Motorola C650 Phone (T-Mobile)

Rating:
Summary: Not User friendly
Review: I bought this phone ( moto c650 ) along with Sony T610 ( for the Family plan ).

Pros :

1. Usb interface ( If they have drivers )
2. Appearence of the phone
3. Brand - Motorola - famous for cell phones.
4. Zoom functionality in the camera.

Cons :
0. C650 is not user friendly
1. You can not take out the battery or SIM card once you installed it. You will endup breaking your nails.
2. Once you lock the phone. It is dark and you can not see anyting.
3. Incoming/Missed calls are very difficuit to find out ( even you set it as the soft key )
4. It has no side buttons to increase/decrease the voice volume while talking
5. The colors are t610 are much better than this.
6. The usb functionality is of no use. there is no driver available.
7. The phone doesn't have the infrared port (IR) to connect to my laptop. i have around 100 contacts to enter. On my T610 it took only 5 minutes to enter.
8. I don't know about other other phone -- But if you are thinking of buying eithter T610 or C650. go for t610.

I am going to return my phone and buy another T610 for my family plan.


Rating:
Summary: Very delicate
Review: I feel it is not worth it for the price.
1. Once you place SIM card, foget about changing it again.
2. Very delicate and speaker phone quality is not good.
3. Mobile service starts charging when you order Phone on on-Line.

My advice is .. See it and feel C650 at near stores before you place order

Rating:
Summary: More comments on C650 vs. T610
Review: I got the C650 as a replacement for the T610 - I liked the menus/display on the t610 better but was having major reception issues (signal strength jumped all over the place, missed/dropped calls) in major cities all along the west coast. I had this problem with three different t610 phones (how many I had to try before they'd let me switch brands) and know other people who've had this problem too. The c650 gets much more reliable reception.

And to respond to other's comments: I find it's relatively easy to pop off the back if you put two nails of one hand in the two slots and one nail on the other hand where the silver inlay is on the top of the phone. I personally like that it's not easily removed - so your battery doesn't just pop off randomly (my old sprint phone would do this). Also, if you set one of the soft keys to "recent" you can easily access missed or received calls. You only have to hit the call button to see previously dialed calls. You don't need phonebook as a soft key since pushing the up/down button will get it for you.

Finally, use the menu-* key lock! I've had the phone go through menus in my pocket and order wallpapers/ringtones without me even knowing it!

Respectable phone, not perfect, but reliable.

Rating:
Summary: Sent phone back twice in one month period
Review: I have only had this phone for a little over 2 months and I have sent it back to be repaired twice already. The first time, the camera stopped working and I was no longer able to take any pictures or view pictures that I had taken. I received a replacement and within a week I had to return the replacement. The second phone would not turn on after a week. I had not dropped the phone and there was no abuse to it. I am now on my third phone Motorola C650. We'll see how long this one lasts.

Other than the returns, I do enjoy the features and find it relatively easy to use. If I had not needed to send it back, I would give it 5 stars. It is very difficult to open the back cover. I need to use a screw driver. The reception is good at times. Sometimes I have people saying to me, "you get reception in here" and in other places I can't get a signal when everyone else is on their phone. One of those things I guess.


Rating:
Summary: Easy way to open case.
Review: I just got this phone and while I had read on Cnet and some other sites that the case was a real bear to open I wasn't ready to be as frustrated as it got me. Since I chew my nails I tried a coin and a bic pen top but these only seemed to start chipping the plastic around the opening lever. Just like some of the other posters on this page, I was cursing a blue streak at it. So I gave up (didn't want to damage my new phone), cooled off and looked online for help. Without too much effort I found some posts with the trick to open it in a jiffy.

You can do it easily using a credit card or other plastic ID card. This is much safer, less damaging, and much more efficient than a screwdriver and works like magic. Use a corner to press the white latch in and when you have a bit of a gap put the end of the card in it perpendicularly and then slide it around to one corner and around to the side without letting it slip out. That will pop the back right off, saving the plastic case, your nails and your nerves. I did it on the first try and it only took about 5 seconds as opposed to the 10 minutes of useless struggling with the earlier methods. So at least that's one problem solved with this phone..

If you understand Spanish, there are at least three user forums for this phone, two in Spain (www.motorolac650.tk, the one where I got this tip) and one in Mexico. They have all sorts of info and help since it seems that this phone has major software difficulties for those who play with the games and graphics features and there are dozens of queries and crys for help. While I really only want to use the phone and the camera it seems even that might be more difficult than I imagined. The big problem seems to be that the drivers and software to connect to a computer are only available for a price from Motorola (phone tools) and even then they don't always work. Not a heartening bit of info to find out after getting the phone, but I'll reserve judgement until I've used it for a few weeks.

Rating:
Summary: so far so good
Review: I like this phone so far.
It's smaller than I expected. It scratches somewhat easily, so you definitely need a protective case.
I think it's user friendly. Camera works great. It's fun to take pictures. Very loud, and a lot of good features.
I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: the most frustrating phone I have ever owned
Review: I really dislike this phone. When I read other reviews saying it was hard to open (broken nails, boo hoo) I thought that was sour grapes. But it took a combination of my husband and I 25 minutes to open the phone, which we ended up doing with a key and scratching the hell out of it. So fine, I got it all set up. But it would not transer the info on my sim card, so I had to rekeyboard my address book. Then, after a few days use, the sim card got dislodged and I had to go through opening the phone yet again! The navagation is also tricky. I have very small hands and still find the buttons too close together. If you don't lock your phone or keep it in a special case the camera comes on all the time. I have spent so much time adjusting the settings so it is effecient. I have no idea what they were thinking, but next time I am going back to Nokia.


Rating:
Summary: Display is completely black on this phone
Review: I've just recieved this phone on 11/29. When the phone goes into standby mode the screen display is completely black. I can't read the date or time or anything. The phone appears as if it is off. When keyguard is on, even movement of the phone does not make the back light come on. There is no way to determine at first glance if you have missed calls or messages. Has anyone else experienced this problem with this phone?

Rating:
Summary: no-nonsense little phone with some sweet add-ons
Review: The main reason, first and foremost, that I bought this phone was because of the great offers from amazon.com. The reason for the existence of cell phones is just to make calls, and I'm not the type to splurge just to have millions of misc functions that you use once in a blue moon. So I was pleasantly surprised when I actually got the phone.


First and foremost, the reception is great where I live (Northern VA/Washington DC). Unlike some other phones, the volume and ringtones on this phone is sufficiently loud (and you can always turn it down if you prefer a quieter phone). The battery life does seem to be somewhat lackluster. It usually lasts around one week for me, with moderate usage and the occasional photo. But then again, the battery does need to be charged several times before it reaches its full potential, so the jury is still out on that one. Overall, not a big problem to detract from the phone itself. Unlike one reviewer mentioned below, I have been able to take the backcover on/off with no problem. The body of the phone is made of sturdy hard plastic, and so far I don't see any scratches (unless I put the phone two inches from my face under bright lights...). It's small and light, but not so light as to feel cheap and flimsy.


Now the add-ons. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of pictures taken with the camera. I downloaded them onto my computer, and at the size of normal 4x6 photos, they are still pretty clear (not 5MP kinda clear, but hey, it's just a phone). The camera has several settings like black and white and sephia, which are great fun to play with. One reviewer below mentioned how the potential for the mini-usb port is undermined by the absence of a driver. All the Motorola phones work with their Mobile PhoneTools software. If you have a version of it from Motorolas that you've owned previously, just go to www.bvrp.com and download a free upgrade. Search Kazaa if you don't have it. Amazon.com also offers Mobile PhoneTools packaged with the usb cable compatiable with this phone from a third party merchant for $42.50. The cable is just a normal A-to-mini B usb 2.0 cable, the basic standard for most printers and digital cameras, available in store for around $20. Once you have the software and the cable you can really tap into the mp3 function on this phone. Use your favorite songs as your ringtone (edit them to 32kbps first).


All in all this is a great little phone, and for this price it can't be beat.

Rating:
Summary: great small, camera phone with zoom
Review: this is the fourth color screen phone that i own (previously i owned sony erisson T68, T68i, T610) and i found this phone to be the best among the other sony ericsson phones. the software of this phone is very stable. the menu is pretty user friendly and i like the convenient speaker phone feature with sensitive receiver. people can adjust the volume with the "joystick" while talking, unlike the other ericssion phones where you can find the buttons on the side of the phone. the camera also has 4x zoom feature and able to tune the brightness level of the picture. i think the phone is great for its price and size. the previous sony ericsson phones all have either battery problems or software problems (the phone will turn itself off while using or it keeps pressing "3" ). so far this is the best phone i've ever used. best of all - this is a tri-band phone so i can bring it everywhere around the world.