Home › Reviews ›

Review: Kyocera Zio

Form Basics Extras Wrap-up Comments 40

Music Camera Photos/Video Browse/Customize Extras

Apps

There are now enough applications in the Android Market for most anyone. Given the unaltered version of Android that's running on the Zio, the Android Market can be your salvation to making the device more personal and interesting to use. The Zio also has a link to a Kyocera-branded web site with 10 recommended applications, and a Cricket storefront for browsing and downloading apps. The Cricket storefront is mostly populated with Cricket-branded apps and services.

Bluetooth

The Zio has Bluetooth and supports stereo headphones. Pairing was a snap with any sort of headset. Sound quality was iffy, though. Sound quality through mono Bluetooth headsets for calls was near terrible. Music played back through stereo Bluetooth headphones was decent, but cut in and out enough to make it frustrating. The Zio has limited Bluetooth protocol support. I was able to successfully pair with a PC and swap files and a Bluetooth FTP client allowed for browsing the content of my PC, as well.

Clock

The Zio lock screen shows off a nice, large, digital clock with a press of any button. You can also download any number of clock applications from the Android Market to suit your tastes. The Zio makes for a fine watch replacement.

GPS

Google Maps is the only navigation option available on the Zio. Maps works fantastically well in the Android operating system — when the GPS works. My review unit had problems finding GPS satellites from time to time. Even when it did, it took a long time to locate the phone, and wasn't as accurate as other devices I've tested. It supports Latitude, the new location-sharing feature, as well. This lets you see where all your friends are on the map. The feature is opt-in, meaning users have to agree to use it.

With only a 1x connection available, maps loaded slowly, and the application wasn't quick to repsond to user input, but this will likely be a non-issue in areas with 3G coverage.

Next page: Wrap-up

Related

Video Tour: Sanyo Zio for Sprint

Sanyo has refreshed the Zio for Sprint with Android 2.1 and Sprint's new iD personalization tool. Phone Scoop demonstrates what iD is all about.

CTIA Fall 2010

Oct 5, 2010
Phone Scoop is on site in San Francisco to take in all the breaking news and hands-on experiences of the fall CTIA trade show. Be sure to check for full coverage and handset first impressions here.

AT&T's Newest 5G Phone Offers Wireless Charging for $220

Jan 4, 2022
AT&T has announced the Fusion 5G, an AT&T-branded affordable 5G phone that will go on sale this Friday, January 7th for $220. Unusually for such an affordable phone, it supports wireless charging, and has a 48 megapixel main camera.

Cheaper Samsung Galaxy A13 Launches on AT&T Without 5G

Apr 8, 2022
While AT&T (and Cricket) already offers the Samsung Galaxy A13 5G, the company has confusingly just launched a very different model called the "Samsung Galaxy A13" (no 5G). Besides lacking 5G, most of the specs are also different, including the display, cameras, processor, RAM, and storage.

Cricket Doubles Down on White-Label Phones

Oct 21, 2022
Cricket has started selling two new Cricket-branded phones: the Cricket Icon 4 and Cricket Innovate E 5G. While Cricket has offered many such white-label phones in the recent years, these additions bring the number of own-brand phones the company now sells to ten, possibly a record number for any US carrier.

Sanyo Zio by Kyocera

3.5" display 480 x 800 pixels
S1 MSM7627 processor
1,130 mAh battery
Memory Card Slot, Headphone Jack (3.5mm)

more news about: