Kyocera KX12 (Alltel Wireless)

Kent German Former senior managing editor / features

Kent was a senior managing editor at CNET News. A veteran of CNET since 2003, he reviewed the first iPhone and worked in both the London and San Francisco offices. When not working, he's planning his next vacation, walking his dog or watching planes land at the airport (yes, really).

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Kent German

Sept. 29, 2005 1:17 a.m. PT

Kyocera KX12

The Kyocera KX12 is a candy bar style phone for Alltel Wireless. Taking a cue from Nextel phones, it features a rugged design with rubber side-grips and support for Alltel's Touch2Talk push-to-talk network. It's styled in blue and measures 4.3 by 1.9 by 1.0 inches and weighs 4.6 ounces. Other design elements include a 128-by-128-pixel resolution CSTN display that supports 65,000 colors, an internal antenna, a five-way navigation toggle, a dedicated speakerphone key and raised, numeric keypad buttons.

As for features, the KX12 offers a vibrate mode, text messaging, a wireless Web browser, voice dialing, support for IMAP4 and POP3 e-mail, basic PIM functions, polyphonic ring tones, a speakerphone, and a flashlight. The promised battery life is 6.9 hours talk time and 9.2 days standby time. The dual-band, dual-mode (CDMA 800/1900; AMPS 800) Kyocera KX12 retails for as low as $49 with service.