Product Review For:
Huawei U3200
(For Wind mobile)
I have had this phone for about 6 months, I have treated it lovingly and in that time have found many issues with both hardware and software, along with many benefits to owning this phone; I will be reviewing them so that you can see for yourself whether the pros outweigh the cons.
Hardware Cons:
I’m sorry to say there is a few that this phone has but the problems are not restricted to just the phone. These problems I have seen come up time and time again throughout the whole field of electronics. Most of which is only cosmetic but it has been a recurring problem.
I recommend getting a good soft case for it as it does not come with anything, to keep the screen from getting scratched and keep the body from getting ware marks as you can see in circle one of the picture
The soft case I have gotten leave the top most part of the phone showing so the rubbing in my pocket as I walk has warn a spot though the clear thin plastic they use to make it look shiny. In circle two you can see a mark I got from putting both my keys and my phone in the same pocket, even the tiniest nick on the silver paint will show the black plastic underneath. I have this exact same problem with my Cannon FS100 camcorder but that will be another review. The last cosmetic issue is in how you open the phone; you must open the phone from the bottom middle as I will show here.
Failure to do so will result in the sliding wheels scratching the paint on the back metal plate here.
Continues occurrence may damage the sliding wheel but I’m sure after the first time you should have learned.
Other hardware cons include removal of the battery will return your setting back to default, yet you must remove it to remove the SD mini memory stick. Hope you like resetting your ringtone again and again and again. Last this phone has one of the most annoying low battery beeps I have ever heard but that's just personal opinion.
Software Cons:
For the software I was not happy when I got this phone, considering I Paid for it I was very disappointed when I found out that this phone had more issues then my old Free phone the LG-285 (for Telus). Navigating the menu is broken up so when you first get the phone you almost have to guess when to go to find what you want. It takes a very long time to load anything on the memory card the first time, after the first time it is fine.
The phone asks you to set the time when you start it (after removing the battery), yet as soon as it hooks into the network it auto sets it. The clock is very small on the front screen and does not show the day (there is no way to change it); I do not ware a watch I rely on my phone to know what time it is. The phone can glitch into camera mode when still being locked.
There is no delete all messages button for text messages so you must delete each message one at a time. Last I hope you are not a fan of texting if you get this phone, by default all texting uses what they can “prediction” what this does is try’s to guess what you are saying by giving you a list of choices. There is no way to turn this default setting off other then manually for each and every text.
Hardware Pros:
Ah finally to the pros about owning this phone, this will not take long. The list is short but there are some things that I really do like about it.
Hardware wise this phone is much more than just a phone it is a flashlight, FM radio, 3.2 mega pixel camera along with taking video with sound and an mp3 player. All this on top of making calls and texts, this device easily does half of what I used to carry with me all in one compact package. The battery live is quite good running up to a week on idle and about 5 hours talk time on a single charge and you can still use the phone when plugged in but it will drop the call if unplugged.
Software Pros:
For texting the inbox can hold a very large number of text messages, my old phone the LG-285 could only hold 100 in the inbox and 50 in the outbox, right now as I write this I have 196 in my inbox and 125 in my outbox yet I am not even near the max and only having a 512megabite memory stick in the phone. Yes you need to have “headphones” plugged in to use the FM radio but it uses a Standard (3.5mm) Headphone Jack so if for whatever reason you do not have the earphones that it comes with it can use any standard (3.5mm).
Over All:
All in all this phone does everything I need it to do, I’m sure there are some features I have not mentioned but that is because I do not use them, if you are looking for a good cheep phone then this is it, I only paid $58 plus tax, with all the benefits to owning this phone I would have to say it is worth the $65.54 price tag
