UPDATE: Audiovox 8900 review (long, wait make that very long)

[shimo]

UPDATED REVIEW: 2/7/04 Okay Folks, I've had the Audiovox 8900 for about a month and the half. I've made 766 calls and talked about 32 hours on it. I am making some changes on the ratings of the phone since I've had plenty of time to play with the phone.
I will make comparisons to the LG VX4400 since that is the phone that I had last. The 4400 served me well and was a good all around phone (with software ver. 08). These are my opinions and I have no hard technical data to back up some of my observations. I will rate categories from 1 to 5. Note: I have yet to find any major bugs with this phone like other people are describing, I am trying to reproduce these problems and have yet to experience any (except a problem with emailing a picture described below)

Note: I will add the revised comments in italics

Build Quality: 3/5

The phone is a little over 3 ounces and is a little lighter, thinner and smaller than the 4400. The top flip when open, feels sort of flimsy and a little less durable than the 4400. When the top flip is open, you can push the top flip further back which makes it not so solid like the 4400. The antenna retracts just like the 4400 and is a little bit longer. I’m worried that I might accidentally break it. This is not the sleekest phone that verizon offers, but it’s not as ugly as the 4400.

The build quality is one of my biggest complaints of the phone. The phones hinge creeks when pressing your ear against the phone. I dropped the phone and it received some minor scratches but nothing broke.


Reception: 4.5/5

I haven’t had a chance to test my phone out in too many places, but from what I’ve experienced, this phone rocks. My 4400 would drop calls in my room and around various spots in my house. I’ve had three of them (fried two of them) and they all dropped calls in my house. With close to 4 hours of talk time on my 8900 in my house, I have yet to drop a call. I have noticed my phone kick into analog once and I’ve seen the phone display “No service” a few times however. For some reason, even when my 8900 shows zero bars, I’m still able to make calls just fine. Another thing with my 4400 is that I would make a call, but my phone would never connect to the tower and I would have to hang up and redial. This would happen often, but with the 8900, it seems to connect to the cell tower very quickly.

After making 766 calls and logging on 32 hours of airtime, I can definitely say that this phone has way better reception than the 4400. Yes, I have dropped a few calls, but those were in dead spots for my 4400 (up in the mountains). I've dropped maybe a total of 15 calls out of 766, so that's pretty damn good IMHO. To be fair, I live in Los Angeles (The Valley to be exact) and most carriers are pretty efficient out here.



Call clarity: 4.5/5

One thing that I disliked about the 4400 was the calls were very muffled. Often I found myself asking the other party to repeat themselves. The 8900 very clear and calls are not muffled. Calls are very crisp sounding.

I dropped Call clarity down from a 4.5 to a 4 because the earpiece sometimes gets distorted at max volume and it becomes sometimes a little hard to hear. The calls are very clear otherwise and is a lot crisper than the 4400.



Battery life: 3/5

I can’t verify the battery performance because since this is a new phone, I have to play around with it a lot (test the camera, test the ringtones, get acquainted with the menu, etc). I’m assuming that you can talk for about 2 ½ to 3 ½ hours if you don’t play around with the phone. I will update this as soon as I get to use my phone under normal conditions.

The battery to me seems so-so. About average but it seems to be inconsistent. It seems like talk time and stand by time varies. Expect to get about 2 hour of talk time and about 2 days of stand by. I charge my battery every night which I feel is a must


Ear piece volume: 3.5/5

The ear piece volume can be turned up very loud. However I set my phone on the middle setting in quiet environments because at higher levels, the phone’s ear piece makes a vibrating sound when the other party talks too loud. It gets uncomfortable at high levels. I haven’t had a chance to test out the phone’s earpiece in too noisy of an environment, so maybe the high volume level will be appreciated after all.

Tested out in noisy environments and it's easier to hear than the 4400.



Ringers and ringer volume 4.5/5

This phone has 5 NORMAL ringers that sound professional. It has 10 musical scores which sound like every other phone. You can download ringtones to make it sound teenagerish, I have downloaded one and it plays it very loud. I downloaded Outkast’s “Hey Ya” and it sounds terrific. I believe you can play mp3s as ringtones, but I need to look into that. All the ringers included with the phone are LOUD.

The normal ringers are VERY loud, I can hear the phone ringing when I'm blasting the radio. I would always miss calls with my 4400 with the radio cranked up. The ringer is louder than the 4400 (software version 08).


Vibrating feature: 4.5/5

This phone IMHO vibrates harder than the 4400. This phone can be set to vibrate and ring at the same time, unlike the 4400. Along with the blue flashing lights on the side of the phone and the LCD screen lighting up when you get a call, you don’t have to worry about missing a call.

Message alerts: 4/5

This phone has 5 audible message alerts that are pretty cool. They sound like sound effects from a Super Mario Bros. game. (Getting the 1-Up mushroom =) ). They are pretty loud. This phone can be set to “remind” when you get a message (voice, text, etc). The reminding beeps is VERY VERY LOUD. Almost too loud. Unfortunately there is no way to have the phone vibrate as a “remind” feature when the phone is set in normal mode. You can set the phone in Etiquette mode and only that way can you make the phone vibrate and remind.

The other day, I left my phone in my cube and I received a voicemail and my phone kept beeping every two minutes. My co-worker said "Is that your phone beeping? Why is it so loud?!?!??". One complaint I have is that there is no way to change the audible alerts to something other than the 5 alert tones provided with the phone. You can't set the phone to play a custom ringtone.



Outer LCD display 1/5

I’m one of the lucky ones that do not have the annoying “VERIZON WIRELESS” flashing every 5 secs on the outer LCD. I believe this annoyance is a regional thing. First, the font on the outer display is very thin. It looks cheap. Second, it can only flash one color, it can’t flashing different colors like the 4400. Third, the light for the screen is very dim. Fourth, when you get a call or text/voice message, you see a little cartoon picture which makes the phone look even more cheap.

If you have the annoying "Verizon wireless" banner, there is a hack to get rid of it. Do a search on Howard Forums.



Inner LCD display 4/5

The screen is very big and can be set to be very bright, I can use it as a flashlight almost.

Screen not as nice as the 6000, only 65k colors compared to 252k.



Keypad 1/5

My biggest complain with this phone: the keypad. The keys are too slippery, too small, and too close together. They are a little too flush with the body of the phone. I constantly mistype numbers in the phone. This phone is hard to text message on compared to the nice rubbery keypad design of the 4400. The directional button is also too small. I wouldn’t attempt to play any action games on this phone, that’s for sure.

Font: 1/5

My second biggest complaint. There is no way to adjust the font size. The font is just as thin as the outer LCD display. The choice of font type is pretty horrible to. Some of the letters/numbers look alike ( 0 and D and O ).

Menu layout and navigation logic: 2/5

For the most part, the menu is similar to the LG phones. However some ways to select items are pretty quirky. For instance scrolling through the picture gallery, you press the up/down key instead of the left/right key. I probably just need to get use to the navigation controls.

My second biggest complaint of the phone. I still have not gotten use to the menu controls. The menu logic is horrible. To do something on the 8900, requires more key inputs than the 4400.



Camera: 2.5/5

For a camera phone, the pictures are decent. There is only the option to control brightness, and resolution. No optical zoom or black and white features. Also there is no flash so unless there is a decent amount of light present, you’re pictures are going to come out very dark. Of course, once you take a picture, you can send it to another phone or to an email address. One thing I noticed was that I sent a picture to my AOL email account and my work account and my work account never received the picture…. Possible bug????

I've taken some pictures, both stills and candid on the fly pictures. Still pictures come out nice when there is a lot of light. Candid pictures come out pretty fuzzy and blurred.



Speakerphone: 3/5

I’ve only had the chance to test out the speakerphone in a quiet environment (in my house). It’s acceptable for quiet environments but if there is a lot of background noise on both ends, the speakerphone probably isn’t that utilizable. My friend noted that when I talked to her on speakerphone, she said “I can hear you just fine. You sound like you are right next to me and it’s very loud”. Of course that was with the phone about a foot and half away from my mouth. Today when I talked on speakerphone with the phone on my desk pointed up at the ceiling, I could hear the other end, but it wasn’t loud enough (I turned the volume all the way up). The speakerphone utilizes the outer speaker and the inner speaker. I believe the outer speaker is louder (because it needs to ring loud). In order to hear the other end loudly, you need to aim one of the phone’s speakers toward you and not up at the ceiling.

I knocked the speakerphone rating down to a 2. It's only useful in a completely quiet room. Not useful in a noisy environment and barely useful in the car. There seems to be a microphone on the outer flip because you can cover the inner mic up and the other party can hear you just fine.


Voice dialing: 3.5/5

About equal to the 4400 in terms of accuracy...just a little harder to program.

Get It Now: 4/5

Comparing the 8900 vs the 4400 (version 08 or below), the 8900 is so much quicker. I downloaded a ringtone from Modtones within a few seconds. Browsing the catalog of ringtones and previewing the ringtones was very quick.

Battery charger 3/5

The charger is a travel charger and is not a cradle. I liked the cradle better because if you have two batteries, you can charge one in the cradle while using the other battery in the phone. With the travel charger however, you can talk and charge at the same time. Charge time is about 3 hours to fully charge from a completely drained battery.

Overall rating of the Audiovox 8900: 4/5

As a phone for making calls, this is an awesome phone. I could see myself replacing my landline with this phone. It rings loud and vibrates hard. Calls are clear and the reception is great.

On the other hand, this phone doesn’t have the best speakerphone and the best camera with all the trimmings. They are average at best. Also since the phone is so new, there aren’t too many games/applications available via GIN. I’m assuming BitPim doesn’t work with this phone, however I’m assuming it’s possible since there is a port for a usb cable at the bottom. Only time will tell how customizable this phone will be.

I'm pretty happy with this phone. I kept it of course and it's been a solid performer. If you can live with the flimsy design, poor menu layout, and small keypad, then this is a great phone because it does what a cell phone is suppose to do...make calls.

I have yet to test out BitPim, I still need to buy a cable. Once I get to hack it, I'll write another review and possibly a mini-guide

[NYCDru]

VERY GOOD REVIEW.

You did a realy nice job with this one my hat is off to you.

"This phone can be set to “remind” when you get a message (voice, text, etc). The reminding beeps is VERY VERY LOUD."

How?

[JFarson]

Originally posted by: NYCDru
VERY GOOD REVIEW.

"This phone can be set to “remind” when you get a message (voice, text, etc). The reminding beeps is VERY VERY LOUD."

How?

Howdy, Dru,

Just press the 'Messaging' buttonV on the Navigation key, then 10)Settings, 4)Alert, 3)Remind {On/Off}.

HTH

[shimo]

Dru,

Once you turn on the remind ON, you will get two or three very LOUD beeps every two minutes when you get a text/voice/pic/etc message. Test it out, send yourself a text message or voice message once you turn it on.

[shimo]

Originally posted by: NYCDru
VERY GOOD REVIEW.

You did a realy nice job with this one my hat is off to you.

Thank you, I appreciate it. I will within the next few days update my review. Mostly to clarify some of explanations and to review other features. If I seem to jump around with random thoughts, please bear with me. I was watching the Laker game and eating while writting this long review.

Also please state your comments. If I made any mistakes, please let me know, I tried to be as accurate as I could. Also if anyone has any questions, ask away and I will do my best to answer.

By the way, my phone is Nam 1, PRL ID 50111, and software version T095VEDT20_0.189

Hardware is TX-95C_REV_02

[NYCDru]

Originally posted by: shimo
By the way, my phone is Nam 1, PRL ID 50111, and software version T095VEDT20_01.89

Hardware is TX-95C_REV_02

My Software is T095VEDT20_0.189
( a note on this. The software number you are looking at for changes are between the "T" and the "." ie ours are Version 20_0)

PRL 50113
(Where are you were you would have a different PRL than me and why?)

ERI 50018
(Does yours have an ERI version?)

Hardware TX-95C_REV_02

Oh, and do you now understand why i say because of the performance of this phone as a phone and text messaging device the anoyances can be over looked?

[Tony E!]

very nice review Shimo, very organized and to the point.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] makes me want to go out and get one.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[JFarson]

shimo and NYCDru,

Did you both do s/w upgrades on your phones?

I got my 8900 the first week it came out, and it came with s/w T095VEDT19_1.189 and PRL 50113.

I ordered it over the phone, and even then , it only took about two days to deliver. I usually buy my phones this way. I've never bought one in a Verizon store, though once I did buy a StarTac from a Radio Shack store with Verizon service.

Anyway, so far, have not had any major problems while using it.

I wil echo most of shimo's descriptions. Have found though, that I like the travel charger. Takes less time to charge than I thought. Takes about two hours to charge a fully depleted battery.

Voice dialing setup could be a whole lot simpler than it is set up now. Don't know why they set it up so that you have to enter each number for this function. Should have been incorporated into a phone book entry.

The user manual is atrocious. What a mess. Looks like VZ copied it and then slapped their logo and markings on the cover and called it good. Almost unreadable, and therefore almost unuseable.

My trial period is only one day left, but I think I am definitely keeping this phone .......

[shimo]

My ERI is Version 50018

PRI 50111

I live in Los Angeles.

I have not upgraded my phone's software, this is how it came out of the box.

I agree JoeWookie that the voice dialing set up is very quirky and when you are training the voice dialing, you must input the number and can't use the phonebook to look up a number.

Also, there is a character limitation of 16 for phonebook entries. Although 16 is fine for me, I can see it annoying some people who need more characters.

I believe that some of the quirks with the phone are annoying because I am coming from a nicely layed-out LG phone that seems to have been well thought out.

[JFarson]

shimo,

Just thought it interesting how your phone is loaded up (s/w, PRL, etc.) as opposed to how my phone is. We are basically in the same market area (I live in Riverside), so you would think there would be some uniformity. But I think I did obtain my phone a little earlier than you, so maybe they are now supplying the newer software.

All in all I am pretty pleased with the performance of this phone. The only thing I haven't been able to try is sending pictures/pictures with text to another phone. I haven't had any trouble sending pictures and text to emails.

I guess the appearance of the 8900 attracted me first; I've owned Audiovox phones in the past, so maybe I am a little more forgiving if some of their phone layouts aren't exactly the most efficient.

FWIW

[shimo]

did you try doing a *228 and select option 2 to update your PRL?

Hopefully if you can get PRL 50111, you will get rid of the Verizon Wireless Banner, if you have it currently have it

[Tony E!]

actually, that is one of the purposes for dialing *228 you are updating your PRL/ERI therefore your phone will show Verizon Wirless banner on your phone, so on the contrary, that will not delete the Verizon banner.

[JFarson]

Yeah, I've tried *228 and the 50113 PRL loads up. This is probably the default one for the America's Choice plans.

Just out of curiosity, what VZ plan do you have?

[Tony E!]

not sure who you're asking but 50113 is A/C plan latest PRL, which is the plan i have and the one that loads up on my phone here in LA.

[JFarson]

Thanks Tony, I was wondering what calling plan shimo has since the PRL on his phone isn't the A/C default.

Don't know if it makes a difference, but if he has a plan other than the America's Choice, then his phone wouldn't need to be loaded with an ERI?

[shimo]

As of 12/24 I switched over to a local shared family plan because I'm paying for my mother's cell phone bill. It's a pretty good plan IMHO.

Just a thought....maybe the people on America's Choice are the people experiencing these problems such as the Verizon wireless banner flashing?? Joe Wookie, do you have that banner flashing on your outer LCD screen?

FYI on my plan: $75 a month (before taxes + fees) for 1000 anytime, 1200 mobile-to-mobile (?????? that's what the verizon rep AND the telephone customer rep. said), free long distance, free nights and weekends starting at 9pm. This if for two lines. I think this is more than my mother and I will ever use a month..... I might be wasting money. Considering I have $2.99 for 200 text messages and $4.99 for insurance. I think my cell phone bill is going to end up around $100 a month...YIKES!

[JFarson]

Thanks, shimo. yes, unfortunately, I do have the A/C blinking/stinking banner on my 8900.
Too bad VZ can't find another less intrusive way to show system coverage.

So maybe what calling plan a person has determines what software they download to their phone.

You're definitely right about another thing. They sure aren't giving away these calling plans and the phones that go with them!! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[connifer]

hi shimo -

excellent review! since you are so detailed and thorough, I have a question for you that I hope you can answer. i searched all the messages in this forum and could not find it, so i hope that this is not a repeat post.

for the remind feature, does this only beep for voicemail and text messages, or does it also beep for missed calls? i have a motorola that i'm finding hard to give up because of that function, and to me, a missed call is just as important as a voicemail or text message (my family doesn't believe in leaving messages).

if you are not sure, would you mind testing this out for me by calling your own cell phone and not picking up? i would be most grateful.

again, thanks for the awesome review. an opinion doesn't mean much without the data to back it up, and you have backed up every statement and then some. i really appreciate that.

-connie

[NYCDru]

Originally posted by: connifer
hi shimo -

excellent review! since you are so detailed and thorough, I have a question for you that I hope you can answer. i searched all the messages in this forum and could not find it, so i hope that this is not a repeat post.

for the remind feature, does this only beep for voicemail and text messages, or does it also beep for missed calls? i have a motorola that i'm finding hard to give up because of that function, and to me, a missed call is just as important as a voicemail or text message (my family doesn't believe in leaving messages).

if you are not sure, would you mind testing this out for me by calling your own cell phone and not picking up? i would be most grateful.

again, thanks for the awesome review. an opinion doesn't mean much without the data to back it up, and you have backed up every statement and then some. i really appreciate that.

-connie

Wouold that be the p8767 or the v60i. I have boh of mine.

[NYCDru]

Originally posted by: shimo
As of 12/24 I switched over to a local shared family plan because I'm paying for my mother's cell phone bill. It's a pretty good plan IMHO.

Just a thought....maybe the people on America's Choice are the people experiencing these problems such as the Verizon wireless banner flashing?? Joe Wookie, do you have that banner flashing on your outer LCD screen?

FYI on my plan: $75 a month (before taxes + fees) for 1000 anytime, 1200 mobile-to-mobile (?????? that's what the verizon rep AND the telephone customer rep. said), free long distance, free nights and weekends starting at 9pm. This if for two lines. I think this is more than my mother and I will ever use a month..... I might be wasting money. Considering I have $2.99 for 200 text messages and $4.99 for insurance. I think my cell phone bill is going to end up around $100 a month...YIKES!

i have either the 800 or 1200 minute package at any given moment in time. 60 or 80 per month respectively.

Add unlimited text messaging and mobile web and insurance and yuou get an extra $15/month to that. Add tax which in NYC is sick (39.99 before tax = 47 after tax)

[connifer]

NYCDru - not sure what you are asking me... I have both the v60i and the timeport 8767, and I'm asking shimo if his Audiovox 8900 has the remind feature for missed calls in addition to the voice and text messages because I am interested in buying that phone (and probably will tomorrow). I'm addicted to this missed call reminder because of my experience with both of these Motorolas. So what you are asking me?

-connie

[shimo]

Hey Connie,

I tested it out and unfortunately it does not remind when you miss a call, only when you receive a voicemail/txt etc. I suggest you try out the phone and if you could, give W.A. your input on the phone.

Also thank you for your comments. I have spent hours playing with the phone, thinking about what to write, and writting the actual review. I'm trying to make my review fair, accurate and complete. Also, I'm in the lazy holiday season mood, I just want to stay home and veg because it's too cold to go out. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] If you have any more questions, let me know.

[shimo]

A few more tidbits (I'll add these to the main review soon):

The phonebook has a limitation of 16 characters. I guess that's not too bad. The 4400 I believe has 22 characters.

The phone comes with only two wallpapers: a blue sky background with clouds and a nighttime animation of flowers kicking up pollen..... you can however, set your pictures that you take with the camera as a background. I tested out the photo caller ID and it's pretty decent. The picture is on the top, and the phone number is on the bottom and does not cover the picture.

Has anyone figured out if there is a way to assign different ringers to Caller ID and Restricted? You can assign different ringtones to individuals but I haven't found a way to assign a ringtone to a group or if the call is Caller ID or Restricted. Although this doesn't really matter to me because I pick up the phone regardless who is calling, it might bug some people.

ANOTHER quirk with this phone: you must enter a persons number with area code first even if they are in the same area code as your phone in order for the name to show up on caller ID. For instance, I live in the 818 area code. If I enter Paris Hilton's # as 555-1212 and she calls, I will only see 555-1212. In order to see the name I have to enter her number as 818 555-1212 (Please don't try calling that number, this is only an example...sorry!!!) [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Another feature that I like is the fact that the side buttons do not change the phone into a different mode (Normal or Etiquette) like the 4400 did. I know that was a big complaint that people would accidentally switch modes with the phone in their pocket with the 4400 by pressing the side buttons. They were pretty sensitive.

Well I added another hour and a half of talk time on my phone from last night and so far I still have not dropped a call and calls are still very clear. I tried my phone at work and on the freeway, perfect, although my 4400 had great reception in those spots as well. Another bright side of the 8900, I have had no suprise missed calls like I would get sometimes with my 4400. A lot of times, my 4400 would get missed calls even though the phone was right next to me. To be fair, I've only received maybe about 30 calls on the 8900.

I guess that's all for today's mini review/update. I still haven't had any problems with this phone. A few annoyances, yes, but that comes with every phone. And besides, I'm REALLY happy about the performance of the phone when making calls, the ringer volume and vibrate, msg alerts, etc. Things that matter to me the most.

[shimo]

I think I'm going to change my rating of the speaker phone to a 2 or 2.5 out of 5, down from 3. I'm begining to notice that the best way to hear the phone is by turning the phone around and listening to the outside speaker which is a lot louder than the inner speaker. A little akward in my opinion.

Still have yet to try it in the car or a noisy environment.

[NYCDru]

Originally posted by: shimo
I think I'm going to change my rating of the speaker phone to a 2 or 2.5 out of 5, down from 3. I'm begining to notice that the best way to hear the phone is by turning the phone around and listening to the outside speaker which is a lot louder than the inner speaker. A little akward in my opinion.

Still have yet to try it in the car or a noisy environment.

The Speaker on the outside ie the ringer speaker is best used for the speakerphone. Also, if you talk woith it in speaker mode, talk into the speaker as well. I am 99% sure that there is a mike in the speaker. I tryed to kill the outgoing sound by holding my finger down on the mic on the inside and people could still hear me just fine so....

[shimo]

Yes I agree, there has to be a speaker somewhere else besides the usual place. So NYCDru, any tidbits or findings or comments on the 8900. Anything I might have missed? How's the battery life?

[JFarson]

Howdy,

Haven't seen this function mentioned in previous posts and didn't find it mentioned in the rotten 8900 user manual, but I found that the SEND button has three functions.

First you press it to send numbers that're entered from the keypad.

Second, if you press and hold for about three seconds, you can use it to send Voice Dial entries.

Third, if you press it for less than a second, it will bring up the Recent Calls menu.
Then you can scroll with the < > keys on the Navigation button and look at the Missed Calls, Received Calls, Dialed Calls, and All Calls submenus. Then if you want, you can call a number from these submenus.

As for the speakerphone, I found it to be kind of blarey at its highest setting and not as clear as the next lower setting. But even so, I would rather have this feature as to be without it.

FWIW

[Babyboy]

The findings on this phone are nice and make me reconsider getting this phone. Can anyone compare this phone to the 6000?

[NYCDru]

Originally posted by: shimo
Yes I agree, there has to be a speaker somewhere else besides the usual place. So NYCDru, any tidbits or findings or comments on the 8900. Anything I might have missed? How's the battery life?

Battery life will be anywere from 2.5 to 3.5 hours total talk time. I thoink I can squeqse out close to 4 actualy if i use the right settings. With talking alot in normal, speaker, and headset + texting a bunch + a few pics the battery lasts about 36 hours. The real battery drainer is the Camera. You snap 50 shots to fill the gallery and your battery willl be hurtin. I did that and it was the one time i managed to totaly kill the battery.

[shimo]

Originally posted by: NYCDru

Battery life will be anywere from 2.5 to 3.5 hours total talk time. I thoink I can squeqse out close to 4 actualy if i use the right settings. With talking alot in normal, speaker, and headset + texting a bunch + a few pics the battery lasts about 36 hours. The real battery drainer is the Camera. You snap 50 shots to fill the gallery and your battery willl be hurtin. I did that and it was the one time i managed to totaly kill the battery.

I'm experiencing about the same amount of talk time. Battery life is normal for a color phone with these type of features, not bad nor nothing spectular. You have to charge the standard battery every two to three days.