Motorola i580
Average Ratings
Great Phone
I love this phone. I have been a Nextel customer since 2003, and I tend to be hard on phones. I lose them frequently, and drop them, etc. I have had the i90, i830, i836, i850, and now this i580. I liked the 830 series very well, but I lost my 836, and since I have the insurance on my phones they replaced it for just the $50 deductible. They didn't have the 836 available , so they sent me an i850. The first one they sent me had no signal; it would drop every single call within 1 minute. I sent it back. They sent me another one. This one wouldn't power up; it would but then shut down within about 45 seconds. I sent it back. (Both of these were refurbished phones). I told them DO NOT send me another re-furb. They sent me a third 850. Well this one "worked" and I use that term generously. The signal was terrible. I couldn't get a signal hardly anywhere. When I could, it would drop the calls regularly. After only having it for three months, it started falling apart. The flip mechanism flopped about like a flag in the wind. The antenna base cracked, and the finish was wearing off. It looked like it was 20 years old and had been through a battle. I called Sprint, and Assurion (the insurance company) and told them that if they couldn't do better than this, I was going to cancel my service I had had three of those 850s and in my opinion, they are cheap plastic pieces of garbage.
They sent me this i580. This more than makes up for the problems I had with the 850. It is built like a tank. I have better reception than I have had on any Nextel phone I have ever had. It has more features (camera, blue tooth, memory card, etc). I told the rep that I hadn't paid for a phone this nice and wasn't trying to get a free upgrade, I just wanted a phone that worked. I am not disappointed!! A+. Only thing that could be better is battery life, but I have yet to have a Nextel phone with particularly good battery life.
i580
Great phone best one nextel has made yet imo.
Now i have seen people saying nextel don't have a good signal? Not sure where you live i'm in ohio and hav e traveled all over and have never dropped a call or had an issue in 5 years.
Generation 1 had many problems.
I purchased my i580 3 1/2 years ago. I had the first problem six months into ownership where the part at the top of the phone that secures it into the holster broke and I had to return it and was without a phone for 10 days. 7 months later (1 month after the warranty expired) the outside screen went out and I was told it was a problem with the generation 1 i580's but Motorola was not doing anything about it. Another common problem is the phone every couple of months would simply turn off dead in the middle of a phone call. I would have to remove the battery to get it to turn back on.
Aside from the above it has been a good phone but not as good as the i530 was.
love this phone !!!
i work in the gas industry,this phone has great reception ,loud speaker ,very rugged,if you work outside this is the one for you !!!!! best nextel ever for features to !!!
very aswome phone
PROS: best phone mototola ever made. VERY,VERY,VERY durable droped this phone lots of times and still works
CONS: bad camera
The M1A2 of phones
I have been a Nextel customer off and on since 1992. And out of all the phones I have owned I must say this phone is the most durable out of all of them. Being I live in St. Pete Beach Florida I am exposed to many of thunderstorms. This phone has survived multiple heavy thunderstorm driven rains, drops of over 12 feet, Very hot and very humid weather as well as surviving a industrial kitchen, in which this phone has survived multiple hits from water, 350 degree grease, banging into corners and equipment as well as taking a unintentional swim into the Gulf of Mexico.
The phone survived everything and then some.
Pros
Durable as all hell
Loud external speaker
Very clear calls
Very good MP3 player
Very loud speaker when playing MP3's
Can play movies and tv shows if video is properly formatted for phone.
very solid feeling
bright display
Cons
crappy battery life
and once in a while the phone slows down to a crawl and needs a reboot.
So Far So Great!
First off let me say, I am EXTREMELY HARD on wireless phones. Having said that, I have found this phone the Motorola i580 to be everything I need in a cell phone. I've had all the fancy so called smart phones, the many types of flip phones. Now then here is what I DON'T LIKE about the i580.
When you are in the main menu; say on the first screen, you're in the settings menu, you get done, you press back, and it takes you out of the main menu and back to the home screen. Irritating, yes, but it does not detract from the overall performance of the phone.
Another item that I find not to my liking, but is an easy fix. It is that of the standard battery, although it it does boast 200 minutes of talk time, sometimes I find that just letting the phone sit and not using it will wear the battery down just as fast as if you used it.
That is the dislikes, both are somewhat irritating but again do not detract from the overall function of the phone. On the other hand here are my likes of the i580.
As I have so plainly stated, I am extremely hard on cell phones, excessively so. I have killed more cell phones by dropping, kicking, submerging, too much this, too much that. I have had the smart phones that are basically pocket sized computers, which they are, I've had both flip phones, stock cell phones, you name and I've probably at least had one in my hands.
Anyway, I do like the mil spec design of this phone. The ruggedness of this phone is truly a wonder. I have dropped this phone, not just from my hand but from about 10-12', it been through the pouring rain, the dust, dirt, and that's just in the 2 weeks I've had the darn thing. Hopefully, this phone will last me until such time that they come up with a replacement for this phone.
To sum it all up, get this phone you wont regret it. If it can stand up to my abuse then it will stand up to yours.
Yep its heavy duty
I've had this phone for over a year on Southern Linc its been droped, thrown, rained on steped on, and my 3 year old tested it by droping it in the bath tub, ocean, burying it in sand. Still holding up well, for power users extended batt is a must. Wish it was little thinner for pocket carry let's hope Moto has a updated model coming soon.
Worked GREAT for two weeks.
I purchased the i580 two weeks ago. A couple of days ago the keyboard suddenly froze up. I took it in for repairs. I have also purchased repair insurance.
After an hour the rep brings the phone back out to me and claims that they can't repair it because it has "moisture damage".
The phone has never has so much as a single drop of water on it. The rep claims that it can get moisture damage from rainy weather or just condensation in the air. In any case the mother board has corrosion on it and that means it has moisture damage, so they wonât do a thing for me.
WHAT??????????????? So it turns out that the "RUGGED" i580 can't even handle moisture in the air.
What a piece of CRAP!
I am out $430 and have no recourse, because I have to buy what they are telling me. BULL CRAP!
I am not done fighting this. TO ALL THOSE CONSIDERING BUYING THIS PHONE, BEWARE AND READ THE FINE PRINT!!!
Great phone, but battery life is poor
Everyone loves the look of this phone. I need a phone that can take wind and rain, and this phone fits the bill better than any other I've seen. The display is also very readable and sharp. The camera is ready at the touch of a button, and the pictures are decent. Adjusting the size and zoom of a picture is also easy. I love the extra storage card that comes with the camera for media.
The reception is average. I was spoiled by my Nokia's battery life and reception. In my opinion, the Motorolas and LGs that I've owned just don't come close to the quality of Nokia. The free IDEN Phonebook Manager software that's available from Motorola doesn't even come close to the quality of Nokia's PC Suite.
When it comes to the cons-- battery life is way up on my list of dislikes. I find I need to charge this every other day and I'm not a heavy user. I need to keep a charger at work now since this has died on me at critial times. The menu also tends to frustrate me. I have to check the pdf manual often. It's easy to find the right icon for what I want, but the button to press to accomplish a task isn't always easy. Items that should be on the submenus aren't there. In other words, you have to know a function exists because key functions are hard to find. The settings icon is a prime example of menus and submenus that need to be improved.
If you don't read the manual on the CD you will miss a lot of the many cool functions of this phone, because of the poorly designed menus. A case in point is the wonderful spotlight for camera use. The camera is super easy to use, but turning on the spotlight for those darker shots requires several clumsy steps.
Overall, I really like the phone, and the ruggedness of the phone makes it a hands down winner for my needs, but it does have it's limitations. I rated it an 4 based on the ruggedness and easy to use camera.
