Consumer
Knowledge
Knowledge
This spring, my 1 year old cell phone stopped working. They just are not made to bounce well. With Virgin Mobile, it was no problem to run by my favorite discount store to pick up another one. That, plus the ability to easily see how many minutes I’ve used, are the best features of prepaid wireless.
On the store display, the blue Kyocera TNT caught my eye immediately. At $19.99 you have to take a look. The phone looked sleek and trim. After purchasing it, programming the phone to my number was a breeze.
If you are considering replacing your cell phone beware; the Kyocera TNT is not the most technically advanced phone that there is. I don’t need a lot of fancy bells and whistles to confuse me. It’s ok if the features are on the phone but chances are I will never use them.
My cell phone needs are simple. The one feature that is absolutely non-negotiable is the ability to reliably send and receive calls and basic text messages. That’s it. There are two features that are nice to have but are not deal breakers. These include a speakerphone and the ability to set different tones for certain text messages (or for specific incoming calls.)
For my needs, the Kyocera TNT does fine. The flip phone is about the size and shape of a credit card. It’s about a ½” thick and easily fits into a pocket or purse. It has both an adjustable ringer volume and the ability to assign ring tones. The number of ring tones is limited. If you don’t like what you have more can be purchased.
The speakerphone feature works well without much distortion. If a call using the speakerphone does begin to distort, backing off on the volume is usually enough to clear up the problem.
Sending and receiving calls is sometimes an issue. This doesn’t seem to be related to the phone as much as it is to the carrier. I’ve noticed that in very rural areas there may not be a cell phone signal. The phone also does not receive coverage with Virgin Mobile in Alaska or Canada. In Alaska, I was able to get a signal with another carrier which did prove that the phone itself worked fine.
Other than the above, sending and receiving text messages is also not a problem. There are a few “Power Tweeters” that I follow. Twitter comes through just fine as so other text messages.
The battery life on the Kyocera TNT is also good. Talk time is just under 2 hours. If the phone is not used much I can usually go 2 days on a full charge.
Other features on the Kyocera TNT flip phone are:
The phone also has a calendar, alarms, clock, calculator, contact list, voice dial and speed dial.
For $19.99 (and with this set of features) it’s hard to go wrong with the Kyocera TNT.
Sources:
Personal Experience, Virgin Mobile USA
