TERRIBLE battery life in Analog territory
Written: Dec 30 '00 (Updated Mar 21 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice digital features in an inexpensive phone
Cons: Very Poor battery life in analog areas.
The Bottom Line: If you have a lot of analog territory to call from, don't get this phone.
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| peachjam's Full Review: Qualcomm QPC-860 Cell Phone |
I've been through all the phases of cell phone life - from the deluxe Motorola bag phone (with a battery even), two different Motorola StarTac phones, and now the QCP-860. I have one complaint about this phone - it's the battery.
Ads you see for this phone will tout it's thin figure and internal lithium ion battery. Well, if you live in an area that has not yet converted fully to digital cellular service, as my rural PA landscape (under Verizon's auspices), then forget about going for this phone. Stick with an analog phone until you are fully digital. (Verizon promised digital service by December 2000, and while there are digital service plans in place, my area won't be digital until around June, they say.) NOTE: Digital service was turned on here the beginning of March. It makes a HUGE difference in battery life.
Qualcomm says this phone will do up to 10 hours of talk time and 17 days of standby. Read the small print and you will see these figures are estimates based on adding an external battery to the phone (for $80) and in digital service areas. Without an external battery, the ads say you could get 150 minutes talk time and 96 hours on standby. My real-life experience? I get 60 minutes of talk time, and normally can't get through an 8-hour day with this phone before needing to plug it in somewhere (and that's without making but one or two very short calls). It makes the phone pretty much useless when you have to be tied to your cars cigarette lighter while on a call.
The added drawback to this is that the included cigarette adapter won't CHARGE the battery while you're ON A CALL. (The wall plug adapter will, however.) I recently sat for a full hour in my car next to the bank, on hold with Verizon, and couldn't do my ATM withdrawal because the battery was dead and if I unplugged it I would drop the call. After going through three different Account Reps to discuss the poor battery life of my phone, I didn't want to drop the call and risk having to start it all over again.
Thankfully, Verizon came up with an equitable solution for me. Since I had been promised digital service by December, and I had purchased this phone (for $19.95 plus 2 year service agreement) in preparation for the digital service, Verizon agreed to send me an external battery no charge (an $80 retail value). With the external battery, which actually is a VERY nice feature on this phone, I can now make it through an analog day on my cell phone without worrying about a recharge in the middle. In fact, I could probably make it through two days if my calling isn't too heavy.
If you plan to use a phone in a heavily analog area, get a Nokia phone. Friends say their Nokia's work for days on one battery without having to recharge it.
So, having dutifully complained and nagged about the very poor battery life of the QCP-860's internal battery, let me brag a bit about it's nice features (in case you haven't read some of the other great opinions in this section).
Looks and handling
This is a sharp-looking phone. Mine came with the Metallic Red faceplate. It's a bit small for my large hands, but much better than some of the 'mini' compact phones that I have seen. I like not having to flip out the cover as on the Motorola flip phones. The drawback is the occasional bumping of the exposed keys, which could cause you to inadvertently make a call without knowing. A friend of mine did this once with his Nokia, and the humored people on the other end heard about 30 minutes of a church service my friend was in before the battery finally gave way. The keyguard feature of the QCP-860 allows you to lock the keys so that you don't pull such an expensive (and perhaps embarrassing) stunt.
Advanced Digital Features
For a lower-line (and thus less expensive) phone, the QCP-860 packs some nice features. It includes voice/paging/email messaging. This allows someone to send you text messages to your phone via a supplied email address (which once again won't be available to me as a service for another 6 months). The QCP-860 also sports the web-browsing feature, which allows limited internet surfing from your phone to specialized web pages (text only). I wish I could try it out and tell you about it, but I'll be waiting a few months for that feature as well. There is an excellent online demo of the web features of the QCP-860 phone at
http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/support/demos/thin_interdemo.htm.
Typical cell phone features
I like the functionality of the expansive 100-entry phonebook. Any number you call or receive a call from (if you have caller ID service) can be quickly stored in the phone book with a text name. You can later retrieve the name by scrolling through the index of names, doing a name search, or typing the mailbox number of the name (if you have a good memory). Entering names in upper or lower case along with a host of symbols is similar to entry using other electronic devices with a limited keypad.
The menu system on the phone is simple to use and gives you access to dozens of features designed to customize the phone to your personal use. You can set the options for ringer sounds, ringer and beeper volume, Home and Roamer call minutes, lock code (password), autoanswer, scratchpad, battery display, language (Eng, Fre, Spa, Port.), message notification, and fax/data modes.
Call quality
In my hilly area blackout areas are not uncommon, and I believe this phone gives average sound quality compared to the other phones I have used and been acquainted with. In the FEW digital areas I have called from, the calls had that slight 'jumbled' sound that you areas is that call information such as time/date of the call and duration get logged onto the phone for later retrieval.
Bugs
Just yesterday the menu system locked up. I had to wait for the battery to die before it sometimes hear on digital answering machines - at times. An added benefit of digital would reset as the buttons all quit working. It seems to be working fine today. I saw a similar comment about this problem on the CNET web site for this phone. Not an encouraging proposition.
http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-16329-404-131641.html? st.cn.1433811-7-1433847.dir.16329-404-131641
Overall recommendation
I'm giving this phone a two-star rating for those who may be stuck in analog areas like I am. If so, go with a different phone. I do like the phone overall when the battery is working. I hope the menu system bug doesn't end up being a royal pain.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
peachjam
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Member: Troy Funte
Location: Titusville, PA
Reviews written: 84
Trusted by: 112 members
About Me:
I'm a family man, which actually keeps me off epinions more than I would like.
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