Motorola Jazz – Dependable Text Massage Delivery With A Compact Design
Written: Jun 30 '03 (Updated Jan 15 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Portability: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Easy to use, great on batteries, compact design.
Cons: Could be extremely annoying with all the chirps, beeps and dings.
The Bottom Line: Not the newest kid on the block, but one of the coolest.
|
|
|
| Freak369's Full Review: Motorola Jazz Word Message Pager |
My brother has a passion for electronics; he also is notorious for losing things. He’s gone through five pages and two cellular phone in the past few years and I finally told him that he need to have a device surgically implanted or give up on mobile communications all together. One of the pagers that he had [and lost] was the Motorola Jazz. When he first got this pager I rolled my eyes and indulged him, it was another new toy for him that would soon lose its thrill. At the time it was introduced it was considered a great little gadget for those looking for a little more use from an alphanumeric pager without the investment of a two-way pager or cellular phone. He paid $99.00 for the pager and an extra fee for the message delivery service that also provided him with unlimited pages, extended range and roaming capabilities and three accessories of his choice. So for a total cost of about $160.00 he got a years worth of pager service, the add on voice mail feature [one of the accessory services he picked] and unlimited word messages. This was a little more cost effective than paying for a flat rate service that could easily be exceeded or a cost per message plan and it meant no monthly bill or overlooked statement, things he was also famous for.
Features
The biggest feature of the Jazz is that your callers have the ability to send text messages to you along with their phone number [or the optional voice mail package]. These messages are generic and not customizable – but are a great resource for people who spend a lot of time away from home, don’t have [or want] a cellular phone or can’t make frequent phone calls to get messages or return calls. There are ten preset messages ranging from “call hone” to “I love you” and all someone has to do is punch in the code to have it delivered. When the fad wore off with my brother and this pager, it was often used when one of the boys went on a field trip or went to a friend’s house. I could call the pager, type in the code for “come home” or “call home” and have him get the message in about 30 seconds.
Display
The screen is backlit [green] and small but extremely easy to read. When compared to other pagers that I’ve used and owned, this one is tops for display features. All the icons at the top of the screen are easy to read and show up clearly. The only time you might have trouble reading them is if the battery starts to lose power. When this happens the battery icon will illuminate and you’ll have about 24 hours to replace it before it dies and you lose your stored messages. Scrolling between screens was easy to do and always displayed the messages clearly when you landed on a new messaged or one that was stored in memory.
Alarm
The alarm could be set to go off daily, weekly or on a travel basis. You could set it go off to different tones or sounds or the simple ‘beep beep beep’ . I didn’t use the alarm a lot because of the shrill that accompanied some of the tones but my brother used it almost every day when he needed to get up for work or be someone on time. When I did use it, it was easy to program but the tones really left a lot to be desired.
Messages
Messages are displayed on the screen with the backlit feature on when they are received. This is great when you receive a message at night and aren’t exactly sure where the pager is or if you have the sound / tone feature turned off. Any text messages that are received are displayed on the screen for about 20 seconds before the ‘new message’ icon appears. If you do not check the message you will continue to get a reminder beep if you have the pager set to normal tones. If you have it set to vibrate, the unit will shake every few minutes until you check the message. Messages are timestamped so you will always know when someone called, in the event that you get duplicate messages, only the most recent one will be shown with the timestamp.
Buttons
[mode, select function and power on / off]
There are only three buttons on the face of the pager, that means it might take you a little longer to get used to using the buttons in combination sequences – but at the same time – once you get used to these buttons for scrolling, recall and display – you’ll really like the fact that you only have to deal with three instead of five or six buttons. The buttons are pretty touch and hold up to a lot of pushing and poking but don’t require a lot of force to operate them.
Instructions
The manual has seen some wear but it’s still in one piece. It shows you the basics of the unit, how to turn it on, change the battery and how to read the messages. It’s a small booklet and gives you the minimal amount of information but to really learn about it, you have to sit down and play around with the buttons and how to recall the messages, set the alarm and change the alert tones.
Battery
This ran off of a AAA sized battery and needed to be replaced about once a month. When he first got it people would message him all the time and it would often sit on his bed when he’d forget to take it with him, chirping and beeping all night. This really put a drain on the battery but not as much as when he would have it on vibrate and it would go off all night. I couldn’t hear it but I’d know when he accidentally left it in the silent mode when he’d start digging through the drawers for a new battery.
Colors
When this was at the height of its popularity, it was available in four colors; standard black, clear, blue and green. My brother got the clear model that was pretty fun to use at night since the backlight would shine through the front of the pager. I’ve seen the other models and they looked just as snappy but the clear ones always seemed to be a little more techno and trendy.
Message Service
Since this type of pager isn’t extremely popular, you might have to go with a third party service to get your messages delivered. As I said earlier, my brother purchased the unlimited plan from a local pager service and was pretty happy with it. The text messages were delivered in about 30 seconds and we never had a problem with messages not getting delivered. If you are looking to get this pager, make sure that you will be able to get text service through your provider or a third party before you purchase it. It can be used as just a standard numeric pager or with ad on voice mail, but that sort of defeats the purpose of getting this particular unit.
Warranty
This came with a one year warranty against defects however it didn’t cover being dropped, tossed around or otherwise handled roughly. He never had to take advantage of the warranty since he lost it about seven months after he purchased it. A few weeks ago I was sorting through his old clothes that needed to be put in storage for the summer and came across the pager in the pocket of one of his jackets. Much to my surprise, when I popped in a new battery it still powered up and displayed the time but the paging service had since expired. I was a little shocked that it would still work after being in his pocket for so long, I fully expected the battery to have leaked and ruined the connection – but it still worked. That sure says something for the dependability of the unit.
Accessories
There were a fair number of accessories available for the Motorola Jazz and my brother purchased several of them. The slide in holster was the best one and allowed you to wear it on your hip and slide the unit out when you receive a message. The leather cases were always a bit cheesy but allowed a little added protection for the unit, especially if they were to be carried in a purse or backpack.
The Bottom Line
Even though technology has advanced, this could still be a good pager for people who want to keep in touch without having to make unnecessary phone calls. Having the ability to receive messages can eliminate phone calls or having to track down a pay phone to call someone back. This would be a great unit to give to teens to let them know when it’s time to head home or call home – all by pressing in a two digit code. These retailed at about $100.00 when they were first introduced but the price dropped quickly when newer models were offered. Please keep this in mind if you are looking to pick one up – if an online site is charging $99.00 for this, it should include a years worth of service.
There are better pagers available but if you have one of these floating around or comes across one used, they are pretty dependable. As I said, I found this one in my brother’s pocket after he “lost it” and even after having a battery die in the unit – it still powered up and worked when a new one was installed. You might have to pay a small re-crystalling fee if you take this to a ‘mom and pop’ pager place – but if you can pick up a cheap service provider, this would be a great and dependable pager to use.
As always … thanks for the visit!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
Related wireless communication reviews …
Nokia N Gage
Kyocera 2135
Kyocera 1135
Motorola LS550 Numeric Pager
Motorola LS350 Numeric Pager
Verizon Mobile Phone Service
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 99.00
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.