Motorola Renew W233 (T-Mobile)
Manufacturer: Motorola Part number: RENEWW233GRNTMB
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Accessories
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The Motorola Renew W233 is more than just a green device; it's also a decent phone.
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CNET editors' review
Motorola Renew W233 (T-Mobile) price range: $14.99 - $29.99
- Reviewed by: Kent German
- Reviewed on: 02/03/2009
- Released on: 02/04/2009
The good: The Motorola Renew W233 offers satisfying call quality in a simple, eco-friendly design.
The bad: The Motorola Renew W233 has a low-resolution display and it offers few features. Also, it lacks a side-mounted volume rocker.
The bottom line: The Motorola Renew W233 is more than just a green device; it's also a decent phone.
The story of T-Mobile's Motorola Renew W233 lies not in what it offers--its features are quite minimal--but rather in what it is. Billed as the world's first carbon neutral cell phone, the Renew is made entirely of recycled water bottles (at least the plastic parts) and it comes in packaging made from 100 percent recycled material. As such, the Renew goes far beyond the Nokia 3110, which is made from just 50 percent recycled plastic. Moto is also promising that with an estimated talk time of nine hours, the Renew will use less energy.
Though the idea of a green gadget may send some eyes rolling, other users might find comfort in the idea. In any case, the Renew isn't a bad phone. Even with its minimal features and low-resolution display, it offers good call quality thanks to Moto's CrystalTalk feature. It's also a bargain, at just $9.99 with service.
Design
The Renew has a unique color scheme that fits perfectly with its Earth-friendly image. A lime green trim on three sides of the handset contrasts nicely with the cream keypad and black rear cover. Green highlights also surround the navigation array. The Renew is compact (4.4 inches tall by 1.8 inches wide by 0.6 inch thick) and lightweight, so it's easy to carry around in a pocket or bag. Though its shell is entirely plastic, it feels somewhat solid in the hand. Still, this is not a phone for the danger-prone.
The Renew's display is about what you'd expect from a basic handset--it's small (1.44 inches, 128x128 pixels) and has a low resolution. With support for just 65,000-colors, graphics aren't terribly sharp and most hues are muted. On the upside, the display is bright with readable text, but the brightness and font size can't be changed. You can alter the backlight timer and choose from list and icon menu designs. Both interfaces follow Moto's standard organizational system, which remains dated and a bit convoluted.
The navigation array consists of a four-way toggle with a central OK button, two soft keys, and the Talk and End/power buttons. The left soft key doubles as a music player shortcut and you can set the toggle to give one-touch-access to four user-defined features. Though the navigation controls are plastic, they don't feel too flimsy and the arrangement is relatively spacious. Also, we like that the toggle is raised above the surface of the phone. We'd prefer a dedicated clear button and a speakerphone control, but that's a minor point.
The keypad does well with its relatively cramped space. Though they're flush, the individual buttons are clearly separated form each other and there's a bright backlighting. Dialing by feel was a bit difficult at first, but we were able to text quickly after a short learning period.
The remaining controls are few; in fact, they're a little too few. A 2.5mm headset jack and a Mini-USB/charger port sit conveniently on opposite sides of the phone, but the Renew doesn't offer a dedicated volume rocker. That means you have to remove the phone from your face during a conversation so you can adjust the volume with the toggle. That's not the most convenient arrangement. What's more, the microSD card slot is stashed behind the battery.
You can tell instantly that the Renew's brown packaging is made from recycled materials. It's smaller than your average cell phone box (22 percent smaller, according to Moto) and it is devoid of any fancy graphics. It's nothing more than a "feel-good" measure, but it's a nice touch just the same. Just remember to go full circle and recycle your box.
Features
The Renew has a 500-contact phone book with room in each entry for six phone numbers and an e-mail address (the SIM card holds an additional 250 names). You can save callers to groups and pair them with one of 35 polyphonic ringtones. The Renew doesn't offer photo caller ID, but we're not going to raise a stink since the handset doesn't have a camera. Other essentials include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a speakerphone, a calculator, an alarm clock, USB syncing, a stopwatch, and support for T-Mobile's My Faves service.
The Renew also offers a basic music player, which is a curious addition on a phone that doesn't even have Bluetooth (indeed, we'd prefer the latter). The player's staunchly minimalist interface, mediocre performance, and zero features make it not really worth the effort, but it's there if you want it. Your best bet to transfer music is via the memory card slot, which supports cards up to 2GB.
You can personalize the Renew with a variety of screensavers, wallpaper, colors, and a greeting. You can download more options from T-Mobile's t-zones service using the WAP 2.0 Web browser. The handset comes with two games: Tetris and Sudoku. You can buy more titles if you wish. Just be aware that gameplay is a bit tedious thanks to the phone's slow processor.
Performance
We tested the dual-band (GSM 850/1900) Motorola W233 Renew in San Francisco using T-Mobile service. Since it lacks support for European GSM bands, the W233 will not work outside of North America. Also, data support is limited to GPRS.
Thanks to Moto's CrystalTalk feature, which blocks out surrounding noise, the Renew offers better call quality than you might expect. We enjoyed a strong signal with clear audio and loud volume. Callers sounded natural, and we could hear them in noisy environments. Our only complaint was that we detected a slight hiss during some conversations, but it was a rare occurrence.
On their end, callers said we sounded fine. They also could hear and understand us in a variety of environments and they didn't report any problems with static or interference. Automated calling systems could understand us most of the time, but it was best if we were in a quiet room. The speakerphone is good, but not great. It was loud enough, but voices had an echo on our side.
The Renew has a rated talk battery life of nine hours, which is quite high. Indeed, our tests showed a talk time of 9 hours and 54 minutes. The promised standby battery life is 18 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the Renew has a digital SARof 1.26 watts per kilogram.
User reviews
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Sleek, Inexpensive, Attractive looking phone
by Seattle87 on February 6, 2009
Pros: Thin, Light-weight, Attractive looking, Inexpensive, Good Battery, Memory card slot (Under battery) Headset to play MP3's , Nice sound quality for the price,
Cons: Takes about 25-30 seconds to recievie signal and indicate you have service once you turn it on. No camera, No Bluetooth, memory card slot behind battery
Summary: I am the tech kinda guy that likes to have the new stuff.. Unfortunately my other phone borke and I really can't afford an extravgant phone right now. The ...
Summary: I am the tech kinda guy that likes to have the new stuff.. Unfortunately my other phone borke and I really can't afford an extravgant phone right now. The attractive looks caught my attention. On the back it is black with a nice speaker near the bottom. On the fromt it is black and whte with an eye catching lime green. The screen isn't the best but it's quite decent fo the price and the nature of the phone. The call quality is really nice and is able to hold a solid signal. The phone is nicely thin and light. The unit also has MP3 player capbilities, which I find works really well.. (box includes headphones) The MP3 player slot is located behind the battery but for me it's not a big deal (doesn't come with memory) Once you load songs on a memory card you can use them as ringtones too. The phone holds an OS like the RAZR with a few slight differences. Overall I am enjoying the phone A lot and seems to be working solid for what I need it for right now.
2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Good Call Quality, MP3 Player, Micro SD and Web Browser
by sjack5 on May 23, 2009
Pros: Call quality is great. It is loud and clear. Ringer is also nice and loud if you need it to be.
Call quality is great. MP3 player, Micro SD and web browser. MP3 files can be used as ringtones. Good battery life.Cons: No camera or bluetooth capabilities. Would have liked better screen colors. Micro SD slot is under battery, but that can be remedied by using a data cable.
The Micro SD memory slot is under the battery.Summary: This is a phone made using recycled water bottles with features that a lot of basic phones don't offer. For the price of this one you would not expect ...
Summary: This is a phone made using recycled water bottles with features that a lot of basic phones don't offer. For the price of this one you would not expect an MP3 player or Micro SD slot and maybe not a web browser. I am a female so I like that the phone is small and cute. If you are male, this might be a little small for your fingers.
I was actually looking in this price range for a used phone when I saw this one. I was using a Samsung Katalyst (3 times the cost) and it had a terrible echo and dropped a lot of calls so I wanted to try a different phone without spending a lot of money.
If you don't need a phone to act like a computer, act like a camera, you don't use bluetooth and don't want to spend a lot of $, this is the phone for you.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Good looking, simple eco-phone.. Awesome call quality!
by jhutchinz on March 24, 2009
Pros: Low Priced, good weight and feel, colorful and good looking, simple to use, Awesome sound quality for phone calls.
Cons: No Mac USB transfer capability for MP3 (ringtones, songs), older graphics for menus, no email.
Summary: I bought this phone because my last phone died before my 2 yr contract was up. I didn't want to spend $200 or more for a replacement phone or ...
Summary: I bought this phone because my last phone died before my 2 yr contract was up. I didn't want to spend $200 or more for a replacement phone or get into another big contract, so I bought this phone with no contract for $65. It doesn't have any bells & whistles (no camera, no bluetooth, etc), but ZNET was right is that the call quality is excellent and that's really the best part about this phone. There are plenty of other low cost phone out there, but none of them (at t-mobile) can match this price and sound quality of the Moto Renew. If you only need a phone to make calls, get this phone.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Absolute garbage
by man5587 on October 6, 2009
Pros: Loud ring that's about all
Cons: complete pile of crap
Summary: First of all, can't receive picture messages, can't receive mp3, can't send pictures, can't send mp3 (even though mp3 is a feature - lies) absolutely will ...
Summary: First of all, can't receive picture messages, can't receive mp3, can't send pictures, can't send mp3 (even though mp3 is a feature - lies) absolutely will not let you use mp3 for ringtones. Has to be one of the mp3 ringtones that came with phone, or has to be a midi file. Try to use your own mp3, nope. Try to get any usefull information on how to do things with stupid phone from motorola site = receive a bunch of him hawing and nothingness - completely useless website. " can't display message" is what normally is displayed when opening messages other than text. However, speakerphone is loud. They lie about the features. Phone don't have features. Comparable to two cans and a string.
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Excellent baseic phone
by Human_Kind on August 28, 2009
Pros: A basic phone with surprisingly decent call quality.
Though I could have gotten a better price online, at the store retail price is not prohibitively expensive.Cons: Rather cramped keyboard and the keys are somewhat stiff, though not overwhelmingly so. I find the 'def' key to sometimes not register when texting between 'd' and 'e'
Summary: This is a fine candybar, non bulky fairly basic phone. Admittedly, I am upgrading from an EXTREMELY basic entry level tracphone so this is not a hard thing to do. ...
Summary: This is a fine candybar, non bulky fairly basic phone. Admittedly, I am upgrading from an EXTREMELY basic entry level tracphone so this is not a hard thing to do. I enjoy the stylish design, though as mentioned in the editors review the user interface is somewhat complex, though not overwhelmingly so.
I find the keys to be cramped, however that is largely because I have big thumbs. Additionally, the keys are somewhat stiff and do not always register. This is easily remedied by using a somewhat heavy hand.
The screen is bright and clear and menus are easy to read.
Service is still good in the middle of nowhere, so props to Tmobile for actually having decent call quality and service. However I am rather annoyed that the phone does not come with a comprehensive users manual. Rather than telling me how to map out functions and get rid of this odd breast looking icon in the top right corner of my screen, it tells me how to set up my 'myfaves' account. I have no interest in myfaves! I don't use that service! -
Great phone, at an awesome price!
by MargaretFRivera on August 24, 2009
Pros: Excellent call quality. Great speaker for music. Light weight.
Cons: No bluetooth. 2.5 mm headphone jack. Buggy when syncing to PC.
Summary: Overall this phone is the best value phone made for t-mobile. The phone's housing is attractive. The screen's resolution could be better, however the color's are bright ...
Summary: Overall this phone is the best value phone made for t-mobile. The phone's housing is attractive. The screen's resolution could be better, however the color's are bright and everything is easily readable. The buttons on the phone are very tactile and texting is surprisingly easy, especially when compared to Motorola's Slvr l7. Syncing to PC can be kinda tricking at first and there is no support for MAC users. The sound on the Renew is probably one of its best features. In my opinion it's much better than the Motorola Slvr l7, which was designed to be a music phone. Call volume is loud and clear. The downside is that you're stuck with a 2.5 mm headphone jack. The phone lacks bluetooth, a camera (which I really miss), and video. I was able to buy this phone from Best Buy for about $29, so at that price it's a great deal. If you're looking for a reliable back up phone, or need a basic phone that's lightweight, this phone is for you.
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Great basic phone - reception, sound and battery life
by guy-rouillier on July 21, 2009
Pros: I have very basic needs in a cell phone: I just talk with co-workers. Important features to me are good reception, long battery life and ease of use. The Renew offers all of these. I also wanted a speakerphone. Buttons have nice tactile feedback.
Cons: My previous phone was a basic Noka, and they do the user interface better. Battery reserve and signal strength are hard to read. The speakerphone is of marginal quality; I found it annoying after about 20 seconds. Buttons are on the small side
Summary: I've only had the Renew for a couple weeks after my previous phone wore out. I'm getting used to it, but the major features I want all work ...
Summary: I've only had the Renew for a couple weeks after my previous phone wore out. I'm getting used to it, but the major features I want all work well. Text is easy to read, but the indicator icons (battery and signal strength) are not very pronounced and difficult to interpret. My previous Nokia had even lower resolution but managed to convey that info clearly.
The Renew's green features are what prompted me to take a look. The MP3 capability is handy but I doubt I'll ever use it. Others have reported that 8 GB microSD cards work, although only 2 GB is advertised. The web browser is fairly useless because of the small screen.
This phone an excellent basic cell phone, but if you are looking for smart phone features, this phone won't fit the bill. -
Not working on first try - had to return
by HelloYes on June 28, 2009
Pros: like that it's recycled.
Cons: Just walked out of the store with this phone and it already wasn't working properly. Said "press any key then * to unlock" but wouldn't unlock. Turned right around and returned it.
Summary: Felt cheap and overly light like it would break in no time and on the first drop. (I've actually run over in my car my Samsung T209 and it ...
Summary: Felt cheap and overly light like it would break in no time and on the first drop. (I've actually run over in my car my Samsung T209 and it continued to work for 3 years!). The plastic doodad that covers the headset insert also seemed like it would break in no time though I cannot attest to that as I have already returned the phone.
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Good features for the price; mediocre reception
by joseph-w on June 9, 2009
Pros: low price; made from recycled materials; decent amount of features; good voice quality (when there is good reception); easy to read screen
Cons: feels flimsy; easily dropped calls even with 1 or 2 bars showing; sort of feels like a throwback to 2002 due to no camera and no bluetooth capabilities
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Tiny, poor quality screen. Cramped, hard to use keypad.
by porcelainorchid on May 14, 2009
Pros: The fact that it's made of recycled bottles is pretty cool, sound quality is fair.
Cons: The screen is tiny and poor quality, the keypad is equally tiny and cramped, the buttons uncomfortable to push. It doesn't have a substantial feel to it, it feels flimsy and easily broken.
Summary: I tried this phone out for a week and couldn't wait to return it back to the retailer. Texting on it is a nightmare, the tiny, cramped little keypad ...
Summary: I tried this phone out for a week and couldn't wait to return it back to the retailer. Texting on it is a nightmare, the tiny, cramped little keypad makes your thumb feel like it's about to fall off after just a few texts. It lacks a camera, so you obviously can't send picture messages, and can't receive them either. It has very few features, and seems like five gigantic steps backwards when compared to the technology of Motorola's other phones. The idea of using recycled materials to create new phones is a great idea, and I fully support that, but I see this phone as a pretty failed attempt. I do not recommend it at all.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Motorola
- Part number: RENEWW233GRNTMB
- Description: Motorola MOTO W233 renew features the industry's first mobile phone housing made from plastics that contains recycled water bottles and the device is the first certified carbon-free cell phone on the market. Motrola offsets the amount of energy required to manufacture, distribute and operate the phone. You can also enjoy your music, clear conversations with CrystallTalk technology.
General
- Product Type Cellular phone With digital player
- Service Provider Not specified
- Width 1.8 in
- Depth 0.6 in
- Height 4.3 in
- Weight 2.9 oz
Cellular
- Technology GSM
- Band GSM 850/1900 (Dual Band)
- Phone Design Candy bar
- Vibrating Alert Yes
- Polyphonic Ringer Yes
- Call Timer Yes
- Voice Recorder Yes
- Caller ID Yes
- Additional Features CrystalTalk technology, Post-consumer recycled plastic material, 2 GB memory, GPRS Class 10, Mini USB
Phone Memory
- Phone Book Capacity 500 names & numbers
Messaging & Data Services
- Short Messaging Service (SMS) Yes
- GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) Yes - Class 10
- Messaging / Data Features Text messages, Multimedia messages (MMS)
Ring Tones
- Ring Tone Formats MP3, MIDI
Organizer
- Alarm Clock Yes
- Reminder Yes
Display
- Type LCD display
- Display Resolution 128 x 128 pixels
- Diagonal Size 1.6 in
- Color Support Color
- Color Depth 16-bit (65000 colors)
Connections
- Connector Type Headset jack - Sub-mini-phone 2.5 mm, USB - Mini-USB Type B
Power
- Type Power adapter
Battery
- Technology - Lithium ion
- Talk Time 540 min
Accessories
- A-Data Speedy Series flash memory card - 2 GB - microSD (33795596)
- ATP SD Trio Professional PLUS card adapter - flash: microSD - Hi-Speed USB (32128464)17.00
- Centon 2GBRSD3-1 - flash memory card - 2 GB - microSD (33503634)8.99 - 11.84
- Centon flash memory card - 4 GB - microSD (33362243)11.48 - 16.64
Manufacturer info
- Motorola
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Motorola products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://commerce.motorola.com/consumer
- Address:
600 N. Highway 45, Suite AS342, Libertyville, IL 60048 - Phone: 847/576-5000
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