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- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 62 reviews Back to product review
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7 out of 7 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"My favorite mistake."
Pros: Great sound, feel, look, audio quality and signal
Cons: Terrible interface/OS and short battery life
Summary: I bought this phone for $299 the day it arrived at my T-Mobile store, and eventually returned it within the 14-day no-hassle window. This is why:
I wanted a better looking, better sounding, slightly more featured cell phone than my Nokia 3220. Motorola has really pulled ahead of all other manufacturers in aesthetic area.
The PEBL was amazing for look, feel, and sound quality. It feels great in the hand, although none of my friends could intuitively open the clamshell via the one-thumb flip maneuver without being shown how. They all tried to pry it open like a clam by slipping a fingernail into the crack between the halves. The buttons worked well enough, but they're aligned in a wave-pattern that requires practice to dial accurately, much less without looking. Nonetheless, the feeling of the closed "rock" in the hand was great. You want to carry it all the time.
Taking photos with the PEBL was not as easy as with Nokia phones, because it forces you to file or send each shot before taking another. Nokias seem to auto-file them much more easily.
And text messaging is slower via iTap's spell-and-select software than with Nokia's guess-and-go T9 software. Maybe that's user preference, but the people I know with Motos seem stilted in their SMS speech (using minimal letter responses like "k" and "CU L8R), while Nokia users frequently seem to send longer, more articulate messages. Personal preference? or design inhibiting life?
All of these things (and a little experience with a friend's RAZR) left me with the overall impression that Motorola's loaded menu options and configurations are not easy to figure out, but I was starting to think I would get used to them. Settings are quite manipulable once you find out how to change them.
However, in the end, what broke my heart (and the deal) was the terrible lifespan of the almost-new PEBL battery. After 10 days of careful use and re-charging, I still would get the "low batt" beep and display not 24 hours after charging, with perhaps 90 minutes of calling and 3 or 4 text messages. When the battery goes low, the entire outside display (clock/date) is replaced with the "Low Battery" message, reminding you that the phone is a couple of quarts low, and frustrating you until you get to your charger. This is significant for me because in the last couple of years, I've begun using my phone's exterior display as a sort of pocket watch, instead of wearing a wristwatch.
Charging the phone every night and still going "low batt" by 5pm each day was unnacceptable to me, especially coming from Nokia-world, where battery charges seemed to last 3-5 days of moderate use and standby.
It was sad, like breaking up with a beautiful girl becuase I knew she would drive me insane. Seeing the pictures still makes me wistful.
So later, after a couple of weeks of mourning the "breakup," with the black beauty, I instead bought the Nokia 6101 for $99 (a third of the PEBL cost). It has all the same features, a better OS & interface, an incredible battery, and an FM radio as well. I'm pretty content, and it's a good looking phone, but it's sort of like comparing an Acura to a Jaguar. Different leagues. Less excitement, but fewer headaches.
Where to buy
Motorola Pebl U6 - black (T-Mobile):
$69.99 - $114.60
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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$114.60 | See Site |
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$69.99 | Yes |
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$69.99 | Yes |
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