Just a Basic Mobile Phone. Review on Motorola C138

Motorola have come a long way. I mean long when you consider the days they made the T180 Talkabout which was the most ridiculous phone and the best part is that its still available. You can get it for under a 1000 bucks. Motorola never seemed to understand what ''easy to use'' was all about but they have changed in recent times. The new lineup of phones though not necessarily the best are very easy to use and come loaded with features. The C138 is one of the new Motorola Mobile Phone handsets. Motorola have not done much advertising for this phone. The C138 is really basic on features but there are some good sides to it. Its incredibly light, integrated antenna, long battery life, dual band-GSM900/1800, SMS, EMS, Embedded Screensavers, Wallpapers, Games, Downloadable Ringtones, Vibrator mode, T9 for SMS, Alarm Clock, Calculator, Currency Convertor, Stop Watch, Automatic Phone Switch ONandOFF timer setting, Handsfree via wired headset, and Blue LED Display. The GUI for the phone is very basic and simple. No hifi graphics floating on the screen. You have a four way navigation keypad to browse through various parts of the menu. There are times you might find the menu response to be a bit slow and this turns out disappointing when you consider that these problems are normally associated with the higher end color-camera phones featuring sophisticated software. It does not apply to every part of the menu but I did face this problem when it came to confirming a new setting. The time it took to respond to the keypad input was little over a second. In any case you can try this out for yourself if you do intend to buy this handset. This problem is not a serious issue at all. Reception is something I still need to investigate. There are times I have faced voice breakups even during full signal reception. I don't know if this a problem with the phone, Service Provider or the model in specific as it been just two weeks I bought it. Battery life seems to live upto Motorola's claim. On average use the battery stood for nearly a week. The keypad may not be the best out there. It feels very rubbery. T9 SMS fans will probably need a little practice to get upto speed with typing SMS on this phone. Again; I suggest you try it out before you put your money down. The ringtones are the good old mono beep type ones. You can download ringtones but I have not tried the same. The phone has no internal memory to store your contacts. It depends on the SIM card. On an overall the phone is value for money. I don't think you will ever come across a phone like this for Rs. 2099. Yupp; thats how cheap it is.