I can show off again!
Written: Nov 25 '02 (Updated Mar 31 '03)
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Pros: Voice dialing, easy to use interface, lots of features
Cons: Lame games
The Bottom Line: Bottom line is, these are really nice phones. Easy to use and feature rich. Very fast and responsive.
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| sprint_sucks's Full Review: Kyocera 2235 Cell Phone |
When my wife dropped her Motorola Startac, I was a little bitter... it was looking like she was going to get a new phone while I was going to be stuck with my stupid two-year-old phone which wasn't as cool as the Nokia it had replaced.
But then I got some good news... to diagnose the phone would mean sending it off and paying $75. There was no guarantee that it could even be repaired, or that I wouldn't end up having to pay even more than the $75 for repairs. But, since we had had the phones for more than two years, we were eligible for the same deals that Verizon was offering brand new customers.
In this case, I could buy two brand new sleek and shiny for Kyocera 2235's for a total of $50 for the pair. This is probably one of my most impulsive recent electronics purchases, but I am so glad. Once again we have a cool phone worth showing off and worth bragging about.
I really recommend the Kyocera. First, the screen lights up an amazing shade of blue. My wife's is more purple and even cooler, but the light from either phone is really bright. (I used it at a retreat center last night to read the cottage number on a post to figure out where I was in otherwise nearly pitch-black darkness.) Not only does the screen light up, but the buttons do as well.
The phone is small and lightweight and fits easily in your hand. It fits ok in a shirt pocket, but I've already caught it in mid-air a few times because I've leaned over to pick something up and it's slid right out. It has a small stub and then an extendable antenna on top of that. I have had great call quality and really don't ever extend the antenna. The mini-jack for a wireless headset is near the top to one side and is the standard 25mm. (Some Motorolas and Nokias have proprietary jacks so you can only buy their equipment which often costs more. The standard jack is nice since our Startacs did have standard jacks, we can use the same headsets.)
The screen is slightly concave so that even if you were to scrape your phone along the ground, the edges of the screen are raised enough to prevent the screen from getting scratched which is a nice feature. Above the 12-keys for dialing there is are TALK and END buttons, an OK and a CLEAR and a large button shaped kind of like a fat spaceship (big body with wings that have rockets or laser guns at the end) that has arrows in four directions. Its odd shape makes it very easy to figure out where your finger is so that you end up pushing the correct button.
The phone is comfortable to hold to your ear and I probably end up doing that more than I should in the car just because it's so much easier than the Startac was to hold.
The screen will usually display the signal strength, battery life, date and time. It switches every minute between your programmed "Banner" (like your name) and the name of your cell phone company. Other indicators may tell you what type of signal (analog or digital), if there is a call in progress, if you have the ringer turned off, have voicemail, etc. The bottom line is used to tell you what will happen if you press the "OK" button. (Typically when the phone is not in use, it would read "MENU" or "UNLOCK".)
The navigation is really intelligent. The TALK and END buttons are the same size and in mirror image positions from one another making them easy to find. The END button is also the POWER button if you hold it down. Pressing the arrow button down lists the contacts you call most frequently. You can scroll through them to get to your full list.
If you press and hold the arrow to the left, it locks the keypad to prevent keys from accidentally being pressed(like in a pocket or purse). If you press any keys, it will tell you it's locked and ask you to press 1-2-3 to unlock. It's not a security feature to prevent unauthorized use, it's just designed as a convenience feature.
If you press and hold the arrow to the right, it puts it into silent mode, which is indicated by a bell with a line through it on the top row and the words "Silent Mode" on an otherwise blank line between the date/time and menu line.
Arrow up can be programmed to recognize voice commands or set to do something else. I have it set to display recent calls.
Pressing CLR (clear) has no use when the phone's just sitting there. I use it to turn on the screen's backlighting. But it basically works like the "BACK" button on a browser, backing you out of menus.
If you press TALK, it prompts you to either say a name, or press TALK again to redial the last call.
You can create shortcuts for people, too. For instance, if I press and hold 2, it calls my wife because I set her up on "2". Just as easily, I can set someone up on "12". Then I would press 1 and then press and hold 2. But can also find people by starting to type in their name.
For instance, if I press 2, Lori's name comes up. But if I then press 5, Alain comes up and if I press 5 again, Allison's name comes up because I'm spelling her name.
If you keep pressing numbers, it realizes that you're typing in a phone number. It displays all the numbers really large and properly hyphenates. (You can turn off.)
The following options are available in the menus...
1) Phone Info - tells your phone number (can be turned off with a security setting, but the setting is so draconian that I haven't bothered with it.)
2) Browser - an internet browser. I haven't used because it costs extra from Verizon.
3) Contacts - allows you to manage your contacts. You can add different types of phone numbers, as well as notes and email addresses. You can add speed dialing and voice dialing. You can attach a different speed dial or voice dial to each phone number. Lastly, you can classify the person as "Personal" or "Business" or "Neither". Speed Dial and Voice Dial lists also make it easy to see what you've got programmed into the phone. (Software and a cable allows you to manage your contacts from your computer as well as download additional ringtones.)
4) Messages - allows you to send and receive text messages. I don't use this feature, either, because it costs extra.
5) Recent Calls allows you to see all your recent incoming and outgoing calls as well as find out how long each call was. If they're in your contacts, it shows you additional information.
6) Tools and Games features:
a) Alarm Clock - just a simple once-a-day thing, good if you're on the road and don't have an alarm clock
b) Tip Calculator - enter in the amount of the bill, and then the percentage of tip you want to leave. You can then even tell it how many people are splitting the bill and it tells how much each person owes.
c) Calculator - big numbers, just a standard calculator
d) Countdown - a countdown timer
e) Stopwatch - a countup timer
f) Mystic I Ching - kind of like an executive decision maker. Kinda pointless.
g) Cavern Crawl - you move around in this primitive world collecting coins and fighting bats, rats and skeletons. Mildly amusing for a little while
h) Space Dudes - space invaders
i) Brick Attack - breakout
7) Settings
a) Silence All - gives you three choices - (1) 'No, normal.' Turns off Silent Mode if it's on. (2) 'Yes, vibe only.' Turns on Silent Mode. Phone vibrates on incoming calls. (3) 'Yes, lights only.' Phone flashes on incoming calls. If you select (2) or (3), it sets that as your standard the next time you turn on silent mode by pressing and holding the arrow to the right when no menu is being displayed.
b) Keyguard - (1) Turn on now, or automatically after (2) 30 seconds, (3) 1 minute or (4) 5 minutes. Also (5) turn off auto-keyguard.
c) Sounds - (1) Call Ring/Vibe - you can pick from 'Right only', 'Vibrate Only' and 'Vibrate, then ring.' (2) Ringer volume lets you pick, including a graduated ring that gets louder with each ring. (3) Lets you pick a ringer type. There is 'Standard' plus 10 rings, 10 songs, and then two more. I like the choices, especially the rings. Some are chirps and none are really annoying. One of the songs is Jingle Bells. The next two options are (4) Business Ring Type and (5) Personal Ring Type which lets you pick from the same ring types. But if someone calls you and you defined them as "Business" in Contacts, then it uses the ring you picked for #4 instead of the one you picked for #3. You can also pick a (6) "Roam" Ringer. Then you have (7) Earpiece Volume, (8) Key Beep Volume, (9) Key Beep Sound (click or beep), (10) Missed call alert, (11) Smart sound - adjusts volume based on surrounding noise. All it seemed to do for me is lower the volume. Once I turned this off, all calls were easier to hear. The last option is (12) Minute Alert (beeps every minute).
d) Display - (1) backlighting - how long to stay on, (2) My Banner - to display your name or something, (3) Shortcut Key - what happens when you press and hold the up arrow, (4) Main Menu view - large pictures or just a list, (5) Screen Savers - a few things that can show on your display. I didn't like any of them. My wife has the one where animal footprints appear and then a hang comes out with a rag and wipes them up and (6) Auto-hypenation, (7) Lanuage - English or Spanish, (8) Time/Date Format, (9) Display Contrast.
e) Voice Services - (1) Voice Memo - to leave yourself a quick voice message recorded on the phone, (2) Voice Shortcuts - managing your contacts from the perspective of voice shortcuts, (3) Add Voice Dial, (4) Voice Training - asks you to say certain words - you can set the shortcut key to listen for these words, (5) Voice wake-up - to train just for the "wake-up" word, a word it listens for when it's plugged in, (6) voice answer - when plugged into a headset or hands-free-kit, if this is enabled, it will announce (female voice)"Incoming call from" (your voice) [voicedial shortcut] (female voice)"Answer?" and then you say "yes" or "no".
f) Security - behind a password, you can lock the phone (or set it to lock automatically when it's turned on - that's how I have it set), limit the type of outgoing calls (to just who's in the contacts list), change the security code, as well as do some nasty stuff like erasing all the contacts or resetting the phone.
g) Call Information - shows you various call timers
h) Network - options you rarely have a need to change
i) Extras - turn on and off a few items they couldn't figure out where else to put on the menu. Nothing special.
j) Messaging - related to messaging. Not usinging messaging, I haven't played with these settings.
k) Accessories - not sure why these aren't combined with Extras, they feature things like what to do with the backlighting when plugged in (should it be on all the time or not?) and when plugged into an headset or HFK, should it ring in the headset or on the phone?
Basically it's a really feature rich-phone that's really easy and intuitive to use. Which is great because the manual that comes with it is of really little help. (Some mneu items do have a help button to explain more, but it's pretty inconsistent.)
I'm really happy with these phones. I love showing off and people have noticed these new phones. But they've also not noticed them -- I've been able to subletly take calls in busy places without a big disruption thanks to some simple and elegant ringtones and the graduated sound for the ringing.
My friend has an Ericsson world phone. It's slightly smaller and has a full-color screen, but its menuing system is much slower and he can't make the voice-dial work. (You program in "cell" and "home" and "work" and then people's names so that you have to say "Joy" and "cell" to call his sister's cell phone. But he can never get the timing right and have given up trying to use it. On the Kyocera, you program full voice commands, so "Loricell" and "Loriwork" are two I have programmed in there (among many) and it's really good at recognizing them. If you ask it to call someone while you're talking to someone else, it may say "Did you want to call?" and you say "Yes" but its recognition is great.
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Update, 3/31/03
I recently purchased some accessories.
Leather Case - $20
I am mostly opposed to phone cases. I often found that they looked dumb or covered up important things (like the faceplate or keys or headset plug)
The cover for the Kyocera is part leather, part spandex-like material. It looks really nice and fits snugly. The key area is open and visible and the screen part is covered by a thin layer of plastic to cover the screen. My wife wanted Navy and a I got a green one for myself.
Affixed to the back is a nob to which a clip snaps in order to clip the phone to your belt. It's really nice and holds the phone securely. A spring-mounted button allows the phone to be released very simply, but only when you want it to. Its position allows you to do it one-handed.
Sync Software - $50
The software, for PC or Mac, allows you to manage your phone's list from your computer, instead of tapping it all out with your fingers on the phone's keyboard. It doesn't automatically sync anything, but you can drag and drop items from the phone software to Outlook and back, which is pretty cool.
It also allows you to add ringers to your phone. It seems like there are only a limited number of additional rings (mostly on the CD, a few more on the website), but it's cool to be able to add extra ringers.
Beach Chair - $5
Ok, this was a splurge. It's a little blue beach chair that my phone can sit in on my desk at work. It was on backorder so I don't have it yet. But I do worry that the phone won't sit correctly while it's wearing its little leather cover.
The website was quick and helpful and I wrote to ask about a question with the software (before purchasing) and they responded within 24-hours. The shipping costs aren't that great, so I opted for Fed Ex ground. But, it was shipped from Anaheim, so it still arrived after only one day.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 25 each
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Epinions.com ID:
sprint_sucks
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Location: Seattle, Wash.
Reviews written: 108
Trusted by: 26 members
About Me:
Crikey.
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