Motorola W385
Average Ratings
white screen
I had no complaints about this phone for 13 months. I treated it well, and used it only for calls and data (tethered). Then I got the 'white screen." Turning it off and on, and removing/replacing the battery were suggested, but the screen is still white. I saw others in a MOT forum with the same problem on similar phones. Apparently the cable is bad where it goes thru the hinge. I did not buy the second year warranty, so I'm out of luck.
One good thing; the battery fits my old MOT 325i phone.
Overdose of 'side tone'
When I first started using this phone, I was very annoyed by hearing my own voice in my ear as I talked. It brought me back to the old days of black and white rotary dial phones and it is VERY irritating. It seems that Motorola is trying to restart this trend, called 'side tone' so that we won't be too rude when using phones and can hear how loud we are, since I've seen this on other phones of theirs. The worst thing about it is that it increases with the phone volume. I will not put up with this phone.
It doesn't help that I call their tech support, describe the situation exactly, and am told this is not normal and should not happen. Their tech support people know very little about the phones. Great. Lots of side tone, untrained techs. No thanks. I wish I could have kept my Motorola L2, but it's discontinuted. I guess I'll turn in both of these W385's and get another brand of handset.
Pros:
Nice feel
good reception
Feels familiar to motorola users
Cons
Very loud and annyoning 'side tone' that increases with volume.
Looks Good, but Horrible Phone
The only reason I gave it a 1 was because of its looks.
Pros: Looks, call quality.
Cons: Battery life, battery life, battery life, Verizon UI, awkward to switch from vibrate to ring mode, awkward signal strength indicator, VERY LIMITED customization options (shortcuts).
Who ever heard of a phone that there is NO WAY to tell what the current ringtone is. When you go to the list of ringtones, you would think that there would be some kind of indicator or dot or something next to the current ringtone. But not on this one. Also, the little cover that covers the USB charging port will break off its flimsy hinge real quick.
Trust me, stay away!!!
Why is Verizon putting their stupid UI on a basic phone??? The Samsung u340 does not have the lame UI, and the features are the same.
w385
Simple, nice little phone. My boss switched in puerto rico from open mobile to centennial, so he gave me the phone with a 1year more or less of usage. My brother had one, so i accepted this phone with gusto. resolves. Does it;s job. But this is my second Motorola, and i don't like the battery life. I always have to charge it up around 2 pm, then again when i go to sleep, which is a bit annoying for me. Also, calls are not entering the phone, and my brothers phone, on the same network, being next to mine, receives them without a problem Apart from that, MP3 works all right. Bluetooth is a pain to connect. Im in the market for a new phone, so lets see if i get another version of this or a Kyocera...
this fone is ;[ and ;]
this fone at first was JUNK to me.... i like phones with a huge display, this dosent have video... the camera kinda sucks... the charge is pretty good. I was on this fone from morning texting... talking... IMing... and on the internet... and its served until 5pm. NO BAD
this is a perfect fone for my mom(shes has it in metro;])
all she dose is talk(ALOT) and text sometimes.
and she loves it
bluetooth is good... internet kinda fast
but screen WAY TO SMALL 4 me at least!
Not enough bang for your buck.
Going into buying the Motorola W385, I was psyched. I was essencially getting a KRZR phone without the hassles of any contract. Upon pulling the phone out of its box, It had a nice feel to it. It was a little heavier than your average KRZR and had a nice rubbery back to it which made me feel a little better for my phone's health if I should have dropped it. Although the color was a little odd, it was original.
After getting my chance to play around with the phone I found some that I liked and a lot that I didn't like. The buttons on the phone were nice and rubbery giving a good feel and easy navigation. Also when illuminated, would glow a soft blue with was very eye pleasing. The W385 also has 4 buttons on the side, the two volume buttons, a camera button and a smart button that you can choose to assign any task to. Only problem with this was how easily pushed they were. When the phone would go off, I would take it out of my belt holder and before I could answer it would put the caller straight to thanks to pressing one of those buttons even barely. When talking on the phone, The volume and clairity were beautiful. Nice and loud, and very sharp, the way a phone should be. I found that pairing a bluetooth headset was easy, but after a day of using a headset, for some reason it wouldn't work with it anymore. One feature I loved on this phone was the USB connection for the charger. I was able to charge this phone with a USB transfer cable straight from my computer. Also when I hooked my phone up to the computer it would mention being used as "Phone as Modem". I don't know if Boost supports it, but looks like the phone does. One big downfall to this phone was no FTP with the bluetooth! So no tranferring ringtones or pictures, only contacts.
All in all, it's a pretty fair phone. My fiance's W385 fell apart on its own even when handled correctly, so I question its durability. Other than the $129 price tag it's a pretty decent phone.
This is not a good phone
Pros: Great sound quality (when signal strength is at least 1 bar -- which is not often)
Cons: This is the 2nd W385 I have had in one month. Both have had really poor standby time and the 2nd phone has awful signal strength. The advertised standby time is "as high as 440 hours". Though I charged my phone this morning, and despite having talked for only 5 minutes today, the battery died at 10 p.m. (@ 14 hours standby time) Hardly matches the advertised time, and as both phones have suffered from the same problem, I can only assume that this is a failing with the model.
All looks
This phone is beautiful. The rubber trim, the faded steel looking panels, the slim design, all very nice.
The only real problem is the battery. It's supposed to have 4.2 hours of talk time, but only provides me with about 2. I will be taking it back to the store for either a replacement phone/battery, or different phone.
I will also agree that some of the UI is confusing, The battery and signal gauges included.
The camera isn't bad, especially when compared to my previous phone, the LG VX5200.
Oh lord!
This was my first Verizon phone. I liked it for a little while, and it started freezing. That I didn't like, obviously. So I got another one for free. Well my mom has this phone and she likes it. I didn't because I want something that's going to give me a challenge. But if you're looking for the basic camera/flip phone, then this is a good one to get!
