A one-year phone for a one-year plan
Written: Sep 19 '02
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Pros: Cheap. Available. Works with my network. Inexpensive 3rd party accessories.
Cons: Pathetic Keyboard lock, lousy battery life, vulnerable antenna, no vibrator.
The Bottom Line: Cute, Mostly reliable, but not much fun to live with. There are better choices.
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| fritz_t_coyote's Full Review: Motorola V2397 Cell Phone |
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Last September, I, like a lot of New Yorkers, was spending a bunch of time using my mobile phone. I couldn't get back to my downtown office for nearly a month. So I was camping in borrowed space in one of our data centers on Long Island, using my laptop computer and mobile phone to keep things running in a situation that none of us were ready for. During this period of heavy reliance, my old 'one-year-phone' finally died (I admit I am hard on hardware. But anything that lives on my belt had better be as tough as my mini-maglite and my leatherman. Or be cheap and easy to replace.)
I called my service provider, and they explained my choices: I could ship them the dead phone and wait a week or so for a replacement, or go to my closest ATT Wireless store and pick up a new phone.
This little gem was the best choice available in that store on that day (yes, they had been selling a lot of mobile phones on Long Island last September, and shipments had been delayed, so the selection was limited). Genuine Motorola Quality, decent looks, 'free' with a one-year contract extension, free hands-free headset and car charger. And in-stock. I just gave them my wireless number, they punched it into the computer, and by the time I was back to my temporary office space, it was working.
As for the phone:
I am not going to bore you with a recitation of features that read like the owners manual. For that you can download the manual from Motorola.com. Here is my take on the key features that -I- count on.
-Interface Issues:
By touch: the buttons are small, but they have a decent feel, you can tell when you have pressed one. The biggest annoyance is the subtle difference between the 'snd' (send) and 'end' buttons. They do =very= opposite primary functions, but they are near-indistinguishable in low-lite situations, especially if you have pre-1970 eyes. I wish they made more distinction between the two than the green vs. red color of the lettering.
Menu navigation is tricky, but not too bad.
Security feature: The lock-unlock function was useless to me. The security code is assigned by the Wireless provider, which means it is not going to be a number that I choose to remember.
-Calling and Talking:
The memory dial features are awkward at first, but easy enough to use, once you remember that the snd button is on the right. Remember it.
Sound quality is OK, reception is OK. It is not very resistant to ambient noise, but careful choice of an accessory headset will work wonders.
It has a tendency to react poorly to hand-offs between cells. So if you are traveling be ready to hang-up and redial.
-Features:
It has a limited choice of ring tones, none of them very distinctive. No downloadables either. And no Vibrate function, which makes it worse when a standard 'breep' is heard I find myself checking to see if it was my phone.
-Accessories:
This phone uses 'standard' round jacks for headset and battery chargers, which means you get plenty of choices for plug-in gadgets. But why spend much money on gadgets for a one-year phone? It also prevents the use of a 'desktop' charger stand, which is a mis-feature (see battery life, below)
-Battery Life:
To make the 'cheap' price point they used NiMH batteries, instead of Li-Ion. This gives it a Real World 2-days-between charges (IE: talk-time vs. Standby battery life ratings: Like real people, I use the phone for a few minutes, several times a day. I don't use it in continuous talk sessions until the battery dies, nor do I just leave it sitting there waiting for the battery to die. What good is '8 days standby' if after 2 days the 'talk time' remaining is barely enough to answer a call.
Basically it means I keep the travel charger in my briefcase, and charge the phone every day.
The charger connects to a round plug on the side of the phone, there is no easy way to connect a desktop charger-stand, so it is a pain-in-the-butt to keep this thing charged.
-Construction:
This is a reasonably solid and well-made hunk of plastic. Except for the 'asking-for-it' antenna. It sticks out, non-retractable, inflexible. Sure enough, that's what broke first.
But like I said, I am hard on phones.
Overall:
I was desperate when I bought this phone.
There are better choices, if you have the time to shop around.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): free w/ serv
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Epinions.com ID:
fritz_t_coyote
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Member: Fritz Coyote
Location: New York, NY, USA
Reviews written: 41
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Computer tech. Gearhead. SF 'fan'.
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