Cheap phone, expensive accessories
Written: Mar 12 '01
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Pros: Light, "web-enabled", email, universal headset, nice timers/alarms
Cons: Costly accessories, phone can't run from adapter alone, awkward user-interface
The Bottom Line: Its a useful and cheap web enabled phone that does email. Be careful of a low battery in analog mode. Carefully compare the 2035 and 2035a. Accessories are costly.
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| scottpaden's Full Review: Kyocera QCP 2035a Cell Phone |
The first week I had the phone was a honeymoon. It did everything I wanted. It worked great in the car, at work, and at home. I could surf the web at lunch, get emails in the car, and send text messages to my wife’s older Qualcomm phone. The battery life seemed fine too. I was even thinking about returning the car charger and extra AC adapter. I was sure I’d keep the phone. Then—the second week.
The honeymoon was over. It’s amazing how quickly you see the shortcomings in something you loved the week before. The first thing I noticed is that replacing the gold faceplate costs more than the phone ($20 for the plate, $19 for the phone with any plan)! Then I noticed that composing even short emails is difficult with the T9 keyboard. My incoming emails got truncated without a hint that I was missing information. It turned out that “surfing the web” was more like “wading the pond”. I found my way to Amazon.com but the only paths available were predetermined. I could look up Sci-Fi, but not Asimov. There seems to be no way to actually enter a URL from the phone. The second week ended in a real disappointment when it powered down in the middle of phone call from the car. Apparently, the battery has to have a reasonable charge to talk even with the external power supply connected (this never happened on my Nokia 6161 using Cellular 1).
The phone also has some expensive tastes. The accessories seem very expensive to me. The Sprint web site has the same accessories from 30% to 50% cheaper than any other place I could find. However, since Sprint didn’t sell me the phone, and I don’t think they’ll sell me the accessories (I’ll try). Here’s some sample prices I’ve seen from the Verizon authorized retailer (I may be recalling this inaccurately, you should check it out for yourself): Car Adapter: 19.99, Second Charger: 29.99, desktop cradle: 24.99, and (here’s the most offensive one) $99.99 for a cable and software to connect the phone to my PC!
At this point I’m looking at the prenuptials very carefully. Maybe it’s the in-laws that bother me. Verizon offered a lot of flexibility. I was really swayed by the ability to try the phone for 15 days and switch plans for 90 days without penalties. At this point, I have 24 hours to either annul the marriage or live with the reality of imperfection. I’ve literally spent 25 to 30 minutes with customer service trying to understand these problems and have gotten nowhere. They keep referring me to busy numbers or dropping my call after 5 – 10 minutes (At least the phone tracks that well). I finally figured out that I can create a set of URL’s on-line and then choose them from my phone. Technical Service could have saved us all a lot of hassle had they known that.
Would I recommend this phone: Yes, if you want a lightweight phone, need to send or receive an occasional text message, want to keep an eye on your portfolio, and don’t need the accessories. I have to admit that the phone itself is competitive on a price/feature scale. However, if you find your self making a lot of analog calls, want all the peripherals, or are afraid of being stranded with a low battery, then you may be better off getting a different phone.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 19
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Epinions.com ID:
scottpaden
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Reviews written: 1
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