cell phones

Motorola Motofone F3 Unlocked Phone with Dual-Band GSM 850/1900--International Version with No Warranty (Black)
$79.99
HORRIBLE PHONE STAY AWAY FROM IT. COULDN'T EVEN SAVE YOU IN AN EMERGENCY!!!!!!! I WAS SO AGGRAVATED I THREW IT IN THE GARBAGE. IT IS SO CHEAP. I WAS BETTER OFF GETTING MY SON HIS REPLACEMENT PHONE FROM GO PHONE AT&T ...IT WAS CHEAPER AND BETTER QUALITY!

LG Xenon GR500 Phone, Black (AT&T)
$249.99
I got this phone as a replacement for a water damaged Motorola phone. This was a big mistake.

1) Reception: This phone spontaneously loses service. Usually this occurs when moving from tower to tower. I called AT&T about this problem and they did update the software which allows it to only lose service half the time in the city rather than 3/4 of the time. This occurs in conditions when my wife's iphone maintains 3 or 4 bars.

2) Ease of use: It has a touch screen which slides open to expose a hardware keyboard. The touch screen spontaneously locks during calls and will give false inputs if you try to use it to input PIN numbers or negotiate automated menu choices during a call. So the hardware keyboard must be used instead. On some but not all calls it appears you must use the function key to obtain numerical input on the hardware keyboard...very frustrating. Both touch screen and hardware keyboard work better using a stylus but there is no stylus dock and no stylus is provided.

Normally it must be carried locked due to the risk of false inputs to the touch screen but in half light or darkness there are no distinguishing characteristics between the lock button and the volume down button. The lock button is very close to the camera switch which adds to the confusion. I suppose this would be acceptable to a user with perfect night vision, tiny hands and no calluses on their hands.

3) Unneeded functions - bling: There are numerous extra-cost services which clutter all the menus and screens and which appear impossible to delete. This comes at the expense of poorer access to functions the user needs on a daily basis.

4) Battery life: The battery normally only lasts a day or two between charges, even if there are no calls. There is an annoying, irregular, spontaneous, loud warning beep which cannot be turned off nor reset, which usually starts in the middle of the night when the phone decides it needs a charge.

5) Durability: This product is fragile. It appears easily scratched, dented and unsuitable to carry except in a heavy leather case, which unfortunately increases its rate of signal loss.

6) Audibility: The normal speaker (except for warning beeps) is impossible to hear in a moving truck but somewhat audible in a well soundproofed car. Conference mode is barely audible in a truck and easily audible in a car if it is held to the ear. Under quiet conditions with less than 4 bars of reception there remains a constant clipping or skip of both transmission and reception.

7) Connectivity: With effort it will produce a short range bluetooth connection which must be quickly stopped before batteries are depleted. Unfortunately its USB port is nonstandard and requires an extra-cost cable so I don't know how well that function works.

8) In summary: This would be an ideal gift purchase if the buyer has a wealthy elderly uncle whom they wish to drive insane so as to gain control of his vast estate. Or perhaps it could be sent to the buyer's favorite imprisoned Ponzi schemer. Otherwise buy anything else. This phone is entirely unsatisfactory, most suitable for use by a technophilic lemur who is addicted to purchasing extraneous add-on services.

BlackBerry Bold 9700 Phone (T-Mobile)
$449.99
Alright, let me just say off the bat that as a former Bold 9000 user, I've been looking forward to the new Bold 2 for months since pictures were leaked on the internet. Since I get my phones through my company, I've had the phone since last Wednesday, when it was released on AT&T's network for Premier people.

The new Bold 9700 is a sleek phone - no doubt about it. RIM apparently has decided, though, to somewhat standardize their phone, a direction that bothers me to a great extent. One of the things I loved about the Bold was that it was different - you saw any other phone, and then you saw the Bold - and you thought "Wow, that phone IS bold!!" Size I couldn't care less about - as long as it looked good, and worked awesomely, what else matters? And the Bold 9000 fit those well. So when I got the new 9700, and I compared it to my coworker's Tour (for Verizon), I was quite surprised at how similar they were. You can barely tell them apart (the 9700 is a bit smaller, and also has the trackpad). Just an observation....

Alright - to the review:

Pros:

Trackpad - this is definitely a most welcome upgrade. RIM outdid themselves on this part - I thought the trackball was good, this trackpad is great! The older Bold's trackball was great, as long as you kept dirt and dust out of it. Which turned out to be somewhat difficult, since there was a depression surrounding the trackball, and so if too much dust or dirt got in, the ball needed to be replaced. Also, if you used it too much, the ball would lose its grip, and become less responsive, also - once again - needing to be replaced. Both those problems are now gone with this new trackpad. For former trackball users, it may take a little use to get to know it, but once you do, trust me - you'll never go back.

Speaker - the speakers on the Bold are nothing less than stunning. My friend has an IPhone, and my speakers for playing music and speakerphone blow his out of this century. Not only can they get very loud, but they also are quite clear and crisp, for the volume you put them too. And, if that wasn't good enough, RIM includes AudioBoost - for when you hook your Bold up to your car or stereo system, which bumps the output sound even higher. Excellent....

OS - the new BlackBerry 5 OS, which comes preloaded on the phone, is a major improvement over the 4.6 version in most other phones. It's snappier, and quite more responsive.

Camera - RIM upgraded the camera from a 2 MP in the older Bold to a 3.2 MP in the Bold 9700. The pictures that the phone takes are quite good, even in poor light conditions. Of course, if you try to take pictures in the club with it - prepare to be somewhat disappointed. Ha. But for regular, everyday camera uses, for that quick shot, the Bold 9700 actually takes decent pictures. Nice for when you forget to bring that digital camera with you

There's a couple other pros I can think of, but they're more along the lines of business users, or based on networks (you could get 3G speeds on AT&T's network since the first Bold - T-Mobile just got their first 3G BlackBerry with this phone). If you're interested in them, drop me a comment, and I'll get back to you.

Now, for the cons:

Battery - battery life is still somewhat bad, although it definitely is an improvement over the older Bold. I normally use Pandora - an App that plays Internet Radio, trust me, this should be one of the first apps you download, it's free - the other is Google Maps, also free - anyway, back to the review, so I normally use Pandora, and I can get about 6 hours out of the battery, with small breaks in-between receiving phone calls. So, in normal use, you could probably get about a day out of the battery, which isn't terrible, but also is somewhat worse than comparable phones out there.

Hardware - this is probably my biggest negative I had. Normally, when they say upgrade, you would think they would put better hardware in the thing, right?? Well, think again. With the exception of the upgraded camera and trackpad, there is NO difference in hardware between this and the older Bold.
Zero.
Nada.
I would've liked some upgraded hardware in the phone. Bui again - this is just my thing. You may not care.

My last negative is more hit and miss - some people have been reporting that BlackBerry Maps - the app that RIM ships with the phone for navigation, doesn't work on the 9700. Myself included. This appears to be at random, but it just irks me. Fortunately, there's a workaround - get Google Maps.


So - overall, the phone is a nice update. It works, takes nice pictures, looks sleek, and can be used as your new boombox when you want to blast "What is Love?" by Haddaway. (Kidding on the last one) I would completely recommend this phone, even with some of its faults, since they don't really take away from the experience with the phone.

I'll update this review from time to time, as I continue to use this, so if there's any questions, please feel free to ask.

BlackBerry Storm2 9550 Phone (Verizon Wireless)
$499.99
Went from Storm 1 to Storm 2 and I can not believe how awesome the 2 is. The typing and user friendly nature with e-mail and texting is perfect. I really feel this phone gives me awesome business usage with all the fun extras you need. Anyone who gets one I promise you will not be let down.