vB Easy Archive - How terrilbe is the Duo really?

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How terrilbe is the Duo really?
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Posted by: Xander Crews

It looked kinda cool but i hear such such terrilbe things about the battery life, look and feel (it looks like cheap plastic in person and feels like its going to break), and has a bad signal.

How true are these things? I understand people here who have the phone may be a bit biased so please try to put that aside (you wouldnt want me to get one under false info and the be another person running around bashing it).

Posted by: Xander Crews

2 more big things i want to hear about from owners is ive heard 2 big problems are that the keyboard side doesnt have a spring and slides open in your pocket and that dust gets under the screen so you clean it out.

Are the legit claims can they be taken care of easily or are they 100% false?

Posted by: jtindustry

Everyone treats their phone different so you will hear different reviews. The Duo is the best phone I have had. I love it. None of that stuff happens to me. I have to charge my phone every other day.

People having trouble with battery life should mess with power management settings, Barnaby Jones.

Posted by: crv222crv

I have had multiple problems already but still love the phone. Battery life is not an issue for me it will last about 2 days. I have the dust under the screen but they are going to fix it for free. As far as sliding open in your pocket....has never happened to me.

Posted by: omaralt

just get the tilt, much better phone, much more sturdy....

Posted by: Xander Crews

I did consider the tilt but it just doesnt look as nice and id like a phone i can put in my pocket. Thats a big factor for me, i need to be able to carry it in a pocket.

Posted by: Xander Crews

Oh and nice pickup on the Barnaby Jones.

Posted by: LogIc.

this was the worst phone ive ever had..thank god i got rid of it

i only got like 3hours of talk time,, less if i did internet browsing during the day and i got that stupid dust under the screen

i currently have the htc s710...much better but ill be getting the tilt in about 2weeks

Posted by: jtindustry

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xander Crews

Oh and nice pickup on the Barnaby Jones.

It's not a good phone for pocket carry. The screen being smudged too easy is probably my only beef with the phone. It's not even a touch screen and I can't keep the screen clean for the life of me.

Posted by: TacoSavage

i have it and have no problems what so ever. i dont know what u are doing wrong if ucan get only 3 hrs of talk time i get 2-3 days of batter life per overnight charge so i dont kno whats wrong with u. But i think its a sturdy phone i dropped it on concrete and it didnt even scratch.

Posted by: TheGSRGuy

You get what you pay for. It's a cheaper phone, yes, so don't expect it to be bulletproof and withstand tons of abuse.

Expensive phones are usually given more time for testing, design, etc.

Posted by: Xander Crews

^ Thing is its not very cheap... its $300 before the rebate with a 2 year contract.

What would you consider an expensive phone????

Anyway i went ahead and got it for the 30 day trial atleast. Ill see if i decide to keep it. So far its working out good.

Posted by: Samoa Joe

I was playing with my friend's Duo for a while and after the slow response time on it I gave up, yes I did go to the Manager and stop all programs and it was still slow. It seems like a phone that is not suited for Windows Mobile.

Posted by: tkrandall

My daughter loved hers (until it got stolen last week). she had it since November and put over 1000 mintues a month on it plus 3000 texts. She kept the first one in her jacket pocket and had the dust problem wth the first one, and after 10 days we returned it for a replacement. She kept the 2nd one it in a little leather case/pouch (designed for a motorola phone) most of the time and gerneally and kept it out of her pockets.

We had no functional problems with the phone at all - very reliable.

The $450 out the door price tag for a replacement without the new customer discount has her thinking iPhone as a possible replacement. The Duo is definately not a cheap phone.

Posted by: Cell-Lover

I hate Duo!

When I say really, I men REALLY!

Posted by: jtindustry

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cell-Lover

I hate Duo!

When I say really, I men REALLY!

That is a constructive, well thought out post. Really.

Posted by: mmduluth

Personally, this is the bes phone I've ever had. It suits my nees perfectly. I was looking for a phone that had both the QWERTY keypad and the regular one. Out of all the problems I've heard about this phone, the only one I have seen is the 2-3 second delay when you slide open the phone. The battery lasts about 2 days with me and that's with a lot of texting. I get really good reception but I have an unlocked one with T-Mobile so I don't know how it is with Cingular. I think it's a great phone.

Posted by: CeluGeek

I thought about getting one but was able to try out a live unit at an AT&T corp store. I don't like the feel of the QWERTY keyboard. Keys are so bad on the tactile feedback department it almost feels like you are typing on a dummy unit. I did like the sliding mechanism, it felt sturdy.

Posted by: BreadWinna

My brother had one for a few weeks and I heard no complaints from him. He dropped it last week though and the screen cracked. He had insurance though so he got his new one today.

I just texted him about that dirty screen issue yall were having and told him he should get a case for it.

Posted by: jtindustry

Quote:

Originally Posted by BreadWinna

My brother had one for a few weeks and I heard no complaints from him. He dropped it last week though and the screen cracked. He had insurance though so he got his new one today.

I just texted him about that dirty screen issue yall were having and told him he should get a case for it.

I have kept mine in my lint filled pockets for months now with no dirt-under-screen problems.

Posted by: Samoa Joe

I had one, gave it to my girlfriend the day I got it because I couldn't stand how slow it was. All the messages were deleted and everything. Sliding sucks on it as well. All I use is a keyboard so I just let it chilled with the QWERTY open.

Posted by: Oridus

i personally have no problem with my duo. battery time kinda sucks if your a heavy net browser, but unless you plan on being away from electricity for a few days... its not such a big problem. i just wish at&t would get rolling on the wm6.1 update.

Posted by: jtindustry

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oridus

i just wish at&t would get rolling on the wm6.1 update.

this is what i want

Posted by: FreeWil

My precious little "super-tweaked" 3125 is dying (plastic clip broke which keeps the back on so using folded paper to keep phone from constantly losing power & re-booting, also is has no 3G. I am on the hunt for the best replacement. My priorities are these: SMALLER is better, must be a pocket-carry not too thick, long, or heavy, next it must do POP3/SMS/MMS, of all the amazing features and programs, the email checking from phone every 30 minutes and the calendar are about all I really need, must have slot for storage card. I may not even need a "Smart-Phone" if there is a regular phone that will do these at a cheaper cost. I do need internet access though I rarely use it. Anyway so far it looks like the PanTech Duo is the best choice (I hear a new one "DUO II" is coming this fall). My carrier is AT&T but phone is unlocked and completely tweaked all screens and sounds, startup, shutdown, etc. Currently running WM6.

thanks... FreeWil

Posted by: Xander Crews

Well im the one who made this topic and the Duo was a great phone for the short time i had it (it broke but it was my fault since it went in a pool and not a sign of the phones quality). Anyway all the problems are exaggerated imo or are from people using a high powered pocket PC phone. This isnt the best smart phone by far but its a great phone with smart phone qualities.

However if theyre coming out with a new one maybe you should wait if possible since im sure it will be better.

Posted by: FreeWil

I can't trade up 'til Oct anyway so I'm hoping to keep my 3125 alive 'til then. As far as the "DUO II", I saw it was approved by the FCC in early-mid June, it has twice the memory and WM6.1 that's all I can remember. Couldn't get anything out of AT&T about it except that I should watch the website as they are expecting several new phones this fall.

Posted by: UseCaution

Got a question for the rest of the Duo owners: If you live in a area where 3G connection is constant throughout the phone, does it still let you make/receive calls? Because I seem to be having that problem along with several other owners not letting you speak when in 3G...it's really driving me crazy, and this seems to be a problem that is common in big cities. Any ideas?

Posted by: GSMinCT

I got one on Tuesday, and I love it. I use it for a watch, an occasional calculator, texting and calling only, I got it because it was the smallest phone with a keyboard, and didn't require the use of a qwerty board for dialing regular phone calls. I think I am going to get insurance on it, though, as much as a rip-off as it is, the thing is probably quite prone to damage.

As far as a smartphone, I could imagine it sucking for use with heavy-duty smartphone types of apps, but it is great as a compact phone for texting and voice.

The signal certainly isn't that of a Nokia flip phone or even a Moto, but since I'm going to school in the fall, I will be near a single tower all the time, so I don't care. It's not horrible either, but it doesn't quite have the same pickup in a fringe area. I can't honestly say about 3G, as its not getting 3G right now (my tower might not have it).

As for memory, it has TONS, at least for what I do. 64 megs RAM and 64 megs ROM I think, which is about 40 more megs than I need, so that's pretty good.

I am a little worried about the screen getting scratched since its not a flip, so I am going to stick a screen protector on it.

It doesn't have the standard mini-usb connector, which is downright annoying, but the connector seems OK, and a lot better than Moto's old mini-plug thing that never worked right.

It doesn't support 2.5mm wired headsets as far as I can tell (not sure about the 3.5mm adapter with another adapter), but I think they do sell a headset that goes with it and its proprietary connector.

Mine has WM6.04, but I can't update it because I don't have data plan, and I have a Mac, so I can't sync it with a computer, but I don't really care, 6.04 is fine for texting and calls.

Oh yeah, and the speakerphone SUCKS. It has the buzzing from the antenna VERY loud. It may be better in a strong signal area where the phone can cut its radio power down a lot, but speakerphone for me is handy in the really weak areas so that I can keep the phone away from my head and it can hold onto the signal.

The lack of a spring-loaded qwerty board is weird, but not annoying. Overall, I would recommend it to anyone who wants a good texting phone, not sure about PDA stuff though.

Posted by: GSMinCT

Oh yeah, and comparing it to the iPhone, it is MUCH better. The iPhone destroys Apple's clean and simple brand by letting ATT get their hands on the nickel-and-dime-and-meter garbage, it is way too easily broken or scratched, and if you listen to music and don't recharge the battery, you could have no phone in an emergency or just when you need to call someone!!

It would be better if it had way better battery life (like 12 hours of music plus phone so if you charge it every night it would be good), and was running on Apple's own MVNO (there were rumors about this at first) on a fixed-rate plan that is, say, $49/mo for unlimited everything like Apple would do. Oh yeah, the thing needs a keyboard too. It's impossible to type on. The Duo is not too bad to type on.

Posted by: BrokenSidekick3

I got this phone its good i charge it every night though. But im in the habbit of charging it every night anyway. So the battert lasts a day when you use it alot. I do about 200 texts a day and it dies by 10 pm. The screens are kinda flimsy but you expect that since its such a complex double hinge structure. The keyboard is hard to type caus its a narrow height (like its really wide but too short from up to down) the orientation lags for a long time when you flip open the querty side.

Posted by: veener88

Well my first one died after 3 months.

All of sudden my screen went blue and none of the hot keys worked. Drove 50min to a local ATT repair place and swaped it out.

This is what got to me. The repair woman stated with the 9 months that I had left on my contract that I would see her at least one more time.

She stated there are many problems with this phone.

I am not sure if I want anouther windows phone after this. My MPX220, 3125, and now my Duo all have had issues. The only phone still going stong is my old Nokia.

Posted by: BrokenSidekick3

Yeah I dont like windows mobile that much... its really slow on this phone, but the organizer is great, ive never used an organizer on a phone untill now.

Posted by: chicawhyte

Hi, first post here...

Got the Duo after still mourning the 8125 that is booting off and on constantly. And it was about time I renewed anyways. Here are my thoughts, still not 100% sure that I am gonna keep this one (because of what I am gonna write below I am gonna try switch it for another Duo.

PROS:
1- Got the Duo for the dual-slider. Hard to dial when in a car and I don't use my Bluetooth often. Busy mom, it is hard.
2-LOVE how clear and crisp the screen is. Bright, vivid and good enough space.
3-I know there are some users and abusers out there but I do my best to keep it in "Lock" and inside my case. The less I deal with dirt, lint, scratches the better. I will buy a screen protector though.
4-Took me a couple of days of breaking the touch-screen habit; it's like going from automatic transmission to manual. It was not easy but not as complicated as I thought it was gonna be.
5-I like the speakerphone, simply turn the phone over and adjust the volume and I can hear fine.
6-Looking forward to really modify the phone to my liking, get into as many mobile forums as i can and customize it to my lifestyle. With that said...

CONS

1-WHAT IS WITH THE MUFFLED SOUND? I read this thread SHOCKED that no one mentioned it here...perhaps in another thread. Multiple forums users complain about the same problem. Stayed last night till almost 1am doing research and getting ready to alter the unit and lookup some software to fix this issue like a patch or something; well at pantechusa.com they have a radio patch (it will wipe out whatever the phone had and bring it up to default). I hoped really that the patch would work but it didn't. I knew that by having the same version of the software on my Duo it was a 75/25 chance that it was not gonna work and unfortunately I was right.

2-JUNKWARE - The Duo has lots of them and they are really useless and take up a lot of your memory if: a-you don't have a PDA plan, and b-you don't care for them. First things first, 95% of those need the plan in order for them to function and get the most out of the Duo. Since I don't have the PDA plan ($30/mo) then these have GOT to GO.

3-Cannot adjust/distribute memory on the unit - I can stop working programs fine, but there is an area where you can see both "drives" where it stores memory. I can't go in and just click and manage it further. It is frustrating because it would make the Duo faster.

4-I suffer from the Curse Of The Worst Ringtones. Whenever I get a cell the ringtones SUCK. Which makes you wonder who this Duo was designed for, or going for which type of person.

5-MicroSD card-I got a 4 Gig SDHC and forget it, it does not work. You can see the icon top bar that it has the micro card inserted, can't see it the rest of the Duo. Big disadvantage because: Micros are evolving to SDHC and have way more room; a Duo just can't be lagging behind with technology and get stuck with a regular Micro 2 Gig card (?!?!?!). Because there is wonderful people out there that can do lots of programming and hacking, I found the solution at xda-developers from reading in this forum. Thankfully the xda people have helped me with software for my Wizard and it seems I will use their software this time around too.

6-NO WI-FI, NOT FAIR! I have wireless at home and I used to go online, Media Player, and look online for my fav radio station (from another country), listen live and with headsets, go about my business. Can't do that with this unit.

7-Battery Life-This has been brought up multiple times and yes, the first couple of days it felt I was dealing with my HP camera which sucks batteries dead in one day. Now I can deal with charging it either daily or every other day. With the 8125 because of the type of battery you HAD to charge it daily or the cellphone would pay the consequences. On this one the Pantech people say let it drain then charge it; I am not comfortable with that scenario and I hope I don't ruin the battery because I charge it halfway or down to one bar.

To me the worst are in "bold", and I expect the Pantech people to come around and fix the muffled sound-which is worse if you talk with someone from cell-to-cell. Will take the unit today to AT&T and see if by getting another Duo the problem is fixed.

Interestingly though, I am willing to give the Duo a pass if I can program it, hack it, alter it every which way I want so I can have some fun with it!

Posted by: chicawhyte

On CONS, I forgot to add that in order to delete multiple files, I cannot select them with SHIFT-(Select) UP or DOWN. Do I have to delete each item one by one and not by multiple selection?

Does anybody know a way around that? thanks!

Posted by: GSMinCT

This phone might well suck as a PDA- but it seems to work great for being a little phone that has a full keyboard for texting, and the voice is marginally OK. I use a headset too sometimes.