Good (not great) phone
Written: Jan 27 '00 (Updated Jan 30 '00)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: size, clarity, vibrating alert
Cons: battery life, low volume
|
|
|
| ashi_the_cat's Full Review: Sony Ericsson KF-788 Cell Phone |
I've had the Ericsson KF788 since March, 1999 and can report that this phone works good. There are, however, two glaring negatives with the phone which I will elaborate on later.
I was debating between the KF788 or a Motorola Startac ST7790 at the time and I had heard bad things about the Startac. I had heard from the CellOne salespeople that it dropped calls frequently and that calls would sometimes not ring through. It was also $399 at the time. I decided on the KF788 because it was cheaper ($199) and it was about the same size as the Startac.
Overall, I would rate the phone a 7 out of 10. Here are some of the positives:
1) Size - definitely portable, easily clips onto your belt
2) Vibrating alert - you can have it ring, vibrate or both. The vibration is not that strong, however, and I have missed calls because I didn't feel the vibration
3) Easy to use/dial - the menus are intuitive and dialing is easy
4) Good voice clarity - People on the other end cannot tell that I'm on a cell phone if I am stationary and not in a moving vehicle. In a moving vehicle they can definitely tell. Otherwise, the clarity is good.
Negatives:
1) Battery life! - the specs say that the standby time is 43 hours but I have timed it and it only lasts about 36 hours with no calls being made. It would be substantially less if you were to make a few calls of 10 minutes each. The battery charges in about 2 hours and you can make calls as it is charging.
2) Low volume - even with the volume at its highest level, it is sometimes hard to hear. This all depends on the signal strength. Sometimes it is no problem and sometimes I can barely hear.
3) Flip - the hinges on the flip are hard to clean and I can see that dust will eventually gum up the hinges. The hinge also activates the phone to receive calls and to hang up.
This phone is now widely available for $49 w/ rebate. The next generation of this phone will be the T18d which is virtually the same except it will have voice activated dialing. It probably won't have web access since this isn't available on TDMA anyway.
Overall, a good (not great) phone for the average user. I use this phone about 150 minutes a month. In the San Francisco bay area, CellOne definitely has the best coverage. I think Sprint probably has the second best.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
ashi_the_cat
|
|
Location: San Carlos, CA
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.