Audiovox CDM-8500
Average Ratings
Pretty Nice...
This phone is a decent phone...But, I love virgin mobile, they absolutely rock! You don't have to pay a bill or anything, you just simply top up! This phone itself is very very dependable! I literally have dropped it over 100 times and it still works perfect!! Hehe, I guess that isn't the best way to describe it, but it really is made well. The reception is great, and the features are awesome! Virgin mobile offers a lot of really cool things like MTV Ringtones that you can download right from your phone in seconds. I love my phone, the only thing better would be if it was a color screen and took pics, but it's an older model, so what can you do? THANKS VIRGIN!
Waste of Money
I've had the phone for a month and I already hate it. The phone creaks when I open and close the flip, the backlighting colors look like trash (blue too dark, purple looks grey, white looks like green...), the single backlight LED on the bottom right-hand corner is annoying, no games, speaker gets loose so key tones and ring tones sound horrible, and Virgin Mobile's rates are expensive. I really wish I bought a different phone because this one is terrible. But hey, it looks good!
Audiovox 8500
The phone has a pretty decent design, something very similar to the Motorola V60. However, even though it is a Toshiba manufactured phone, the phone still has a few minor setbacks. Ringer is much too low even on highest setting, the Vibration alert is not strong enough, no "real" ringer sounds, and the lcd back lighting on both the front and inside is too dim. However a few nice touches are nice such as, selectable colors for the lcd backlight, dual lcd display, gps location. I been in the cellphone industry for the most part of my adult life, and i would say try to avoid this handset, as the quirks outnumber the benefits. Toshiba should market their handsets under their own name, for one reason Audiovox has a notorious reputation for manufacturing low grade electronics in the industry.
Ed. note: Audiovox's 8000 series (including the 8500) is manufactured by Curitel, (formerly Hyundai,) not Toshiba.
Just Average
Ok I was pretty excited at first when I bought this from through Virgin Mobile. It wasn't very long brfore the phone's trye colors began to show. First, this phone is average at best with below average features, at least I can say the reception is good (a big plus for this phone)
To summarize:
Pros: Good reception, speakerphone, compact size
Cons- not enough faetures for the money i paid. No games at all and u can't download any
I got this as a prepaid phone so I constantly had to buy minutes
Good
I have had my phone for about a week. I find that the ringer is not loud enough and the vibrate is not strong enough. I have an old audiovox i and find that the old one had better sound, and better rings. other then that the phone is a great little phone.
Virgin Mobile
I love the phone. It functions well, has a lot of features and it small and light. The ringtones on my virgin mobile version are extrmely loud, louder than any other polyphonic phone I've heard. The only draw back is the vibration function. If it rings while on a table, you will not notice it, the phone vibrates more from the soundwaves of the speaker than the actual vibrator. Otherwise I wonderful phone.
Feature rich but lacking in the basics
This phone has brought down my opinion of CDMA/1xRTT. I expected CDMA to sound just a bit worse than GSM but i didn't think it would be this bad. I have subsequently found out that the majority of the quality issue is the phone itself.
PROS
-feature rich, all the features a regular user would want is included. Don't know about data users as no B/T
-menu system is pretty easy/intuitive to use, like a Nokia
-excellent looks, better than v60, A460,
-nice, compact size, good for factor
-build quality is pretty good, buttons feel nice, w/ good feedback though a little small
-okay pricepoint, comes w/ a belt clip
CONS
-questionable RF, compared to a Audiovox 9100 and Nokia 6190, though way smaller
-HORRIBLE sounding, earpiece is just BAD. Audiovox cdm8200+9100, Nokia 6190, Sammy A460, A500, Moto V60c sound better!!!
Difference is very noticeable, i suggest you try a live phone and compare before trying it out
-ringer volume not loud enough, vibrate is weak
-backlight weak in sunlight, barely visible, and screen seems really dark
I'm in Canada w/ Bell Mobility in Vancouver so all observations are w/ their network & Canadian versions of each phone. All in all, i would not suggest buying this phone or at the very least, test a live phone.
not a bad phone at all
my first CDMA experience. and i wanted to go with prepay so i wouldn't be hooked. the VM edition is not a bad one at all. Ringtones are great and actually have a lot of bass. granted vibrate is not that strong but don't really use it all that much. sound quality couldnt' be better. all in all i give it a 4.5
I like it.
This is my second flip phone. My first was a Kyocera 5135. I don't think this phone is as buff as say a Nokia 5180 but it does a decent job as long as you are gentile with it. I miss games. Mine is also driven by Virgin since I have grown weary of the USA's cellular markets "contract" mentality. Europe doesn't embrace this contract system and their cellular industry is quite strong. Coverage is O.K. Prepaid rate is acceptable but if cellular becomes a big part of my business again I'll have to go contract-UGH!:( Wish tones were just a little louder and vibrate a lil stronger. I've owned cels since the old 800 and 400(radio telephone) mghz days and on a scale of 1 to 10 I give this phone a 7.
Bad Buy
This was such a bad buy. I always missed my calls due to the volume of the ringer not loud enough, battery life very low charge up and dies the next day, Always almost always lost a call I would be talking to someone then the signal would be lost. The phone gave me problems front the begining and when taken back to dealer they agreed and knew about the problems. But too late for me. Oh well . But I just thought to warn all else who are thinking of buying this phone. Do Not
