbol.
One night in a bar I even took it out and laid it on the bar beside my cigar case and lighter. Then I looked down the bar and noticed all the other cell phones laying there. Sheepishly I shoved mine back into the case on my belt.
About a week after this though I lost my main home phone service due to a mix up between Bell Canada and Sprint. While the two of those multi nationals spent a week playing "it's not my fault it's the other guys" I was without any phone service. I soon discovered just how essential a telephone is these days. (The full details of this sordid little tale may be found at http://www.epinions.com/content_65934233220 for the literary masochists amongst you.)
After one evening of this I was over at the Bell Mobility store VISA card in hand. My options I was advised were I could buy a new phone and have my service restored or cancel my old service and then start all over again. It would cost me $75.00 to cancel my old contract. Then of course I would have to pay the activation fees all over again and be assigned a new telephone number.
I opted for plan B, and just bought a new phone. Naturally I bought the same model. At the cash counter my VISA became $140.00 plus lighter and after a few minutes of tooling around with her computer the perky sales rep told me my "new" phone was now activated. Then came the good news. My first bill would of course include the $7.00 fee for having my service held for the month, plus the normal $20.00 for service for that month as per the contract.
I tried pointing out the apparent absurdity of that to the perky one, absurd obviously to everyone but Bell Canada and its employees. Then came the bad news. I was now on the hook for a reactivation and service improvement fee of $70.00. This would also appear on my next bill. Being the idiot I am I naturally asked what type of service improvement I would be seeing. None Ms. Perky advised me, that was just the name of the charge. On the bright side I now had a second charger, useless belt clip thingy and instruction book. Actually I now had four instruction books in total, two in English and two in French.
Naturally I didn't want to go through all this again. Leaving the damn phone at home was an option but it kind of defeated the whole idea of a mobile phone. I began looking for a new case but to date gave yet to find anything that works. I have got a nice collection of useless cheap ones if anyone is interested.
I tried carrying the phone in my waist belt pouch (fanny pack) but this really doesn't work. First of all I can't hear the ringer from inside the nylon pouch. Someone still finds the annoyance calls an amusing way to pass the day and gets upset if I don't pick up. Besides if I decide to shove something else in the pack, like my cigar case it inevitably pushes up against the phone and you guessed it pushes the buttons that activate the browser. On the plus side I'm down to less than $5,00 extra a month on average now.
I tried duck taping it to my left hand. This however ensures that I get even more strange looks than if I was using the hands free head set. It is also rather hard to read the screen and push the buttons, those that activate the browser aside.
Basically I've left it on my belt and just continually check it. I'm easy to spot walking around Toronto. I'm the one with one hand on his belt looking like I'm about to draw down on someone. I've got to meet a lot more of our local enforcement officers than I really wanted to lately.
Last week I was running late and grabbed a cab into work. I jumped out in front of my office and just by reflex looked down. There on my belt was my phone case, empty. Fortunately the cab was stopped at the light. I dashed into traffic and yanked open the back door. There on the back seat was my phone.
* In 1964 the Canadian Army designed new web gear for its soldiers, the first new design since the Korean War. The new design which stayed in the system until its replacement in 1988 used a lot of velcro. All the ammunition pouches, water bottles etc. were attached to the belt with velcro closures. The shoulder harness or yolk was also attached this way. The waist belt itself was also closed with velcro.
This new modern design was of course designed to make easier for the poor soldier replacing the antiquated hook and eyelet design. Naturally the arm chair Generals and bureaucrats that designed it had never been in the field.
The neat thing about velcro was that when it gets wet it stops working and becomes basically useless. Soldiers not being made of sugar are sometimes required to train and work when it is wet out. One of the joys of my earliest days in the Army circa 1977 was watching groups of soldiers running through the rain sodden fields. With each step another piece of our equipment would go flying off of our belts.
Fortunately we soon discovered the most useful of a soldiers tools, duct tape. Mind it's kind of embarrassing showing up to play with the other NATO countries with all our gear held together with tape. Almost as bad as having the wrong kind of camouflage uniforms when you're sent to war I guess.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2x140.00Cdn
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JAMES23
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Member: James Smith
Location: Toronto Ontario CANADA
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