Kyocera Luno S2100 (Cricket Wireless)

I've had this phone for a couple of weeks. The call quality is not the greatest, but it meets my basic needs, and considering how much I paid for the phone and how much I am paying for service, I'll live with it.

The plastic is very smooth. This sounds like a silly complaint, but a few times I have accidentally disconnected a call because when I was trying to open the phone my fingers slipped and the phone clapped closed. I plan to get a leather cover for the phone.

I've accidentally dropped the phone a couple of times, but it just got dinged a little. It still works okay.
I have not tried the Bluetooth so I can't tell you how well it works.

The following isn't specific to this phone, but you might like to know that you get to use Cricket411 on this phone even if you have the most basic $35/month plan. This was a pleasant surprise to me. I actually called Cricket customer service to make sure I wasn't incurring any charges when I used Cricket411. You do not have to have a data plan or pay for operator-assisted 411 to use Cricket411. Cricket411 is sort of like a phone book (remember those?) utility that lets you look up the phone number of a person or business. First you enter your city and state (or zip code), then you select whether you want to search by business name, business type, or person. When you find the listing you have these options:
See on map
Get directions
Nearby places
Send to friend
Save listing
Yes, even with the basic plan you can still see a little map and get turn-by-turn directions. This was a pleasant surprise to me. I thought I would have to have a data plan to be able to look up phone numbers.

Updated on Sep 2, 2011

I forgot to mention that the buttons are completely flat, making it difficult to hit the right button without looking. There's a tiny bump between the 2 and 5 buttons, and between the 5 and 8 buttons, but no bumps near the navigation buttons.

There is one annoying thing when using Cricket411, but unless you look use the "Get Directions" option a lot, you won't have to deal with it much. When you use the "Get Directions" feature and push a button to enter the address to or from which you want directions you must cycle through the symbols or letters for that button before you get to the number. For instance, say you want to enter "123 Main Street." When you hit the 1 button you have to cycle through multiple symbols (. , + - = _ ' " @ : ! ? / \ #) before you get the number 1. For the other numbers it's not as bad because you just have to go through a few letters. Example: For "2" you must cycle through A, B, and C. I have no idea why Kyocera programmed the phone this way.

Updated on Sep 6, 2011

Problem with accidentally disconnecting calls when the phone rings and I touch the phone.

The phone has an "Open to Answer" option. Unfortunately the mechanism that indicates the phone has been flipped open is very sensitive. There's a small nub on the top half of the phone below the display, and a corresponding hole in the bottom half of the phone. Inside the hole is a tiny pressure switch. Close the phone and the nub pushes down on the pressure switch, which "tells" the circuitry the phone has been closed. Flip the phone open and the nub comes out of the hole, releasing the switch, which "tells" the circuitry the phone has been open.

Problem: the nub goes into the hole barely deep enough to push on the switch. If you just barely touch the phone the nub can release the switch, the phone "thinks" you've flipped it open, so the call is answered. When the nub touches the pressure switch again, the call is disconnected. I've worked around this is by disabling "Open to Answer".

Updated on Sep 7, 2011

I learned something new about this phone yesterday. It starts getting HOT when it's on speakerphone for a while. I called a company \and was on hold for about 10 minutes listening to "hold music" with the speakerphone on. When I picked up the phone I noticed it was getting very hot. I've never had a phone get hot like that before.

The more I use this phone the less I like it. Tried to use the scheduler today. If you want to set an event reminder for yourself your time choices are:
On Time
5 Min Before
15 Min Before
30 Min Before
1 Day Before
2 Days Before
1 Week Before

So if you want a reminder greater than 30 minutes, but less than 1 day, you can't do it. Grr....

Updated on Sep 25, 2011

New headache. Now when the phone rings and I pick it up to answer the call the call frequently gets disconnected. I determined the problem is related to the pressure switch I described previously. Apparently the hinge that holds the top and bottom parts of the phone together has become a little loose, so when I place my thumb on one side of the phone and my finger(s) on the other side of the phone the two pieces slightly "slide" in opposite directions (this is while the phone is still closed). This causes the phone to disconnect the call before I can even flip open the phone. I am pressure certain this is related to that pressure switch mechanism. And, yes, I still have the "Open to answer" option still disabled.

Oh, and the call quality is so bad I often have to ask people to repeat what they have said.

I wish I had never bought this phone. If I could revise the star rating, I would give this phone one star. I definitely DO NOT recommend this phone!

Updated on Sep 26, 2011

It's Monday afternoon. I've tried to call Cricket technical support about 10 times, and I keep getting this recording: "There are no agents available at this time. Please visit one or our retail locations for further assistance. To find a retail location near you, press 1, otherwise, if you're finished, you may hang up now." Don't most companies just put you in a hold queue when no agents are currently available?

Updated on Sep 27, 2011

I called Cricket about the problem. They told me to contact Kyocera directly. I called Kyocera and they gave me an RMA to return the phone for inspection. I decided it would be a good idea to backup the phone data (contacts, notes, photos) before shipping it to Kyocera. That is when I learned THERE IS NO WAY FOR A CUSTOMER TO BACKUP THE DATA ON THIS PHONE! Neither Kyocera nor Cricket makes available any software to let you backup the phone, so don't waste your money buying a micro-USB cable for that purpose. Cricket has a service called "My Backup", BUT IT IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THE KYOCERA LUNO! So, if you have any interest in backing up the data on your phone, don't buy a Kyocera Luno!

I've decided to drop Cricket and return to my previous carrier. That carrier now has an affordable month-to-month plan, and their customer support is infinitely better. I'll just go back to using my old Nokia 6103, which, despite being older, is still much better than the Kyocera Luno.