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4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Beautiful Product, but this phone may not be for everyone."
Pros: Design, Durable feel, External Media Buttons, Unified Color, Good Speaker
Cons: A little slow, Headphone jack?, Finger prints (con for some)
Summary: Phone: Krzr K1m for Sprint
I've feel like you, the consumer, should fully understand the ups, downs, and "personality" of the phone you're researching. Because you're going to buy a phone and probably use it for two years, I would like present to you an extensive review for this phone to make your choice easier.
First Glance | First of all, I want to say that this is a beautiful phone. Because of its design and material, it has a more sturdy, solid feel. This phone is all black. The front, back, key pad, and even that "cheese grater" texture one the bottom (which is a silver color on other phones). It does not look like the the phone in the picture/video on this website. It closes nicely but also may require two hands to open. I now figured out a personal trick to open it with one hand forcing my thumb in the crevice to encourage it to open. It does flip the rest of the way by itself after the phone is opened up to (approx) 60 degrees. In the end, the phone opens up to about 170 degrees.
The "Krazy Reflective" Phone | There are three external media buttons (previous, play/pause, and next). When the previous and next is held down, you can also FF or REW through the song if you're looking for a certain part. The awesome thing, I think, about these media buttons is they're inactive when music isn't playing. You have to go to the Music player, select and start to play a song, and then when you shut it - they glow that vibrant blue. Some people may find this to be a CON, but I wouldn't think so. I've had friends in their college lecture halls start playing songs loudly due to the sensitive external buttons. [ For the people in the business world, one wouldn't want this similar event to occur during a meeting. ] The 1.3 Megapixel camera is...fine, and its designed into the phone (under the glass) so that there will never be dust, dirt or direct scratches to the camera lens. I would say the 1.3MP camera is better than my last VGA camera. I wouldn't use it to take my wedding pictures. But you got to remember that it's a phone first with the convenience of a camera. Judging by how big a typical 4 MP camera is, im amazed they got 1.3MP into this "stick" form. And now that there's less phone to weigh your pants down, buy a digital camera if you're that picky. It does also take 30 second videos. The back is made of a more soft dull material - almost rubbery - wont scratch, and I don't hesitate setting the phone down on a hard surface. On the side, the USB port used for computer connecting and charging your phone has a cover to keep it from getting dirty, and is connected to the phone so you can't loose this cover. The front does get a lot of fingerprints, but...really now - you have to make a sacrifice. If you hate finger print smudges, get a ordinary RAZR or less attractive phone. But this can be easily fixed with a warm, moist breath and a wipe on the t-shirt. It sometimes takes extra work to be beautiful. The speaker is nice. Music sounds amazing. I think the speaker has improved since the RAZR (listening to my friend's phone). The speaker for the ringtones and when using the speakerphone, is on the back of the phone near the bottom. It's kind of an...odd place, but when I slip it into my pocket, I be sure and point that the back part away from my body just in case - so I can hear the speaker.
The Inside | The only major down side of this phone, is that it's a little slow. I know that this was a design first phone, I wish they would have used a few extra MB of RAM. When I open the phone, Contacts is the left soft key. When pressed, I've noticed it took about 3 seconds before the phone book was loaded. The slowness can be the greatest CON when there are many commands or buttons pushed at one time. It might need a few seconds to catch up to where you were headed. It's not a significant slow phone, just some commands take more time than others. It can be easy to adjust to the OS system speed. The phone has bluetooth, speaker phone, and MP3 ringtones. My last phone didn't have any of these, so I'm ecstatic about these features. These all work amazing - I'd give a 10 out of 10 hands down. The bluetooth quickly and effortlessly connects to my (Apple OS 10.4) computer and I can easily send full length songs to the phone's media player - so no need to buy songs from Sprint. I can also copy the pictures from my phone to my computer, and pictures from my computer to my phone. For example, I can use clear pictures taken with my digital camera in the past to set as a person's picture ID......or choose/design my own wallpaper. I also have the ability to "cut" certain parts of songs on the computer into a 30 second clip. To get something specific to play as a ringtone, it needs to be sent to you in a message form, I believe. There are some websites that then let me upload a 30 second mp3 file from my comptuer - they then send me a text message and I go to the given URL and it downloads into my ringtone folder. I have about 6-30second clips from songs on my phone already. I like to do this myself (not only because it's free, but) because I don't like the limited music selection to download - or I would like a specific 30 seconds from a song. Now days, it's all about personalization. You also have the ability to buy 3rd party ringtones on other websites, and have them sent to your phone. Getting ringtones through text may require a pay-as-you-go per kilobite plan, or a Power Vision plan. I have the Power Vision Plus Pack. It's 20 dollars a month (free for the first month) and I get unlimited web, unlimited pix/vid messaging, Free OnDemand and Mobile TV options, as well as one free full song download from Sprint a month. The Tools folder has Alarm clock (5 alarms), Calendar, Voice Record, Calculator and World Clock.
The Key Pad | The key pad could also determine if this phone is for you or not. It could be small for bigger hands. I don't consider my self having big hands, but when texting i occasionally use the tip of my finger where the nail meets the skin. Then again - look the the buttons on the smart phones. I really can't give you the best description of the key pad feel - you must try it and see how it feels for you. I really like the comfort when using the RAZR key pad, but Id rather choose the slim, durable, and smaller phone. The key pad glows that Motolora blue - similar to the RAZR key pad.
Comparing RAZR to KRZR | I like the durable feel of the KRZR. It's a little thicker than the RAZR, but in a good way. It's heavier, but it's so thin and small, it's an insignificant CON. The RAZR feels better for typing, but can be too wide for some. I hardly notice the KRZR is in my pocket sometimes. AND - Who doesn't have a RAZR? When shopping for a new phone, buy one that finally makes the RAZR owner jealous.
Comparing KRZR to KRZR | I chose the Spring KRZR because of the color, and the freedom. Verizon has a similar KRZR K1m, but it's not consistently one color (as you can see in the CNET visual aids). I also DONT LIKE AT ALL Verizon's watered down menu that all their phones conform to. The reason you may choose the Motorola over the LG could be because of the operating system. Instead you have Verizon's OS that they use to override all their phones (except the PDA/Smartphones). Also, I thought I heard that Verizon is strict on their media content. They don't even allow third party ringtones on their phones - so good luck with your free customized ones. Cingular is expected to release a Blue one (GSM version K1) with a few upgraded features (2 MP camera for starters) but have no report when they're going to release it. A Cingular employee said that it wasn't on their december "list" so it may be pushed back to January or further.
What's In the Box? | Sprint included the phone and the USB charger and the usual stuff, but what REALLY caught my surprise, was that they included a free 64MB transflash card for the phone. It slides in directly into the phone by removing the back phone cover. This is great to take and store more photos/videos/music (but not ringtones). They offer transflash cards in higher capacities (128MB, 256, 512, 1GB and may possibly support up to 2GB) if you would like to have more space. I always forget how small these pieces of memory are - they are like half the width or less of a dime.
I would recommend this phone to anyone. Although it might be a little slow for your taste in some tasks, this phone is a sexy attention grabber. Ive have it for 3 weeks and I still can't stop looking at it. You can't wait for your phone to ring.Updated
I apoligize. CNET does have pictures for this exact Sprint model in the photo gallery, but the video review is not the specific model.
Also this Krzr doesn't have that loud noise when changing the phone's volume like some other Motorola phone have. (That "doodle doot" sound it makes when increasing or decreasing each level of ringer volume)
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