Kyocera Rise
Phone Scoop Review
Aug 31, 2012 by Eric M. Zeman
For the smartphone lover who still longs for the physical touch of real keys, the Kyocera Rise rises to the challenge with its real QWERTY keyboard. Stock Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich? Well, that's just the icing on the cake. read review ›
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Functional, but obsolete.
Carrier: Virgin Mobile
I've used a Rise for about a year and a half. I'm replacing it next month with a Motorola Photon Q.
It's an indestructible little bugger. As others have commented, there's 4 small screws behind the battery cover that periodically need to be tightened with a jewelers screwdriver, or else the slider starts to flop around. Otherwise, it's very sturdy and you can really bang it around with no fear of breaking the case or screen.
Performance has been... mixed. When I first got it, it performed OK, but with every set of software updates, the core phone apps have gotten bigger and bigger, and performance has gotten more and more sluggish. The phone occasionally crashes when using some of the more heavyweight apps, like Navigation or Maps. Navigation is a guaranteed crash/reboot after 10-15 miles.
Even simpler apps like Gasbuddy, which used to respond nearly instantly back in 2013, now take tens of seconds to load and go unresponsive easily.
I'm forced to conclude it just isn't powerful enough to handle Android 4.x and 4.x apps - this device should either have been sold with Android 2.3, or should have gotten an extra 512MB of ram. This is a large factor in why I'm upgrading. I can't believe Sprint and Virgin are still selling this phone.
Not bad, but not all that good
After my Triumph killed itself, I had to find something cheap. I chose this over the Optimus Elite and I'm not sure if that's a good thing.
Pros:
Camera is better than you'd think. Don't let the 3.2mp label fool you
Keyboard is pretty good to type on, nicely spaced
UI is pretty good, 4.0.1 is well fit on this phone.
Call quality is amazing! Clear on both ends
Feels nice in the hands- Despite being thicker, it feels really solid
Cons:
Battery life is an insult. You have a choice between using Eco Mode (which is just annoying after a while) or not using it at all. No matter what you do, you can't get through half the day without needing to charge it.
Even though it has a 1ghz processor, it's pretty laggy. You often find yourself wondering why the phone has such problems from changing from portrait to landscape mode. It's taken as long as 10 seconds once after sliding the keyboard.
This phone loves to reset itself. I don't know why, but it can be sitting on your desk and the next thing you know, it's playing the Virgin Mobile jingle out of nowhere from a reboot.
Now for the worst part: Wifi. For whatever reason, there's either a bug or programming flaw where you cannot permanently turn off the wifi. Even when you have full bars and 3G, it'll turn wifi on and start scanning. This helps drain the already bad battery life, making it suck even more.
If the bugs were ironed out, this phone would be amazing. I can't help but feel as if this phone were rushed somehow.
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turn Connections Optimizer off to turn wifi off
Carrier: Virgin Mobile
From the home screen >>>optionss>>>System settings>>>More...>>>Mobile networks>>>Connections Optimizer>>>uncheck the box in the top right,
When you first activate your phone or any subsequent resets, it has you turn on this wasteful option. Thats why you can't get wifi to turn off completely. You have agreed to have it "optimize" your connection
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Kyocera Rise
Carrier: Virgin Mobile
Do not buy this phone. This is the worst phone I have ever had. It usually takes 3 or more tries to open an app, if it opens at all. It automatically reboots on its own randomly, and now, it is not recognizing my SD card, no matter what I do. Truly awful!
