Small Wonder
Written: Nov 05 '99
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very small, good coverage and features
Cons: Low battery life
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| Girlina's Full Review: Motorola StarTAC 6500 Cell Phone |
What can I say - I'm a sucker for sexy small gadgets, and the Startac certainly qualifies. I had this little buddy for a year and had no complaints (okay, one complaint - low battery life). For no more than the price of a few pizzas, the StarTac still has enough cachet to impress folks (well, sort of) down at the local watering hole. If you don't mind analog, this is the phone to get.
Pretty much the main reason to get the 6500 is small size on a budget. I paid just $50 with mine (with activation on Bell Atlantic, of course). For that, you get a surprising number of features: 99 speed dial numbers; a vibrate option; and one-digit dialing. Of course, there's a lot of things you don't get, such as caller ID, built-in voicemail, and so on, but no other phone in this price range will give you that either.
And the StarTac certainly delivers on the portability front. It's great as an emergency phone, because you'll never even notice that it's in your bag or your pocket. Even more important, the StarTac isn't too small - it fits comfortably in your hand, is easy to dial, and fine to speak on.
Sound quality is not as good as digital, but I was constantly amazed by the reception. Even in-building, my StarTac often worked when many newer, fancier models were failing my friends. And of course, analog is king when it comes to coverage. Except in deep wilderness (or in high-density areas where other people were hogging the signal) I could always get through.
My one complaint was the battery life. Since I was too cheap to get an extra battery, I was stuck with the unit's promised 30-40 minutes of talk time and 24 hours or so of standby. Remembering to recharge the unit every day is a pain (although the recharger is also very portable) and I often ran out of juice.
Nevertheless, I look back on my days with the 'Tac with great fondness - nothing makes you feel more like a player than snapping open a StarTac while you're on the prowl. I've since moved on to greener, digital pastures - stay tuned for my review of the Samsung 3500 - but plan to enshrine my handheld friend in my personal graveyard of longlost electronic loves.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Girlina
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Reviews written: 27
Trusted by: 247 members
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