6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good for between plans., July 28, 2008
This review is from: Motorola C168i Prepaid GoPhone (AT&T) with $35 Airtime Included (Wireless Phone)
This is a prepaid phone, and doesn't have many features. One of the most annoying things about it is the display. The screen has a 40 second backlight whenever a button is pushed (it's adjustable, 40 seconds is the max), and then the display turns off and goes black (presumably to save the battery). Pressing any key will make the display light up again-- but the phone registers whatever button you press (i.e., if you press an "8" the phone will dial 8, if you press the center menu button it will open the menu, etc.). This makes it very inconvenient if you just want to light up the display to check the time/date, which I do quite often. The red "hang-up" button will light up the display without opening anything-- but it also doubles as the power button. If you press it for more than a split second, the phone shuts off.
The buttons also have a tendency to get pushed in your pocket/purse. While the keypad does have a "lock" feature it's irritating to use. The buttons themselves are a tad flimsy which makes the unlock combination frustrating. Thus, the phone has a tendency to make calls, connect to the net, create new address book entries, etc. while in your pocket or purse.
This phone will store one number per contact. I have three separate phonebook entries per person: work, home, cell, which is annoying. It supposedly can send multimedia as well as plain text messages, but the phone has no camera. However, it will receive multimedia messages so you'll be able to get pics and such.
The text feature is nice, as it has itype which allows you to type with one-touch and select the word as you're typing (either choose spelling, or select the whole word by pressing "up"). The text menu also allows you to save drafts. Other features include pre-typed templates ("I love you", "Congratulations", etc.) and fill-in quicknotes ("Meet me at __").
The text inbox generally holds 200 messages before having to be emptied. Deleting all messages can be annoying, as the feature is weirdly buried in the Outbox menu. The annoying thing about texts is that the Outbox doesn't tell you what time your message was sent. However, it does record the time of incoming texts, which makes no sense.
The calendar (a pain to navigate and set up), alarm clock (which has a snooze button), and calculator are all features which I use often. The ringtones and backgrounds are very limited, but you can control button sound/volume as well as alarm/text/ringtone sound and volume. You can also set the phone to vibrate and back by pressing and holding # (beyond the button's touch tone, it does not beep or make a conspicuous noise while setting it to vibrate or back, which is nice for meetings).
The phone also has a headphone jack, speed dial, and the 24-hr time display option. It has a quick-access redial/recent calls list, and a "call-time" feature (which only keeps track of total talk time and the last phone call duration-- it does not record time individually for your recent calls list). The phone is chat capable.
The phone is clear with good reception but because of the placement of the microphone, when you prop the phone against your shoulder to grab something, type, etc. your voice will sound pretty muffled/unintelligible to the person on the other end. It does have hold and call waiting, and will beep to let you know you've received texts/voicemail if you are in-call.
I've had this phone for seven months (I bought it when my previous phone died in the middle of my contract) and it's been a fairly good one, considering the $20 price tag at the local Target/Wal-mart. The switch-over was simple, just inserting my old SIM card into the new phone. It has been easy to use. Charging takes roughly 2 hours and the battery life is great (5+ days), mainly due to the small display and simple features.
After having this phone for seven months it has started to give me trouble: turning off randomly or in mid-call, shorter battery life, etc. Since the display is usually black, it's difficult to know when the phone has turned itself off. I have to check it periodically, and often have to power it back up. Turning off the phone and removing the battery pack seems to solve this problem short-term. I rarely turn off my phone even to charge it, so this may be the issue. At any rate, the back panel has a release and is easy to remove.
If you want an inexpensive, pretty basic phone to tide you over between plans, this prepaid is a decent choice. If you're going to use your own SIM card, make sure your plan is with AT&T. For basic texting, basic calls, and solid battery life, this is the way to go. I have dropped it several times in a parking lot, spilled water on it, and sat on it, and it has held up great.
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1.0 out of 5 stars
very frustrating phone, May 24, 2009
This review is from: Motorola C168i Prepaid GoPhone (AT&T) with $35 Airtime Included (Wireless Phone)
I agree with the previous reviews, and I had a few complaints of my own.
The phone would sometimes turn off without warning, after i owned it for only a few weeks. Soon after buying it I couldn't get the back to attach to the phone properly--one of the tabs was not letting me. the keys required pressing HARD especially when texting, I am an avid texter and the phone couldn't keep up with me.
The phone also only has the most basic basic functions in the menu, which is not very sophisticated. It was often annoying how simple it was. Despite the simplicity it manages to be disorganized and confusing. I don't even know how that's possible, but it was with this phone.
I love 'bar' phones, but this one was extremely obnoxious and i would NOT recommend it.
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