Pros: Nice basic phone!
Cons: None so far
The bottom line: I needed a simple basic prepaid phone and this is perfect for me.
A simple phone with exactly what I needed in a phone. A few months ago I decided that I had to get rid of Pacific Bell (SBC or whatever their name is now) because even though they wouldn’t allow me to have long distance (long story but everything had been paid off and they still said I couldn’t have long distance) even though they charged me every month and made it a pain to have removed from my account. They always gave in and removed it but it was a pain to call every month and beg for it to be removed because I wasn’t able to have long distance. So I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to cancel my home phone completely and just get a prepaid cell phone.

I decided to go with T Mobile because of their reputation (will write a review about that and add the URL here when its done) and got this phone. The details they give are located at http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/Detail.aspx?class=prepaid&device=3456bf6e-3e50-406d-8478-c81b4845789e. I bought it at Wal-Mart for the same price that is listed on the site.

Cell Phone Basics – Their opinion

These are the basics that are listed on their site about this phone. I figured this would be valuable information to someone out there who might be concerned about the size of the phone.

Size: 4.0 x 1.7 inches x 0.7 inches
Weight: 3.17 Ounces
Included Battery: Li-Ion 900 mAh
Talk Time: Up to 3 hours
Standby Time: Up to 12 days
Band (frequency):

The phone is very small and at first I wondered if I would lose it (my old cell phone was a little larger than this) but it turns out this is a great size for me.

Cell Phone Basics – My Opinion

Now the picture on the epinions site is very close to my phone however mine is silver now black like what is pictured (I would have bought black had I seen that one though over the silver that I have). The phone is very small and fits easily in your palm. The look of the phone is very streamlined and clean which I love. I wanted to get a flip phone but the ones that had prepaid service seemed cheaply made. This is a good quality phone and looked nice on top of that.

Features

This is what they feel are their selling features on their phone. I’m not sure I agree with all of them because I really only use the phone to make calls and I keep those very short so to save my minutes in case I need them later.

Messaging – Instant message from Yahoo, MSN and AOL.

Fun – MegaTones, Wallpaper, HiFi Ringers, Games and FM Radio

Communication – Speakerphone and easy text output

Information – Vibrating alert and call log

Assistants – Phone Book, Alarm Clock, Calendar and Calculator

Airtime - $10.00 of airtime included

Services – Call Forwarding, Call Waiting, Caller ID, Customer Care and Emergency Calls
OK now that’s what they feel sells their phones but I would rather discuss in details why I like this phone so if you would like more details on what T Mobile thinks of their phone and their descriptions you can read those at http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/Detail.aspx?tp=tb1&class=prepaid&device=3456bf6e-3e50-406d-8478-c81b4845789e

What Do I Use

Like I said earlier I only use this phone for very basic reasons and now that’s what I will turn to now that I have the technical things out of the way. My only use for this phone is to make and receive calls, I don’t plan on using any of the other features of the phone such as gaming and messaging since most of those do cost minutes (if I wasn’t using a prepaid service I might think about using those but I can’t afford that at this time and am trying to stay within a very strict budget). However, the clarity and ease of this phone in making calling is excellent – see below for more about that.

Ease of Use

This phone is very basic and very simple to use. Just dial in your number and click on the lower left hand button to dial and then lower right hand button to end the call. Sounds very simple right, well took me a while to figure out (I hate reading instruction manuals for some reason). You can also click on Go To and that will take you to a menu for your voicemail and call logs.

Features

There are many features on this phone that you might be looking for:

Gallery – this is where you can change icons and wallpaper

I played around with this the day that I got my phone and changed my wallpaper, I haven’t done anything with it since then because this isn’t really a feature that I can see people using daily unless you really need a lot of change.

Call Log – this is where you can view all your calls, received, dialed and missed

Easily accessible. If you do miss a call you don’t have to go here though since there will be a link on the main screen where you can simply click ok to view who called but if you need the numbers for future reference this comes in handy.

T-Zones – have not used this so I can’t describe this feature but I know it tries to connect to the internet so I’m sure it would charge me minutes which is why I have never used it. This will only be on here if you have T-Mobile for service since this is part of their product line.

IM – I have never used this since it would cost me minutes to use it

Messages – from here you can create a message or check your messages

Games and Apps – basically what it says you can play games here or download new games

Organizer – this is where the radio, alarm clock, calendar and to do lists are kept

Phonebook – just as it says where you can look people up, add friends or remove entries

OK yes, I do have some numbers in the phonebook. This is so simple to use because I changed the link on the top left button to take me directly to the phonebook so basically all my numbers are now four buttons to dial. Clicking the phonebook, then their name, then options and dials. So again very simple and to the point.

Settings – this is where you can change the overall appearance and sound of your phone – make it more personal.

I have changed the background and the ringtone but that’s all I have played with so far. Both were pretty simple and only a few clicks. I changed these the first day I had the phone and was exploring all the settings on the phone.

So far this is all very basic.

Clarity

I have had a problem with it taking a few seconds to allow me to hear the person calling, I’m not sure if this is the phone, the service or something on their side, but I can live with that. Overall the sound is very good on both sides and I have not had issues of not being able to hear the person I have called or them not being able to hear me.

Battery Life

The battery has been very dependable for me. I actually keep the phone on my desk next to me all day and only have to charge it maybe once a week, but even that isn’t inconvenient because I can charge it even when I am using it and it won’t affect the sound or the phone at all. This means that I can charge it at any time and not worry about it running out of power on me which is extremely important for me since this is my only phone.

Conclusion

Very basic phone that is perfect for someone who just wants a basic cell phone to make and receive calls with. If you want more from your cell phone I’d suggest looking at the more expensive models that are available from Nokia. However, for someone that just needs to be able to make calls when they want this is a perfect cell phone.