i95cl - Nextel's flagship phone at one point. . . and for a good reason!
Written: Jan 21 '04 (Updated Aug 04 '04)
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Pros: Great features, very durable, simple and easy to use.
Cons: Rather big and bulky compared to other phones on the market.
The Bottom Line: This phone is recommended to anyone who is looking to get a nice Nextel phone and spend a small amount of money.
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| Wisky's Full Review: Motorola i95cl Cell Phone |
With the FCC now allowing you to keep your previous cellular number, and switch to any provider you wish, I took this opportunity to get rid of my AT&T service of 4 years. I was and still am skeptical about leaving AT&T. And although im not sure if I made the right decision by switching service carriers, the one thing that I know I did right is pick the I95CL as my phone.
The I95CL with the cover closed looks very simple, professional, and somewhat bulky. It looks like an “I-Mean-Business” phone with a touch of class. The blue reflective plastic with the chrome Motorola emblems and outlines enhance the look of the phone while keeping it very subtle. Once held, one would realize how solid of a phone it actually is, the phone has a strong feel to it, and even the flip opens and closes with minimal play and flimsiness. One thing I like about this phone is the fact that you can do a few things with the cover closed, using the Nextel’s 2-way direct connect feature is a given, but there are numerous other things you could do without even opening the phone. You can call people on speaker-phone by simply scrolling through your recent call list [stop button][scroll buttons] and then make the call by pressing the [speaker button], when calling a person, you can adjust the volume of the speaker by pressing the [scroll buttons]. Small simple features such as this make this phone very easy and user friendly to use, I find this specific feature useful when driving.
Once the flip phone is opened, it does not look so subtle anymore. A large color 256color screen is revealed that rivals some older computer monitors in quality, and when dark, the automatic light sensor on the keypad will illuminate the keypad in a nice, bright, eye pleasing aqua-blue color. Note that during the daytime such as in direct sunlight, the keypad will not light, as the phone features a sensor to detect darkness, this is another great option that while very small, helps in things such as saving battery, hence improving battery life.
The Motorola interface is pretty easy to navigate, although I found that it is more complicated and not as user-friendly as Nokia phones, I think it comes close, you can even customize the initial menu to display features you most commonly use, this is one thing that I do not use, but I realize how great of a feature this is for some people, if you want, you can have all games displayed in the initial menu, it would be foolish for some, but who knows- maybe there are some people who sit around and play games on their phone all day. Volume is easily adjusted on demand by the scroll buttons on the side of the phone, when on a call, the scroll buttons will adjust the speaker volume (voice), when on a direct connect, it will adjust the direct connect volume, when cover is closed and there is no connection made, it adjust the ringtone volume, etc. etc.
Despite all these features it is still a very solid and durable phone and can withstand a small beating. Many flip phones are easily hurt or broken when dropped due to the fragile flip mechanism, but the I95CL (along with the other Nextel flip phones like the I60 and I90) can truly be considered tough. I have dropped my I95CL many, many times during the small duration of owning it and it still looks and works just as good as the day I bought it (minus the scratches on the cover).
Although im not sure if im happy with Nextel, I can sure say that im happy with my I95CL, and that for the price I paid for it, I could not justify paying nearly $400 for the I730 which seems to only be marginally better and has a smaller screen. If you have an older Nextel phone, and are looking to upgrade, I strong suggest that you look into an I95CL, you can find one for a good price now that Nextel is releasing a new line of color phones.
On a final note, I see many fancy covers for sale to replace the factory cover, but beware, these covers are not as high quality as the factory one and breaks very easily, buyer beware!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 175
Recommended for: Adventurous Technophiles - Tough and Durable
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Epinions.com ID:
Wisky
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: David Wilinsky
Location: moonachie, nj
Reviews written: 155
Trusted by: 45 members
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