IBM THINKPAD X31SMB PM-1.4G 20GB ( 28842WU )

IBM THINKPAD X31SMB PM-1.4G 20GB ( 28842WU )
Manufacturer: IBM (Aap Misc Parts)
Product Type: Personal Computer

Editorial Review:
Product Description
If you have a mobile staff that's always on the move, the ultraportable ThinkPad X31 notebook with Intel Centrino Mobile Technology (select models) is indispensable. Other ThinkPad X31 models offer the wireless flexibility and backward-compatibility of integrated 802.11a/b/g technology. The optional ThinkPad X3 UltraBase adds even more functionality.Work on and on and on - up to 10.1 hours unplugged - when you combine the standard battery with the optional Extended Life Battery. This unique battery fits on the bottom of the ThinkPad X31 notebook and even improves the ergonomic typing angle while providing power. Best of all, it weighs less than a pound.Look inside and discover ThinkVantage Technologies and ThinkVantage Designs to help free up IT resources and decrease expenses. You'll see how to work more confidently and efficiently - and gain the time you need to focus on strategic goals.c goals.

Average customer rating: 3.0

Good at making calls. All else a bust.
looking to get a different phone
DON'T BUY THIS PHONE...OR SPRINT SERVICE
A very decent phone
Great phone, great service, great price.

Motorola C290 Phone (Sprint)

Manufacturer: Sprint
Product Group: Wireless
Binding: Wireless Phone
ASIN: B000FMXB9U

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Customer Reviews:

Good at making calls. All else a bust. .......2006-11-30

Do not buy this phone if you are a gadgets person. It is mostly functional as a phone. It gets good reception -- but it has a bug when you get in spotty service areas. (See "Eleven" below.) But it does not function as an integrated address book tool. My list -- not in order of importance:

One. This phone does not sync addresses, nor, import nor export addresses. You have to manually enter your address book one person and phone number at a time. If you change someone's address in your cell phone, a phone that syncs will automatically change the address on every computer you plug it into. This phone does not do that.

Two: this phone is NOT compatible with Motorola Phone Tools. I just assumed it was since it had a USB port. Wrong. (A workaround -- in Motorola Phone Tools, "Cancel" the automatic driver upload 12-15 times. Finally MPT will ask, "Do you want to manually install a driver?" Click yes, and select C305. The interface is shaky but it is functional.) According to Motorola Tech Support, there are no plans to provide Motorola Phone Tools a driver for the C290.

Three: I always thought people that complained about ringtones were shallow -- call me shallow. They sound like a cha-cha band warming up on a cruise ship to Jamaica -- a depressed cha-cha band. I have considered downloading new ringers, but I'd have to turn on $15 a month Sprint Visions. Hmmmm -- $180 a year to get rid of the cha-cha band? If Motorola Phone Tools worked, I could compose my own music.

Four: The calendar does not download or export from any known calendar software I can find. Worse than that even: the file structure and format in the calendar does not match any calendar software I have ever used. Cell phones have been doing this, easy-sleazy for about a decade. I sync my Calendar into my Ipod these days.

Five, six and seven: Finally I can say something good about this phone. The phone has a nice little alarm clock feature. I really like the calculator. Speed dial works great too.

Eight: Another good thing! The phone is a solid little phone with a sturdy flip and a rubber coating on the outside. I haven't even felt the need to buy a case for it.

Nine -- Oh no! There is no Notepad or Memo function. There is a voice memo function. But that doesn't work for my grocery list when I am having a dinner party.

Ten: There is no MP3, photo, memory card or file transfer support. I can not use it to carry my recipes, change the background, or have Tina Turner with me at all times... without paying $15 a month to Sprint for Visions.... (Verizon got over this charge-per-photo thing). I don't need a cell phone camera -- but I do need to carry a few files around and be able to read them.

Eleven: How does it work just as a cell phone? It picks up signals just about everywhere. It very rarely says "roam." (I have a "All America Roam" plan from Sprint so roaming isn't an issue for me.) Calls are clear. It works pretty well as a phone... but...

It has a BUG: If I get in a place that has "no service" sometimes the phone won't find service again until I turn the phone off and back on again.

Sometimes I have to take the battery out and put it in again.

The first time this happened, the phone was 3 days old. I was in LA. We needed to get back to LAX at 1 AM. All I had was a tiny rental car map. Instead of being able to call for directions, I got the very ominous message: "No known carrier..." I pointed at blue blobs on the map that led to the big spidery thing and my nephew told me what freeways to take. The next day a store clerk popped the battery out and fixed my phone. I considered running over it in the parking lot to get a new one.

Twelve: Speaking of traveling... Motorola doesn't sell extra chargers for this phone on their website. It came with a single AC charger. Without a DC charger I can't charge it in the car... There is one charger on sale on Amazon that is spec'd for this phone. I am going to try it but I have my doubts it will actually work. Why?

Thirteen: It won't charge from my laptop, nor with the USB chargers I use with other USB devices. ("Invalid Charger" the phone says.) I bought a phone with a USB port so I could charge it anywhere -- wrong.

Fourteen: I tried to use a friend's Motorola Razor charger. "Invalid charger" my phone said again. This isn't an off-brand phone from a gas station - why does it act like one?

The C290 could be a dynamic little package. It is not. It is moderately functional as a phone. Do not expect anything more than that. That is very sad.

looking to get a different phone.......2006-10-16

I finally had to give up on my original Audiovox phone that I purchased when I first went with Sprint 5 years ago. I loved that phone but my two small kids and life had knocked it around once to often and I had to find a replacement. I wasn't looking for a phone with a MP3 player (I like my Creative Zen just fine) or multimedia functions - just a good, dependable phone. I read the great reviews here and the salesperson also recommended this phone so I figured, why not? I'll tell you why not:

CONS:
* reception stinks. It is not my service - I use the same route when I had Sprint last month with my old phone and could make calls but now, I'm told there's no available service. It has an external antennea but it doesn't seem to do much. Too many dropped calls due to no service. Sometimes when I try to call my husband at work from home, I'm advised that it will be a roaming call with extra charged involved and do I want to contimue? I made my friend place the same call from my house (she also has Sprint service) and her call went thru no problem.
*requires too many steps to place calls - very menu rich (which is great) but doesn't allow for quick 1 touch calls
* phone freezes for a few moments when receiving a text message

PROS
* decent battery life for flip phone
* great features such as bulletion board messaging which keeps track of voice mail, missed calls & notifications of text messages on the front screen
* great screen - well lit & colorful
* great volume for both listening & ring tones

I do love the great features this phone offers but I need better reception. I was given a replacement when I complained about service but the 2nd phone is not faring any better. I hear the Samsungs flip phones do not stay charged for any real length of time so I am now looking to purchase a Sanyo (of which I hear many good things but I'm keeping my fingers crossed). My advise is to stay away from this phone - for the price I paid, I expect it to work more consistently.

DON'T BUY THIS PHONE...OR SPRINT SERVICE.......2006-09-21

By the way, I'm actually not under 13, just not interested in making a stupid account right now.

After reading all these positive reviews, I thought what the heck, sounds good to me, I'll go with it.

I have had this phone for two weeks, and I am SICK AND TIRED OF IT. I am forced to give it 1 star, but it doesn't DESERVE 1 star; it deserves 0 STARS.

Recently it hasn't been giving me service anywhere. As in zilch, zip, nada, NOWHERE. NOT ONE SINGLE PLACE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. I am not exaggerating here. I HAVE NOT HAD SERVICE FOR THE PAST WEEK. Wherever I have been. But that's just recently. The very day I got it, I discovered a wonderful little feature: once the phone is turned off, it can't be turned back on until you remove the battery and replace it. (Someone else mentioned the door to the battery compartment came off easily. I'm sure mine will do that too with enough of this.) If you use this phone for more than like 10 mins, it starts heating up so much that it's uncomfortable to hold it close to your face. Yeah, they say speakerphone's awesome...but not so much. Not HORRIBLE, but not awesome either. Also, a note about the style - I also thought it looked cool online. But really, it looks like something you'd find in the toy aisle of your local Walmart. Really. It looks FAKE. I haven't used web at all but I doubt that works. The ringers are kind of stupid and contrary to what it says, there are NO games; you have to download them. There are a few pros (side buttons hard to press accidentally; silence all option; menu display and screensavers) but still---DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE. DO. NOT. BUY. THIS. PHONE. You will regret it soooo badly. It is a useless piece of trash and a complete waste of money.

And if you haven't already been sucked into the blach hole of Sprint? Yeah, don't buy that either.

A very decent phone.......2006-07-18

When my old Sanyo phone died I was looking for a basic phone that got good reception, sounded clear, and could send text messages if I needed to. After looking at several differant phones I settled on the C290 and I'm glad I did. What I got was a very solid, very sturdy phone that could withstand a fair ammount of punishment and still work. The sound quality is very good on both the hands-on and speakerphone. Everyone who I've asked says they can hear me well without static or excessive background noise. The full-color display is very crisp and easy to read. Once I turned off the cartoonish display that comes default I'm very happy with the way the phone is layed out. The battery life is very good, I can make all the phone calls I need to in a day and still have at least one bar left. Also, I can make calls in areas with this phone that my Sanyo could never have gotten out on; great reception.

The volume control goes from very quiet to extremely loud yet remains clear throughout the range. The ringer has an equal amount of settings from Silence All, to only the ringer is silent. There are twelve total ringer volume settings, three that involve the vibrate feature.

Texting is easy once you learn that some features are called differant things than normal. For example T9w on this phone is Word English. The dictionary is vast, though contains no slang, though I'm pretty sure it will learn words if they are used frequently. Also the dictionary will learn your patterns for texting. Say you text the word "me" a lot but rarely "of." Both use the same keystrokes but the phone will soon learn that "me" is used more frequently and move it to the top of the list, making it the default word.

The phonebook, alarm, calender, voice recorder, games, ect are all easily accessable. The phone comes with a couple of preloaded trial games, a few wallpapers, and a variety of polyphonic ringtones.

The drawbacks of this phone are few and are more gripes than anything. An external display would have been nice but if I didn't have a phone before that had one I probably wouldn't miss it. The phone doesn't have a camera but I don't care because I never used it anyway on the previous phone. Also, according to most sites where you can buy ringtones or games, including Yahoo!, this phone doesn't exsist. There aren't a lot of aftermarket accessories for it either but that may just be because its a semi-new model. The two main gripes are that if you are doing anything on the phone and someone sends you a text message the phone will "lock up" for about five seconds before informing you that you have a text. It's rather annoying when you're playing a game or sending a text to someone else when all of a sudden everything stops. The other gripe is that the back cover over the battery is always coming off. I dont know if the locking tabs on my particular phone are weak or if this is a common problem.

I really like this phone. Anyone looking for a very basic phone that gets great reception, sounds good, and can take a beating should really look into this phone. I'm very glad I bought it.

Great phone, great service, great price........2006-07-10

I recently switched over from pre-paid (Virgin) wireless to Sprint, and could not be happier with the service or this phone. However, I would suggest purchasing this phone in the store-- I paid $[...] for it on the spot, but also received a $[...] mail-in rebate, so it is essentially a free phone.

The phone is slim and sleek-looking. It doesn't have a flashy design, but it's simple and classy. It is lightweight (3.5 oz.) and fits just about anywhere-- purse, pocket, etc. The buttons are easy to read and use, and the display screen is great: good contrast and very bright. I live in a rural area, but still get great sound and reception whether I'm using the speakerphone or normal call mode.

If you're looking for a basic, serviceable phone with all the necessary features which is easy to use and won't break the bank, I highly recommend the C290.

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