Great display but lousy antenna
Written: Dec 21 '02
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Pros: Display, ruggedness
Cons: Price, flimsy (useless?) antenna
The Bottom Line: A great phone if you need a great display. But watch out for the antenna.
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| jjweinb's Full Review: Motorola Timeport P8767 Cell Phone |
I have trouble seeing the displays of most cell phones. The black on green, or black on light gray is almost impossible for me to see. So when I first saw the display on the Timeport, I was more than impressed and interested. In fact, I bought the phone on-the-spot. Finally, I had a cell phone that was easy to see in all types of light, and was easy for me to read.
But, once I got past the display some time later, some things started to bother me and please me. First what pleased me. The size, though a little thick, is easy to put in one's coat pocket. Though it's slick surface does tend to allow the phone to slip out of my pocket fairly easily. This can be both a curse and a blessing. With the battery, it's not the slimmest phone around, but it isn't the thickest either. Adding on a holster does increase the depth of the phone quite a bit. The keys are average sized, and I found that even with my big fingers, I could easily manage punching in a telephone number, or navigating the menus.
The menus for the phone are pretty straightforward, and I was able to set the phone up without much reference to the user's guide. However, the user's guide is another matter. It literally fell apart after a few uses. I now have the pages clipped together. Setting up the phonebook feature and entering in names and numbers did require reading that part of the guide, but all-in-all it was pretty easy to do.
Battery life is OK, and could be better. I generally talk to my parents on the East Coast once a week for about 90 minutes. If I don't have the phone fully charged prior to that call, it will start to give out after about 45 minutes into the call. On a fully charged phone, I will go from 3 bars to 2 bars by the end of the call. A full recharge from a drained battery generally takes 2 to 2 1/2 hours to complete. Standby time without much use sees the battery lasting about 3 days before a recharge is necessary.
The phone is quite rugged. I've accidentally dropped it several times since I bought it over a year ago. Some of those drops have been onto a concrete surface. The phone doesn't seem to be any worse for wear. And, outside of some minor scratches, it has taken the abuse very well.
The single biggest fault I find with the phone is the antenna. Quite simply, it is flimsy. The top part of the antenna sticks out way too far from the top right of the phone and is very easy to bend and break off. When I bought the phone, the only warning I got from the salesman is to be very careful how I treated the antenna, or I would be back in for a replacement. Though I haven't broken my antenna since buying the phone, I have bent it several times. The antenna also does not clip down securely into the phone, but pops up on its own far too many times for my liking. This "pop-up" has contributed to the antenna stem getting bent. Another strange thing about the antenna is that there seems to be no electrical connection between the antenna and the phone that I can see. And, the antenna does not seem to help improve signal strength or reception when pulled out. For the life of me, I can't figure out what the antenna's for, or if it's even used.
I find the phone in the holster to be uncomfortable when clipped to my pants belt. There are too many "sharp" edges on the holster for my liking, and they tend to stick into me when I bend or sit down. Unless you need this feature, don't use it.
My final observation is one that I can not determine if it is a fault of the phone, or of the service provider I have with the phone. Since I got the phone, sometimes the phone will totally lose the service. It's as if the service completely went away. My wife has another phone on the same service, and side-by-side, she has at least 2 bars of signal when my phone is "Searching for Service". When I call the provider, I'm told that their service has been up. If I walk up the street a block or two, the service to my phone is restored, and I can go back to where I was and the signal is there matching the indicator on my wife's phone.
All-in-all, I like this phone, and would buy it again if I had to simply for the great display. I wouldn't use the holster, and I would be a lot more careful with the antenna. But, other than that, it's been a great phone.
Is it worth the $200 list price. Probably not. But, I got mine on sale for half that. If you need a phone, and can find this one deeply discounted, it's a good buy.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 100
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Epinions.com ID:
jjweinb
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Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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