Cell phone question [RE-wrenches]

[Bob Ellison]

Alan,
I can tell you what not to get. Stay away from the Sony Ericson phones, I
have a Z500 and it is an absolute piece of crap.
It failed within 6 months of new and was replaced under warranty. BUT you
have to agree to pay $350.00 or so if the failure was not covered under
warranty. Such as if you dropped it or got it wet, and other reasons too I
am sure. 
It is now starting to do the same stuff it did the last time and it is out
of warranty. So it will cost $50.00 and the insurance company will send me a
USED one? Heaven forbid... 
The screen is next to impossible to see in daylight and you can not turn off
some of the options such as texting. Once in a while I find a text message
with random numbers such as part of a phone number and no idea what it to do
with it....
Also the finish flakes off the phone real easy, this is the 2nd one that
looks like it went thru a blender, they just do not hold the paint very
well. I have seen others that look the same so it is not just me.
It does have a camera with still and silent movie capability (15 seconds),
if everything is right you can get a reasonably good picture, I am sure the
newer phones are better yet. 

I also switched to Cingular from Verizon (I was there for 10 years), that
was the best move I ever made. The rollover minutes save me a bunch of money
and the coverage is better. 

I had Motorola phones for years from a bag phone to a microtac flip phone to
a timeport and they all worked flawlessly, as soon as I can I will go back
to them. Seems the more they pack into the new phones for options the more
tender they are and the higher the failure rate. 

Unfortunately the Z500 does not weigh enough to be a boat anchor...

Bob Ellison

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Parrish [mailto:peter.parrish at calsolareng.com] 
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2006 3:45 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: RE: Cell phone question [RE-wrenches]


I really like my Sanyo SCP-7300(K), I have three of them, and I really hate
Sprint my provider.

The Sanyo was a little expensive 3 years ago ($200?), and I am not 100% sure
it is still on the market. The best thing about it is that is has a rubber
bumper around the edges of the clamshells. As a result, it bounces when
dropped; survives and doesn't always throw the battery in the process.

I dropped one in a pool once, and after I took it home and warmed it on
"oven proof (100 deg F) overnight, it worked for about 4 days, died, and
resurrected itself about a month later and is still working a year later. 

Decent speakerphone, voice dialing, speed dialing -- no camera but I demand
a lot from my camera and I doubt I would use a camera feature on my phone
much.

Although we are in Los Angeles, we have extremely poor reception at the
office and since no provider is any better than the other, I can't say that
the Sanyo's reception is better or worse than average -- but if pressed I
would have to say it isn't better than average.

Peter Parrish

-----Original Message-----
From: Allan Sindelar [mailto:allan at positiveenergysolar.com]
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2006 9:41 AM
To: New wrenches posting
Subject: Cell phone question [RE-wrenches]


Wrenches,
We would like advice about what currently-available cell phones you are
satisfied with. I'm not asking for info about cell phone companies, as that
is region-specific and subject to many factors. My question is more about
which makes and models of phones work best in rural, remote, long-distance
areas, which we have lots of in New Mexico. We have tried camera phones
(hey, photograph a system and e-mail it to the office for advice! What a
great idea!) and find we don't much use the feature, so basic, rugged,
reliable models with good fringe-area reception are what we are looking for.
We are changing providers, and would like some advice on phones to order.
Also, if there are web sites that compare cell phones for these type of
questions, please reply with that info as well.

Thank you,
Allan Sindelar
Positive Energy


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