Motorola W385
Average Ratings
W385 - its not the 815
Let me prefice this review by saying that I have had the 815 for 2 years now on verizon, and compared to others traveling with me, it has always been the best phone in terms of two categories: (1) reception, and (2)battery life.
All in all, I find three categories the most important:
reception, battery life, and durability. In terms of durability, the w385 is top notch. I have dropped it and banged into objects, and not a scratch or ding is visible. Reception wise, I have found few problems with it. No dropped calls yet, and the sound is always clear. I really haven't tested it yet in a rural environment, but that will be tested soon enough within a few weeks.
Battery life is another issue: why do people say the battery life on this thing is amazing? Over the course of one day, with maybe 50 minutes of talking total, the phone dies by 6-7pm. My 815, up until i broke off the antenna by accident, would survive 2-3 days with that much usage. It is difficult to call this phone reliable when by 6pm I am unable to use it anymore. I have shut off all of the battery draining functions (bluetooth, backlight, voice command, etc.). Is there anything else I could do?
Pros: durablity, clarity, reception
Cons: BATTERY LIFE
REALLY GOOD
this is a really good phone i had this phone for a year.
pros:picture id[picture doesn't pop up that big though]. texting easy.its a nice sized phone to fit in your hand.
cons:the screen is kind of small .graphics cartoonish. camera ugh! don't bother even taking pictures if you know how to work a camera than maybe there is hope i did but i still complained! lol! music not that loud.
this is a very good phone because i use to drop this phone everywhere and it still worked now thats a good phone.
Motorola W385.
I was looking up some info about this phone and decided to add my 2cents...I was traveling all over the U.S., had tried other phones(inexpensive)pre-pay & ALL MAJ. carriers. I found hands down that VERIZON performed the best. I deiced to go family plan...I chose Motorola (pre-pay I had was also MOTOROLA) W385 because I had always used Motorola, since bag phones days...it was the first/only phone at that time(2006?) that had Navigation app(VZ Navigator). I still have the same phone, Have had to replace the battery 1 time& need to get new one now. Only its was like $40 the last time, and I am not sure what I am going to do. I like everything about the phone like everyone else has said. One thing about this phone I really love is the FLIP-STYLE...for 2 reasons->1)NO ASS DIALING 2)I think Star-Trek LOL...Said enough, I would have given it a 5 but nothing is perfect...the batt-replace $$ I think to force me to get new one...LOL... Excellent (now considered basic)phone, I txt about 100+ and avg. >1000min->PER MONTH...6yrs+,,,wow
Better PHONE than a smartphone, the phone you NEED
I've had this phone since the summer of 2008 on PagePlus, Verizon prepaid and Alltel prepaid (love that dual NAM capability!), but PagePlus mostly. I just went back to it from my Motorola Droid (original A855). My W385 just does the basic phone stuff better than the Droid- reception, battery life and call clarity.
PROS:
- Excellent battery life! I only had to charge it 1-2 times during a week of fairly light use. I get poor signal (0-2 bars, PagePlus, uses the Verizon network) at my desk at work but good (3 bars) at home.
- Very good reception, better than that of my Droid
- Very clear call quality that's sufficiently loud. The earpiece audio quality is a bit tinny, but very clear and loud
- Very solid build quality
- Good speakerphone
- Can read the external LCD display without any backlighting
What sucks about this phone:
- The internal display. It's small and kind of difficult to read
- The camera. No flash, and the picture quality is pretty horrendous, even in a brightly lit area indoors or outside
- The D-pad and keypad are difficult to use, especially the D-pad- they're just too flat!
- The mobile web (WAP browser). Don't even waste your time with it. The W385's display is just simply too small for it to be useful and it's too slow. If you really need and/or want this, get a Palm Pixi Plus or an old beat up Droid
- No 3G or WiFi
Best phone I've owned!
Read through the reviews and you'll see that the only people who gave the w385 low scores have done so for, IMHO, lame reasons. I've been using a w385 since October 2007 and it has been a tough little A+ performer.
Decent Phone
I use this with Straight Talk.
Pros: Good reception, good battery life. Feels sturdy and good sound quality.
Cons: I'd give this phone a higher rating but (and I can only speak for this phone with this service provider), every time you send a text message, you will instantly receive a new text message saying your text was delivered. There is no way to turn this off and it is extremely annoying.
Iccckkkkkky
PROS - can use like a phone
CONS - ring tones too quiet - can't do anything if you are expecting a call. Back at store within 2 hours of purchase, sales assoc. blue toothed an obnoxious 1960s phone ring that can be heard.
No good ring tones, I'm a former Nokia customer, so expect good tones to diversify my phone book.
Sound quality okay, but signal strength weak.
Camera, don't even go there.
Style, pretty drab.
I haven't purchased a phone in 5 years, Nokia 6255i customer who still would be if the phone hadn't died. The Motorola was to replace a Samsung Two Step which wasn't cutting it. Neither voice dial well, easily or regularly. How is it that cell phones have gone backwards in the few years I've had my Nokia? You'd think they would be better.
Oh, well. Switching to Verizon as earliest opportunity so I can get a REAL cell phone. US Cellular obviously only sells teeny bopper phones these days.
Poor Quality Metro Pcs Phone!
I had this phone for a few days with a protective covering thinking it would protect it... I accidentally dropped it and the phone never stopped freezing after that. I have had numerous phones and not once have i ever had this kind of problem!
Very Poor Quality ON MOTOROLA's END!
