My First US Cell Phone
Written: Dec 09 '08 (Updated Dec 10 '08)
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Pros: Light weight and durable. Attractive. Cheap (bundled with Virgin). Decent camera. Call quality.
Cons: Low battery life and long charge time. Small keys. Illogical menus.
The Bottom Line: A decent entry level phone with some drawbacks. Definitely not for the hardcore phone enthusiast/addict, but great for simple functionality.
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| mickp's Full Review: Kyocera K325 Cell Phone |
After initially being a late adopter in the world of mobile phones or "cell phones" as they are called in the United States, I quickly came to depend on my old Nokia phone. Like they have for so many others this little toy quickly became an essential pocket passenger on any outing, among such mainstays as the wallet and keys.
Phone Culture Shock
When I moved to the USA I brought my old phone with me from Australia set to International Roaming. This meant I was still able to keep my Australian phone number and telephone, but actually calling would cost a king's ransom. Texting was still cheap so I kept my account active with my cell evolving from essential means of communication to a sort of emergency "get in touch" pager for my family and friends back in Terra Australis. At least - that's how it was supposed to go. Sheer laziness would mean I'd always end up making a quick call home (despite the fact that I had perfectly fine skype-out available for 2 cents per minute) or somehow use it for more than I intended. It quickly became apparent that I needed a US cell phone. SIM card phones seemed to be largely unknown and would narrow my options too much here so I reluctantly entered the mobile phone market.
After coming to terms with the very alien concept of PAYING to receive calls and texts (What a scam! In Australia I could talk on my phone as long as I liked and as long as someone else had called me it didn't cost me a red cent!) and of having "minutes" rather than simply paying for the calls you initiate, I decided on a plan that worked for my limited needs. It turned out to be with Virgin Mobile and the Kyocera 325 "Cyclops" was one of the two phones bundled with the account. I chose the 325 because it looked a little more solid and came with a stronger 1.3 megapixel camera.
Getting Started
Setup wasn't as easy as I would have liked. The battery needed charging before I could use the phone and the included instructions assumed a lot of prior knowledge of how to turn the thing off, on, access different functions and so forth. As someone stumbling in from the world of six year old Nokia phones I'd have liked more of a walkthrough. Eventually I managed to puzzle it out and got the thing charged up - a lengthy charge time of several hours.
Physical Attributes
Now, I'll come out and say that I have never been a huge fan of fliptop phones, preferring what my wife describes as "candybar" models. They always seem too flimsy to me, but the Kyocera 325 is built of rather sturdy silver (or red, which I went with) plastic with a sort of metallic finish. The durability of my new friend was soon put to the test - the very first day of ownership saw an unfortunate tumble from my swinging hand right onto some pavement. The battery cover and battery flew in opposite directions, but once it was all replaced the phone was none the worse for wear. Even the apparent scratch was simply a mark from the concrete which rubbed off. I was pleasantly surprised.
My new phone is fairly attactive and sleek as well as being easy to hold. It's streamlined enough to fit easily in my pocket without personal discomfort and it won't frighten female colleagues. At the same time it isn't a ridiculously tiny wafer of a thing that's going to get lost among pocket lint. The LCD screen is large and of decent quality - far better than I was used to on my old Nokia and all the sounds, bells and whistles that come preloaded were suitable and not overly irritating.
Technical Features/Use
While I'm generally satisfied with this new phone, I find the Kyocera menu system extremely illogical. It feels like there's a thousand different menus and sub-menus grouped in no sort of logical order. Some would be better grouped together. Why are "messaging" and "instant messaging" in two different categories? Yes, I know the difference, but it would be far less messy to group them into one category and then split them from there. The same goes for things like "My Account", "My Stuff" and various other clutter.
To further complicate things the entry system is very different from what I was used to with Nokia. The left and right (yes/no) buttons I was used to are still here, but they don't work in the same way and there's a completely superfluous (and annoyingly tiny) pair of buttons called "ok" and "back" which start working when the other two buttons don't. Because of this, I feel like I am performing complicated surgery with my fingers flailing all over the place when attempting operations on my keypad as my digits search out the right key for the given operation. Why can't the same buttons perform all these back/forward or yes/no or select/deselect functions? I've yet to encounter a situation where both sets of keys are needed for the same activity.
On the subject of keys, I feel the 325's keys are about 25% too small. They are wide enough but are of an oddly curved shape and a little too narrow. Texting is far more difficult for me on this model than on my previous phone, even after several months of use.
Reception seems pretty decent and I haven't had any dropped calls or poor connectivity in any areas beyond those that usually cause problems for phones. (certain buildings, tunnels, way out in the middle of nowhere, etc.)
Call quality is of a high standard, in fact I couldn't be happier in this regard. Both outgoing and incoming broadcast is crisp, free of any noise or interference, and generally very clear and of greater quality than I am used to. I am able to have decent conversations in fairly loud locations, such as a supermarket, the side of a busy street and so forth without having to cover my other ear, shout or be shouted at. I'm not quite sure if this is a benefit of the fliptop layout's speaker locations or if it is simply this phone in particular, but either way I have zero complaints in this regard.
It's ironic considering the 1.3 megapixel camera was a big selling point for me that I have taken a grand total of seven photographs with my phone. I guess when you have cutting edge dedicated digital cameras available it just doesn't make sense to use a phone as a camera - particularly in this day and age of tiny cameras. The shots I did take were decent enough, although hardly the quality of a standalone digital camera even approaching 1.3MP.
Battery life is a little of a letdown - the specs advertise about a week of standby time, but I find it's more like four to five days and even then you're skating on pretty thin ice if you want to make calls toward the end of that period. I guess it's lucky I don't really use the camera because that would only add to my battery frustrations.
Summing Up
Extreme cell phone users will definitely prefer something with an easier interface, better battery life and a less cumbersome set of buttons. Overall the Kyocera 325 Cyclops is a perfectly serviceable, durable and convenient phone. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but as a cheap solution it does just fine.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): N/A
Recommended for: Adventurous Technophiles - Tough and Durable
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Epinions.com ID:
mickp
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Member: Mike Price
Location: Aussie in Las Vegas, Nevada
Reviews written: 432
Trusted by: 270 members
About Me:
An Australian living in Vegas - Eating too much buffet and writing too many Epinions.
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