A good phone for the price
Written: Jul 27 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Clarity: |
 |
|
| Portability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Light weight, long battery life, voice activated dialing.
Cons: Slightly clunky interface, can't open easily with one hand.
The Bottom Line: Small, light, inexpensive, good voice quality, reasonable software, good battery life. Hard to see paying twice as much for the competition.
|
|
|
| blautens's Full Review: LG-TM510 Cell Phone |
I haven't had a flip style phone since the original Motorola flip phones, and for the past 3 years my phone of choice (via Primeco, now called Verizon) was my Nokia 6185 (or very similar models for my girlfriend and family). The 6185 was a great phone, way ahead of its time, especially with the super slim lithium ion vibrating battery. But when it finally died (I think it was that 400th drop on the pavement) the choices were more limited at the Verizon store.
The similar Nokia replacement was $79, and the LG TM510 was $149 ($99 after a $50 rebate). I took the LG, as the one problem I did have with my Nokia was having the battery loosen because of the belt clip stud, and that design hadn't changed. Besides, I had 15 days to try it.
So far it's been a pretty good phone. It doesn't FEEL as sturdy as the Nokia, but no flip phone will. And the interface is not as intuitive as the Nokia. It's not nearly as bad as the Motorola StarTacs were, but it's not as simple and intuitive. Nonetheless, the options are but a few short keystrokes to memorize, and the features are strong. Except the call list is not alphabetized. If that's important to you - DON'T BUY IT. If it's not, oh, well...I suppose the programmers at LG don't care about alphabetization?
The battery life, contrary to some rumors, has been strong for me, at least it digital mode. However, I work in a hospital, and most digital phones don't work there. In fact, the Nokia I had exhibited the annoying "feature" of freaking out when it couldn't get it's signal and went into a high power broadcast mode to find towers...it would drain a fully charged battery in 8 hours, leaving me with a dead battery when I left work. So I had to remember to turn it off when I went in the building.
This phone won't work in the building either, at least in digital mode. It roams to the AT&T analog network, and analog IS much more draining on the battery. A fully charged battery that will go days on digital standby will be half drained after 8-10 hours.
So obviously, if you use a phone in analog mode quite a bit, this might not be for you, at least not without the optional larger capacity battery.
Another drawback - it's hard to remove from the belt holster with one hand, and even harder to open with one hand. Why?
Otherwise, I'd say the phone is probably a fine phone, with plenty of features, and the quirks I see are probably more my familiarity with all things Nokia. It's probably last a couple years, even with my abusing it, but after holding it, I did start paying the extra $4 a month for insurance.
Hey, maybe that was a Verizon plan from the beginning...
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 99
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
blautens
|
|
Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 1 member
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.