Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsEqually impressed and angered by it. Still gets 5 stars.
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2012
A very basic phone that unfortunately lacks too many features that prove difficult to give up in 2012. It would be an ideal gift for a luddite grandparent, anyone with visual and/or hearing impairments, or anyone who has a difficult time getting a decent signal in their area. It's a superb telephone, but aside from being very good at making and receiving calls (the best I've used) there is little else the phone can do. No calculator, limited punctuation and character options for texting (no periods or capitals), no obvious way to view the current date (other than going into the menu to change it) and certainly no way to have the date displayed below the time contrary to what you see in every Motorola marketing photo. If you happen to receive a text message containing a picture the phone would not be able to show you the picture simply due to the screen design, but it takes this a step further by somehow decimating the picture message so the message (and who sent it) isn't viewable on any other phone either. What's equally aggravating about this is that the Motofone can't erase those broken messages so the "new message" indicator is stuck on. You have to erase them by putting the SIM card (which stores the messages and contact info) into another cell phone and deleting them there.
The e-paper display is truly awesome, perfectly readable in any light, and looking somewhat like a calculator display. The phone itself is incredibly lightweight compared to the modern monstrosities, I frequently had to stick my hand in my pocket to make sure I actually had it with me. It's not terribly big, although somewhat larger than I expected. It's probably just big enough that there's a reduced likelihood of losing it. It appears that it should be relatively spill proof. Reception has proven to be exceptional in my house, unlike 5 previous phones from 4 different carriers that could never get any signal whatsoever even outside my home. The phone almost always shows a full signal inside, which is amazing. The battery level indicator drops to about half after a 60 minute call, but I haven't used the phone enough to know if that actually did drain half of the battery. And it is a six year old battery that has presumably never been used since it was manufactured, so take that with a grain of salt. The sound quality is quite clear, and approaches deafening at the upper volumes, the same is true of the speaker phone. The phone can be set up to give voice prompts through the speaker for navigating the menu. The one odd thing about this is that the prompts only becomes audible on the second or third voice prompt, like it's gradually working itself up to full volume. A minor annoyance, and only if you need the prompts, and it seems to be a quirk that a number of other reviews have mentioned.
The more I use it the more it's grown on me. It's just a matter of forgetting all the things I've come to expect of a modern cell phone and resigning myself to the fact that it's nothing more than a damn good portable telephone.
My phone was purchased through Amazon from L&R Express for $49.99 + $4.99 for shipping. It arrived very quick, and looked to be brand new with all the packaging factory sealed and the protective film still on the screen. Pretty cool for a phone that hasn't been made in 6 years!
