Customer Reviews

Motorola W490 Phone, Green (T-Mobile)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Aesthetically, this phone makes me smile every time I take it out. I sometimes leave it on my desk at work to make my co-workers jealous. ;) The functionality is great - very intuitive and easy to use. The keypad has a straightforward, pleasantly tactile interface.

I was wary about getting this phone because of a review on Amazon that said the screen was ugly (it's perfectly fine), texting was slow/characters took two seconds each to pop up (not true; they come up immediately); the front window was useless (like all phones, it clearly displays the time and, when someone's calling, their name or number -- the picture on this page accurately depicts this); the ringer is too soft (it's plenty loud at the highest volume; in fact I had to turn it down); and the photos are low-quality (they're obviously not as good as those taken with a real camera, but they are about what you'd expect for a camera phone).

I've had my phone for about three weeks and I'm simply thrilled with it. (The ooohs and ahhhs from passersby don't hurt!) ;)

The Motorola W490 is a great phone....until it breaks. This has happened to me twice and the problem is exactly the same.

After using the phone for 10 or 11 months, the keypad goes haywire. Flip the phone open and suddenly it will start dialing numbers at random or making menu selections, all without you pushing anything. Or you could be in the middle of a call and suddenly the phone will self-dial numbers at random, totally drowing you out with key tones and effectively ending your call.

When this happened the first time, T Mobile replaced the phone because it hadn't been quite a year, so I was still under warranty. Again, everything about my new phone was great....until the very same problem happened again after about 10 months.

So I'm on my third phone now! Since experiencing this problem, I have read other reviews across the Net saying that the W490 barely lasts a year, if you're lucky.

I give it only 1 star because although it's a good phone when it works, it doesn't work as long as it should. Breaking down after just 1 year is pathetic, and to make matters worse, that's exactly when the warranty expires.

I've had this phone for one year and 2 months and like it just fine...until two days ago. I put my phone in the charger, woke up, and suddenly none of the keys worked when the software was running. If I take the battery out and put it back in, I have to hit the power button to turn the phone back on. Strangely enough, that works, but that's the only time any buttons do anything anymore. Once the software boots up, even the power button doesn't work, not even to power down the phone. I brought it to Tmobile today, and they told me I'm pretty much out of luck. I'm stuck in a contract for 10 more months and my phone is almost useless. It only has a one year warranty too - yippee, two months too late. All I can do with it is receive calls - answering them by flipping the phone open. That's why I'm on Amazon tonight, cause I need to buy a new phone ASAP, and I don't get the advantage of subsidies, since I'm in the middle of a contract.

This is not an isolated incident, but, like any other issue, you don't know about it until it happens to you. Just Google something like, "W490 keypad does not work," and you'll see. It's common enough for google to have an autocomplete ready when you start typing that phrase. The forums are full of people like me, powerless to do anything but buy a new phone at full, shameful, price.

I purchased 3 of these almost 1 year ago for my 9 yo, 10 yo, and 18 yo children. I would never have thought the phones would have survived this long. They all have their battle scars, but remain 100% functional. I have owned a cell phone for 15 years now, and these come with more standard features than anything I have had except for my recent Blackberry pruchase. The only weakness of this phone is its strength; these are metal bodied instead of plastic. That makes them resistant to damage, but the finish scratches off when you drop it (remember, 10 year olds).

My first cellphone was the "contractors" motorola dynatec 800x (want some memories, google that phone). These phones have been just as durable.

Overall this model is hard to beat for its features and durability. 4 1/2 stars in every catagory (nothing is perfect)

It works, makes phone calls, & makes cool noises.

Icons are poor, useless, & not intuitive, but was able to get almost everything up & running without reading the very thick manual. I have mine set to not show icons & just text.

Does not play WMA files, which is normally a standard feature on any phone with a built in player & all players... Why? Because you can fit 2-4 times more tunes on the same 2GB memory in WMA without them sounding too compressed or scratchy. A software upgrade to play WMA files is a must ASAP if you want people to buy this phone who like a player in a phone.

There is no graphic equalizer or other tone controls for the player. This is a must-have on any player, & is standard on other phones with players.

The speaker is adequate for speaker phone calls, but a bit too quiet for music compared to other phones, but the quality is better than expected for a phone speaker. An equalizer would help here too. People tweak up the highs & mids a little & tweak down the bass on their music to get a little more volume out of the limited power available for a tiny phone speaker.

You may not hear the ringtones ringing from across a large room unless the room is relatively quiet.

Sound through headphones of my choice sounded good & had plenty of volume. It was too loud on some songs, where the lowest setting was too loud, & the next lowest setting shuts the sound off entirely.

Don't buy a spare battery from the factory or carrier for over 35 bucks. They're only 4 bucks everywhere else. Likewise, don't get their headphones & headphone adapters for 99 bucks. They're 2 bucks everywhere else.

The battery cover in the back is plastic, not metal, like on older Motorolas. So if you change out the memory or battery often, you can expect it to wear out, become too loose & get lost. Invest in scotch tape.

Manipulating, uploading or downloading lots of files to a PC via the USB port is extremely slow compared to most & even older phones, but required no special phone software to do it (Good because most phone PC software is bloatware, buggy, & can even crash your computer).

Inserting the micro card into a thumb reader to transfer files goes a lot faster. But I wouldn't recommend doing that too often. The slot for the card in the phone is poorly made, & really grinds the little micro card up after repeated removal. I would expect failure of the card or the slot's contacts by pulling it in & out a lot.

The SIMS card is also mounted poorly, right behind the battery. I would suspect a little banging around or dirt getting in to cause the SIMs card mounting or contacts to fail.

These are the only potential flaws I could find in the phone that could cause it to fail prematurely. Other than that & the battery cover, they seem to be solidly built.

The camera & it's quality are way below those in most modern phones, but I do like the low-light feature for taking pix in low light without a flash... taking pix without being obvious. Just make sure your hand is steady, & your subject doesn't move for a second.

Zoom feature it totally useless. It zooms the screen, not the pic. When you upload the zoomed image to a PC, it's actually much tinier than if you used no zoom at all.

Haven't tried recording movies or sound with it because my micro card is always too full of music.

I've had the W490 for a couple of years now, and it has done everything I needed it to do, nothing more, nothing less. Call sound is clear and loud enough, even with the headset. The clamshell hinge is sturdy, rather than being the weakest link of many such phones. Battery life was very long until recently. The only bug I found was that I needed to remove the headset after each call, otherwise there was risk of calling back the last number for no apparent reason. No biggie.

Sure, the Motorola OS is nothing lovely, but the calling and call log UI make sense, the address book makes sense, the alarm clock works fine and I can even set a calendar reminder if needed. Photos are passable for a mobile phone, but I didn't even want a cameraphone so again, no big deal.

My parents even use this phone. Enough said.

I work in Web and mobile technology. I don't need my phone to be ridden with the bugs and complexities that I see every day. This phone is not. I might just get it again if no one else is making anything like it.

I've had the W490 for a couple of years now, and it has done everything I needed it to do, nothing more, nothing less. Call sound is clear and loud enough, even with the headset. The clamshell hinge is sturdy, rather than being the weakest link of many such phones. Battery life was very long until recently. The only bug I found was that I needed to remove the headset after each call, otherwise there was risk of calling back the last number for no apparent reason. No biggie.

Sure, the Motorola OS is nothing lovely, but the calling and call log UI make sense, the address book makes sense, the alarm clock works fine and I can even set a calendar reminder if needed. Photos are passable for a mobile phone, but I didn't even want a cameraphone so again, no big deal.

My parents even use this phone. Enough said.

I work in Web and mobile technology. I don't need my phone to be ridden with the bugs and complexities that I see every day. This phone is not. I might just get it again if no one else is making anything like it.