Customer Reviews

Verizon PN-820 Phone (Verizon Wireless, Phone Only, No Service)

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

 

 

I've been looking for Smartphone for the last year but there was not folder Smartphones until this one on Verizon network, and I really didn't want any other form factor. I considered switching to Cingular when 3125 was released but reviews weren't that good and I really didn't want to leave Verizon. So when PN-820 was released I decide to give it a try.

At this time I've been using this phone for 2 weeks and I am keeping it. My rating for this phone is 4 out of 5.

The most important factor for me is how the phone performs it's main function - making and receiving calls. If I were not satisfied in this area I wouldn't keep it. I can report that this phone performs great. Good sound quality, loud enough, no dropped calls, good signal strength. Battery life is satisfactory considering this is a smartphone.

It is a little bit larger than I would prefer, especially considering external antenna stub. If antenna was internal the size would be almost perfect.

Don't be in a hurry to get extended battery unless you are a heavy user. I don't talk much on the phone but tinker with its features and standard battery easily lasts for 2 days. If you work with computers I would recommend getting extra data cable to charge it at work via USB port.

Using this phone as a smartphone:

The amount of applications for it is endless, the customization is limitless. Great gadget!

T9 works great for occasional emailing. For heavy emailing you definitely need something with full keyboard or touch screen and on-screen keyboard.

Internet browsing is surprisingly usable but you should prefer websites geared towards the mobile devices. Also you may want to try Opera browser

Entering user names, passwords and URLs gets annoying fast :D

Unless you are on unlimited data plan watch out for data usage! It can get expensive really fast.

I tried using this phone for navigation with Mapopolis and compared it with Mapopolis running on my Axim x51v PDA. Let me just says that I am not getting rid of my PDA. Program performs almost the same on both devices but larger screen on Axim and touch screen make it much more convenient. Basically, for any planned long distance driving I will keep using Axim, for anything else PN-820 is good enough, especially for walking. Works great with GPSlim 240 BT GPS.

Skype works fairly good, but you can only hear the other party on the speaker. Again, WATCH OUT FOR DATA USAGE!

Voice command work great for me, but apparently not so good via BT headset - I don't have BT headset and can't comment.

Things I don't like about this phone:

1) Almost useless external display. It's not on all the time, only lights up for the event or when you press the button. The reason is most likely power consumption, but why couldn't they make it black-and-white so that it doesn't need permanent backlight and can stay on all the time? I don't care for camera preview on this display.

2) In the bright sunlight it's somewhat difficult to see the display (internal and external)

3) Proprietary connector - why not just use mini-USB? The reason is obvious - to make ridiculous profit on accessories, but I don't have to like it.

4) Keypad back light times out too quickly and there is no way to change it.

5) Alarms/Message notifications only ring once. I was really surprised by this. Admittedly it seems to be a "feature" of all smartphones, but it doesn't make sense to me. There is third party software to fix that.

6) It seems that camera lags about 2 seconds, but I personally don't care about the camera at all.

7) I wish Verizon offered the version of this phone without the camera - I would prefer smaller size, better battery life and reduced complexity.

8) Antenna stub makes it somewhat large than I prefer. I carry my phone in the pocket and this size is already pushing it. If I didn't want a smartphone I would never consider the phone of this size.

9) There is no note taking application built in.

Update: It is now November 2008 and I still use this phone. It is very stable - I never have to reboot it.

I've used the PN-820 for about 3 weeks now and here is my assessment of this smartphone:

PROs:
1. Phone first, PDA second (this is a big advantage vs the i730 I previously had)
2. Activesync seems to work much better with this phone...no conflicts yet
3. Flip phone style is much more compact...the i730 was like carrying a brick around on my hip. I can snap the phone into the holster on my hip, or slip it in my shirt or pants pocket...it's just slightly thicker than the Razor phone.
4. Voice commad is awesome! It comes with ver 1.5 which doesn't support voice command via BT headset, but you can still pickup and end calls via BT. The voice recognition thru the handset is excellent. The i730 had Voice Signal which was accurate about 75-80% of the time.
5. The battery life seems to be ok. I'm very surprised that the standard battery is this small and thin. Here is the big plus....the phone comes with a travel charger (AC) and a usb sync/charger cable. I bought a car charger also, so basically wherever I am, my phone is being charged. I keep the AC charger at home to charge overnight and on trips, I keep the usb charger at work to charge during the day, and the car charger while I'm driving. I don't think the battery has fallen below 60 percent at any time.

CONs:
1. Not being able to initiate voice command via BT was a big negative for me so I upgraded (thru Handango for $40) to VC 1.6. This does support voice commands via BT for the PN-820. There are a few minor glitches but overall it works well. The voice recognition via BT seems to be less accurate than using the handset microphone. It seems to work better if you have the phone flipped open before initiating a command thru the BT headset. This may be because the handset mic is active when the phone is flipped open. You will notice that commands are audible thru the BT AND the handset speakers. This may seem a little akward at first, but it's almost like hearing it in stereo. Plus, it's pretty cool to say "Play Van Halen" and the phone starts playing tunes thru the handset speaker (not the BT) while you're driving. I guess that's actually a PRO. I'm assuming that between VZ and Microsoft, patches and updates will correct this minor issue.
2. Incoming caller and appointment announcements are played at a very low level of volume and I haven't found a way to increase this. The notification sound is ok, and can be changed, but the VC announcemenet seems to be the issue.
3. Phone comes with Windows Mobile 5, but is not the most recent build date???? I don't know why a phone that's been out only a month wouldn't have the most recent version of WM. I am told this is why the voice dialing is audible thru the BT and handset speakers simultaneously.

That's my experience so far. All things considered, I'm giving it a 5-star rating, which I've never done before. If you're looking for a "mini-computer" this isn't for you...but if you want a great phone, with basic PDA functionality and a few pretty cool extras, this is your phone. Enjoy!

This phone replaced my i-730 and what a great change. Small and portable yet powerful. I have had the phone over a month and have a few minor gripes. Forget the speakerphone, except to listen to messages, it is not very good.

Make sure to buy the extended battery. These smartphones burn thru battery time pretty quick.

I thought the phone would be more dainty but I have dropped it many times and it still keeps on going.

The email functionality is great for viewing emails and browsing is fast. The word simple type works very well and is much easier to add new words to than my old phone.

Unlike what another person said, you can change the ringer settings by pussing one button (right side quick options) and then selecting the profile you want, or change the profile with the right softkey.

I wish the outside showed pictures other than the included basic 5 and I hope that there is a firmware update to mobile 6 but overall this phone rocks and is very good as a smartphone. Very easy to use as a cellphone if you learn a bit how to use it.

Since it's a "smartphone," I expect some of the more basic features to be better than they are here. Compared to my simple old camera phone, the old Qualcomm was better.

1. The buttons don't always respond when you press them - particularly if you want to cancel an action or end a call.

2. There's no menu shortcuts from the main screen to access features.

3. As someone else pointed out, there can be multiple steps for what should be simple tasks.

4. The camera is SLOW - if you or the subject moves at all AFTER you snap the pic, 2 seconds later you'll get a blurry photo. (Not good if you want a photo of your pet on your phone.)

5. If you don't fully back out or exit a setting, the phone 'jumps' to that setting the next time you access that feature. Good sometimes, annoying most times.

6. The front LCD doesn't continue to display when the phone is closed; you'll have to press one of the buttons on the side to see the date and time.

7. The keypad buttons are not rubberized at all so they can be slippery.

8. The accessibility feature is very helpful, but isn't applied to all screens.

And this is all before you get to the fancier stuff. I paid $50 for it and so far I think that's fair.

I've had this phone now for three months and am really disappointed. My previous Verizon phone was a Motorola E815, and I have an N75 with Cingular that's also a Smartphone. I got it as it's the only clamshell smartphone Verizon offers, and the only clamshell they offer that can stream video.

Pros:

Small, lightweight, especially compared to other WM5 phones.
Streams video well provided a MS stream is available.
Only WM5 clamshell currently available from a US carrier.

Cons:

Bluetooth headset support is HORRIBLE! The phone supports voice dialing/command, but you have to speak in to the phone. MS has some lame excuse about why voice command isn't supported from a BT headset- although every other phone I've had/have it works fine. Basically, forget hands-free from BT.

Audio quality is really bad. Crackles and pops constantly. I'm using it the same place I used the E815, and audio was fine.

Build quality - the phone "feels" a little on the cheap side.

The phone doesn't come with any "normal" ringtones - not even a "beep beep". It has 5 or 6 cheezy techo-y ringtones, but nothing really "business-like"

When you answer a call via BT, the ringtone continues to play over the first 2 or 3 seconds of your phone conversation.

The speakerphone quality is so bad it's almost unusable.

The phone's UA Profile and browser headers are wrong. The phone reports a bad URL for it's wap profile and also reports that it's screen is 176x220 (it's acutally 240x320). Even Verizon's own wap site displays wrong on the phone.

Verizon says if you use the phone to stream video, you're violating the TOS and they will cancel your account. This isn't on the TOS you sign when you get the phone, it's on their website and in the info the send you later. HOWEVER, Verizon's own PN-820 homepage has streaming video on it- so accessing content on their own homepage for their phone will put you in violation of their TOS.

I really want to like this phone, but there are too many nuisances/bugs that make for an unpleasureable experience. I am pretty sure I will return it to Verizon. I have been long waiting for a compact phone that has full featured contacts and calendar so that I can sync to Microsoft outlook. All the other PDA's that are out there are too bulky. So when I saw this unit I was like... "ahh finally". Anyway, I read some reviews on this site before I bought the phone, and was psyched at what was being said... However, after using this phone for a few weeks, I wonder if the previous reviewers were a little star stuck initially. So here are my issues....

CONS-

-No ability to adjust keypad light time. It times out waaay too quickly.

- The extremely thin Battery that came with this phone only lasts 1/2 a day!! the specs on this battery are inaccurate. I average about 10 text messages a day, and 5 short phone calls. This is unacceptable!!

-When the phone shuts down because of the battery being low, it looses the current date and time and defaults to 2006 until I hook it up and synchronize to my old WINXP desktop via the supplied USB cable. Not good!!

-No software support for VISTA via "SYNC CENTER". My new HP laptop came with VISTA, and MICROSOFT replaced "activesync" with "sync center". Activesync is not supported in VISTA. What to do now??

-Software menus are not organized well... it takes too many steps to access some frequently used features. UTSTAR which wrote the software for Pantech, needs to go back to the drawing board here and focus on usability. I loved the way my old LG phones operating system was designed!! Hey UTSTAR!! How about a "focus group" or some "beta testers"???

- Ringer is not very loud. Calls are easily missed.

- The camera is basically unusable!! If you snap a photo, the image that is frozen on the screen, is not the one that is saved!! The image that is captured is about two seconds delayed. Why is this??

- I wanted to get stereo Bluetooth headset to use it as a MP3 player, but a lot of reviewers seem to have problems getting Bluetooth to work with this unit. Oh, well...

PROS-

-nice looking
- bright screen
-compact size

I have just had the phone for a week so far. I bought it for the Outlook calendar sync capability and it performs this function well (after some complications linking it with my computer at work - but had great support from a Verizon rep who walked me throught set-up). I like having the reminders for things I need to do.
I love being able to transfer pics from my computer to the phone.
The camera is not bad for a camera phone. But I agree with a previous reviewer about the lag time between the click and capturing the image. It is easy to blur the pics.
The size and weight are perfect -- for a smart phone - much better than the "brick" style phones.
It seems to have an endless variety of settings, but as a consequence you have multiple screens to do simple things - switching to vibrate mode or to change the ring volume takes at least 3 steps - why not let you switch these by using the earpiece volume control on the side of the phone.
I don't like having my cell phone play cutsy songs when it rings, I was surprised to find that this phone does not even give rings or beeps as an option - the only choices are the songs!
I would recommend it, although if there were other choices for clamshell style smartphones I would want to compare to see if another manufacturer could overcome some of the shortcomings, but since it is the only show in town, it is not bad.
Add - I have now had the phone for several months. I still like the clamshell design and love having access to my Outlook calendar, however, this is not the best phone overall. It is complicated to perform any functions, the picture ID gives only a tiny, barely visible pic in the corner (unless you buy additional software to correct this). If I were to do it again, I wonder if I might grin and bear it with the brick style phones which seem to perform all the functions better???

This phone is absolutely useless! User menus are not user friendly and it lacks many of the features that you would expect from even a basic phone. Its cumbersome to use, unpredictable (spontaneously drops calls, switches off, etc). Verizon were completely unhelpful and unsympathetic - I'm switching all my employees phones to another carrier as soon as my contract is up.

This is the only one of 5 (6?) cell phones tried that worked for my 83 yo mother who is blind. For some reason the voice-recognition on this Pantech is the ONLY one that will acknowledge(much less understand and respond to) her voice. With the ability to set it to prompt for a voice command on "flip open", it has been a godsend for her, but beware the software "maintenance upgrade" issued 12/2007.

While the 12/2007 software maintenance release FINALLY enables initiating a call via Bluetooth, it TAKES AWAY the option to set the phone to automatically prompt for a voice command on opening, and instead requires the user to use the tiny, difficult-to-feel "Record" button on the right side, and it also does something to the voice recognition for while it does at least acknowledge that my mother has said SOMETHING, it no longer understands anything she says, instead responding with "Command not recognized. Please Repeat." or something totally off the wall, so it has become useless for her - though we were able to find a used one at an online auction without the "upgrade" which still has the "flip open" option.

Note that the phone still responds to my voice just fine and the new software does allow you to initiate a call via headset, but I have not used it enough to know if sound quality via Bluetooth has improved. It was previously quite poor with LG, Motorola, and Plantronics headsets tried BEFORE the new software (sound quality through the phone itself was excellent). I/we found battery life with the standard battery to be poor, but still probably better than that noted by a few users here. Battery life with the extended battery has not been a problem.

I loved the backup and synching of contacts to/from Outlook, but abandoned the phone myself largely due to its prior Bluetooth limitations. The phone has been discontinued but can be found used on auction sites, etc, and remaining new stock now available very cheap from Verizon (with 2 yr contract), but support is limited.

For a blind user who has assistance in entering contacts and who can take the time to become familiar with and adjust the phone settings, however - it's still a wonderful phone - as long as you don't install that software update!

Although I miss my old Treo Smartphone, this one works with what I need. All i really wanted was a phone that had an easily accessible and syncable calendar feature. This one works well, fits in my purse, and does what I want although there is no touch screen and the full keyboard is missing. Syncs to Windows programs I needed with a sleek color background. The camera even has a flash.