Phones that have excellent Voice Quality for around $50.00

**WentAway** · 05-17-2012, 08:38 PM

Hi All,

Just got referred to your site. Glad to be here. First cell for me, I'm looking for a phone that has excellent audio & voice quality w/ a basic camera. Also, a clear speakerphone that allows you to adjust the volume.

I'm in my sixties and have been thinking about buying the Palm Pixi Plus b/c it allows me the option to browse the web, email, etc. Although, I probably will only use a cell phone for talking and 4-5 texts per/mo. However, $35 price for a brand new "old" smart phone with solid ratings is hard to pass up. Any thoughts about the Pixi Plus?

Any suggestions for excellent Voice Quality feature phones?

Much thanks to everyone for any advice advice you may be willing to offer.

Need to log out & will check back in the morning.

Thanks again.

**manofstill2012** · 05-17-2012, 10:05 PM

Pixi plus is an nice little phone but maybe you should just buy an droid or droid 2 off criagslist you can get an droid 1 for less then 60.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

**gunterm** · 05-17-2012, 10:33 PM

You could get an older phone that only supports the 13k voice codec, or one that allows you to change it, codec makes a difference in quality.

Motorola phones usually have this option, my e815 did.

**slyphoxj** · 05-17-2012, 10:35 PM

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.4; en-us; ADR6300 Build/GRJ22) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

The Droid 1 has very good inbound call quality, even a bit better than the Motorola W385 flip phone I used before the Droid. The outbound call quality is only fair IMHO. And the speakerphone is decent.

My W385 has clear call quality that can be turned up loud (but hollower than my Droid 1), very good speakerphone, awesome battery life and is very well built. It has a camera, but that ain't sayin' much.

If call quality, battery life and reception are your top priorities, stick with a flip phone such as the W385 or the Motorola E815.

**vey9** · 05-18-2012, 08:16 AM

Originally Posted by slyphoxj

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.4; en-us; ADR6300 Build/GRJ22) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

The Droid 1 has very good inbound call quality, even a bit better than the Motorola W385 flip phone I used before the Droid. The outbound call quality is only fair IMHO. And the speakerphone is decent.

I have one now, and my results are exactly opposite. People say I sound fine, but I am having a heck of a time understanding people. The only time it sounds okay to me is when my -db is at 85 or below. There are many places where I can't get that type of signal strength.

**WentAway** · 05-18-2012, 01:19 PM

Thanks to everyone for your advice. I'm leaning toward buying a new phone. Maybe not ready to use the features of the Droid 1, or the Pixi Plus.

gunterm & slyphoxg: Call quality, battery life and reception are definitely my top priorities. So looking for a flip phone. Checked into Motorola's W385, and E815. The W385 is readily available for $45 new on Ebay, not so much for the E815....I think I saw it for $65-$70 somewhere. Two reviews complained the W385 number keys were rather close together. Any comments? Just trying to make sure I don't buy a cell that requires me to fumble for my eyeglasses. At the same time, I don't want to carry a brick in my pocket. Don't need glasses when using the landline.

Thanks for the excellent info about the 13k voice codec. Is this a simple change to make? And can you change back easily? Googling it brought up some contradictory info. Also, didn't see this in the specs of the W385. So, maybe depends on the year the phone was manufactured? Either way, from what I read... 13k is a great option.

Thanks for your help.

I'm open to any other recommendations in the $50 range.

**vey9** · 05-18-2012, 07:30 PM

Thanks for the excellent info about the 13k voice codec

That may get you sounding better to them, but doesn't help with hearing them any better. After using ATT and Verizon, here is what I think happens -- If the signal gets bad enough ATT (GSM) drops it. Verizon (CDMA) just makes it so you can't understand the calling party, but doesn't drop the connection until you want to drop it.

So ATT people are always complaining about dropped calls and Verizon can say they never drop calls.

I would go with a flip phone. After trying a few phones, I have found that smart phones are very clever at running programs, but not so smart at making and receiving their primary purpose.

**slyphoxj** · 05-19-2012, 12:14 AM

Originally Posted by WentAway

Thanks to everyone for your advice. I'm leaning toward buying a new phone. Maybe not ready to use the features of the Droid 1, or the Pixi Plus.

gunterm & slyphoxg: Call quality, battery life and reception are definitely my top priorities. So looking for a flip phone. Checked into Motorola's W385, and E815. The W385 is readily available for $45 new on Ebay, not so much for the E815....I think I saw it for $65-$70 somewhere. Two reviews complained the W385 number keys were rather close together. Any comments? Just trying to make sure I don't buy a cell that requires me to fumble for my eyeglasses. At the same time, I don't want to carry a brick in my pocket. Don't need glasses when using the landline.

Thanks for the excellent info about the 13k voice codec. Is this a simple change to make? And can you change back easily? Googling it brought up some contradictory info. Also, didn't see this in the specs of the W385. So, maybe depends on the year the phone was manufactured? Either way, from what I read... 13k is a great option.

Thanks for your help.

I'm open to any other recommendations in the $50 range.

One thing I hated about my W385 were the keys and buttons (especially the d-pad)- too dang flat! Why, oh why, couldn't have Motorola made the keys/buttons/d-pad raised like they are on the E815? And the W835's display leaves something to be desired... it's way too small and hard to read (just about to hit my 40's this year). And the camera... yeeech! But it does the cell phone basics very, very well, even better than the two smartphones I have.

The W385 has EVRC and 13k as call codec settings, but no EVRC-B (the latest and greatest), probably because the W385 came out 4-5 years ago.

**randamin** · 05-20-2012, 12:02 AM

While it may be slightly higher than the expected price the motorola v750 adventure seems like a worthy startup phone for page plus with the bigger screen on both sides of the phone and easier to use keypad with the buttons in the shape of a small circle and isolated from each other.

The price seems fair for a new listing on amazon

**WentAway** · 05-20-2012, 09:24 PM

Originally Posted by slyphoxj

One thing I hated about my W385 were the keys and buttons (especially the d-pad)- too dang flat! Why, oh why, couldn't have Motorola made the keys/buttons/d-pad raised like they are on the E815? And the W835's display leaves something to be desired... it's way too small and hard to read (just about to hit my 40's this year). And the camera... yeeech! But it does the cell phone basics very, very well, even better than the two smartphones I have.

The W385 has EVRC and 13k as call codec settings, but no EVRC-B (the latest and greatest), probably because the W385 came out 4-5 years ago.

Thanks for that! I just got the E815 on Ebay.

**WentAway** · 05-20-2012, 09:47 PM

Originally Posted by randamin

While it may be slightly higher than the expected price the motorola v750 adventure seems like a worthy startup phone for page plus with the bigger screen on both sides of the phone and easier to use keypad with the buttons in the shape of a small circle and isolated from each other.

The price seems fair for a new listing on amazon

Thanks randamin, I really liked the solid imprint of the buttons. It's the best I've seen. I went with the 815 because of the voice quality.