vB Easy Archive - My Versio/Allure Review

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My Versio/Allure Review
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Posted by: RichXKU

After my 8260 went, I bought a Versio, which as you know is electronically identical to the Allure with the absence of voice dialing, and voice memo. After a week I brought it back and got a 3360.
I liked it's RF Performance, weight, top LED indicator and 6 screen colors, but I didn't like:

Lack of Profiles (have to go thru the menus separately for ringtone, ring loudnes and vibrate on/off)
User interface needs a bit of exploring just to access common functions.
Bad ringtones (the only ones you can hear are the standard "ring-ring" tones, and while the musical ones have fine audio quality they are far too quiet to be heard in noisy areas)
Poor audio quality (turn up the earpiece volume all the way and the audio distorts)
Speakerphone too quiet (even when turned up you have to get up close to the phone to hear them)
Battery life seemed short, but I attributed that to the phone being new, although other who own it say it doesn't improve.
Lack of Net Monitor/Field Test (but that's just me)

The Versio is a nice phone and feels solidly built, but unless you live in a monestary or library, you're not going to be able to use it to it's fullest.

Posted by: smalltalker

Quote:

Originally posted by RichXKU
After my 8260 went, I bought a Versio, which as you know is electronically identical to the Allure with the absence of voice dialing, and voice memo. After a week I brought it back and got a 3360.
I liked it's RF Performance, weight, top LED indicator and 6 screen colors, but I didn't like:
Lack of Profiles (have to go thru the menus separately for ringtone, ring loudnes and vibrate on/off)
User interface needs a bit of exploring just to access common functions.
Bad ringtones (the only ones you can hear are the standard "ring-ring" tones, and while the musical ones have fine audio quality they are far too quiet to be heard in noisy areas)
Poor audio quality (turn up the earpiece volume all the way and the audio distorts)
Speakerphone too quiet (even when turned up you have to get up close to the phone to hear them)
Battery life seemed short, but I attributed that to the phone being new, although other who own it say it doesn't improve.
Lack of Net Monitor/Field Test (but that's just me)

The Versio is a nice phone and feels solidly built, but unless you live in a monestary or library, you're not going to be able to use it to it's fullest.

I've had my Allure for a few months now and have to agree, it's a nice phone, but not one of the "classics" of the industry.

I bought mine after returning from Japan where I had a Mitsubishi TH-48S. I came to like the small form and when I returned home, my Nokia 5165 felt like I was carrying a brick.

A few comments on your comments:

1. it has two profiles called "normal" and "quiet" they are switched by holding down the # key for 2 seconds. Either profile can have a choice of ringers, vibrate, etc.

2. it's hard to learn a new interface in a week. Nokia seems to have common stuff in odd categories, too.

3. ringtones poor as reported. either ring ring, or a paltry selection of nice sounding music for a quiet day in the library. Curiously, it has many other tunes built-in which are only accessable as music to send via email to other Allures. There's no way to use them as ringers. Same for the "screensavers."

4. poor/low audio seems to be a common complaint. perhaps Panasonic made a change somewhere along the line because the audio on mine is both clearer and louder than either my Nokia 5165 or the Mitsubishi TH-48.

5. How loud is the speakerphone on the '3360?

6. Battery life is best described as spotty. I live and work in a poor signal area so which end of the desk I put it on determines whether I get 4 days or 1 day. The book claims a standby time of 220 hours digital, and 5 hours analog!

7. A week is not long enough to find field test mode. It's there.

The Allure has 250 memory entries vs 100 on the Versio. Both have 4 numbers and an email address for each entry. The Allure can download pictures and ringtones from a computer via a somewhat expensive data cable. The Allure has a built in polyphonic ring tone composer. The Versio has changable faceplates.

Other things AT&T and Panasonic won't tell you. There are faceplates available for the Allure on ebay. Changing them requires some patience and a delicate touch. You can also buy higher capacity batteries on ebay, some almost twice the capacity (there goes the weight!).

Some have succeeded in changing the alpha code. AT&T has it locked up, but you can add AT&T as a private system and put in your own alpha tag. BUT, this is bizarre, when you do this, the battery does not stop charging when full.

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