I have had my Motorola I670 for almost 6 months now and it is overall a decent phone, I would say that it does what it’s supposed to and I don’t have any problems with it. A good phone but a basic phone, pretty much what I consider low-end cheap flip-phone. I would say this phone is for anyone with a budget that loves Nextel and wants a phone with their most basic features and isn’t worried about style. This phone retails for around ($249) for full price but with rebates and instant savings you can look to pay around $49.
The Motorola I670 has been called bulky by other reviews and I disagree its no bigger than any other cell phone in its class, it is 3.5 by 2 by 10 inches and weighs in at 4.1 ounces. This means it’s just a little bigger than a pack of gum; it fits fairly easily into your pockets and doesn’t feel uncomfortable.
The shape is pretty standard but it has some style to it, it’s not ugly but most teenagers won’t want such a simple phone. It has a sleek design that makes it to carry around but lacks a protective cover of plastic, which my old Nextel phone was the toughest phone around and could handle being dropped without many repercussions. This phone however has not protective coating and if you drop it, you can expect scratches and other blemishes, and it is also susceptible to the SIM card being jarred loose. This has happened to me a couple of times after dropping the phone.
The phone lacks several features that will make some consumers shy away, for instance it doesn’t have an external display which a lot of people like. Without the external display you have to open the phone to see who is calling and to know if you want to avoid answering the call or not. Many people also use their cell phones as a way to keep track of time and without the external display they have to open the phone to see the time which is a pain, a nice external display would greatly increase this phones value. A camera is another option this phone lacks, most new phones are capable of taking pictures, and this one is not. Many people want a phone that can take pics or video and this one doesn’t do either, I don’t really care I have a digital camera that I paid a lot for so I don’t need a lousy cell phone camera, but most people do enjoy this feature, which the Motorola I670 lacks.
The internal display is nothing to swoon over either, most cameras in its class have 262,000 colors and the display on the Motorola I670 only has 65,000 colors. This is a huge difference and makes for a less bright and sharp display. The lack of camera on the phone also means if you want to change your background image you either have to download one from their site or create one and get a cable to allow you to transfer the image to your phone. Either way it’s a hassle.
The menu has also changed from a much easier to use and attractive menu on the Motorola I870. It does however have a very extensive menu that is fairly user friendly, but it can be pretty in-depth at times. The layout of the keys is pretty standard but they added a rubberized texture to the buttons and they also backlit the buttons. The one issue I have with the buttons is that the light on them takes a good 20 seconds to come on and is a pain if you are trying to push buttons in the dark.
The phone book is where Nextel is always business friendly they offer a 600-contact phone book that allows room in each entry for 7 phone numbers, email address, IP address, and of course a Direct Connect number. You can also organize your contacts into a series of groups for regular or PTT calls. You can set each individual person or group to one of the 17 ring tones you wish. The phone also features some other helpful gadgets, such as voice dialing, a calendar, memo pad, call and voice memo recorder, memo pad, text messaging, speaker phone, airplane mode, and onboard GPS. Of course you also get the Direct connect Walkie-talkie service which lets you chat with up to 20 others via PTT at once.
The phones add-ons are pretty limited as I mentioned before, you don’t have much in a selection of wallpaper, the games are all trials and if you want full versions you have to buy them. So no teenagers are going to appreciate this phone, you can’t take pics of your friends, no video recording capabilities, no games, and it’s not an mp3 player. Basically I would label this phone the perfect phone for a business person on a budget.
Other than physical features let’s talk about how well the phone works when in use. Over all in the Kansas City area I get great reception and never have issue hearing people when using the cellular talk service. The direct connect was just as good with few interruptions, but sometimes you will get a garbled bunch of voice and be forced to ask for a repeat of the message. My wife uses the direct connect to talk to her family in Mexico a lot and hardly ever has any issues. The speaker phone works well; people have said they didn’t know they were on speaker until I told them.
Battery life is pretty good with about 2.75 hours of continuous talk time and 5 1/2 days. When tested I got about 3 hours of talk on my battery and almost 7 days without a recharge.
Overall this is a good standard phone that you can get a good price and will do what you would expect a phone to do. It doesn’t have a lot of extras but for those of us who don’t want the extras this is the perfect budget cell phone.
