Kyocera Slider SE47 (Surewest Wireless)
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CNET Editors' Review
The good: Nifty slider design; 65,000-color display; strong battery life; integrated speakerphone.
The bad: Bulkier than the Siemens SL56; poor keypad layout; heats up quickly.
The bottom line: Though not as sleek as the Siemens SL56, the Kyocera SE47 is an attractive phone for young adults.
Review: For the SE47, Kyocera tried a sliding faceplate, and the result is neither as compact nor as stylish as the Siemens ... Expand full review
For the SE47, Kyocera tried a sliding faceplate, and the result is neither as compact nor as stylish as the Siemens SL56. But the phone does have some admirable attributes, including a 65,000-color display, an integrated speakerphone, and decent performance. Plus, if you choose Virgin Mobile over Verizon Wireless, you'll get a cool account-balance application. The Slider SE47's target audience is young hipsters, and with the handset's MTV-centric content, $150 price tag, and prepay plan, Kyocera should hit its mark.When you first see the retractable antenna protruding from the top of the Kyocera SE47, this slider mobile looks like just another flip phone with an unusually large external display. But a closer inspection reveals that you need to slide back the cover. The matte-gray (Virgin) or blue (Verizon) handset measures just 3.5 by 1.9 by 0.9 inches when closed and weighs a mere 3.4 ounces, but it's still larger and heavier than its GSM rival, the Siemens SL56. The main benefits of the SE47's girth are a more solid feel in the hand and an authoritative sliding action.
The SE47's most interesting features relate to the prepay service. Virgin's Top Up application automatically connects to a wireless Web site where you can add money to your account or locate the nearest Virgin Mobile store. You pay with your credit card or your Top Up card; in the latter case, the charge will ultimately end up on your credit card. Complementing that feature is the Balance program, which (you guessed it) checks your available funds and sends you a text message with the latest amount. You can personalize your SE47 with a variety of included wallpaper, screensavers, color themes, and ring tones. And the Slider supports BREW, so you can download even more wallpaper, tones, apps, and games. Most of the content on our Virgin Mobile version was MTV-related, but the Verizon handset will be able to receive the company's Get It Now offerings. You can also surf the wireless Web on the 1xRTT high-speed data network.The Kyocera Slider SE47 operates on CDMA 800/1900. When we tested the handset using Virgin Mobile service in Las Vegas and San Francisco, overall audio quality was impressive. We could hear callers well, and they said they couldn't tell we were using a cell phone. Additionally, the speakerphone's sound was loud and clear. The SE47's only downfall in this department was that the unit heated up after about 10 minutes of continuous talking.
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