Motorola C290
Average Ratings
Cheap Crap
This phone is a piece of cheap crap. I had to power the phone off & on once an hour in order for me to receive calls & text. The only ONE good thing about the phone is the volume of the ringers. The text messaging would over power the whole phone. If my phone was ringing & i was getting a text at the same time, I couldnt answer my phone until the text went through, etc.....
OK Phone for the price
Heck - for a basic phone I haven't had many problems with this one. A few frustrating things though - it shows unread messages when there are none, new voice messages when there are none, and sometimes freezes randomly, or goes off the Sprint network, when the only remedy is take out the battery, reinsert it and restart the phone.
Text messaging is smooth, especially if you are one who spends most of his phone time messaging. Call/Voice quality is good and there are very few dropped calls (probably none). Speakerphone is pretty good - no complaints about that.
Overall, good value for price - and good for people who are not phone addicts and want to use it only for basic functionalities.
Very frustrating
Got this phone and had trouble with it losing connection with sprint system. No indication from phone, just couldn't receive or make calls. This happens now and then. No warning. I traded it in on another c290. Same problem. I have a sanyo also and no problems at all with it. I called Motorola. Want me to send in phone for 6-7 days and receive another like phone. No guarantee it won't do the same thing. I don't recommend this phone for anyone. It is a real piece.
Poorly made phone
I was actually excited that Motorola was starting to make handsets for Sprint again. Since I have been selling Motorola Handsets for years through Singular, I have been very pleased with their quality and performance. Unfortunately I cannot say this is true for Sprint.
I put a live handset on display inside a glass display. Within 5 days, the screen went out. Keep in mind that this phone was rarely touched or even turned on, and was never even programmed.
If you are wanting a low end handset, I would strongly recommend the Sanyo 2400.
Fatal Error 2
It was a nice phone while it was working. It was for my mom - her first cell phone.
She liked the size, the feel, the loudness. She thought it was easy to use - until the problems started.
She had the exact same problem as johngalt (see his review titled "Fatal Error")
This problem started about a week after she received the phone. After 4 trips to the Sprint store, she was able to swap it for a new c290. Which worked for about 3 weeks and did the exact same thing.
Since I'd originally gotten it from Sprint Telesales, and the Sprint store people were not very nice to her I called Sprint and after much effort was able to do an even exchange for a Samsung a420 which seems to be ok after 2 weeks.
We were lucky that both times the c290 flaked out within the original 30 days trial period.
I would not buy this phone again and would recommend that no one buy it till Moto and Sprint find out what's going wrong..
'shana
Slick and Simple
Finally Sprint has gone Moto! I have to say it's about time with the Nextel acquisition etc.
The C290 is just about everything you could want in a reasonably priced small pocketable phone.
It's reception blows away that Samsung N400 I had.
If you're looking for a camera, bluetooth, a Windows CE browser, MP3...yada yada yada... you
won't find it in the C290. But...if you're like me and just need a well organized well thought out simple clam-shell that can actually hold a call, and with SMS you've got it.
It's layout and intuitiveness are very good, you just can't beat it for $29 on the upgrade plan.
IT'S ABOUT TIME SPRINT!
Chocolate Lab
Good Basic Phone
All in all, this is a good basic phone. It does not have the bells and whistles (which is fine with me), but it holds calls up very well and has a nice feel to it. At least for what I was looking for in a phone, I don't miss not having a camera function on the phone. An outside display would be nice, but it is not something I used much on my old phone. The one thing I do wish it had was bluetooth abilities.
Pros:
Solid phone
Call quality is good
Menu is easy to get through
Display is nice
Speaker phone works well
Cons:
No outside display
No camera phone.
Finally works!
Had the phone for a week and I couldn't be happier. I've had other Sprint phones and thought I'd try a Motorola phone to see if they could get service in my apartment. Samsuck and Lamyo didn't hold calls well where I live and the C290 finally solves that problem. Other features work fine. I wish it had bluetooth, only other feature I really liked from my past phone. For $30, I can't complian. Looking forward to more phones from Moto.
Piece of Junk
My family has had many different phones through the years. We run a phone bill that normally costs over $150.00 per month. My husband and myself, my daughter and son. I expect my phone to be ready to be used when in an emergency. This phone is NOT! Both my husband and myself have this phone, and sometimes DAILY, it has to have it's battery removed and replaced in order for it to receive and send phone calls. I have had more dropped calls since I have had this phone, than I have ever had in several years that I have had Sprint Cells. We absolutely HATE these phones. Enough that we are seriously considering leaving the Sprint Network and finding a different carrier that will do something about checking into the quality of the phones they provide their customers. Plus, we will Never Never Never own another Motorola Phone once we get rid of these.
Pro comment - Buy a different phone!
