Awhile back I made the decision to change wireless providers to AT&T Wireless, a mistake I recently remedied. One of the first things I found with them was that their choice of phones for their TDMA network is rather suspect. In fact, they have no phones currently for their TDMA network that are suitable for demanding personal use or for business use.

I purchased the Duramax because I had used the Motorola Timeport 270c with Qwest and loved its speakerphone, and its form factor, weight distribution, and ergonomics. I was hoping the Duramax could at least emulate the speakerphone quality, but I was to be disappointed.

I realize that my statements will be unpopular here, because this phone appears to be highly rated, but if you have ever used a high quality phone with a top-notch speakerphone like the Timeport 270c or the i90c which I now use, you will be forced to admit that the DuraMax is not a serious phone. It's not even close to those others. I did make several attempts to use the speakerphone which would literally result in me screaming at the phone in an attempt for the people on the other end to hear me. In all fairness, much of this may have been due to the horrible AT&T Wireless network, with its static and dropped words (and even calls), but I will never know.

In addition, activating the speakerphone requires fighting through menus or else holding down the # key for several seconds once a call is in progress. Not something that most people on the other end will enjoy. Especially considering once you do enable it, they will never hear another word you say.

Personally, I found the Duramax to be a poor compromise in terms of form factor and usability. The phone is large enough to require a belt holster to carry it comfortably, yet the keys are too small and are basically chicklets. My fingers are not tiny and I found the keys inadequate. The phone is not one that I would compare to the aforementioned Motorolas in terms of ergonomics for holding to your ear for extended periods of time either.

Another mystery is why Panasonic could not make a decent headphone jack connector. As it is, if you plug in the travel charger, you cannot also plug in the earphone. You can do so with the vehicle charger. However, my vehicle charger quickly stopped working at all for some unknown reason. Since the speakerphone is so bad, using the earphone is the only way to not have to hang onto the phone throughout the conversation, but the awkward connector setup means no charging while using the earphone at your desk or other indoor location. Very, very inconvenient indeed.

Bottom line is that this phone was not designed by or for business users. The speakerphone function may as well not exist, the phone ergonomics are not great, wireless web functions non-existent, and charger/earphone connector downright silly in light of the availability of a standard headphone jack on most decent phones these days.

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): $130