Nice form and function.
Written: Dec 11 '00 (Updated Jan 02 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lithium Ion Battery, Contact Manager, Handy Tools.
Cons: None that I can find....
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| semert's Full Review: Kyocera QCP 2035a Cell Phone |
I am really surprised at the quality of this phone. That is a lot coming from me. I thought I would never be happy with anything other than a Motorola or Nokia cellphone.
I have always had a cellular telephone since about 1991. Over the years I have owned phones from Panasonic, NEC, Motorola and Nokia. (No need to worry about brain tumors though, I primarily keep the phone for emergencies only..)
For the past two years I have owned the Nokia-252 (a great phone too!) but recently I had to re-negotiate my contract. In my area they penalize you with higher rates if you have an analog only phone, so I was faced with selecting new phones for my wife and myself. Unfortunately, since I am a full time student again I was also challenged with a very limited budget. Luckily I was presented with a decent selection of phones under $100.
While the asking price of the 2035a was a little steep for my budget at $79, it was covered by a $40 Verizon rebate. This made it a very affordable $39!!
This phone is loaded with features. The add-ins come close to classifying it as a basic PDA in my book. I love the contact manager that allows me to save names and addresses with multiple phone numbers. The phone allows you to classify each number under an individuals name with icons that represent work, pager, mobile, home, and fax. It will also allow you to classify a contact as business or personal and assign different rings for each.
The phone also includes an alarm clock, calculator, tip calculator, count-down timer, and stopwatch. I especially like the tip calculator that will total your bill and then split it among any number of people.
The area I am in now is fully covered by digital service. As a result I can go days before the battery indicator even begins to show a drain. Reading on the news groups I have discovered that battery life has been an issue for some people with this phone. As with any digital dual band phone, the battery life is great in digital mode but it will suck it dry in no time in analog mode. That is just one of the byproducts of the digital revolution and product miniaturization. The phone and batteries are a lot smaller than they were even 2 years ago.
I would suggest that anyone working in building or living in fringe areas where digital service is not always 100% either turn their phones off or switch it to digital only. This will prevent the phone from switching into analog mode constantly. Also be sure to enable the beep on any network change. This will cause the phone to alert you when it drops to analog or switches back to digital. This will help you troubleshoot battery drain problems.
Being a student I am also very happy with the built in vibrating alert option. Nothing upsets a professor more than a cell phone or pager going off.
Another great feature is that this phone can act as a modem for a PDA or portable computer. Kyocera offers a data connectivity kit on their homepage that contains the software and interface cable. It also has a utility that will sync the contact list with your desktop PC.
I am very pleased with this phone. The sound quality is great. The battery life is great. The features are plentiful.
Tips on accessorizing the phone:
Since the phone is so new, accessories are hard to find.
Do a search on Ebay for Qualcomm 2035.
Also, go to the Kyocera home page and register with their accessory store.
They will give you a 15% discount on your fist purchase and you will get email discount offers as well.....
http://www.kyocera-wireless.com
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
semert
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Member: Stephen Emert
Location: Cookeville, TN.
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 3 members
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