Motorola C331t Review

[Smithers02]

Just finished trying out the Motorola 331t(TDMA) on Cingular's Service. This is a great little phone, that had a lot better feel than the Motorola 120t. I still dont think the v60 is worth the $$$$, and the phones on Cingular service have all the same features for the most part. The battery life for the phone was comparable to the other motorola phones. The only negative I could come up with is the MENU button is hard to get to push.

Anyone else have any comments?

[G20Ryder]

the backlight on this is it green LEDS like the v120? or backlight like the v60.

its got just about the same features as the v60 and more then half teh price.

[Smithers02]

the backlight color is the same as the 120t

[BillyH]

Does the 331t have a sync feature that can be used with Outlook?

so the back light is green leds? imassuming the 120t and 120c have the same backlighting

[kyle]

I've had this phone since the day they got it in at Cingular. I had a Nokia 7160, but was extremely unhappy with it (2 replacements, and it was always unreliable). Anyways, I was going to actually switch providers because all Cingular's current phones are crap or are too expensive. I wanted 3 features: voice dialing, vibrating ring, and custom rings for individuals. Oh, I also wanted it to be smaller.

They told me they had just gotten a new phone, and so I was a little worried. I've been reading these forums and online reviews for a couple weeks now and a new phone just scares me. I took a look at the phone and it's slightly odd shaped, but nice. Since I have a 15 day trial, I took a chance at it.

So far.. I really like it.

Here's what's good:
- Reception - this has been great, and the phone sounds great. There is some good bass in it and it doesn't sound like I'm using a cell to people.
- Menus - configurable menus are really nice.. the short cuts are nice too. They are the same as the 120t I believe.
- Size - the phone is light and small. It's slightly larger then the 8290 in width and height (esp. w/ the antenna), but its also thinner in depth. It weighs 3.5 oz I think (much smaller then my 5+ oz 7160).
- Buttons - the buttons are small, but functional and do not push overly easily. I like the arrow pad too. It's easy to use
- Face plate - The entire phone is completely configurable. You can remove the front, the back, the rubber grips, and the buttons (i think). It's an interesting design, but pretty cool.
- Rubber grips - make the phone easy to hold
- Ring tones - no harsh sounds, you can write your own.. kinda cool

Here's what's okay:
- Battery life - right now it last about 48 hours (I've only charged it 2x for full charges, and it says it takes several, so it may get better). Talk time is good though
- Vibrate - its good, but a little weak. a stronger vibrate would be better
- Voice dialing - it works, but it won't let me do some if they are similar ("Kyle Home" and "Kyle Cell" for instance), but my 7160 would. Also,there's no quick access button for it. I set up a shortcut (Menu - 1), but its not the same as just holding a button down. I also have to hold the phone to my face or it won't work (odd).

Here's what's bad:
- Menus - this is also a good - But, I ask WHY the menus default order sucks so bad. I rearranged them so I could have quicker access to things.
- Stupid buttons - I want a single button to dial for them, not to peruse through menus. Menus are a pain when you are driving.


Overall I love this phone. For anything I don't like, I can rearrange them or setup short cuts (very handy). I give it 4-1/2 out of 5 stars. It just feels really good, and with the great sound quality, I really don't have any complaints. It's loaded with features I haven't even touched yet (the custom rings, rings creator, custom logos/pictures, text messaging, etc). It's much better then the 7160 overall.

I do have one question. In the setup options, there is a note that says "MP3 Ready" "Yes", but I can't find ANY documentation on it. Any ideas?

Kyle

P.S. Cingular has labeled this the "Jack" phone because their "Jack" logo is plastered on the phone no less then 23 times. 10 down each side, once on the back, once on the front, it jumps around when you turn it on, etc. At least they aren't ugly jacks on the sides and actually look kinda cool.

[Hman]

Does the C331t have any holsters or leather cases available for it?

Motorola's web site does not show any accessories for the C330 series yet and Cingular's web site does not show any holsters or cases available for the C331t.

Hman

[kyle]

At the store they had two covers (metallic dark red and metallic navy), multiple rubber sides (3 colors per pack.. two or three different packs), car charger, and I think a leather case.

Kyle

I wish Motorola would update their site with more info!

[Prophet6]

I've had my Cingular C331T for about two months. In general, I love the phone.

Pro's:
-Aesthetically pleasing to look at and hold. (Hey, I'm a sucker for aesthetics. So sue me.)

-Very flexible menuing system. You can reorder menu items and create shortcuts. For example, I have created a shortcut such that a quick MENU 2 gets me my calendar. A MENU 3 brings up ring styles. Any menu item anywhere in the menuing system can be assigned a shortcut. Very useful.

-Reception seems to be very good. Dropped calls and poor audio appear to be the result of friends' cell service (ATT and Sprint) not mine. I never have a problem when calling a landline phone.

-Ringtones are assignable to specific phonebook entries. So one friend gets one ringtone, and another friend gets a different ringtone. And there are multiple global ringtone styles, one of which you could set to be silent for all calls except those in your phonebook to which you assign particular ringtones. You can modify these different global ringtone styles: "Loud", "Soft", "Vibrate", "Vibe/Ring" (Vibrate two rings, then audibly ring the remainder of rings. Vibe/ring is very handy.) This phone has just about the most flexible ringtone styles and assignments I have seen.

-Phonebook is very robust. You can have multiple contact numbers for an entry and not have them all appear at first. That is, My friend may have a cell number, a home number, work, main, fax, pager, and email. You can assign one to be the primary. All other numbers for that contact will be hidden unless you drill down one more level. Very convenient.

-Decent, if not even better than usual, audio quality, send and receive. Though I seem to notice a slight buzz in the earpiece during the initial part of a call. This seems to occur during the time that the backlight is on. Maybe an electromagnetic interference issue with the earpiece and the LED's?

-Has all the features of the V60 except voice memo, and has some features that the V60 doesn't have, at a fraction of the price. Though it isn't easy to compare the two phones. They're designed for two different types of consumer, it seems.

-Calendar with alarms, calculator, recent calls (sent and received), some lame games.

-Buttons are easy to press, phone seems fairly durable, etc.

-Cost was $50. Not any more that a good Friday night out.


Cons:

-Despite Moto's advertising this phone as being polyphonic ringtone capable, Cingular's TDMA network is not capable of delivering a polyphonic ringtone to the phone. So if you want custom ringtones, you're stuck with iMelody monophonic tones. This point really angered me for a few days, but then I remembered that it was only a $50 phone. I'll wait till Cingular upgrades Central Fla to GSM and I'll buy a 332 or a T720 then.

-Some idiosyncracies that I don't care for include the "helpful" warning that a particular letter of the alphabet is not found in my phonebook. Huh? I mean that when I wish to call my friend Steve, for example, I just quickly push "Phonebook" 7777 (PQRS) and the S names appear. But during that time it may inform me with a slow-appearing message box that "No Q's found!" No really? I don't have any friends named Quentin or Quishondra? Quit telling me things I already know and just go to the S names, will ya? The helpful warning does nothing but slow me down.

-Battery life is pretty short. You'll get about an 90 minutes' talktime out of it, and a day or two of standby. But you won't get two day's standby and 30 minutes talktime at the same time! So you'll charge it every night. No big deal. If you're roaming on an analog system, the standby is only about 12 hours. Battery life is a trade off. The battery is small, which makes the phone small and light. I would prefer a small and light phone with a shorter battery life. That fits my usage profile: A dozen two-minute phone calls a day, with a 45-minuter thrown in now and again.

-Firmware issues. My first 331 had some problems with the calendar. Alarms wouldn't go off at the right time. They'd go off two weeks late, or a month early or whatever. I returned the phone and got another one that worked fine.

-Something that just happened yesterday is that the speaker (the ringing speaker, not the earpiece) buzzes and rattles when it rings. It's like you blew a speaker on your home stereo. I certainly hope they don't recommend that I not turn the ringer up all the way. (That's like the doctor who, upon hearing the patient describe how his arm hurts when he bends it this way, advises the patient not to bend his arm that way.) I took the phone apart and did not see any foreign matter that might account for it. It's still under warranty, so it will be repaired or replaced tomorrow.

**Update: 11/22/02: The Cingular dealer replaced my phone because of the rattling speaker. All is well. Let's hope that phone number 3 works for a while, as I'm getting sick of losing my address book and ringtones.

In summary, it's a great little phone that can't be beat even at twice the price.

[SteveYates]

Originally posted by: kyle

- Voice dialing -...there's no quick access button for it. I set up a shortcut

You can however set the two top buttons, normally Phonebook and Message. Since pressing up/down enters the phonebook I set that one for Voice Dial.

I also have to hold the phone to my face or it won't work (odd).

I noticed that, it doesn't seem to pick up voice for learning voice recognition very well.

Originally posted by: hman

Does the C331t have any holsters or leather cases available for it?

Yup, see LetsTalk. They have both a Motorola and a third party in a few varieties (swivel, normal, etc.) I've seen two of the third party non-swivel one, and it's OK but the holes don't quite line up with the earpiece/speakers. A bit with a razor fixes that though.

- Steve Yates
- What if there were no hypothetical situations?

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