Motorola i580 user reviews (black, Nextel)

Pros none really I guess ok interface

Cons battery slips out of place and powers off, internal speaker is broken so have to talk using speaker phone.

Summary This nextel phone lasted about a year which is a better track record that my previous phones. But pretty disappointed that the military specs still did not stop my phone from becoming half functional.

Pros Packed with features; ruggedized.

Cons Dismal battery life; no alarm clock (?!); only demo games on phone.

Summary I bought this phone and switched from Sprint to Nextel because 1. This phone has all the features I've been wanting in a phone and 2. Nextel has better coverage than Sprint in the areas I work.

My previous phone was a Motorola v60v for Sprint service. This phone is lightyears ahead in quality and feature content. It has Bluetooth, a 1.3MP camera that'll take both stills and video, speaker phone, walkie-talkie, GPS, it's ruggedized, and will play MP3s. I haven't used the MP3 player yet, but all other features work great. The phone, while bulky, is surprisingly light - lighter than my old phone. I like having the external button to send a call straight to voice mail. I also like the way the phone feels in my hands. Not tiny and fragile, but solid and substantial despite its light weight and faux metal inserts. It's very easy to email pictures and video (up to 15 seconds worth max) with the phone. You have to go through a few more steps to save pictures/video to the phone or card as the only options you're given upon taking pictures/videos are "Send" and "Discard".

The phone comes with a 64MB memory card, SIM card, a memory card adapter so that one could remove the card from the phone and download (or upload) photos, videos or MP3s, and pretty nice belt clip that holds the phone with the back facing out to protect the small external screen.

Nits to pick:
Battery life on this phone is just dismal. Granted, I knew this going in from reading the Cnet review and other user reviews and still bought it. Still, why can't Motorola install a standard battery that will last longer than a couple hours talk time? If you plan to use this phone a lot, you'll either need to buy the heavy duty battery available for the phone, the car charger or both.

I have been unable to locate any type of alarm clock feature on this phone. What's up with that? Perhaps another user can help me out, but if I can't find it by going through all the submenus and the user's guide, it must be pretty difficult to find.

Speaking of submenus, there are a lot of them. Some are rather confusing and not necessarily intuitive to use. If you fool around with the phone a lot like I have, you'll figure it out. It's not that big a deal, just something some users might have an issue with.

The camera is good and I'm pleased with its performance. What I don't like is that the default settings are Normal picture quality and Medium picture size. I've been unable to figure out a way to change these so that I can set it to default to something different.

My last gripe is that all the games on this phone are demos only. If you want the full version, you have to buy it. That's just plain cheap. You'd think for a phone that runs $450-ish before contract rebates and such, games, at least one full-version game, would be included.

In closing, I am genuinely happy with this phone and I enjoy using it. I've had no buyers remorse at all and would go so far as to recommend this phone to others that are looking for a similar feature set. It's not perfect, but it's as close as I've found to it.

Pros Rugged phone

Cons Battery life

Summary I am hard on phones and that is why I chose this phone. However the only dissappointing thing that I have is the battery life. Other than that, I would recommend this great phone.

Pros Very rugged, good camera, sharp display

Cons battery life, a little heavy, menus are difficult

Summary Everyone loves the look of this phone. I need a phone that can take wind and rain, and this phone fits the bill better than any other I've seen. The display is also very readable and sharp. The camera is ready at the touch of a button, and the pictures are decent. Adjusting the size and zoom of a picture is also easy. I love the extra storage card that comes with the camera for media.

The reception is average. I was spoiled by my Nokia's battery life and reception. In my opinion, the Motorolas and LGs that I've owned just don't come close to the quality of Nokia. The free IDEN Phonebook Manager software that's available from Motorola doesn't even come close to the quality of Nokia's PC Suite.

When it comes to the cons-- battery life is way up on my list of dislikes. I find I need to charge this every other day and I'm not a heavy user. I need to keep a charger at work now since this has died on me at critial times. The menu also tends to frustrate me. I have to check the pdf manual often. It's easy to find the right icon for what I want, but the button to press to accomplish a task isn't always easy. Items that should be on the submenus aren't there. In other words, you have to know a function exists because key functions are hard to find. The settings icon is a prime example of menus and submenus that need to be improved.

If you don't read the manual on the CD you will miss a lot of the many cool functions of this phone, because of the poorly designed menus. A case in point is the wonderful spotlight for camera use. The camera is super easy to use, but turning on the spotlight for those darker shots requires several clumsy steps.

Overall, I really like the phone, and the ruggedness of the phone makes it a hands down winner for my needs, but it does have it's limitations. I rated it an 8, but only because of the ruggedness and easy to use camera.