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NEC 525

 

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3.01
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Middle of the Road

 

Nov 26, 2003 by mile14

I ranked it a little higher than the Panasonic GU87 simply because the 2 phones are so similar, but the camera on the NEC and display seems so much crisper. The NEC is a great phone the pluses to it over the GU87 are no antenna to worry about, the outter display is a major plus, and the pictures when displayed on both screens is extremely big which alot of people complained about with the gu87, The minuses are that outter display makes me feel self concious I don't wanna break the damn thing so I'm always paranoid I have something in my pocket that may scratch it or break it. Why didn't it come with a holster or clip? The battery life seems OK didn't actually time it. The infrared only being compatible with any other device is frustrating as well. Wished it could do deadringers!


Fair.....

 

Dec 3, 2003 by JoelMikel

The only things that make this phone any better than the 515 is the camera and it's features and it's external LCD...

Still has very poor ear piece volume even on it's highest setting.
Battery life is AWFUL. I talked on the phone for a total of 10 mins and with that I had a standby time of less than 48 hours before complete drain. That's not good at all.
The buttons do not give any feedback being completely smooth and subset into phone body...making it virtually impossible to dial without looking at the numbers.
The external LCD only allows you to view it sideways rather than vertically like every other phone on the market... obviously not something that affects the quality of the phone but certainly something that wasn't thought out very carefully before implementing.
IR only works with other NEC phones, useless... and the antenna signal seems to be routed through that port so if you cover the IR port even slightly your cell signal is decreased concurrently.
They give you the sync software with the phone but not the dang USB cable to actually utilize the software.... DUH!
And like one of the other reviews, where the hell is the holster or case...for cryin out loud!

The good things are the display, the camera zoom feature, shutter, lighting adjustment, games are very good for free, some of the free download ringtones from NEC are good too...You can customize this phone pretty good and the ring/alarm volume is good and loud.

I wouldn't have been happy to have to pay $300 for this phone... had I not gotten it for free the rating would have been much lower.


Not Too Great

 

Nov 21, 2003 by Maverick

I had the chance to purchase this phone from a local At&t dealer and try it out before anyone else would be allowed to buy it. They're suppose to liquidate the 515 first. So I had it for a week in the N.E, Philly and surrounding areas.

Pros: Great display, fast mMode connections, Outstanding ring tones.

Cons: Ear piece Volume is too low, even when on high, hard to hear in even low public surroundings. Battery life poor, says "150 hr" standby, only lasted 60 hrs before it needed to charge with low use of camera and Internet. Signal strength okay, hops around to frequently (at least in my area).

A word of advice: try it out before you keep it for good. It's not cheap! At&t gives you 30 days which is a good policy.


Not very well though out

 

Jun 8, 2004 by mbrenner

I currently use a Sanyo VM 4500 (sprint CDMA) and am evaluating AT&T GSM and some GSM phones for my employer.

Pros:
Flip Design Caller ID on outside display
Ability to globaly set (and change) sending caller id)
Nice Internal display (large).
No external antenna
Standard headset jack
easy control of volume during a call
Quad band so it will work on any GSM system world wide (If you don't mind paying a fortune in Roaming rates internationally).

Cons:
Phone Operating system crashed twice in 8 hours, (display gets scrambled - you have to turn it off and on).
Side mounted charging connnector (also used for USB connection) covered by flimsy cover.
IR only communicates with other NEC 515/525 phones.
Too thick - larger than most current generation phones
Can't set it to answer when flip is opened
No speaker phone
Camera is poor quality - compared to Sprint phones I have tried Sanyo VM 4500 - 8200 (or Toshiba 4050)

Issues with AT&T that effect phone.
Pro's
National no cost roaming!
7pm Nights and Weekends available

Cons
AT&T charges too much for this phone (199 with activation - rebate...) you can get a better camera phone from Verizon for free or 50 bucks from Sprint and I think less from T-moble as well on the GSM side.

1. AT&T locks phones so even though 525 is a quad band phone you can't use foreign sim chips in it when traveling overseas.

2. Most of the "m-mode" functions are very costly if you use them much (no flat rate internet/unlimited SMS)

3. GSM coverage in my area (your results may vary) and it is improving.

4. GSM phones (this NEC and also the Nokia I have tested) put out so much RF that they make clicking noises on my computer speakers at home and at work - not had this happen with a CDMA phone.


NEC 525 Great Features...

 

Jan 11, 2004 by CrisNMD

I've had this phone for about a week. All the features were great. There were some features I did not get to yet and that was sending a picture and using the USB port.

The only reason I'm giving this phone a 4.5 and not a 5.0 is because I agree with some of the other reviews about the ear piece. I read the reviews BEFORE I bought the phone, but I thought they were talking about the ear-bud that you put in your ear. No... it's the ear-piece that you're listening through on the phone itself. It is HORRIBLE!! And the volume only goes to "9" which sounds more like its on "3"

Overall, the phone is a good phone. The reason why I'm returning it is because I live in Maryland (in the Washington DC area) and I have AT&T and this phone is only offered on their new GSM system and it doesn't work. The features of any phone can be great....but when you REALLY need to use the phone and call someone, that's what is really important to me.

I'm going back to digital or either the Sony Ericsson T62U or Siemens S46. Those two phones can switch between digital and GSM. AT&T doesn't have a variety of good phones like Sprint does (they have the best) so I don't have much to choose from since I plan on staying with AT&T.

PROS:
Everything except...

CONS:
Ear piece on the phone

I'm returning the phone because of AT&T's GSM service is not good in my area yet. Going back to the digital world!


not a bad choice

 

Jan 6, 2004 by travellinman

this phone has some very good plus's in it's favor.an nice large full color screen,m-mode,downloadable ringtones grafics and games,a pretty good camera,battery life is great,reception is good.now for the bad.the volume needs to be a lot loader,also the mic is on the side so you have to remember to hold the phone at a slight angle so the person on the other end can hear you.overall a pretty good phone.


Great phone for fun, but not making calls...

 

Dec 4, 2003 by atchisbr

I owned the NEC 525 from AT&T for two days. It is no doubt the coolest looking phone on the market today, but it lacks one feature that all phones should have...the ability to talk on the phone.
This phone has the worst handset speaker I have ever heard. I cranked the volume up to 9 (the max) and I could barely hear a thing. If I was fortunate enough to hear the other person, they said I sounded like I was in a tunnel. That isn't good.

So, I would steer clear of this phone until they get it fixed. Hopefully NEC will hear all the gripes and will release a new phone that actually makes calls and looks cool.


don't get it

 

Apr 18, 2006 by pnhayden

I had this phone for one year. I had the first 525 for about 1.5 months when it stopped turning on. I got it warrentied and the next one opperated fine for the next ~10.5 months. The volume sucks even after the suggested change.
Pros - cheap
-screen is large.
Cons - huge
- no really huge
- signal strenght ( NOR Cal ATT, Cingular)
- reliability.
- Avaliablity of accesories.


VERY NICE PHONE BUT IT HAS ITS PROBLEMS

 

May 16, 2005 by TVP125   updated Oct 16, 2013

I GOT THIS PHONE TO REPLACE MY LG L1150 WHICH WAS A GOOD PHONE UNTIL THE SCREEN BROKE .THAT'S WHEN I WENT OUT AND BOUGHT THE NEC 525 AT FIRST LOOK IT LOOKS LIKE A VERY WELL BUILT PHONE TWO COLOR SCREENS A CAMERA BUT AFTER I BOUGHT IT I FOUND IT WAS HARD TO WORK THE MENU IS HARD TO UNDERSTAND BUT AFTER YOU OWN THE PHONE FOR A WHILE YOU WILL GET USE TO HOW IT WORKS. ALSO I DIDN'T LIKE HOW THE CHARGER WENT IN IT HAS THIS CHEEP LITTLE RUBBER PIECE YOU HAVE TO MOVE BEFORE YOU ARE ABLE TO CHARGE IT.THE ONLY THING I REALLY DIDN'T LIKE WAS HOW MY PHONE KEPT POWERING OFF BY ITSELF AND MOST OF THE TIME IT WOULD FREEZE BUT I JUST CALLED NEC AND THEY SENT ME A NEW ONE IN 5 DAYS. OVERALL IT IS NOT A BAD PHONE LIKE ALL PHONES IT HAS ITS ERRORS BUT IF YOU ASKED ME I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND IT TO A FIRST TIME CELLPHONE BUYER ONLY BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO KNOW HOW TO OPERATE A HIGH TECH PHONE WITH A WEIRD MENU.


An Up to Date Review

 

May 10, 2005 by kseghers

I used the NEC525 phone for one year thru AT&T Wireless.

CONS: Apparently, there is a defect in the phone design. The phone would freeze in the middle of a phone call or when placing a call. In order to "unfreeze" it, I would have to take the battery off of the phone to reboot. The problem worsened each month. After about 10 months, I contacted AT&T and they sent me a new NEC525 phone and I experienced the EXACT same problem!

The camera only worked in extreme lighting - forget using it inside.

I'm not hard of hearing and I never heard the phone ringing. I had to buy special ring tones in order to hear the phone ring.

I did not like that I couldn't use voice calling or speed dial without paying an extra monthly charge.

The phone cost much more than it was worth.

PROS: I enjoyed the large screen.

I loved that I could take someone's photo and it would come up on the screen when that person called me; and even personalize the ringtone for that caller.

Being able to change the background on not only the main screen of the phone, but also the small screen on the outside - haven't seen that option on many phones.

I liked that it was large because I didn't fumble and drop it like I did with smaller phones.

If I had the option to buy it again, I would not pay as much as I did.

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