Sufficient, but there are much better substitutes
Written: Feb 12 '01 (Updated Feb 12 '01)
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Pros: nice design, comfortable, built-in radio, wireless internet
Cons: cannot download rings or logos, no vibrate, no clock, inaccurate gauges, convuluted menus.
The Bottom Line: There are better substitutes out there. This phone is sufficient, but only get it if you HAVE to.
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| cptsulu's Full Review: Motorola V2282 Cell Phone |
Reluctantly, I'm going to recommend this phone because it really isn't that bad. The thing is, it really isn't that great either. But it suits to purpose will sufficient enough that I'd have to recommend it. There are just other phones, in the same price range, that are much better than this phone.
Like I said, this phone is sufficient enough for the needs of most people. The phone is as small and as light as the Nokia 6000 series phones. It includes text messaging, caller ID, 11 built in rings, storing up to 99 names numbers and locations. Some of the other things that are unique to this phone are a built-in radio and the ability to access the internet. Battery life and reception are sufficient enough as well.
For the most part, it is good at doing all of the aforementioned traits. However, getting to them is quite a hassel. The menus are extremely convuluted. The phone has so many submenus that it's pretty hard to know what option you picked in the first place. For such a complicated menu system, I would hope that Motorola would include some type of tree diagram to show exactly what submenu you're currently in. Moreover, the menu system asks if it's okay to proceed a little too much! I guess if you're clumsy and hit the wrong buttons it's good, but Motorola has included what I think to be an excessively paranoid menus system.
The primary purpose of a phone is to call people. One of the most annoying things about the phone's operating system is how you use it to call people. With the Nokia's you just press the up and down buttons and you're already in your address book. With this phone, pressing the up and down buttons do nothing. First, you must get into your address book. But even then, you cannot scroll through the people listed. First you must search for them and then it will let you scroll. This method adds too many steps to use the phone for its primary purpose. It's nice that it has a find feature, but Motorola should have also incorporated the scroll up and down through your address book without having to get into the address book first.
The battery gauge is extremely inaccurate. It's inaccurate because it's so small that you it cannot give a precise reading with only three ticks. Three ticks would be full, two would be half, and one would be a forth. At one tick left on the battery, you might panic because you're almost out of power. However, a closer look at the more accurate gauge (you have to get into it through menus), you can see that you still have almost half. It showed you one tick because its below half, but in actuality you probably have more. I'm guessing the reception is pretty much the same since it's also small, but there is not precise reception gauge option.
One of the most popular things about having a phone, nowadays is customization. You can customize your rings and logos on your phone. Right now, you cannot download new rings or logos from the internet. However, there is a site called mymotorola.com that I'm hoping will include customization features. However, the site still has a big coming soon, so you'll have to wait a while. Hopefully, they'll have updates to their awful menus system as well.
The other bad things are a lack of a clock and there is no vibrate feature.
Some extras that came with this phone are two softcovers. I don't really recommend using them because they're pretty ugly. It also includes a belt clip and handless system. I guess it includes these to sucker you into getting this phone.
So overall, this phone is good enough if you need a phone. But there are so much better substitutes out there. Maybe when mymotorola.com comes out and they have features to update the menus, this phone will be a nice option.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 159.00
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Epinions.com ID:
cptsulu
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Member: Ryan Samiley
Location: University of California, Irvine
Reviews written: 33
Trusted by: 15 members
About Me:
Third year Information and Computer Science major at UCI.
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