Kyocera KX414 (Phantom)
Average Ratings
good phone
Really the only reason it has 4.5 was the battery life. It sucked. It would die all of the time, but when it didn't it was great.
great phone, great interface, incredible value
i've had qualcomm and kyocera phones on verizon in san diego for years. i recently tried a samsung a530s - HATED IT. the interface was terrible (non-intuitive and non-sensical at times), the color screens were unreadable outside in daylight.
this kyocera kx414 has the best user interface of any phone i've ever seen.
people that complain about how many clicks it takes to reach the phone book haven't read the manual: there is a fast find feature (i think it has to be enabled) that allows you to do phone book searches with *NO* clicks, just start typing the name you want to find, "T9" style. for example, to look up my friend "dave", i just type 32 (3 for D, 2 for A) and then i can use the down arrow to scroll through additional entries that match 32.
i have my "up" button (configurable soft key) set to activate "silent mode". and i notice that the # button when held activates the keyguard feature immediately.
i also like the "recently used" list of addresses when sending SMS messages. it makes it very easy to find the people ou contact most. very clever feature.
pros:
excellent, intuitive user interface
fast find feature for address lookups
visual indication of speed dials
good sound quality
good battery life
screen readable in daylight
antenna stub doesn't extend
VERY GOOD VALUE for price, usually free
cons:
low-res screen
slippery buttons
selection of ring tones could be better
this phone is pretty straight..
once this phone came out i do have to say that my jaw did drop because the awesomeness of the phone. im not one to freak over a handset but i must admit that this is a great phone for the price when you activate your service. it has a qualcomm chip in it that gives you great reception and service and it also makes up for having a stubby antennea instead of an extended. the software is stable and i have yet to see a phone come in that needed repair due to that reason. the screen is crisp and clear and the ringtones are ok. the fact that you are able to download ringtones through your service provider is pretty tight. like ive said, im not crazy over handsets but this one is pretty tight.
Kyocera 414= Awesome!!
It's funny....I saw on this site that this phone was called entry-level?! Why? It has a color screen, get it now, mobile web, text messaging, and oh I forgot, it doesn't have national access. Well I personally do not use my phone as a cable modem, so not having tat. access doesn't matter to me. This phone has above average batterry life, a well lit screen, excellent sound quality....ya can hear easily on a busy city street. The ringers are loud and most importantly at least for me I love the form factor. It feels good in my hands and when I hold it up to my ear when on a call. If you're a high end user like me I strongly suggest you buy the car charger and an extended life batterry. For the adults out there like myself don't worry...there are several normal business like ringers. All of the wallpapers that come with the phone are cheesy, but it gives you an option for a white screen that is definitely bright at night. The key pads are soft and easy to use even if you have big hands and fingers.
Way To Go Kyocera!! What A Great Little Phone!!
EXCELLENT BANG FOR YOUR BUCK!
I got this phone when I was 12 years old(7th grade). I am 14 now.(Freshman). So I had the phone for two years. While it took a lot of wear and tare it held up EXCELLENT! I have put this phone through hell and it still works as well as the first day I got it.
Things my phone has made it though:
-Being left in the snow/10 degree weather for 3 hours and then being run over by a car and still working!
-Being droped off 4 story bleachers (came out with a small scar)
-Being dropped in a marsh(yes that means water)
-Being thrown 50 feet in the air and hitting grass/dirt.(angry friends)
Through all of these things my phone continues to work excellent. Now to what you want to know
Pros-
EXCELLENT signal strength. I always had tons of bars even in the basement of buildings and in large cities (chicago, dallas, st. louis)
The battery life on this phone is great...Getting 10 phone calls a day it lasted 7 days easily.
The screen is bright as can be and easy to read
Easy to use features like silent mode, voice dialing and so on.
ORIGINAL TETRIS...i played it for hours.
Fairly small (can fit in ur "tight" jeans pocket
Cost me only 10 dollars
CONS
no speakerphone
no camera
keys can be slippery sometimes because of roundness
not a lot of games
I know this phone is discontinued but if you can find it on ebay or something i would deffinetly recomend it. The quality is excellent and long lasting.
Hope this review helped.
Thanks
Colleen, 14
A Good One!
The U.S. Cellular special was either this phone or the Motorola c343 free after rebate. I got the Kyocera, she got the Moto. I won!
Pros: Easy navigation; plenty of extras (calculator, tip calculator, timer, stopwatch, etc); voice dialing that can handle different voices and lots of background noise; good incoming and outgoing voice quality; clear display; decent battery life
Cons: Plastic back feels a bit fragile (the ONE area the Moto won); Biggest disappointment to date: The #!&@% idea that the .kws format is a good one for ringtones. There are none available on the Net, and the $1.95 per ringtone download through the phone system "isn't available in this area at this time". The supplied tones are average at best - I was looking forward to getting more!
Ringtones aside, I've been absolutely delighted with this phone, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a easy-to-use, high quality cell.
Great Little Phone
U.S. Cellular delivered a great low cost phone pact with all the goodies of a high cost flip phone. This phone not only looks sleek but also performs under the pressure. The graphics on the color screen are very unique with graffiti schemes and who can say no to tones resembling a slot machine. I feel like I hit the jackpot with this phone. Oh and did I mention it comes with the original Tetris. Keep it up U.S. Cell!!
good for for the price
I bought this phone with verizons prepaid service. so far I think it is a good phone, calls are clear,phone volume is loud enough. the size feels good in my hands. menu is easy to use. also it is a cute looking phone. only thing negative is I wish it was a speakerphone.
Exceeded my expectations
The clamshell on my Verizon LG TM-510 went tofurkey last week, so it was time to upgrade. I have pretty simple requirements in that I prefer a "phone", not a "camera", or a "video game", and especially not a "bling bling whizzbang doo-dad". I just wanted a plain good old-fashioned TELEPHONE to, you know, talk to people and stuff. I was prepared to dislike this phone, but the KX414 has managed to exceed my expectations.
PROS:
* Call quality is outstanding in Verizon's 1X digital area. I have not had the chance to try extended or analog. I called my wife and she noticed the difference right away. Crystal clear. A nice improvement over my old phone.
* Voice dialing is a cinch to set up and use.
* Cool design. For a free phone, I would have settled for something doughty and austere, but it has nice styling. The sport clip accessory is a nice touch. It's got replaceable face "masks" if you wake up in the mood for pastel or faux-composite one morning.
* The buttons actually "click", giving positive feedback.
* You can use the "up" button on the directional keypad as an assignable shortcut key for most features. The "down" button is hard-coded to access voicemail features. I'll talk about the left and right buttons in "cons".
CONS:
* Screen is small and dark. You have to hit a key to see time, reception bars, etc. It's small for web and games.
* Buttons are tiny, so if you have large hands better try one out in person first.
* Right and left directional buttons access mobile web and GetItNow features. This is by far the worst example of "push" marketing I've seen. The two features I'm least likely to use placed in the most prominent position. How convenient! Verizon should make all four directional keys programmable.
* Charge cable sticks out awkwardly from the side.
Overall this is a good phone. Reception quality is outstanding, even with one or two bars. It's small, but not too difficult to use. A good value if all you want is a phone.
Nice phone, too bad VZ crippled it!
I was looking forward to buying this phone, but once I had a chance to try it at a VZW store, I realized VZW stripped the two games from the phone. Kyocera finally put in two games that can be played on a phone, and VZW strips them out. Most likely to sell their BREW service. I play the brick attack game in the airport all the time.
I don't know how the shortcut key (nav key) works with other carriers, but with VZW, the left and right nav bring up the browser or BREW, rather than silence and lock the phone. This is a very stupid move on VZW part, especially since you can still access those two features through the main menu, yet you have to hunt for the lock and silence. It's tough to promote phone etiquette with moves like this. Besides, just how often will an average user use the browser or BREW features? Most likely not even close to how often a person locks or silences their phone!
Dan
