Motorola w370 (Tracfone)
First off, the basics: call quality, battery life, and build quality.
For the first point, I have no complaints. It's not the best phone in the world as far as call quality and reception, but the speaker is good and loud enough, whether you want speakerphone or just regular calling, and reception is very much on the good side. It's not a Nokia 6010, but again, it's not bad at all.
As to battery life, I was a little disappointed with the phone. Granted, I played with ringtones on meximum volume for an hour or so...so maybe I could have had another day of standby time, but I estimate that regular users will get about 3 1\2 days out of this phone if they don't talk a ton on it. For GSM, that's not great. But then again, if you find the right drivers you can grab any old mini-USB cable and charge your phone that way, as that's one of the ports on the phone (the other is the headset port...each one is protected by a rubber flap that isn't quite easy to get off, near the bottom of the phone).
On build quality, this phone pretty much blows me away, but for the keypad, which actually isn't half bad once you "break it in". "Razr on a budget" is about what this phone is built like. Budget meaning it's all-plastic, but it has a decent amount of heft to it, and it's decently thin, too.
I have zero complaints about build quality on this phone...there has been NO "hinge wobble" that has haunted all the flips I've had, and the fit and finish of this phone are in my opinion just as good as that of phones costing 2-3x as much. Yes, I'm singing praises of a phone that isn't even really made by Motorola, but honestly if Compal (who makes these phones) can turn out this kind of build quality on all their flips I'd rather them build the phone hardware! The absence of a caller ID screen on the phone, which leaves the front a huge black shiny plastic monolith with silver on the sides (and a Motorola logo in the middle toward the bottom...no Tracfone logo except on the removable backplate), gives the phone an even better chance at style because low-end caller ID screens are...low-end. Instead, you get a amber\green LED icon when you have incoming or missed calls, a blue LED icon when you have new messages and an amber LED telling you if you're charging the phone's battery or if it's low, going from top to bottom. These LEDs are perfectly invisible when not on (lovely seemingly scratch-resistant black plastic face) and perfectly sharp when on...I dig it. Cooler than my Cyclops's lo-fi external screen.
But before I forget, the keypad is very shallow-pitch, relatively unresponsive (get ready to hit it hard with your fingers when punching in numbers and texts) and seemingly made out of cheap rubber that's thin enough to cut with a sharp fingernail. But I've had no such problems, and the styling of the keypad fits with the phone, in case that's what you're worrying about...and it's not THAT much of a pain to use in and of itself.
Feature-wise, this phone can do everything a Tracfone can possibly do except take pictures...which isn't much. But what it does, it does pretty well, borrowing it suser interface from the Motorola c261 sans camera plus another ringtone or two...and a mysterious "additional storage area" for what I know not. But there's one big difference between this phone and the c261, interface-wise: for some wierd reason, the UI on the w370...mine at least...reminds me of that on the Marbl: slow. However, it's a lot...A LOT...more "lush" and friendly than the spartan Kyocera user interface, so it's not all bad. Just keep in mind that if you're fast at punching in numbers or text messages, the phone may not be able to keep up with you onscreen.
But yes, the w370 is a bit of a flagship phone at the moment, what with its KRZR-esque form factor (big "chin", narrow profile, relatively thin), and its general quality, but for the keypad and overall speed, lie up to its position. I daresay that this phone is twice as loud, if half as fast, as my Kyocera Cyclops, particularly on ringers. About as loud, I think, as the Nokia 2126, which is no slouch in the territory...though of course not as loud as the typical Nextel\Boost Mobile phone. Again, the user interface is a slightly cheapened copy of Motorola's usual interface, so it can be confusing at times, but if you know Motorola you definately know this phone, as opposed to working with the v170 or similar. And of course the phone has a very decently-sized screen to show this UI on...not particularly high-resolution, but not any lower than any other phone on mainstream prepaid.
...and it's on Tracfone, which represents a step forward for that company, into the realm of hones that are actually a bit on the classy side. So, aside from the phone speed issue, which may or may not be limited to just my phone but is on the minor side...I give this phone a solid thumbs up. And, I'll bet, so will whoever wins it come Sunday!
For the first point, I have no complaints. It's not the best phone in the world as far as call quality and reception, but the speaker is good and loud enough, whether you want speakerphone or just regular calling, and reception is very much on the good side. It's not a Nokia 6010, but again, it's not bad at all.
As to battery life, I was a little disappointed with the phone. Granted, I played with ringtones on meximum volume for an hour or so...so maybe I could have had another day of standby time, but I estimate that regular users will get about 3 1\2 days out of this phone if they don't talk a ton on it. For GSM, that's not great. But then again, if you find the right drivers you can grab any old mini-USB cable and charge your phone that way, as that's one of the ports on the phone (the other is the headset port...each one is protected by a rubber flap that isn't quite easy to get off, near the bottom of the phone).
On build quality, this phone pretty much blows me away, but for the keypad, which actually isn't half bad once you "break it in". "Razr on a budget" is about what this phone is built like. Budget meaning it's all-plastic, but it has a decent amount of heft to it, and it's decently thin, too.
I have zero complaints about build quality on this phone...there has been NO "hinge wobble" that has haunted all the flips I've had, and the fit and finish of this phone are in my opinion just as good as that of phones costing 2-3x as much. Yes, I'm singing praises of a phone that isn't even really made by Motorola, but honestly if Compal (who makes these phones) can turn out this kind of build quality on all their flips I'd rather them build the phone hardware! The absence of a caller ID screen on the phone, which leaves the front a huge black shiny plastic monolith with silver on the sides (and a Motorola logo in the middle toward the bottom...no Tracfone logo except on the removable backplate), gives the phone an even better chance at style because low-end caller ID screens are...low-end. Instead, you get a amber\green LED icon when you have incoming or missed calls, a blue LED icon when you have new messages and an amber LED telling you if you're charging the phone's battery or if it's low, going from top to bottom. These LEDs are perfectly invisible when not on (lovely seemingly scratch-resistant black plastic face) and perfectly sharp when on...I dig it. Cooler than my Cyclops's lo-fi external screen.
But before I forget, the keypad is very shallow-pitch, relatively unresponsive (get ready to hit it hard with your fingers when punching in numbers and texts) and seemingly made out of cheap rubber that's thin enough to cut with a sharp fingernail. But I've had no such problems, and the styling of the keypad fits with the phone, in case that's what you're worrying about...and it's not THAT much of a pain to use in and of itself.
Feature-wise, this phone can do everything a Tracfone can possibly do except take pictures...which isn't much. But what it does, it does pretty well, borrowing it suser interface from the Motorola c261 sans camera plus another ringtone or two...and a mysterious "additional storage area" for what I know not. But there's one big difference between this phone and the c261, interface-wise: for some wierd reason, the UI on the w370...mine at least...reminds me of that on the Marbl: slow. However, it's a lot...A LOT...more "lush" and friendly than the spartan Kyocera user interface, so it's not all bad. Just keep in mind that if you're fast at punching in numbers or text messages, the phone may not be able to keep up with you onscreen.
But yes, the w370 is a bit of a flagship phone at the moment, what with its KRZR-esque form factor (big "chin", narrow profile, relatively thin), and its general quality, but for the keypad and overall speed, lie up to its position. I daresay that this phone is twice as loud, if half as fast, as my Kyocera Cyclops, particularly on ringers. About as loud, I think, as the Nokia 2126, which is no slouch in the territory...though of course not as loud as the typical Nextel\Boost Mobile phone. Again, the user interface is a slightly cheapened copy of Motorola's usual interface, so it can be confusing at times, but if you know Motorola you definately know this phone, as opposed to working with the v170 or similar. And of course the phone has a very decently-sized screen to show this UI on...not particularly high-resolution, but not any lower than any other phone on mainstream prepaid.
...and it's on Tracfone, which represents a step forward for that company, into the realm of hones that are actually a bit on the classy side. So, aside from the phone speed issue, which may or may not be limited to just my phone but is on the minor side...I give this phone a solid thumbs up. And, I'll bet, so will whoever wins it come Sunday!