I got an unlocked, unbranded PEBL in Fiery Red to use with my Cingular SIM. Overall: It is not red at all, it is a medium dark maroon with a metallic shine, it looks very classy. Actually reminds me of a jewellary box my grandmother had. The feel of it is very nice and very comfortable in my hand or in my pocket. The slide open is very easy to use with one hand although it did take me a couple of hours before I became good at it. PROS: Fantastic Reception-better than any phone I have had after Cingular changed to GSM from TDMA. Excellent call clarity-no background noise what so ever. The camera is pretty good for a standard VGA camera. BT is flawless and easy to pair with. The voice recognition is great The modes can be changed from the side button. The call can be silenced from the side button. The outside display is very easy to read. The screen although on the small side is very crisp CONS: I don't understand the point of caller ID pictures if it does not show up on the outside screen. The battery charges everytime I connect the USB cable to use MPT, I am not sure if charging the battery for such short periods of time is good for overall battery life. I absolutely love this phone and it is definitely a keeper. At this time I have three irritating but minor problems with it.: The voicemail icon does not go away. There is a strange text message with symbols only after every voicemail. When a custom ringtone is assigned, then the text/mms from that person also come in with that ringtone. The first two, according to MotoModders and HoFo are due to the fact that it is an unbranded world phone, and can easily be seem edited. I would gladly do it if P2K does not freeze up my laptop everytime I open it up. The third problem I am told is how Motorola handles the custom ringtones, the ringtone is associated with a number and not whether it is a call or text etc. This phone is exactly what I wanted, a quad band with graet reception, in perfect size and easy to use.
Nice review, Charlyee! Been thinking about getting the same phone under T-Mobile. I've gotten feedback from friend's who also have the Pebl and they say the same thing...the reception and call quality is outstanding! Regarding the "cons", the only thing I can say about the caller ID pics is I currently have a Moto V325, and I also have the same feature. The only benefit I've had from it is for "call waiting"...when I've been on a call, the person's pic has popped-up, so that's kinda nice. During other calls, it's only there for a second when I 1st open the flip, then it goes back to the regular wallpaper screen. Guess if you turned off the active flip, that would work also. Regarding the USB...my manual states that even if the phone is charged...continuing to leave the phone plugged in will not hurt the phone or battery. Whether that's totally true or not remains to be seen. Also had trouble sometimes with the voicemail icon (wonder if it's a "Moto" thing...), anyhow, I had to go into "messages" and delete the message from there, and the icon went away. Now it seems to disappear on it's own. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the phone! Chris
What do you think about the keypad? Does it look better in real live than in the pictures? I just do not like the design at all.
Great review Charlyee! My V505,and V551 used to charge all the time when I used MPT,strange my V557 does not and I was about to say it is a trait with all Moto phones. Anyway I am glad you are happy with your new phone, it is one of my favorites good luck with your PEBL.
Charlyee, Nice review! I love Motorola phones, and that one is very stylish. I know that this is just a temporary phase for you because you have been talking about the N-80 for soooooo long. Glad you are happy, the phone looks very classy. The icon that does not go away may be what Cingular calls "Ghost-mail", if you call tech they can walk you thru a process and send an OTA to delete it permanently. I did it when the VM platform changed. Enjoy the phone young lady!
Hi Chris, thanks, yes I am really enjoying the phone and recommend it highly There is no way to go into "messages" to delete the VM message from there, I can delete txt/mms/service message but not VM. I called Cingular again this morning, maybe they can do something. Has any of your friend's had this problem? Hi Moto, the keypad is setup like the RAZR but lot more spartan. It is not something to get excited about but on the other hand it is perfectly funtional and I am happy with it. It is all black and really does not look bad at all. Thanks much joseph, it is a great phone. Thanks Steven, yes I have wanted the N80 for the longest time but I absolutely refuse to pay the preposterous amount that it supposedly is going to go for. I am also a little concerned about the ease of one handed operation on the N80, since it has to have the slide open to use the number pad. The 2 phones I have kept the longest are the LG VX6000 and the Nokia 6230, 10 months each, and at this time I see the PEBL meeting that and may even exceeding that. On the VM issue, I have called Cingular 3 times and they finally put in a ticket to see what they can do. Thanks walkguru. PS: The battery life seems to be pretty decent also. It is kind of hard to be exact right now because of my playing with it and using MPT more than I normally would. It will probably be around 3-5 days and turning it off at night.
i have a friend who had asked about the pebl, and i asked around and it was mostly neg. at that time. so i called him yesterday, told him about your review, so he's gonna look at it again. he's with tmo, and thinking about switching to cingular. dan.
walkguru, I would be interesred in knowing his opinion on the phone. Small update: I was able to successfully seem edit the voicemail indictor and the strange text message following listening to a VM, by following the directions at MotoModders. I also seem edited the roaming triangle that would have come on if I was not on native Cingular. It was surprisingly easy, took less than 5 mins. after I got P2KMan to recognize my phone. Now the phone is just perfect except ofcourse for the voice & data calls coming in with same ringtone, but as everyone else pointed out there is no way around it. Just my 2 cents.
i will keep you updated, charlyee, also was wondering does the pebl have a radio, i aquaried a stero headphone, from a 60 i belive, and it plays the radio in both of my v600, and my v551. thanks. dan.
Thanks walkguru, I don't think the PEBL has a radio or if it does I haven't found it yet. Here are the Full Specifications.
i belive the way to find out is to get the stereo headset, and plug it in, i think. its a, motorola 01322a1-0091655-x, or its syn8609b. both numbers are on there. edit/ i read the specs but no mention of radio, hmmm
Charlyee, Did you compare the PEBL vs the SLVR? I handle the SLVR yesterday in the store...it looks very nice.
Hi viewfly, yes I did. I like the SLVR also, I almost got one about a month or so back. Here are my major reasons for choosing the PEBL over the SLVR: 1. Call clarity 2. Reception 3. Earpiece volume. 4. Quality of workmanship. Ofcourse these are just my personal opinions. PS: The PEBL is what I wanted the 6230 to be, small, no-nonsense phone with great reception and quad band.
you mean you dont like the 6230 anymore, :wink: i carry one of my 6230's as my second phone.:browani:
LOL, walkguru I haven't had my 6230 since 9/05. I sold it after I got my first 6682. I would still have the 6230 if it was a quad band, I need the 900 MHz for travelling to the Far East, other than that I still like the 6230 very much. The SE Z520i is my backup phone.
Yea, and the PEBL has EDGE, which the SLVR does not. Unfortunately, both do not have the FM radio, which I like. Looks nice...wish that Cingular carried it, 'cause it's time for my every 1.5 year upgrade. I would like a good quad phone.
Thanks viewfly, and neither of them have EDGE, but I have not noticed a difference from my 6682 or 6230 in data exchange yet.. PEBL Vs. SLVR
Spartan is good but I just can't help but think it was poorly designed, almost as though the keypad was an afterthought. Maybe it will grow on me if I see it in real life but I just don't know...
Hey Hooligan, quit saying nasty things about my latest love. Come on now, atleast give me some credit for choosing your favorite brand of phone... . Now about the keypad, it is jet black, does not have the V6 or the 2 strange holes above it. It actually goes well with the area surrounding the screen at least in my opinion. I look forward to your opinion about after you see it in real life...
Pictures Taken By My Z520i Hmm, why are they so small, maybe I don't know how to use the camera on the SE..?????
Ok got the SE camera figured out. Sorry, I lost the editing time period and had to do a separate post.
Charlyee- You're right, the keypad on your U6 is much better than the one pictured. I'll still have to see it in real life to determine how I really feel about it. The PEBL is a weird phone for me, I really, really wanted it when pictures first started leaking, then I saw the key pad and didn't want it as much... then, of course, Motorola said that it would not have EDGE because of the chipset problem so I decided I would not get the PEBL. Now I'm slighly more inclined to want it but I still think my next phone will either be the SLVR or something not even on the horizon yet. My next phone is going to have to be pretty impressive to replace the v620.
Hi Hooligan, I have to tell you that this phone has really impressive call clarity and reception and coming from a succession of phones V600, 6230, and the 6682 that are well known for this, to me it is better than all of them. I am also pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to seem edit and change some things. I got rid of the date and time from the inside screen and could also get rid of the Operator logo if I wanted to and installed this skin. This skin was meant for my phone..... . What do you think?
When it comes to European exotics, I'm more of a Porsche man, myself, but Ferrari makes beautiful cars. The new Ferrari 599 GTB is amazing.
I am definitely a Ferrari person , I think I have wanted one ever since I learnt how to spell it. But then again I like a variety of other "European Exotics" including Porsches . Back on the topic, I have a real good deal at work. We have a new person in IT support who really knows the Motos and can do some amazing stuff with them. So now I just send him an "SOS" E-Mail and I get lots of help. I got him to join WA but has only posted once and I cannot get him to participate. It's too bad because he would be such a welcome addition to the WA knowledge base. The Ferrari skin is from him, he has it on his RAZR and it looks better yet. PS: I am such a moron sometimes, I have been noticing that the camera pictures are kind of blurry, I realized today that the screen protectors I have installed cover the lens. I guess in my defense it is a dumb design to not have an opening where the lens is.
I noticed, while looking at the 360 view, that the charging port is on top with the PEBL. That's a little weird. Does it create any sort of problems?
