Microsoft Sharp Kin One - Black (Verizon) Cellular Phone

I got this phone because it was time for an upgrade. It was the cheapest one to upgrade toa dn I did not have to get a data plan. It only cost me $19 :) All the other phones were smartphones or extremely basic. All the smartphones wanted a data plan..I already have the Zune software and put music on it, which I find cool. I'm a HUGW music person so it's nice to have music on my phone that plays clear. I still use my Zune, but use my phone as a backup or when I want to use the speakers. Battery life is long too. I read a review about the sound of tones. It must be the ringtone you pick because mine are fine and can be quite loud on high. I'm not into apps and games etc for some reason. I just use it for the simple things, so this phone works for me. I really love the size because it fits everywhere and the touch screen is very responsive and smooth. Also, I like the Wifi and you can watch Youtube videos.
People talk about email and not forwarding etc. Well it's not a smartphone..so don't expect it to be one. Anyway this phone works for me. It's like a basic phone and part smartphone in a way. Great phone for the $19 I spent on it.

I bought this phone because I liked the idea of having a feature phone with a physical qwerty, touch screen and wifi. Sounds like the best rolled into one right? Not quite. It's missing a few of the fundamentals such as an alert when you miss a text or phone call, no way to change the tiny font to a larger more seeable font. You can't forward emails and worst of all, you can barely hear the ringer even on high. I tried downloading outside ringtones but that didn't help. So very disappointed.

It's a great little phone for teenagers. It takes wonderful pictures and picks up wifi pretty quickly. The keyboard is easy to type on and it's cute, but cute isn't enough when you miss multiple calls and texts because you can't hear it and it doesn't have the option of alerting you to a missed call.

I bought this phone because my current phone (enV3) kept turning itself off (cleaning the battery contacts fixed this problem). I had fixed my old phone after already purchasing this. I figured I'd still give it a try and it would be nice to have something different.

Main problem with this phone is the fact that you DO need a data plan. I've read many reviews of people saying you don't, but that's not true. I was unable to activate this phone, so I called Verizon. Basically, the guy at Verizon told me that if it was a "Kin One M" I wouldn't need a data plan, but my phone was just a "Kin One" so it DOES need a data plan. I don't want to pay an extra $30 a month for a data plan, but if I did, I'd get a Droid or an iPhone, not this POS. Like I said, I believed other reviewers on other sites claiming that you don't need a data plan and you can still get online if you're in a wifi area. Well that and the cheap price is what sold me, but now I can't even use it.

Here are some other things I didn't like...

The layout is confusing.

The QWERTY keypad is small, and I couldn't for the life of me find the "underscore" symbol.

The speaker phone at it's loudest was about as loud as my current phone without the speaker phone turned on. I had to hold it to my ear while in speaker phone mode.

I've read many other negative things about this phone, but being that I can't even use it, I didn't get a chance to try anything else. I just hope that I can get the seller to give me a refund, minus whatever fees.

This phone has so many neat features. The camera pictures comes out pretty awesome!!. It has different screens to slide to and from. I especially love the screen of phone contacts and you can have your favorites on that entire particular slide! Its soooo cool.!

I bought this phone because I was tired of paying over $100 a month for a phone that I didn't even use to capacity. This phone is tiny and fits in my pocket way better than my droid, the camera is actually pretty decent. And the battery will last for days without a charge. Plus its an easy way to utilize a Zune pass without having to buy a Zune. I wish that there were some sort of games or something like that but I have a Nintendo D.S. that I never used so now I do. I also wish the screen was a little more scratch resistant. All in all a pretty good phone especially since I only paid 50bucks for it!