Spotlight Customer Reviews
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great Phone for Blind - if you do NOT install 12/2007 software "upgrade"
Comment: This is the only one of 5 (6?) cell phones tried that worked for my 83 yo mother who is blind. For some reason the voice-recognition on this Pantech is the ONLY one that will acknowledge(much less understand and respond to) her voice. With the ability to set it to prompt for a voice command on "flip open", it has been a godsend for her, but beware the software "maintenance upgrade" issued 12/2007.
While the 12/2007 software maintenance release FINALLY enables initiating a call via Bluetooth, it TAKES AWAY the option to set the phone to automatically prompt for a voice command on opening, and instead requires the user to use the tiny, difficult-to-feel "Record" button on the right side, and it also does something to the voice recognition for while it does at least acknowledge that my mother has said SOMETHING, it no longer understands anything she says, instead responding with "Command not recognized. Please Repeat." or something totally off the wall, so it has become useless for her - though we were able to find a used one at an online auction without the "upgrade" which still has the "flip open" option.
Note that the phone still responds to my voice just fine and the new software does allow you to initiate a call via headset, but I have not used it enough to know if sound quality via Bluetooth has improved. It was previously quite poor with LG, Motorola, and Plantronics headsets tried BEFORE the new software (sound quality through the phone itself was excellent). I/we found battery life with the standard battery to be poor, but still probably better than that noted by a few users here. Battery life with the extended battery has not been a problem.
I loved the backup and synching of contacts to/from Outlook, but abandoned the phone myself largely due to its prior Bluetooth limitations. The phone has been discontinued but can be found used on auction sites, etc, and remaining new stock now available very cheap from Verizon (with 2 yr contract), but support is limited.
For a blind user who has assistance in entering contacts and who can take the time to become familiar with and adjust the phone settings, however - it's still a wonderful phone - as long as you don't install that software update!
Customer Rating: Summary: Very poor choice for a smartphone.
Comment: This is my third smartphone from Verizon Wireless, and the first one I have been really unhappy with. Here are just some of this phone's significant problems:
- This is a fairly obscure model of Korean-manufactured phone (Pantech), so it is extremely difficult to locate batteries and accessories for it.
- The phone comes with virtually nothing. No belt clip or carrying case, no extra battery, no desktop charger, no travel charger, no data card (all of which came with my previous Samsung smartphone from Verizon). Just a USB charger/data cable and wall AC charger cable.
- The recharge slot is located in the phone itself, and there is not a desktop charger made for this model, so you cannot keep a spare battery charging while you use the phone (unless you own two of them).
- The recharge slot is a proprietary custom one, not USB. So if you do not have your custom charge cable, there is no way to charge the phone.
- Unless you're a ten-year-old girl, the default ring tones that come with the phone are absolutely ridiculous, so you'll have to download and install real ones.
- The circular navigation pad and middle "OK" button are all perfectly flush, so you have to physically look at the phone and push very carefully to use them. Even then, I am constantly hitting the wrong selection.
- The volume up-down buttons on the left side of the phone are too small and much too low on the phone, making it very difficult to use while talking. Instead, they should be located where the Mini-SD card slot is.
- The screen brightness is very poor, and there is no option to adjust it. It's almost impossible to read in normal sunlight, so you have to hold your hand over the phone to use it outside.
- The built-in camera is extremely low quality. And don't forget, you can't use it outside in the daytime anyway because of the screen's poor brightness.
- The back of the phone is not flush: the bottom two-thirds is thinner than the rest of the phone, making it uncomfortable to hold and difficult to open with one hand.
- The speaker has a very narrow range of use, so if your ear is not perfectly placed over it, the call is very difficult to hear. And don't even bother with the speaker phone: the sound is so garbled as to be almost unintelligible.
I have been using this phone for over three months, and I'm about to throw it in the garbage and go back to my old Samsung i600, which thankfully I kept. Do yourself a huge favor and avoid this one.
Customer Rating: Summary: Not my old Treo but a good phone
Comment: Although I miss my old Treo Smartphone, this one works with what I need. All i really wanted was a phone that had an easily accessible and syncable calendar feature. This one works well, fits in my purse, and does what I want although there is no touch screen and the full keyboard is missing. Syncs to Windows programs I needed with a sleek color background. The camera even has a flash.
Customer Rating: Summary: Phone is ok, but A2DP is unusable
Comment: This phone is ok for the most part; it's the smallest smartphone available, and the software is very stable. All of the included applications work well.
The case is a little cheap and scratches easily though, and the stub antenna is constantly getting pulled out in my pocket and bent.
The main problems with the phone though is that A2DP, a feature Verizon advertises as working, is completely unusable. Because of a bug in Microsoft's Bluetooth stack, the sound quality on A2DP is awful - literally headache-inducing. Microsoft has fixed the problem in one of their AKU's (and in WM6 for that matter), but Verizon in typical form has no plans to update.
If you're considering this phone and want to use A2DP stay far away.
Customer Rating: Summary: SMARTphone? Really?
Comment: I've had this phone now for three months and am really disappointed. My previous Verizon phone was a Motorola E815, and I have an N75 with Cingular that's also a Smartphone. I got it as it's the only clamshell smartphone Verizon offers, and the only clamshell they offer that can stream video.
Pros:
Small, lightweight, especially compared to other WM5 phones.
Streams video well provided a MS stream is available.
Only WM5 clamshell currently available from a US carrier.
Cons:
Bluetooth headset support is HORRIBLE! The phone supports voice dialing/command, but you have to speak in to the phone. MS has some lame excuse about why voice command isn't supported from a BT headset- although every other phone I've had/have it works fine. Basically, forget hands-free from BT.
Audio quality is really bad. Crackles and pops constantly. I'm using it the same place I used the E815, and audio was fine.
Build quality - the phone "feels" a little on the cheap side.
The phone doesn't come with any "normal" ringtones - not even a "beep beep". It has 5 or 6 cheezy techo-y ringtones, but nothing really "business-like"
When you answer a call via BT, the ringtone continues to play over the first 2 or 3 seconds of your phone conversation.
The speakerphone quality is so bad it's almost unusable.
The phone's UA Profile and browser headers are wrong. The phone reports a bad URL for it's wap profile and also reports that it's screen is 176x220 (it's acutally 240x320). Even Verizon's own wap site displays wrong on the phone.
Verizon says if you use the phone to stream video, you're violating the TOS and they will cancel your account. This isn't on the TOS you sign when you get the phone, it's on their website and in the info the send you later. HOWEVER, Verizon's own PN-820 homepage has streaming video on it- so accessing content on their own homepage for their phone will put you in violation of their TOS.
