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• The Good: Decent selection of features; push to talk can save you money on long distance calls.
• The Bad: Some design quirks; push to talk sometimes loses contact list, and has a several-second pause between sending/receiving.
• The Verdict: A very basic and durable PTT cellphone.
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REVIEW:

Back in January, Telus came out with its new Push-to-Talk service. For those of you who may not have tried phones equipped for this, the PTT feature allows you to use your cell phone much like a CB radio - across provinces and states, for a flat rate. The company now offers three phones for this service and recently let us test drive a pair of Kyocera KX440s. After a month of use, here are my thoughts:

Look and feel:

Unlike most phones out there, this phone looks both tough and attractive. From the rubberized ribbed grips on the side to the heavy gauge feel of the grey plastic case, the phone looks like it could take a few knocks. Size-wise, it comes in at 114 millimetres-by-49.2 mm-by-27.8 mm and 122.2 grams. A bit big by today's standards for phone without a whole lot of bells and whistles (no camera, Bluetooth, memory expansion, Pop3 e-mail, IR, MP3, voice recorder etc), but easily manageable. Battery life is rated at 96 hours of standby and 188 minutes of talk time.

The KX440 comes equipped with a small and basic 104-by-80 pixel screen displaying 4,096 colors. Since this phone is not a multimedia device, there is little need for much else. The ports are also of the basic variety; a standard headset jack and the power connector. Oddly, while the headphone jack has a rubber cover to protect it from dust, the power access does not.

The controls are very simple and offer excellent tactile feedback. As to their function, there is some good and bad. The standard phone dialpad buttons are raised and well spaced, but the call and end buttons aren't clearly backlit. Kyocera went with a very attractive bright blue backlighting system for the 4 way navigation pad and most of the keys, but it comes though only slightly on the call button and not at all on the end button. I can't make any sense out of it but one quickly learns where the "end" key is by feel. The side keys consist of the super sensitive PTT button (more on this later) volume controls and speakerphone key — none of which are backlit.

Lastly, the phone comes with two battery compartment doors. One is plain while the other has a built in carabiner clip that let's you hook the phone securely to almost anything. Both add a considerable bulge to the back of the phone to allow space for the large lithium ion battery. Note that a slimmer battery and door are available.

As a Phone:

The KX440 is a tri-mode AMPS 850/CDMA 850/CDMA 1900 device. That means that you get both digital and analogue coverage. Calls made in Telus' coverage zone generated no particular call quality or reception issues to report.

With that out of the way, let's have a look at some of the things that impact the phone side of the experience.

Address book: This is the application one depends on most in a phone and some are as comprehensive as desktop computers. The KX440, on the other hand, goes the basic route. Up; to 200 entries can be categorized as business, personal or neither and ringtones can be assigned to differentiate them. And although you don't get a camera for photo caller ID, you can pick from 37 picture ID cartoon icons. Aside from that, you can enter e-mail and street addresses, along with URLs, but all as separate phone entries. As noted, this is basic stuff, not for business contact management.

Speaker phone: Unlike most phones, the KX440 has a marvelously easy to use hardware button the top of the device for activating the speakerphone. This is of course crucial for the PTT feature noted below, however it can be used for general calls as well. The feature has an excellent volume range and voice quality was one of the best I've heard.

Menu Customization: You can pick from four colours, but you cannot re-order menus. Given that scrolling to the bottom of a menu on this phone does not take you back to the top automatically, the ability to put options where you need them would have been nice.

Wallpapers and Screen Savers: There are plenty of people who love to freshen up their phones by changing the display pictures. I'm all for it as a rule, just not on this phone. Why? The date and time are placed smack dab in the middle of the image and, despite my best efforts, cannot be removed. On a screen this size, the middle placement of the date and time means I couldn't tell you if the "bikini girl" on this wallpaper was 23 or 73.

Ringtones: The KX440 does the basic 16 chord polyphonic ringtones and comes with 15 choices onboard. You can assign a ringtone to a particular contact or, as noted above, to a given category. The backlights can also be customized to flash in rhythm. For more ringtone choices, use your browser to find thousands on-line.

Voice Dial: Like most newer phones, you can make a call by speaking the name of the contact while holding the send button. You'll need to record yourself saying the name twice for each contact in order to teach the phone to recognize your voice but once setup, it works flawlessly.

Games: This phone supports the Brew platform (JAVA), meaning you have plenty of choices for basic cellphone games. Out of the box, you get two:

Brick attack: A slower than molasses version of Breakout. Move the paddle and knock down the bricks -Nothing to write home about.

Tetris: The real deal original complete with the classic soundtrack. Ahhh … the memories. Unfortunately, the split screen setup and pastel color choices make it a strain on the eyes. It's a shame about the implementation, as Tetris is an excellent choice as a pick-it-up and put-it-down kind of cellphone game.

As a Push to Talk Device:

This is the big selling feature for this phone. In practice, it feels just like using a walkie-talkie. You press the PTT button, select a PTT contact and start talking. Note that you both must have PTT phones in order to use this feature.

Like walkie-talkies, you speak one at a time and in this case, there is a two- to six-second delay. Why would you want to talk like this? In one word: Money. Depending on your voice plan with Telus, you pay one set fee and you get unlimited PTT calls. As such, you could sit on the back deck of your cottage in Ontario and talk to your buddy in British Columbia for two hours if you were so inclined and there would be no long distance charges. The same goes for a PTT call from Saskatchewan to Florida. If you get the whole family or office on PTT phones, the savings could be considerable.

The drawbacks, aside from the speaking delay, are worth noting. For one, PTT contacts must be programmed from your computer on-line or through a customer service rep. Also, they have a tendency to disappear if the phone has been left off for a while. On several occasions, after leaving the phone on charge and turning it off for a day or two, my PTT contacts were wiped out. They would be downloaded automatically from the network once I turned it on but this process sometimes took anywhere from two to 25 minutes.

Lastly, the PTT button itself is more sensitive than a broken tooth. The slightest pressure will activate it and as such, your PTT contacts will get plenty of updates on the goings on in your pockets in you don't make religious use of the keyguard. Thankfully, activating it only requires you to hold down the "#" key.

As a Text Messaging Device:

Yes, I am still an SMS fiend of the first order. I use this feature constantly, so the ease of use factor is a really big deal when I look at a phone. In this regards, the KX440 covers the bases. Like most phones, you can enter your messages via the standard "tap" method or use the phone's predictive text software. The latter on this phone is called 'Rapid Entry" and worked pretty well for basic messages. Tapping in "where do you want to meet for lunch" took me a total of 34 key presses using the Rapid Entry system versus 65 for the regular tap method. The built-in dictionary is nowhere near as comprehensive as that of more advanced phones, but the ability to add words will get it up to speed on your lingo over time.

The KX440 also adds a feature I've always pined for: Delayed SMS. I text with people all over the world and sometimes I have a thought I want to share but can't send it because of time zones. People just have a tendency respond somewhat less jovially when their cellphone alert goes off at 3 a.m. To solve that, the KX440 allows me to compose a message and then pick the date and time when I would like it sent. This has also been an awesome feature for sending people information right when they need it and I wish it was a mandatory feature in all cellphones.

Rounding out the SMS features are the ability to set group lists (great for meeting reminders), adding a call back number, signatures and message receipts.

As a Web device:

The KX440 is your standard WAP surfer. The Openwave browser lets you surf to sites specifically formatted for cell phone screens and that's it. As far as Web goes, this is just for basic headline reading and little more. Of course, the browser is also your conduit to ringtones, wallpapers and games available on the Web. I downloaded both a ringtone and wallpaper image without issue. Once downloaded, the phone automatically added my new choices to the appropriate menu.

Other Applications:

I have often been surprised by the ability of some of these little applications to turn your phone into a situational Swiss Army knife. There are a few such programs on this phone:

Scheduler: A nice basic calendar application with views for Day and Month. It is very easy to add new appointments and reminders.

Alarm clock: Easy-as-Pie alarm program with a snooze feature. Just pick a time and you're good to go. Unfortunately, the alarm will not activate if the phone is off

Tip Calculator: Just punch in the total bill and pick a percentage; quick and easy.

Calculator: Not the best implementation. Since you have to scroll to the correct math operator every time you want to add a new figure, it's a little cumbersome. Still, it's nice to have a calculator on hand.

Timer: A straightforward countdown timer. Just set the hours, minutes and seconds and watch time fly by.

Stopwatch: If you liked counting down … counting up offers all the same thrills without the finite end. Sadly, there is no "Lap" option for the jogging nuts.

Doodler: This is an Etch-a-Sketch meets MSPaint type drawing utility.

Conclusion

The Kyocera KX440 is a very basic and durable PTT cellphone. If you are interested in the Push-To-Talk service and have no use for PDA, multimedia or photo features in a phone, the KX440 does a great job of keeping it simple. It sells for $229.99 (Cdn.) without a plan or $39.00 on a three-year commitment.