HP TouchSmart. Touch the future now.
- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 183 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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12 out of 12 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"Pretty slick phone in general w/ some annoyances."
Pros: Looks, display, size, UI, camera, see below
Cons: Smudges, charger, etc, see below
Summary: Upgrading from Moto V265 with new-every-two with Verizon. Have had it for 1.5wks... Haven't used bluetooth or vcast. Most comments on hardware/software. Not enough time yet to really evaluate calls in various situations/atmospheres or battery life.
PROS
Slick look.
Inside display is pretty darn crisp.
Camera is quite good.
Thin, and has no exterior antenna.
UI and keypad buttons are fine. Buttons are spaced well..Only problem is sometimes hit the pwr/end key inside of right arrow.
Keypad and display lighting in the dark is great.
Ringer audibility - I haven't had a problem hearing most of them. I've also sent some "song" type sounds to my phone and set as ringtones, and those are very audible/loud.
Call quality/clarity seems good so far.
CONS
Outside LCD very difficult to see in daylight.
No "missed call" tone/beep - not that I've heard/found..And since display turns off completely, you have to "activate" phone to notice.
Does seem to get finger smudges much easier than I expected - never had any on my old piano finish plastic. I think it will scratch easily too, already have a few small hairline scratches not sure where they came from cuz I haven't rustled it around much.
Less customization of themes/colors, menus, etc. Old phone allowed you to change the two main soft key shortcuts to your preference. Limited customization of 5-way keypad shortcuts.
Included ringtones aren't all that appealing.
Vibrate is pretty weak.
Battery charger plugin on side - also has a door, which is annoying when you come from a quick easy plugin on the bottom.
Kinda slippery to hold sometimes.
Doesn't come with USB cable or microSD.
OTHER comments or annoyances:
The outside LCD screen is slightly raised off body of phone. Just seems unnecessary.
Phonebook search - if you type in a letter on accident, you have to clear it before searching to another starting letter. (old phone could press different digits and it would automatically jump to that letter).
Alarm clock - If using a "once" alarm, it doesn't seem to keep that time defaulted in there. Appears I have to reset the time each use rather than it remembering what I used previously. Annoying if I have a commonly used alarm time, but just don't use it daily.
Lacks vibrate+ring mode. Old phone had loud, soft, ring+vibrate, vibrate, silent mode, which were easily changeable by quick side buttons. Now have to open phone to change call volume or ring setting, and less choices.
When viewing a "missed call", asks you first if you want to view now, or later. Just an extra unnecessary step.
Seems like a lot of cons, but some are a matter of what I like and am used to from old phone. Many of my cons may be standard/common on other phones - not sure. Like I said - I prefer some of the stuff I was used to.
In general this is a pretty good phone. Just wish some things made more sense.
- 2 replies to this review
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Thanks for this review. I was about to go out and get this phone until I read that the display turns off. I can't stand this and I really can't understand the purpose of this "feature". Why do they make phones that do this??? Thanks again!
Tabitha -
To get the phone to vibrate as well as ring at any volume, go to Settings & Tools -> Sounds Settings -> Call Sounds -> Call Vibrate.
If you set that to "on", the phone will vibrate and ring.
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