Kyocera Rise User Reviews

vmbridun posted on 20 Apr 2013, 06:49

7

Not bad.

vmbridun has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

All in all this is a good phone for the cost. If you aren't looking for a high end android phone then this might fit the bill. It served me well for almost a week using it constantly after minor surgery on my hand left me unable to type on my laptop or use a mouse. I could hower "hunt and peck" with my index or middle finger on the phone screen to type and scroll through pages and apps without pain. So in that regard it worked great as my laptop replacement. I got pretty fast at typing on this phone in standard/vertical mode. Still couldn't type in horizontal mode due to the location of my incisions (thumb area) but it didn't slow me down much. LOL

This phone has very limited usable memory (RAM not storage). The storage is fine for what I need it for. It has .9GB usable storage on the phone itself. The phone can handle up to a 32GB SD card and you can use the app App2SD to move some apps to the SD card to free up space on the internal storage. I was using that app and moved everything to storage that I could but then I had to format and reinstall the phone due to system errors (probably caused by me from rooting and using Titanium Backup to freeze some system apps). So I decided it wasn't worth keeping it rooted due to the fact that the bootloader is locked and you cannot put any custom ROM's on the phone. There are none available for this phone due to that fact. Eh, so it's no longer rooted. If I end up needing to root it again, I will but for now, it's a non issue.

Build quality 9/10 It's solid. I wish it had gorilla glass.

Reception 7/10 Inside my home near a major street I get minimal bars (1-3 generally) - mostly 1. Outside on main roads and in the big city near me i get full signal mostly.

Call quality 9/10 Even with one bar of signal strength the call quality is fine. No problems there.

Internet 6/10 Even in wifi with 21mbps internet here at home the wifi is quite slow. 3g is even slower. It's really annoying, though I guess that's just Sprint/VM's service. I get unlimited data and texting for $35 a month with 300 minutes so I can't complain too much. It's a great price for owning a smart phone these days!!

Multimedia 7/10 Multimedia like netflix works fine on wifi but I've only used it once via 3g. Youtube was super slow and buffered a lot during the video on 3g. So, pretty much unusable on 3g. Netflix works fine on wifi. Had a little bit of buffering with youtube the one one time I tried it on wifi.

Camera 2/10 Camra is abysmal. No autofocus or even touch to focus. It's just blurry and sad and not worth using. Plus you can't silence the loud shutter sound without rooting the phone or using a downloaded camera app that has that functionality.

UI speed 7/10 The stock launcher tends to be a little laggy at times. I installed Nova Launcher and love it! Plus I was able to remove the google search bar from the screen. Otherwise the phone does okay with one or two apps open but if you open more than that and are multitasking a lot the phone lags a lot and sometimes causes the phone to become unresponsive at times. It supposedly has 512 mb ram but you only have about 75 to 90mb ram available on a fresh boot, with no apps running. You really have about 36

Everyday usage 8/10 If you aren't looking for the top of the line android phones (which you will not find at Virgin Mobile) this phone works fine. It is usually pretty speedy does what is meant to do, surf the web, text, and make calls. I've not tried any games on this phone but I'm not much into games on any device. The games I like are puzzle games and games like sododu, etc. But for action games I'm sure this would not work well.

Text input 9/10 At first I used the slide out keyboard a lot. In fact that's the main reason I bought this phone, for the slide out keyboard. But the more I used it the more I hated it. It is difficult to open, it's very firm and the spring is strong. The keys are hard to press. I never use the slide out keyboard anymore. I only use the software/touch screen keyboard now. It's just so much easier.

Display 7/10 The display is IPS and the viewing angles are great but the screen resolution is poor for today's standards. The vibrancy of the screen is good though. It's just that many pictures, etc, even text tend to be blurry around the edges and pixelated. But it's not a dealbreaker unless you are used to the iphone's retina screen. If that is the case then yes you would hate this screen.

Battery 7/10 Battery is rather poor but just remember to close out apps you aren't using (touching the third button on the right on the bottom of the phone and flicking sideways the apps you aren't using closes them). I keep wifi on all the time at home and have not noticed a huge hit to battery life with it. I do not use Eco Mode. I had Juice Defender Ultimate on here but it kept turning off my 3g and wifi and I had to disable DJU and turn on airplane mode, then then it off to get service again. So so much

Pros

• cost of the phone

Cons

• locked boot loader
• slow 3g and wifi
• tends to get laggy if you have more than 2 or 3 apps open at once
• limited RAM

BenGsMom posted on 05 Apr 2013, 22:23

7

I would rather a not smart phone

BenGsMom has owned it for less than year before publishing this review

I love they keyboard. Even with no reception I am able to watch movies without buffering. Games stop working, phone freezes and shuts off randomly. I have had this phone for 6 months and the battery life has progressively gotten worse. I had to get a second Rise all this activity has happened with both phones. The first one was corrupt. When making calls if they can hear me it sounds like I am under water. The phone destroyed my memory card. I think the only things I like about this phone are the keyboard and if it decides to run whatever apps I open whether it be one or 10 they all run at a decent speed and the phone is DURABLE.

Build quality 10/10 I drop my phone all the time not many scratches and no cracks.

Reception 6/10 Sometimes the phone says I have full reception and I drop calls.

Call quality 7/10 Echo

Internet 9/10 Even if I am roaming I am happy with the speed.

Multimedia 9/10 Videos play without buffering even without reception.

Camera 3/10 Very fuzzy. Delay when taking a pic. When taking a video the phones audio is delayed.

UI speed 7/10 If apps work they are at an acceptable speed.

Everyday usage 6/10 Does not always work. Freezes. Shuts off randomly.

Text input 7/10 Slow but accurate with keyboard. I do not use the touch screen to text unless I am using swipe and that is hit or miss.

Display 7/10 Cute. Small.

Battery 1/10 Battery barely lasts 2 hours.

stratct posted on 01 Jan 2013, 21:28

10

my humble review of the kyocera rise

stratct has owned it for less than 3 months before publishing this review

if your looking for an inexspensive smart phone, please do yourself a big favor and buy this. if you want a fast, powerful, good quality, up to date qwerty keyboard phone with Swype, android ICS, and a snapdragon processor at an insane price, this is perfect for you. if your looking for the best of the best, keep going.

Build quality 8/10 decent build quality but slide out kyboard is a tad wobbly

Reception 9/10 very good reception MOST of the time. over all there is one dead spot where i dont get anything at all

Call quality 10/10 cant complain. its crystal clear

Internet 9/10 its not 4G so i cant give it a 10 but its very fast thanks to snapdragon.

Multimedia 10/10 wonderfull. mostly thanks to Google's Android ICS 4.0.4

Camera 5/10 not very good at all. low quallity, laggy, no front facing camera, and no autofocus.

UI speed 10/10 exelent. but not the top of the line.

Everyday usage 10/10 fantastic for me. very little lag and great battery life.

Text input 9/10 Swype is the best. but the qwerty is decent too

Display 8/10 not the best... not at all. but somehow it looks better than what it actually has

Battery 10/10 wow. absolutly fantastic with heavy use. a day without charging? how about 2?

Pros

• increadbly inexpensive
• better than specs screen
• great internet speeds
• amazing battery life
• good processor
• android 4.0.4
• good build quality
• qwerty keyboard
• swype

Cons

• could see a better camera
• meh display
• single core processor

stratct alternatives:

HTC One X+ LTE

moman posted on 26 Sep 2012, 17:18

9

kyocera rise from virgin mobile

moman has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

I was tired of paying Sprint for my EVO, after some investigation I went with Virgin Mobile. I text more than talk, so I preferred a keyboard. Now I use sprints network for less than half the cost.
The phone is great, screen and camera are the only wishes. But, I knew that in advance. If it had a 5mp cam and higher res screen, would be perfect.
Buy this one!!!

Build quality 10/10 solid good contruction

Reception 10/10 as good as if not better than my EVO

Call quality 10/10 as I said clean and clear, better than my EVO

Internet 10/10 havent noticed any problems

Multimedia 9/10 n/a not a game player

Camera 6/10 leaving my EVO to a 3.2mp, it is what it is

UI speed 7/10 I would call it sluggish, but remember, I had the EVO

Everyday usage 10/10 perfect

Text input 9/10 my hands are large, the keyboard is great, but the upper row catches my thumbs from time to time.

Display 7/10 lower resolution, but fine for me

Battery 10/10 lasts and lasts and love the eco mode

Pros

• keyboard
• ics
• good size, not too big or heavy

Cons

• really only the camera, would have like 5mp