The Kyocera Zio (with Cricket Wireless)

Hey guys! In my last post I laid down some of the reasons why I use Cricket because I was planning on showing you their best phone to date that I'm so excited on purchasing when I save up enough money.... Srsly I've always wanted a smart phone with unlimited usage...

The phone runs about $249 on Crickets website, same price as the Blackberry. But seriously, why get a crappy blackberry with a data plan of $60 when you can get an awesome Android phone for the same price but with a lower data plan of $55. Five dollars goes a long way with Cricket. The phone comes with the 1.6 OS but will be upgradeable to I believe 2.1 later on. Hopefully it can be upgraded to 2.2 before I buy it :)

Okay so lets go over the visuals on the Kyocera Zio.

The phone comes with a trackball for those of you who just want to scroll through the icons, as well as a few menu buttons and send and end keys. The phone comes with all the usual Android features, market, as well as a Cricket market.

• Virtual Qwerty keyboard and 3-axis accelerometer
• Substantial internal memory (512MB)
• Built-in media player
• Digital compass
• MicroSD memory slot (supports up to 32GB microSD cards)
• Camera: 3.2 MP, w/auto focus
• Camcorder: VGA resolution @ 24FPS
• Dedicated camera key
• Light sensor
• Stereo Headset jack (3.5mm)
• Micro USB
• Vibrate Mode
• Scheduler
• Airplane mode
• Stereo Bluetooth® - 2.0 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
• Instant Messaging - Google Talk™ (Supports all IM clients downloaded from Android Market)
• Multiple Language options (English and Spanish)
• Multi-Media Messaging (MMS)
• Hearing Aid Compatibility
• EVDO Rev. A, Wi-Fi, and A-GPS/ E-911 capable*
• TTY/TDD support for the hearing impaired*
• Speakerphone
• Advanced voice dialing
• Full HTML web browsing

Display: 3.5" 262K-color TFT LCD WVGA (480x800 pixels), capacitive touch panel
Battery: 1130 mAh Lithium ion (Lilon) battery
Talk Time: Up to 6.9 hours
Standby Time: Up to 13 days (312 hours)
Web Browsing CDMA Network: Up to 3.9 hours
Wifi: Up to 7.0 hours

How to salvage or extend battery life!
With any new phone I get, I ALWAYS follow the recommended first charge procedure. 

What you're supposed to do:

• When you first get the phone and activate it, run the batter ALL THE WAY DOWN so that it won't turn on at all.
• Once the battery power is drained ALL THE WAY, this is the time when you first charge your phone. The reason it is important to drain all the battery before plugging it in is because this essentially PROGRAMS THE BATTERY CAPACITY and also extends how much power it can hold. Make sure the phone is powered off the entire duration of the charge. (It's better to charge it over night for the first charge.)
• Usually with brand new phones it alerts you as to when the charge is complete anyway. 
• Make sure that for every time you charge your phone from this point out that you wait for the phone to go completely dead, and plug it in while it's dead until fully charged. This will ensure your battery lives a healthy full extended life.

After I get the battery life all set up, I always set my brightness to the lowest setting. And when listening to music, I don't have it turned all the way up. Besides, loud music with headphones is more damaging than a Rock concert over time...

With phones that have Wifi capabilities, when using it while your phone service is still turned on can majorly sap your battery and fast. So make sure that any time you use wifi, to turn off your service temporarily. Usually it would involve airplane mode or something, you can figure it out.

I rarely use the loudspeaker on the phone itself, because if it's too loud, it could damage it or blow it out. So I try to use headphones with videos unless showing it off to multiple people. So if you just have to use the phone's speaker, set it to a low volume.

Here's the Kyocera review:

The best part about this is that you can skip buying it's accessories on Crickets website by buying on Amazon. Here are some cool stuff you can get for less!
 













Anyway, when I do get the funds to purchase this phone, I'll be sure to give you guys my review! :)