An Awesome Phone, Unless It's Pre-Paid!
Written: Mar 09 '03 (Updated Apr 28 '03)
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Pros: Small but simple phone, internet browser, good functions.
Cons: Antennae may eventually break off, no games.
The Bottom Line: Overall a great phone. An awesome phone if it's not a pre-paid. I just wish the antennae were sturdier.
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| rmskater's Full Review: Motorola V120c |
This was my first "cell phone". I got it at Wal-Mart as one of those pre-paid phones. It was also my first dealings with Sprint.
The phone came with a battery, a charger, and the phone. It also came with an optional belt clip. Oh, and the instructions for the phone and setting it up.
Since this phone is used by Cingular, Sprint, and AT&T, I won't really go much into the phone company much. However, I will mention a bit, since this is my experience with the phone.
If you're getting this phone as a pre-paid phone to avoid big phone bills, beware, you still can get run-up for a big bill. I'll explain.
I don't know how this works with other phone companies, but with Sprint, when you make a call, even if you run over your time, you will not get disconnected. What this means, is that if you paid a certain amount of money, then you will have bought a certain amount of time. If you talk past this time, nothing will tell you that you are reaching your limit, or that you have exceeded it.
When you hang up, you may get a text message, or nothing. It depends on your phone company. With Sprint, nothing would happen. I would dial a number for my next phone call, and then get transfered to a "Clear Pay" system recording, telling that I had run over my minutes.
I would then have to run back to Wal-Mart to recharge my included PCS card just to get the phone turned back on. This was kind of a hassle. After you recharge your card, it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to register your payment. Even if it's the weekend, and the salesperson tells you that it won't work until Monday, it WILL almost always register in a little bit. It always has for me.
This was kind of an annoyance. Let me tell you this straight, if you use your phone alot, it will save you HUNDREDS of dollars if you buy a regular cell phone. Just get one of the ones with the unlimited night and weekend minutes, or unlimited mobile to mobile, or PCS to PCS.
I spent well over 300 dollars for somewhere around 7 or 8 hours. This is one of those times where the "pre-paid advertisements" aren't always true. Looks like you can use what you haven't paid for, it will just be very inconvenient. However, this IS how you learn, and hopefully YOU are learning something about what to look into when you get a phone of your own.
Although, I don't even know if you will be using this feature, so let me just say one more thing, then I will talk about the phone itself. When you browse the web on this phone, you are also charged, but what it actually does is take off your talk time.
The phone itself is very nice, except for its antennae. The antennae is one of the ones that I don't like. It has the whole antennae extend about one inch up. The antennaes that I like are the ones that stay in place and the end of them extend. Basically, I like when the antennaes are very stable, so that when they are in your pocket, they won't have any chance of breaking off.
Oh, and this phone's antennae DID end up breaking off.
The phone itself is nice. It has a phone book, which can hold quite a few numbers. I can't exactly remember how many, because it has been about a year since I last used this as my phone. However, you can store several numbers to an entry.I think that it rounds to somewhere in the neighborhood of 400.
There is "Voice Activated Dialing", letting you call using your voice. I also believe that you can record memos and parts of your phone calls.
There is a call log, enabling you to review the calls that your phone has made, received, and missed. You can then select the number that you wish to call again, or just make note of who you talk to too much.
It also has two-way SMS messaging which allows you to send, receive and store short text messages with another compatible phone, pager or other wireless device or email address. However, this will use up some of your talk time. You can also store the messages that you receive.
There is a text browser, letting you browse the web, through text. Obviously, the whole web is not accessible, but you can still reach a good amount of sites. You also have access to AIM! You can AOL Instant Message your friends from this phone!!!
There are about 32 ring tones. This phone doesn't have a special chord ringer, so it does sound "beepy", but it has some nice tunes! In addition to ringers, it also has a vibrating ringer, actually several, to quietly inform you of calls. It vibrates long and short, or alternately to let you know of a specific person calling.
This phone has Caller ID with the time and date, which allows you to view the phone number (or name, if stored in the user directory) of incoming calls before answering. I really don't know of any cell phones nowadays without Caller ID.
The screen is a high contrast display. It looks very nice, besides being a tiny screen. It is very clear. It also has a backlight, with the usual 8 second, 20 second and on and off options.
On the screen, there is a missed call alert, a signal strength indicator, a voicemail indicator, an analog or digital indicator, a battery meter, and a roaming meter.
One interesting thing that this phone has is a numeric notepad, letting you jot down a number, save it, then dial it later, or just delete it. You can use this to record a password, a combination, or anything else of the sort.
This phone has one and two touch speed dialing.
There are some nice security options offered by this phone. You can enter a password, and choose what items you want to lock. For example, you can lock your phone book and your options menu, to prevent the major stuff on your phone from being tampered with, or you can lock everything. I like that you can actually lock individual settings with this phone.
This phone lets you restrict calls. You can choose to not be able to place any calls, or just the ones in your phone book. This can be kind of handy. You can give your phone to a friend and you can make sure that they don't make calls to people who you have no idea. Or, you can restrict your phone book's access, and then have them call they're friends, then find out exactly who they're calling. Good to see if they're taking advantage of your phone usage.
You can also lock the keypad. You use the normal way by pressing Menu, then #, I believe. I like that this feature still exists. It's kind of cool, so that you don't accidentally make calls when you don't want to. I knew someone, whose phone called his voicemail, using up around 300 minutes, almost all of his monthly allotment of minutes. Ouch!
Also, the sound quality is very nice. You can adjust the volume of the ear piece during a call, and when you're not on a call, you can adjust the ringer volume. I never had any dropped calls, or any problems hearing my friends with this phone. It always delivered great reception.
Overall, this is a nice phone. It's stylish, has great options and looks cute. It's body is very ergonomic, and curvaceous, just like my girlfriend. I love Camilla!!! I like this phone, and you should too.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 159.95
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Epinions.com ID:
rmskater
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Location: Plano, Texas, USA
Reviews written: 62
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
I like skateboarding and I love my cats and my best friend, Kelly.
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