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- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 87 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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8 out of 11 people found this review helpful
3.0 stars
"Ultimately a Disappointment"
Pros: Beatiful Casing; Windows Mobile 6; Great Keyboard; Simple Setup; Great Bundled Software; Impressive Call Quality
Cons: Battery Life is Pathetic; Phone is Painfully Underpowered; Glitches Galore; New Slide Wheel is Terrible
Summary: Where Do I begin?
Let me first say that if you are a casual user, and just want to check the occassional e-mail and make the occassional phone call, this phone will probably suffice.
That said, if you are even a moderate-to-power user, the phone simply is an underpowered, underdeveloped device. My main gripe comes from the almost innumerable software/hardware glitches. All of the sudden buttons will stop working for one function, but not for the other (which indicates the software is at fault). If you let the battery die (which is very easy to do...more on that later), the O/S requires a soft reboot before the phone powers on again. Regardless of whether you use BlueTooth or USB connections, the phone doesn't sync about 33% of the time -- it just hangs. I've tried it on two of my computers -- one with Windows Vista32 and one with Vista64 - same problems. Considering Windows Mobile 6 was built with Vista in mind, this is quite disappointing.
The battery life is abysmal -- and for whatever reason, Verizon disabled the O/S's ability to adjust screen brightness to ameliorate that fact. I have my phone set to check 2 different e-mail accounts every 15 minutes. Additionally, I probably send 10 - 15 text messages per day. I talk for 20 - 50 minutes per day. I will also check the internet for 5 - 15 minutes. I have not had the battery last longer than 14 hours under these conditions. Being in law school, my days often verge on 20 hours, and when the battery dies (see above), then the whole phone freezes, you have to do a soft reboot, etc...
Moreover, the phone is terribly underpowered. The old Q had this problem. This Q is even worse as it uses the same processor for a newer, more resource-hungry O/S. There are often 1/2 - 1 second delays between pressing buttons and the device responding. In fact, if you have a web page loading in the background and you try to simultaneously dial someone's phone number, the buttons completely freeze for a good 10 seconds. How this product made it beyond initial testing is astounding to me. It plays music fine, but high-bitrate MP3s or higher resolution videos (above 320x240) cause it to stutter and freeze.
That said, the screen is bright, durable, and easy to read. The keyboard is GREAT, and provides a solid tactile feel (the best ever on a smartphone in my opinion). The sound quality on calls is amazing, and I've gotten lots of complements that I sound loud and clear on the other end as well.
All in all, despite the pluses, the obvious draw-backs (all of which mentioned in the cnet review) make this phone "average."
- 2 replies to this review
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If you bothered to read the review, cnet clearly stated that the businessmen should look elsewhere. And you really shouldn't need to check your email every 15 minutes.
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Are you kidding? Of cource your battery life will be lousy when you pull email from multiple accounts every 15 minutes. Are you that important or just plain stupid?
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