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Decent entry-level phone
Pros
Solid construction, great call performance/reliability, active flip, small
Cons
Terrible user interface, short battery life, quiet tinny sound, heavy
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
The T-18z is cheap, and it's got good call quality. Poor interface and lack of high-end features are an upset, but good calls are the priority with cellphones.
First off, I tested the Ericsson T-18z with Fido in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the local GSM provider. They have excellent coverage in the Greater Toronto Area, which contributed to my positive experience with the phone.
The T-18z is a good starter phone, especially considering the price it can be had for here in Canada (C$50 with a rebate from Fido eventually dropping the cost to C$25). The phone has great RF performance, so calls don't drop or go straight to voicemail. It's got an active flip, voice-activated dialing, and the phone isn't likely to break with normal use.
However, as with most Ericsson phones, the user interface is just terrible, particularly when compared to Nokia or Samsung phones. The biggest problem with the T-18z is that its keypad is recessed and doesn't have a good tactile feel. Buttons, especially the lowest level *, 0, and # buttons, are hard to press. With the active flip and voice dialing, you can avoid wasting airtime trying to depress the "No/End" key, or your own valuable time keying in phone numbers, particularly if you're on the go or in a car. But when you need to use the keypad, it's tough.
Ericsson's menu system is difficult to use, and its phone book is horrid. Names must be kept very short (forget identifying people in your phone book by first and last name) and a lot of functions require you to memorize what "position in memory" each name is located in. Accessing the phone book isn't easy either, especially when compared to Nokia.
Sound quality is solid: the GSM network that the phone operates on as well as good RF hardware in the phone contribute to clear audio for the user of the phone, and the person on the other end. But the speaker is quiet, and lacks all bass response. Male voices are particularly affected by the lack of bass. Don't expect to use the phone in very noisy circumstances, you'll have a very hard time hearing.
The last cons involve the phone's NiMH battery which charges fast (within 2 hours) but lasts 3 days, maximum, with 5-10 minutes of calls per day in my experience. The battery is also heavy, bringing the phone's weight up to 145g or so. That's not bad, but Ericsson makes a smaller T-28w model with a weight of around 60g (for hundreds of dollars more :-)
The best parts of the phone begin with its voice dialing feature, which worked flawlessly in my experience. Simply press a button and say the name, the phone even uses short beeps to indicate success or failure of commands. Second, the active flip makes answering and ending calls a snap (literally) and the flip isn't flimsy at all. The phone is rugged for its class, and is likely to last a long time.
The Ericsson T-18z is like the Honda Civic of cell phones. It's cheap, it's got competitive features, and it'll last. For the price I paid, around $35 (US dollars), it can't be beat. If simply making phone calls to a fairly limited number of people is your goal, you can get past the headaches of using the phone book and set the phone up for voice dialing. The phone is a terrific value for first-time users.
The T-18z is a good starter phone, especially considering the price it can be had for here in Canada (C$50 with a rebate from Fido eventually dropping the cost to C$25). The phone has great RF performance, so calls don't drop or go straight to voicemail. It's got an active flip, voice-activated dialing, and the phone isn't likely to break with normal use.
However, as with most Ericsson phones, the user interface is just terrible, particularly when compared to Nokia or Samsung phones. The biggest problem with the T-18z is that its keypad is recessed and doesn't have a good tactile feel. Buttons, especially the lowest level *, 0, and # buttons, are hard to press. With the active flip and voice dialing, you can avoid wasting airtime trying to depress the "No/End" key, or your own valuable time keying in phone numbers, particularly if you're on the go or in a car. But when you need to use the keypad, it's tough.
Ericsson's menu system is difficult to use, and its phone book is horrid. Names must be kept very short (forget identifying people in your phone book by first and last name) and a lot of functions require you to memorize what "position in memory" each name is located in. Accessing the phone book isn't easy either, especially when compared to Nokia.
Sound quality is solid: the GSM network that the phone operates on as well as good RF hardware in the phone contribute to clear audio for the user of the phone, and the person on the other end. But the speaker is quiet, and lacks all bass response. Male voices are particularly affected by the lack of bass. Don't expect to use the phone in very noisy circumstances, you'll have a very hard time hearing.
The last cons involve the phone's NiMH battery which charges fast (within 2 hours) but lasts 3 days, maximum, with 5-10 minutes of calls per day in my experience. The battery is also heavy, bringing the phone's weight up to 145g or so. That's not bad, but Ericsson makes a smaller T-28w model with a weight of around 60g (for hundreds of dollars more :-)
The best parts of the phone begin with its voice dialing feature, which worked flawlessly in my experience. Simply press a button and say the name, the phone even uses short beeps to indicate success or failure of commands. Second, the active flip makes answering and ending calls a snap (literally) and the flip isn't flimsy at all. The phone is rugged for its class, and is likely to last a long time.
The Ericsson T-18z is like the Honda Civic of cell phones. It's cheap, it's got competitive features, and it'll last. For the price I paid, around $35 (US dollars), it can't be beat. If simply making phone calls to a fairly limited number of people is your goal, you can get past the headaches of using the phone book and set the phone up for voice dialing. The phone is a terrific value for first-time users.
