Motorola Citrus
Phone Scoop Review
Nov 23, 2010 by Philip Berne
The Motorola Citrus is an Android phone made with recycled plastics and Motorola's custom interface. Is this a phone you'll want to reuse? Or just recycle? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Not even worthy as a free phone
- Pros -
1. size. It's a small Android phone, which is almost unheard of.
2. Cheap - after our employee discount and rebate, out of pocket was $6 and change.
3. Scroll pad on the back is somewhat useful
- Cons -
1. Absolutely everything else about the phone.
The wife doesn't like big phones, but she wants/needs something running the Android OS for one of her work apps. She didn't like the keyboard on the Ally, and everything else Verizon currently offers is too big for her taste. So the Citrus seemed perfect. Picked it up the day it was introduced, returned it the next morning.
The first and most obvious issue is the screen resolution. It might be ok for something other than Android, but with all of the apps, text, icons, etc designed for higher res screens, EVERYTHING looks like crap. Even weather widgets and icons look like a zoomed low res photo, pixelated to the point of distortion. The one app she needs on it (a Lexi-Comp pharmacy app) is mostly text based, and some of the pages were almost unreadable. It's not a small font issue, it's a blown up, blocky/jagged edges problem.
Second issue is the speed. Again, might be decent for something other than Android. Moving between menus, launching apps, etc feels like working on an outdated PC. Lots of click and wait.
The camera is all but useless. Even in ideal light situations, it looks like the old VGA models.
Bing is the integrated and forced default for maps, search, and everything else that should be Google.
And finally, for anyone who has played with a Motorola Android, you'll find a lot of things missing. Some of the standard widgets just aren't in the menu. Several apps from the market don't show up when searching by name from the phone. The default mail client is an even more stripped down version than what Moto has on their other 2.1 phones.
Even as an almost free phone, this one is a joke. Good thing it's landfill friendly, because most of them will be in one very soon.
Has a couple little issues!!!!
Before you buy this phone, read this review. I tried it and was disappointed at some of the issues I came across. The one is when speaker was pressed it goes on and off in the middle of a call, which is just freaking annoying.
It also vibrates RANDOMLY in the middle when I'm using it. It does feel nice and looks nice though, and is a fast Android powered device.
I COULD HAVE had a technical difficulty phone but the other reviewer on the Citrus has had issues too. It could be a good phone for you, and it also probably couldn't have issues for you.
If you want a good deal on an Android phone that works *okay* then this is the way to go
Not worth the cheap price
I have had and used this phone for 7 months through Verizon.
Pros: Cute, small, nice interface, easy to customize wallpaper, can download music to from your computer.
CONS: Can't use your music as ring-tone, Constant "glitches", phone locks up regularly.
You can download music from your computer to your phone with ease; however, you cannot use your music for a ring-tone. This is a biggie for me. Also, I have had to completely reset my phone 4 times due to the phone's glitches (which means I had to re input all my contacts that many times). Incoming texts completely locked my phone up for 30 seconds +. I would have to wait until the text came in and let my phone start working again, before I could reply to a text. I could not even type my reply text until my phone deemed I was allowed to respond. This completely takes away any advantage to sending or receiving texts. The phone doesn't always "unlock" when you go to use it. Sometimes it just gets stuck with the slider across the screen for a while, while you cuss and threaten to throw it. This is by far the worse phone I have ever used. I purchased this phone because it was an android and affordable for me. I will never make the mistake of buying a cheaper phone like this. It has been more trouble than the low cost was worth.
Run!!!!!
Although this was my first smart phone i would not recommend it to anyone!
*pros
small is the only good thins i can think of to say about this phone
*Cons
very slow and touch screen doesn't work all the time... very annoying to have to make a phone call and the phone would literally stop working and not let u do anything. there is nothing worse then walking through the store talking on the phone and have speaker phone get turned on and then have the screen quit working so there was no way to hang up or turn off speaker phone! pictures are alright on it but still not very good and internet browsing is very slow. it likes to update facebook status without your knowledge and also texts people random things. for people who like to text this phone was very hard to text on and i don't think it will get any easier i have had this phone for just under 2 weeks and I'm taking it back tomorrow even though i have to pay a 35 dollar restocking fee totally worth it to me to get rid of this phone!! i would not recommend this phone to anyone
Compact Effectiveness
It's nice, compact, light and cute.
Runs kind of slow, wish they would upgrade the software to 2.2 that would be WAY helpful.
Angry Birds does not work, just takes you to the loading screen with the birds.
I tried downloading another application & it just went to a straight to a black screen and didn't do anything. Can't remember what it was called.
Basically, if a software upgrade were to be done to this phone - it would be perfect. I feel like it would resolve a lot.
Horrible
Got this phone in January and I loved it at first. Then it started acting up. When I unlock it, it does what it wants. It has dialed numbers(you have to actually pull up the dial pad, which it does), it picks up icons and moves them around my screen, it opens my shortcut folder and puts new icons on my screen, it hangs up when I'm on a phone call, has tried to buy new apps, mutes phone calls, it is a huge fight to do a simple task on this phone because it's already doing everything! Went in to exchange it because I thought it was just a technical difficulty, the guy at the store said he had taken 3 returns on this phone that same day!
I should have gone with the droid x or 2
Would be good if it had 2.2 and a better processor. Apps never work and its always shutting off or freezing. Anyone want to trade for a droid x or 2?????
