Kyocera Koi KX2
Phone Scoop Review
Apr 6, 2005 by Eric Lin
In-depth review of the Kyocera Koi swivel megapixel camera phone for Verizon and other CDMA carriers. read review ›
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Having owned several cell phones, I didn't get excited for any except my original Kyocera. After having my new Audiovox for 3 months and being more disenchanted daily, I ordered my new Kyocera KX2! Love it. The pixel clarity, the ease of use, the options, the size, the swivel cover, the covered camera lense...I could go on and on. The only problem I have discovered since having it for 5 days, my husband and son both want one.
All style, dissapointing functionally
This phone is awesome to look at. It has a huge colorful LCD. The swivel is also cool, until you try to use it with one hand. The phone seems to be designed for lefties. A right-handed person will find this phone near impossible to open without both hands.
No Bluetooth as you would expect from a phone in this price range and feature set. Also, the lack of external storage is quite limiting. You won't get more than a few MP3's on this one.
Pros:
Super Stylin'
Awesome display
Unique Menu Navigation
Cons:
Can't answer or dial without using two hands
No external storage
No Bluetooth
Expensive
Very large when open
Good phone done kill people
The phone is good All phones by this company have been good to me my first phone by kyocera I gave it to my mom it was used for 5 years then washed with clothes, guess it was dry clean only but it was dropped in water many times and was just fine.
The Swivel is strong
The signal with Verizon wireless is great (I live in north ohio) but Verizon them selfâs um..âSuckâ
If you want a 6mp camera go buy one but the photos and videos are good for being a camera
This phone rocks and turns heads
Play with the phone in the store so you know if you like it or not.
I read some one complaining that when you chew on the phone it leaves chew marks (duh) some one else was complaining that the buttons are flat and so you cant text message when driving (your driving you should not be test messaging anyway) gezz how dumb can people be really, no wonder they want to ban cell phones in the car. If you want to chew on something get some gum and if you want to drive and text message and KILL people get off the road.
The two things I Donât like about this phone
1. The photo you put up as wallpaper does not cover the whole screen (blame some of this on verizon so I guess it depends on what services provider you have) so check it out in the store before you buy it.
2. The video mode has a sound when you start recording, pause, or stop recording. This sound can not be turned off or changed to any other sound. I see where they are going with this (sick people who want to record others naked or what not) but for me thatâs not an issue but I always shut off all sound on my phone so that when Iâm hitting keys or playing a game on the phone people are not bothered by my sound but you canât such off the video sound. I like to record myself then send the video to my wife and people always get nosey and start asking me questions when I do it because the dang thing beeps this LOUD beep. Anyway maybe its just me but its something I donât like about the phone
Koi KX2
Fun Phone...
Nice size screen..
Not too many people have this phone...
Like the swivel design..except for when people try to open it like its an ordinary flip phone!...
Like the fact you can make a call without it being open..
Decent camera...not the greatest.
Dropped it a few times, no scratches yet!
The only real issue..is with text messaging..it will send before i hit send, or it will shut off trying to recieve a video or text message.
Dropped voice tags?
I've had this phone for about 6 months now and only have one real complaint. The camera isn't great, but I'm not complaining about that -- it's a phone, what do you expect? But I keep about a dozen numbers with voice tags for voice recognintion, and it keeps just dropping (losing) them, one at a time. I can re-record them, but a couple of days later it loses another one, sometimes the one I just re-recorded, sometimes a different one. Anyone else have this experience?
Wow
I am very tired and so right now I just do not feel like writing all that much. I am one very picky SOB and I love this phone. It works great! I used to work for VZ so I know quality from junk and this is the first of the two. E-mail me and I will answer any of your questions.
Thanks,
Glenn
Outstanding!
I just purchased this phone and all I have to say is finally! Kyocera finally has come out with a phone that compares to my old Sony Ericsson T68i and the KX2 is it. I love how its fully functional closed, you can even reply to a text message with out having to open it up. The camera is awesome with the 5x digital zoom. A speaker phone that will blast your ears off. Cool voice recognition, and it calls couldn't be more clear.
Pros: awesome looking screen, very user friendly interface, fully functional even when closed, a speaker phone, easy text imput, voice commands are a breeze.
Cons: The swivel takes some getting used to but if you open the way your manual tells you its actually pretty easy. Battery life is a little on the low side, no blue tooth, and the headset jack is a little awkward.
All and all it's a much need change of pace for cell phones, and much more needed step up from my Motorola T730, ick!
THIS PHONE NEED A RATING BOOST!!!
Okay, I'm not going to lie to you: I have had this phone for about 10 or so hours now. However, I have flipped through the menu a FEW times and have already gotten a REAL ringtone off of "Sony's Music Box." This phone is great!
Pro's:
- Nice, large screen.
- Very cool swivel design.
- Speakerphone works when closed (You can also make calls when closed).
- Text messaging system is the best I've seen.
- Camera is a great feature that works very well FOR A PHONE (I mean, come on people! This isn't a top-notch, $700, brand new non-phone camera we're talking about).
- It has a clock timer/stopwatch feature!!
- The phone seems very sturdy and WILL hold up for atleast 2 years, unless, of course, you're a complete and total klutz (spelling?) who drops the phone every 5 minutes.
- Best looking (Yeah, you heard me right!) for all the features it has.
- Basically everything is perfect on this phone. I have yet to find any flaws...
Con's:
- I GUESS< MAYBE the camera could be a bit brighter, but I have yet to try it in the sunlight, so I guess I am no one to judge, as of yet.
- That's about all the con's I've found so far...
All in all, this is a very good, eye-catching phone that is in my opinion, the best available phone that Verizon carries. (Yes, at first, while seeing the ratings for the Audiovox CDM 9900, I was leaning towards that, but then as I compared it's looks to the KX2, I realized the KX2 looked A LOT better and wasn't as cheaply made- but yet still had the same features.) The KX2 also has a really nice urban/modern look to it, which I LOVE!!!
Origionality... Strike up a Conversation
Here are some pro's and cons I have come to find while still exploring my koi, I've had for about 2 weeks with US Cellular, I am a sales associate.
Pro:
/Originality is the key to sucess in my book, and one of the only phones i have seen that give you the option to create 15 sec. clips to play hold music for your callers on hold. it has 2 options so you can have up to 3 people on hold.
/Camera and flash, flash is actually functional
/Video and sound - 15 sec. clips Mpeg4
/Unique design, (strike up a convo)
/Titanium bolt, holds swivel together
/Phone is able to be answered open, or closed
/Phone displayes the last 15 calls missed/dialed/incoming/ all clearly labeled with a picture
/The menu wheel, is extremely easy to use and has a scroll mouse to access. (blows people's minds)
/The belt clip that comes with it wasn't supposed to have a clear plastic cover to protect the screen, but they did come with em "GOOD JOB KYOCERA!"
Cons:
/BATT LIFE?!? Does it exist? it is a huge screen, i figured as much that the batt life would be junk, that's why i have a car charger.
/Ringtones. (doesn't even come with as many as the SoHo) also, the phone doesn't have a feature to vibrate and ring at the same time, (with standard tones) must D/L
/Profiles, I came from a Nokia and it had 5 customizable profiles. This phone either has all or silent. i would only use 3, but it only gives 2.
/Wallpaper, not full screen, but i am starting to like it that way
/Phonebook, when scrolling to a certain letter, it does not display what that letter is, hit it too many times and you get thrown off course.
/While charging, you can't lock, or place phone on silent (Feature Currently Unavailable) Once i was unable to turn phone on while charging, that lasted 15 min. and is fine now.
/No bluetooth. would be awesome to have that for handy-dandy file transfer with my Pc Because US Cellular does "NOT" cripple bluetooth technology, only CDMA network with it, as of right now. KO!
KX2 is coooolll, but....
I consider myself a power user, if that can be said about someone who uses cellular technology. The KX2 feature-wise scores high in my book. High enough that I used it for an entire day before exchanging it for an LG 6100.
Why only a day? It started out with all kinds of great features that made it a really attractive handset. Big Screen, cool design, a lot of ways to personalize it through the settings menu, etc. But Kyocera left out some features that I was used to on other handsets that I deemed critical:
Foremost, the predictive text is fairly retarded, in a word. It had trouble translating COMMON words from the key sequences. I use that feature for the scheduler, phone book entry, notes, etc. As I have a great need for a planner/calender, having to go back to tell it to use the predictive text mode each time I input a contact or appointment made it very inconvenient and time consuming to enter appointments and contacts. If this feature is important to you, I'd like you to consider an LG, having owned a v-111, vx6000, and currently a vx-6100-I like analog capability) or a Motorola (though as of late, Motorola has released some pretty 'buggy' handsets in my opinion, having owned a v120c, t720 AND t730, and a c343 for my home phone, which has a penchant for a phenomenon known a 'ghost messaging'). Moto's predictive text (iTAP) and LG's T9 are superb, with LG's T9 allowing you to add words/names to its dictionary as you enter them.
Secondly, a call blocking-type feature most Motorola phones have, so you can block no phone calls, those callers not in your phonebook, or all phone calls. I grant that Moto's unreliability eventually outweighed even this handy feature, but I have yet to see it replicated on any other company's handset. Even Lg's restrict function only restricts outgoing calls, allowing anyone to call through to your number, as does the KX2.
I rate this phone a 4.0, since the many neat features it has help balance it.
Kyocera, take note.
