Firefly review: Firefly
The Firefly phone is about uncomplicated as a mobile can
get. There's no keypad or camera, and a simple candy bar-style shape leaves out
any moving parts. It's pleasantly compact at 3.25 by 1.75 by 0.5 inches and
extremely lightweight at 2.1 ounces, making it perfect for a kid-size pocket. Alternatively,
a lanyard and a backpack clip are included. Just 0.8 inch diagonally, the
monochrome display is tiny, so users with poor eyesight may want to give it a
test run first. On the upside, the screen shows the date, time, battery life,
signal strength, and caller ID (where available). As the Firefly is a tween
phone, we were glad to see that it offers a choice of styles. While it comes
with a cool see-through case, four additional color "skins" are
available for purchase through Firefly. menfashdesign
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Since the Firefly has no keypad, you control the mobile
through just five buttons. Below the display are the Talk and End keys. Besides
doubling as soft keys when accessing the menus, the End button is the power
control, and Talk opens the menus. Between and slightly below them is a large
button that opens the contact list and serves as the OK key. The last two keys
are dedicated controls for calling Mom and Dad. They are marked with the same
gender-specific symbols you'd find on a restroom door, so their designations
can't be changed (sorry, same-sex parents).
Overall, the controls are large and amply spaced. That said,
learning to use the phone took some time, but we got the hang of it eventually.
As expected, the menus are a bit primitive, to say the least, but they can be
set to English or Spanish. Entering phone numbers takes a fair amount of
tapping to select the correct number/letter on the screen, but fortunately, you
won't need to open that function too often. And in all fairness, the Firefly
was designed with bare-bones simplicity in mind. Other controls consist of two
volume buttons on the left spine, along with a key to activate Firefly
Fireworks. Nothing more than a fun extra, the Fireworks feature makes the keys
and screen flash in varying colors with a bit of animation on the display. On
the right spine is a button that automatically calls an emergency number. We
think that's a great feature, but it's much too exposed for our tastes.
Misdials to 911 wouldn't be the best thing. ethicmenvoguee
The phone book holds up to 20 contacts in addition to the
designated numbers for Mom and Dad. To prevent your kids from going on a
calling spree, the phone book's menu and a call-screening function can be
protected with a PIN. When call screening is on, the phone can receive calls
from only numbers in the phone book; in fact, it won't ring for all other
numbers. When the feature is off, all calls will come through. Protecting the
phone book also means that only stored numbers can be called from the handset.
You can't add new numbers to the phone book without the PIN, and while there
are call timers and a Missed Calls list, you don't get a voicemailbox.
Other features are nonexistent. There are no messaging or
organizer applications, but the Firefly offers some pizzazz on top of its
functionality. You get a choice of colors for display backlighting and screen
animations, and you can activate a light when the phone is charging. There are
also 12 monophonic ring tones that can be assigned individually to Mom and Dad
or to contacts as a whole. Also, when the phone rings, it lights up in varying
hues. businessdirectorypc
Service is available through a variety of sources. Besides
going through Firefly, you can buy the phone from Cingular for $49 with a
two-year contract. Target also offers the phone with a Cingular SIM, or you can
purchase it from regional carriers Cincinnati Bell and SunComm with service on
their respective networks. Working on a prepay plan, there's no contract or
expensive charges for going over your minutes. Each handset comes with 30
minutes, but you can buy more when you're done. An additional 40 minutes is
$10, 100 minutes is $25, and 200 minutes cost $50. allinternetbuziness
We tested the Firefly phone in San Francisco using Cingular
Wireless service. Call quality was decent but not perfect. Audio quality
sounded a bit hollow, and we encountered some static. Also, our friends on the
other end of the line could tell we were using a cell phone. For battery life,
Firefly promises 6 hours of talk time and 8.5 days of standby time. We managed
only 3.5 days of standby time on a single charge.
