I recently upgraded from a Kyocera Marbl to a UTStarcom Super Slice for my cell phone, so I figured I might as well write up my experiences with my first cell phone for posterity and others considering the Marbl. As with all reviews, let's start out with a rating and pros and cons list, then move onto details.

Overall: 6.5/10

Pros:
:: Relatively small, lightweight flip design
:: Bright color LCD screen and brightly backlit keys

Cons:
:: Horrendous battery life (<1 day)
:: Proprietary [non-USB] charger
:: Inability to load custom content like ringtones
:: No camera

Granted, I got this phone for $20 with no contract, but I was disappointed by the battery life in the long run more than I was happy with its good design, small size, and fairly reliable call quality. When I first got it, I was able to go around a day and a half without charging the battery, but as time went on, I only got between 14 and 16 hours of standby out of each charge. As far as features go, it has standard voice calling, speakerphone, text messaging, the OpenWave mobile browser, true polyphonic ringtones, etc. However, it lacks any computer interface, so all custom content must be purchased from the carrier. It also lacks a camera of any sort, bluetooth, or a USB port to charge from a standard USB cable as many modern phones have. Finally, I found its memory to be quite insufficient, filling up after only 120 received and 115 sent text messages had accumulated. The upshot: decent basic phone, but the battery life is a pretty big detraction.

My "phone" only gets about a days worth of battery life too, but its a Moto Q smartphone

I loves my phone

Smartphones FTW. They kick isuckPhone's a. I had a pocketpc for a while(it died) and it had everything and more than the iphone has.

I feel the same way. My phone >>>> iPhone. (except for perhaps the touchscreen, but touch screens suck a as keyboards)

I'll take memory cards over built in memory any day. It is becomeing a lot cheaper and you have no limit to the amount of memory you can have.

That argument is bullshit and everyone knows it. Who the hell wants to carry around a handful of tiny MicroSD cards? A vast majority of devices out there don't support SD cards larger than 4GB anyway (for phones and the like the limit is usually 1 or 2GB). However, the iPhone fails as an MP3 player thanks to its completely retarded non-standard 3.5mm jack design.

Besides, 2GB is plenty to carry around my favorite tunes/videos - and then I can stream the rest from my PC thanks to my phone not being crippled with crappy slow wireless like the iPhone.

My pocket pc had no issue with a 4 gb sd card plus a 2 gb cf, I forgot that most smart phones use micro sd which can be a pain to find in any size.

I like smartphones in general, but they're too much heft for me personally to want to carry around. He said 4GB max, so it's no great surprise that it has no difficulty with a 4GB and a 2GB device on separate busses.

Weight really isn't a problem - a little heft gives it that solid feel. I prefer thin much more, as slipping in and out of a pocket is far more important. In that element my smartphone is far thinner than your marbl (11.5mm vs. 20.3mm). Still, though, my Moto Q isn't really that much heavier than your Marbl (4.1oz vs. 2.9oz)

@Storm: A pocket pc is not a smartphone, so please stop talking about your pocket pc please, as this thread is about phones.

They have many similarity's the only difference is one can make calls and the other can't. They run of similar software and can have similar hardware. But I see your point and will close with that fact that I may be getting a smartphone soon because a friend of mine is getting a new one and they offered me theirs.

No, the differences are still larger than that. Pocket PCs are generally a good bit larger than their smartphone equivalents, and as such, the hardware is also different.

Kllrnohj: True, but the phone I just upgraded to, the Super Slice, has a bit better specs as far as weight and size go:

Dimensions: 111.8mm x 48.3mm x 10.2mm
Weight: 2.5oz
Proof: http://www.utstar.com/pcd/view_phone_details.aspx?mcode=CDM1450