I've had the i870 for several months now. Basic usage of the phone seems to work without any problems. It's the extras services that are giving me some problems. Specifically, any internet-related services including websites and AIM yield some sort of problem.
Basic usage of the phone is an improvement over the i60 I had before. Sound quality and volume are better. Nice to have a color screen and a better lit keypad, not to mention bigger keys. It took me a little time to get it, but I eventually got the data cable for it and loaded some ringtones on there too. I still wouldn't trade picture quality with a real camera, but it's nice to take a random pic every so often and low quality video too.
I haven't hit any storage limits, but the phone only includes a 32MB card. I generally set the phone to take pics at the highest resolution. I've only got about 10-15 pics on the card, 8-10 ringtones, and a couple of minute-long videos.
Now on to the problems. In the beginning, I tried as many of the online features I could find. For me, the 2 that really stood out as useful were the internet and instant messaging via AIM. My first impression of internet usage on the phone has not changed much with further usage. First, the Nextel system basically makes it feel like surfing on a dialup connection. I can't remember the last time I used a dialup connection but the phone connection is significantly slower than any broadband connection I've used recently. Also, the small screen creates a tough viewing situation, especially for websites that aren't optimized for mobile phones. Also, I've found visiting some sites yields a "500: Web service error", followed by a "1019: Compile error". I've tried many different things to see if it would solve the problem, including resetting the phone, restarting internet connection, and testing it on a different device.
Next, I logged into AIM. The first thing I noticed was that my exisiting buddy lists did not transfer over. To alleviate this problem, I found that I had to add buddies I had previously onto a new list called Mobile Device. If I didn't, then I couldn't see whether someone was online while using the phone. Furthermore, in the beginning I was able to receive messages from others without incident. But, recently, I've discovered that some special characters causes the phone to either receive the "Web service error" or have the message get truncated. Any message I receive that has an apostrophe (i.e. that's) will cause the message to get cut off starting at the apostrophe. This becomes quite frustrating, making the service almost useless.
With these 2 problems, I've tried visiting a regular Nextel store for answers. There I was able to test the internet problem and found that it seemed to work okay on the store model. At this point, I decided that the problem was with my phone. The CSR at the store suggested that I give Customer Service a call. I spent hours on the phone and was pushed up to level 3 support. They couldn't figure out my problem and suggested that I visit the Nextel service center to have them check out the phone. At the service center, I briefly explained my problems to them (where I found that a particular website that always generated the Web service error now worked fine) and left them the phone to check out. When I returned to the service center, I was given a completely new phone. Not surprisingly, the AIM problem did not resolve itself.
Ultimately, I'm sure I'll run into the Web service errors with other sites again. The AIM problem still perisists, which Nextel service center techs want to blame on the network. Either way, it doesn't work as it should. Whether it's the hardware or the network, it's still a problem that Nextel should take responsibility for if they are getting people to pay for their service. At this point, I don't feel like they own this problem. I'm left to fend for myself. If it weren't for the need for the radio service, I'd switch away from this service all together.
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