ZTE Altair 2 (Z432) 3G QWERTY Keyboard Phone - AT&T

This phone works great! I'm a student in college, and I was getting tired of using a smartphone ineffectively. AKA being distracted. For real, I haven't had a phone like this in almost 10 years, and this is just great! Does all the basics you'd expect a phone to do.I've had this for almost a month. I switched over from Sprint, and AT&T's customer service was very helpful in getting everything switched. If you're converting from an iPhone, you may need to call customer service, because iMessage gets all weird with your texts, and you will still receive texts on your iPhone. AT&T will do something on the back-end to resolve this.The pre-loaded wallpaper is eh, but I got a prepaid plan that came w/ 1 gig so you can easily download an image that fits your style.The texting was strange, but fun to use! It's strange because pushing physical buttons is something I've had to get used to. Another thing about texting is that when you are in a group text, you will not receive the messages in a group. The messages will come in from each individual person in a separate text. I've just let people know that I will reply to them individually from group texts. Another downside to the texting is that you can't see picture texts clearly. The screen is too small to read screenshots people send, but one way to fix this is to save the photo to your phone, and then view it in your pics. Of course that's a pain, but it works most of the time.Another strange thing I've had to watch out is BUTT DIALING. I've butt dialed/texted people about 3-4 times this month, so you have to be conscious of where you're putting your phone.Overall, this phone is great. The call quality is GREAT. I've asked my friends if they can hear a difference, and they have all said no.There aren't any games on this phone (why would you need them anyway?), but it does have useful tools like a calculator, tip calculator, stop watch, notes, and a world clock.You can have different profile settings, such as silent mode, or low-high volume alerts.OH, and the battery is GREAT. I can make multiple phone calls, text a lot, and use other things and I go 3 or 4 days in between charges!Highly recommend this phone if you're tired of being distracted from a smartphone, or you just need a simple phone.

When I first got this, I was so hopeful that it would be easy and simple to use. I was really excited to have a cellphone with a full keyboard. However, when it arrived, I was very disappointed with it. I tried for 3 or 4 days to work it and understand it. I think the most disappointing thing to me was that it was black keys on a black keyboard on a black background! I had to squint to distinguish the keys from one another. Also ~ it initially required a service contract with AT&T (which I distain!). I was hopeful that at the completion of the 1-year contract with AT&T, I could then switch over to T-Mobile. But, after 4 days I just returned it because of its inherent difficulties.

I bought this phone (ZTE Altair Z432) about a year ago because I wanted to disconnect... you know, from the internet and so forth. Smart phones can make you feel tethered to the internet and it's an awful feeling. I also really liked the appeal of having a small phone with a large battery life.Based on my goals, this phone succeeded. It was, in fact, the perfect phone for those goals. The phone is tiny and feels great in my pocket. The battery lasts for 4-7 days, depending on usage. And, while apps are technically possible (Java programs will run on this phone, for you nerds out there who understand that), you're pretty much going to be living life with what it gives you. There's no app store, anyway, so if you do want more than what I list below, it'll be a hassle to try to get it. But, if you're like me, you don't want an app store, and you don't want more. Anyway, without further ado, some features and my review of them.Calls: yeah, it's a phone, you can make calls. Huge surprise, I know. The quality is completely reasonable. That is, unless you're using a bluetooth headset. While the phone does have bluetooth, it seems like using it while on a phone call is just a little too much for the phone to handle. The bluetooth itself is fine, I'll touch on that later.Texts: also works well, with a few caveats.- No MMS group messaging. You can receive them, and it's possible to check details and see who all received the message, but you can't send group messages. You can, however, send mass SMS to as many people as you'd like.- Pictures (also MMS) will send and receive just fine, though you may have to save a picture to your phone and then navigate a couple menus to be able to zoom in enough to make out pictures you receive.- Texts save to internal storage. No changing that.- This phone has conversation view, but someone overlooked the fact that you can create multiple conversations with 1 person, if you forget you already started one before and create it again. Then, when they reply, it'll probably go back to the original conversation. Confused yet? Don't worry, you probably just have 1 misplaced message.- Emoji don't exist. Receiving one will show you a rectangle. Or 2. It depends on the emoji.- Emoticons automatically convert to weird looking emoji that other people can't see. I disabled this.Internet browser: exists, and can load some pages. To give you an idea of its limitations, Bing will not load. Not sure why you would try, anyway, but it won't work if you do. Google, however, loads fine and is well-optimized for this phone.Email: mostly doesn't work thanks to recent security improvements by most email providers.Music: actually really good. This works very well. I have bluetooth headphones that are more expensive than this phone, but the quality was just as good as using a computer with my headphones. The music controls on my headphones work as expected. And you can put music on an SD card in this phone, so yeah, plenty of space.Camera: exists, and is functional. Completely usable. Obviously don't expect much but if you need a picture of something this will get it.Sound recorder: also works as expected... and you can record your phone calls if that's your thing.Notepad, calculator, stop watch, alarms, calendar, contacts... standard assortment of useful tools.Useful settings, including the ability to set each direction on the directional pad to a shortcut for use on the main home screen. Options for those shortcuts are None, Recent calls, Create new message, Calendar, Address book, Alarm, Bluetooth, Email, Tip calculator, Profiles, Calculator, My stuff, Settings. (Profiles are the 5 setups you can create with different volume levels, vibration, ringtones, etc; My stuff is a file explorer that works fine)There's also AT&T Navigator. Don't use it. It costs money to use it and it's pretty bad. It does technically work though.In the end, I just got a smart phone a week ago... with everything being online for covid, I felt it was important to have that quick connection back. Still, this phone served its purpose and I am very much a fan. I may use it again someday.