- Jul 15, 2003
- 80,287
- 17,081
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Shortylickens Review of the Blitz.
From Verizon with basic voice plan. Please ask if there is anything else you wanna know.
In my quest to find the perfect phone (for me) I recently reviewed the Nokia 6301 and Motorola i580. Wasn?t satisfied with either so I went to yet another service and got another phone, the UT Starcom Blitz through Verizon Wireless.
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=1563
UTStarcom hasn?t made many phones but all of them are interesting in some way.
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/manufacturer.php?m=47
This one caught my attention at a Best Buy recently where it was available in blue or silver. I wasn?t about to get a phone through Best Buy so I went to the local Verizon store where I found only the blue model available.
Some places may call this a Verizon phone, or an LG phone, but it?s really made by UT Starcom and they are the ones you contact if you have odd questions about the device. Not that it matters much. For all I know UT Starcom is the company who actually makes all of LG's phones.
BUILD:
Not too shabby. Certainly not as tough as a rugged phone like my last phone, but it?s definitely designed with the idea kids will be handling it. The blue color in the photos is actually a little brighter than the phone really is. It won?t look too inconspicuous in a grown-ups hand. Fits my small grip nicely and can easily be used with one hand. The slider is solid & works great and since you are always looking at the screen from the same angle (never have to flip it around) you won?t feel uncomfortable opening & closing this thing constantly. If you have all your contacts programmed you can do most of your work from the closed position using the buttons on the bottom. Everything is sealed up tightly when the slider is closed. I won?t say its waterproof but it will certainly keep the dust out. The keypad is nicely made but the buttons are very small, even for my tiny mitts. This is where the teenybopper nature of the phone shows its true colors. I suspect they only planned for little fingers to be using it. Adults will probably be frustrated.
BATTERY:
Good, but not great. With lots of media playing the phone dies in less than a day. Not doing anything with it will still cause the battery to drain in two days. Pretty poor standby time compared to many other phones.
DISPLAY:
Excellent, especially considering this is not a PDA phone and its reasonably-priced. As with all sliders you only have one display so they put all their effort into it. I think the horizontal screens are better for most phones, even small ones if you can somehow make it work. Its big and bright and will show pics well enough. It also lets you work easily while making text messages and such. The big screen is helpful for using GPS but that wont matter much.
VOICE CALLS:
You can answer the phone by opening or hitting the Connect button. You can end calls by closing or hitting End. This can be modified to only allow the Connect and End buttons to function, so if you want to open up and play around while in the middle of a call, you don?t have to worry about accidentally disconnecting someone when you close it. Call quality was alright, voices usually seemed muffled and weak. Volume control was decent for the earpiece and excellent for the speaker. You can do the normal contact management stuff and the big horizontal display & full keypad make this much easier.
DATA and Messaging:
This is where the phone could shine brightly, but doesn?t. First and foremost: You cannot get any kind of a data plan with this sucker. That?s right, you will pay two dollars a megabyte for everything you do. This isn?t a big deal for text messaging, those are usually included in increments of 100, 500 or 1000 along with the voice plans. But any sort of program downloading, using the GPS navigation or email writing will suck up your money quickly. You also have to pay for and download the email client. The phone does come with quite a few IM clients.
Verizon really should make data plans available for it, especially considering the target market is kids who want to do more than talk, and I don?t think parents want to pay $2 a meg for their kids to go crazy with the data features.
The only good thing is this phone wont do proper web browsing so you probably wont find too many ways to use data.
MULTIMEDIA:
Again decent, not great. It has a clunky music player which stops running when you exit it. If you wanna listen to music while doing other things you are out of luck. Only played certain types of mp3's for me. You can use a handful of image formats & sizes for wallpapers and caller ID's. You also get the privilege of paying assloads of money for ringtones and music clips through Verizon?s cumbersome store. Also in Verizons crummy online store are simple programs that cost anywhere from 10 dollars a pop to 5 dollars a month. If you get too much you will find yourself paying an aweful lot each month. The camera stinks but I don?t care much for cameras on phones anyway, and for the cheap price & youth oriented nature you really shouldn?t expect much. The thing includes a small memory card but you can get new ones so cheap these days its not an issue. I saw a 1GB over at Wal-Mart for 8 bucks, and this was long before black Friday. That should allow plenty of photos and music for a kid.
GPS:
This is just downright annoying. The GPS works great and so does the Verizon Navigator. They don?t advertise this feature at all and its probably the best one. Your location is fixed quickly and getting a driving plan is relatively quick too. If you make an unscheduled detour the program does a good job of making new directions. The big, bright screen makes it easy to use, as does the ability to close the slider and keep the program running. Am not sure if you can take calls while using GPS. Shame it works so well because it requires a download and lots of data usage, which you ALWAYS have to pay for. Its also the one cool feature that kids wont likely use. Also for the parents is the ability to track your kids wherever they go (assuming they don?t go into the settings and turn off the GPS receiver). Navigator costs 10 bucks a month which is not a bad deal if you use it a lot. You can also sample it for a day at the price of three bucks.
CONCLUSIONS:
Yet another phone that could have been so much more. The main issue is not being able to get any sort of data plan. You will always be paying 2 dollars a megabyte no matter what you do. IM, Email, the gimped web browser, GPS, Verizon?s crummy store, everything. The only thing that?s free or has a reasonable plan is the text messaging. But this sucker is being branded as a messaging powerhouse because of the IM & email. If they had just included the programs on the phone so you don?t have to search for and personally download them (the email client & Navigator being the best) that would have been great. If they would just have a one time charge or cheaper monthly rate for these programs that would have been super great. But they didn?t do any of that stuff and as such the phone is really only good for text messages, which is a waste of nice hardware.
It may also be lacking as a texting tool because the keys are so damn small, but the kids who like it would probably deal with it.
This is still a great phone for the kids to message with if their parents could find some way to completely disable data usage. Otherwise they might have a heart attack when the bill arrives.
These folks say pretty much the same thing:
http://www.infosyncworld.com/r...reless-blitz/9733.html
Only they had more complaints about the individual quirks of the message programs.
Incidentally I have used another kiddy texting phone before, the Nokia 3300 and while it wasn?t a slick slider with a huge, hi-color display, the keyboard was much easier to use. Also the music player ran more formats and you could use anything as a ringtone. It even had FM radio.
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=282
From Verizon with basic voice plan. Please ask if there is anything else you wanna know.
In my quest to find the perfect phone (for me) I recently reviewed the Nokia 6301 and Motorola i580. Wasn?t satisfied with either so I went to yet another service and got another phone, the UT Starcom Blitz through Verizon Wireless.
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=1563
UTStarcom hasn?t made many phones but all of them are interesting in some way.
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/manufacturer.php?m=47
This one caught my attention at a Best Buy recently where it was available in blue or silver. I wasn?t about to get a phone through Best Buy so I went to the local Verizon store where I found only the blue model available.
Some places may call this a Verizon phone, or an LG phone, but it?s really made by UT Starcom and they are the ones you contact if you have odd questions about the device. Not that it matters much. For all I know UT Starcom is the company who actually makes all of LG's phones.
BUILD:
Not too shabby. Certainly not as tough as a rugged phone like my last phone, but it?s definitely designed with the idea kids will be handling it. The blue color in the photos is actually a little brighter than the phone really is. It won?t look too inconspicuous in a grown-ups hand. Fits my small grip nicely and can easily be used with one hand. The slider is solid & works great and since you are always looking at the screen from the same angle (never have to flip it around) you won?t feel uncomfortable opening & closing this thing constantly. If you have all your contacts programmed you can do most of your work from the closed position using the buttons on the bottom. Everything is sealed up tightly when the slider is closed. I won?t say its waterproof but it will certainly keep the dust out. The keypad is nicely made but the buttons are very small, even for my tiny mitts. This is where the teenybopper nature of the phone shows its true colors. I suspect they only planned for little fingers to be using it. Adults will probably be frustrated.
BATTERY:
Good, but not great. With lots of media playing the phone dies in less than a day. Not doing anything with it will still cause the battery to drain in two days. Pretty poor standby time compared to many other phones.
DISPLAY:
Excellent, especially considering this is not a PDA phone and its reasonably-priced. As with all sliders you only have one display so they put all their effort into it. I think the horizontal screens are better for most phones, even small ones if you can somehow make it work. Its big and bright and will show pics well enough. It also lets you work easily while making text messages and such. The big screen is helpful for using GPS but that wont matter much.
VOICE CALLS:
You can answer the phone by opening or hitting the Connect button. You can end calls by closing or hitting End. This can be modified to only allow the Connect and End buttons to function, so if you want to open up and play around while in the middle of a call, you don?t have to worry about accidentally disconnecting someone when you close it. Call quality was alright, voices usually seemed muffled and weak. Volume control was decent for the earpiece and excellent for the speaker. You can do the normal contact management stuff and the big horizontal display & full keypad make this much easier.
DATA and Messaging:
This is where the phone could shine brightly, but doesn?t. First and foremost: You cannot get any kind of a data plan with this sucker. That?s right, you will pay two dollars a megabyte for everything you do. This isn?t a big deal for text messaging, those are usually included in increments of 100, 500 or 1000 along with the voice plans. But any sort of program downloading, using the GPS navigation or email writing will suck up your money quickly. You also have to pay for and download the email client. The phone does come with quite a few IM clients.
Verizon really should make data plans available for it, especially considering the target market is kids who want to do more than talk, and I don?t think parents want to pay $2 a meg for their kids to go crazy with the data features.
The only good thing is this phone wont do proper web browsing so you probably wont find too many ways to use data.
MULTIMEDIA:
Again decent, not great. It has a clunky music player which stops running when you exit it. If you wanna listen to music while doing other things you are out of luck. Only played certain types of mp3's for me. You can use a handful of image formats & sizes for wallpapers and caller ID's. You also get the privilege of paying assloads of money for ringtones and music clips through Verizon?s cumbersome store. Also in Verizons crummy online store are simple programs that cost anywhere from 10 dollars a pop to 5 dollars a month. If you get too much you will find yourself paying an aweful lot each month. The camera stinks but I don?t care much for cameras on phones anyway, and for the cheap price & youth oriented nature you really shouldn?t expect much. The thing includes a small memory card but you can get new ones so cheap these days its not an issue. I saw a 1GB over at Wal-Mart for 8 bucks, and this was long before black Friday. That should allow plenty of photos and music for a kid.
GPS:
This is just downright annoying. The GPS works great and so does the Verizon Navigator. They don?t advertise this feature at all and its probably the best one. Your location is fixed quickly and getting a driving plan is relatively quick too. If you make an unscheduled detour the program does a good job of making new directions. The big, bright screen makes it easy to use, as does the ability to close the slider and keep the program running. Am not sure if you can take calls while using GPS. Shame it works so well because it requires a download and lots of data usage, which you ALWAYS have to pay for. Its also the one cool feature that kids wont likely use. Also for the parents is the ability to track your kids wherever they go (assuming they don?t go into the settings and turn off the GPS receiver). Navigator costs 10 bucks a month which is not a bad deal if you use it a lot. You can also sample it for a day at the price of three bucks.
CONCLUSIONS:
Yet another phone that could have been so much more. The main issue is not being able to get any sort of data plan. You will always be paying 2 dollars a megabyte no matter what you do. IM, Email, the gimped web browser, GPS, Verizon?s crummy store, everything. The only thing that?s free or has a reasonable plan is the text messaging. But this sucker is being branded as a messaging powerhouse because of the IM & email. If they had just included the programs on the phone so you don?t have to search for and personally download them (the email client & Navigator being the best) that would have been great. If they would just have a one time charge or cheaper monthly rate for these programs that would have been super great. But they didn?t do any of that stuff and as such the phone is really only good for text messages, which is a waste of nice hardware.
It may also be lacking as a texting tool because the keys are so damn small, but the kids who like it would probably deal with it.
This is still a great phone for the kids to message with if their parents could find some way to completely disable data usage. Otherwise they might have a heart attack when the bill arrives.
These folks say pretty much the same thing:
http://www.infosyncworld.com/r...reless-blitz/9733.html
Only they had more complaints about the individual quirks of the message programs.
Incidentally I have used another kiddy texting phone before, the Nokia 3300 and while it wasn?t a slick slider with a huge, hi-color display, the keyboard was much easier to use. Also the music player ran more formats and you could use anything as a ringtone. It even had FM radio.
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=282
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