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Bell Samsung Vice Review
We have been playing around with the Samsung Vice for the past few days and find it to be a solid – just above entry level – device. The best quality about the Vice is it’s price point at $49.95 on a 3-year contract. This is currently exclusively available at Bell and is a North American first.
At first when we saw pics surface that this was coming to Canada, I thought it was going to be another basic device that feels cheap in the hand. Rest assured when you hold this it feels solid and you feel you get more than you pay for. The Vice only weight 134 grams and has overall dimensions of 114.1 x 48.3 x 17.9 mm. The reason I say you feel like you get more than you pay for is because of its slide out full QWERTY keyboard. For the size of device this is one of the more spacious designs I have seen. Your fingers/thumbs will not get in the way of each other… even if you have a slightly larger digits you’ll find the keys are just the right size. Texting, e-mails and IM are a dream on this as this comes with threaded text messaging so you’ll be able to follow your conversations.
With the ease of typing, comes the quality of screen. This has a 2.2 inch screen with a resolution of 240 x 320. The max number of characters for a text is 140 and I found that the screen could have been improved, possibly made just a bit bigger. The resolution was somewhat pixelated with viewing TV or videos but the speakers were great quality. In regards to surfing the web, the screen size made it a bit of a challenge as some sites we viewed were simply text links, even when we switched to the full HTML browser option the screen did not do justice.
Apart from the standard features such as contacts, speakerphone, voice memo, alarm clock, calendar, other key features of the Vice include its GPS, MP3 player, 3.5mm headphone jack and can expand up to another 8GB with a MicroSD. With this said, I was pleasantly surprised with the 2.0 megapixel camera. I like how many options you have with this feature (picture and video messaging) and can take video as well. When viewing pics you can simply use the scrolling directional pad to work your way through your albums and view them either in portrait or landscape.
This is available in Blue (and White May 20th) on the following price plans
3-year: $49.95
2-year: $99.95
1-year: $199.95
Prepaid: $249.95
More here at Bell
Discussion
54 comments for “Bell Samsung Vice Review”
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I wouldn't say $50 is a great quality at a 3 year contract price price-point. You can buy it for $250 prepaid, or get more expensive phones for the same price or less on a 3 year contract.
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Considering it's bell it is awesome for a 3 year contract and is $100 cheaper to buy outright than the LG Rumour was last year at this time (which I bought then, am regretting it now that i know of the Vice)….
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i was wondering if you can put music on your phone from your computer once you get the extra memory or do ya gotta buy it?
also, i was wondering if you can use the music as your ring tones instead of buying them?
if some1 could let me know that would be awesoomee =] thankss.
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What about it's function as a phone??? What is the voice quality like?
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This phone is being sold at Virgin Mobile now…
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I would like to know, cause im getting this phone this week, how is the texting and the signal strength.Thanks
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WOW! so expensive! i got this phone prepaid for 149.99 at virgin mobile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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the samsung vice has a horrible battery life. i cant even leave my phone on for the night. every night i have to turn the phone off… then the phone lasts me for about 40 hours… NOT 230 hours like they said on the description of the phone… otherwise this is a great phone for features,style and texting
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I took mine out of the box and without charging it I was able to get 3 days out of it before it starting powering down. I made numerous phone calls and texts… I think you got a faulty battery because mine has excellent battery life.
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I just got mine about two days ago… I would have to say I’m in between both of your comments… mine can last about two days or so… I use the text function A LOT… I also used the camera often enough as well… I haven’t attempted having it on at night, since I new battery life would have been used up when it’s not necessary or needed (since I’m asleep and a text can be sent to me when I turn it on anyways…)… but like the person said a bit further below, we should put the phone in power saver mode! xD)
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The samsung vice phone is a CDMA phone meaning that its always looking for reception. Because of this the phone's battery life drains out much faster than a GSM phone that doesn't look for reception as often. Telus, virgin mobile, and bell usually sell CDMA phones whereas rogers and Fido sell GSM phones that have better battery life.
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Battery life for the Samsung Vice is indeed horrible.
Does anyone get following message:
‘!’ ‘Not enough memory/new message is rejected’
I seem to get this message now and then on my phone, although my phone indicates plenty memory available.
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I think you can change a setting on the phone to automatically delete text messages when the inbox is full. My old LG did that all the time and I just changed it to auto delete. Maybe this helps.
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But Rogers is one of the worst cell companies in Canada. I hate Bell but they outprice every other company by a long shot. I got a 3 year contract with 150 anytime minutes(not much) 10 unlimited talk and text numbers, Eve and weekends starting at 6 (compared to 8-9 for other companies) all for $20 a month. No other company can come cloase to that price point. I hate Bell but it was just cheap. Koodo comes close but they charge a little more for a little less and the phone selection is kinda crappy.
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I got the vice last week and its awsome. N yes u can download music of the computer plug in the usb n ur phone to the computer n then on ur phone go to ‘entertainment’ n the press ‘memory card’ n the press ‘connect to pc’ n transfer all ur files its pretty easy. I agree the battery life sucks but overall great phone.
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Does anyone know how many text messages the vice holds in the inbox?
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I had my vice for about 3 weeks and the battery is not holding charge more than two day even if I don’t use it at all. I mean literally I am not using the phone and the batter is dying fast. If I talk on the phone after a 10 min conversation I see that I lost a slash from the battery. Is that normal? I don’t think so. I saw a review saying that the batter should live for 240 hours on standby. Which is about 9 days, it is only lasting 2 days.
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@ Tim:
My battery lasts about a good 9 days like advertised.
But do you have your power saver on? If your power saver is off, the battery usually lasts shorter because the backlight is brighter and that tends to suck the battery.
I hope I could of been of some help. =)
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The only things that have disappointed me with this phone are as follows: the short battery life when not in power saver mode (I will give power saver mode a try and hope for the best), the camera’s megapixels (2.0 megapixels is kind of low compared to other phones I have seen, but all together I don’t need the camera for anything specific like a photography class or something, so it’s good enough considering the fact that I don’t own a camera… so I can’t really complain too much on that part), and the reception. I don’t know if it’s the phone itself or if it’s just Bell… but the reception I get can be so bad when I’m inside my university. My friend’s cellphone got reception where I couldn’t even get it, meaning it’s either Bell’s fault, or it’s the cellphone. So for me to send a text message or carry out a conversation, I have to avoid certain areas in university that block out the reception. Oh and I also wish that the phone would come with a small bit of external memory (like 512 MB worth at the least). With my plan I got a 4 GB card free (equivalent to 30 dollars from bell), but I haven’t received it yet because they have to order it in… I’m hoping it comes soon because I want to make my own ring tones for it. And yes, to all of you who wonder about making your own ring tones, you CAN make your own ring tones! The link explaining it can be found here: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_I_use_my_mp3_music_as_ringtones_on_my_samsung_vice_from_bell_Like_the_music_I_downloaded_into_my_music_center the only thing it fails to mention is that if you’d like the ring tone to be a certain part of your song, you should probably get yourself a program that can help you with doing that. Anyways, back to my review. I love the qwerty keyboard that it comes with. Since this is my first ever cellphone, I don’t exactly have high expectations for this keyboard. I find when the keys are lit up, my thumbs go too far to the right and hit the other key beside it. this is because my eyes think the key is further right in order to avoid the other character seen on the same key. However, it’s not hard to get used to. I also love the case I got for it. The case I got from Bell was a deep metallic blue. I find the case actually makes the phone look better than it does without the case! xD
Overall I would give this phone an 8 out of 10. 80%… not too bad. I’m being rushed off the computer. Sorry for the long review. Consider yourself lucky, since I would have written more if I could have.
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Actually, I’ve tried everything to convert a mp3 to avi, then that avi to 3g2. Don’t do it. It really doesn’t work, because the phone for some reason does not pick up the song when using it as a ringtone. It reverts back to using the original ringtone. Then I moved the file onto the phone. Not only does the phone reject to delete them (yeah, I tried twice) but now when I try using them, it’s completely silent. The video ringtone options sucks badly, and even if you decide to record music via camcorder, you can only record like 20 seconds of it.
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so i’m thinking of getting this phone sometime next week… i plan on using it mainly for texting and picture-taking. it it difficult to load pictures onto the computer once the phone memory is used up? are there any problems with recieving or sending text messages? i like the red and white version but i don’t need all those menu icons, is it possible to get rid of those? thanks, – Aly
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bell prepaid, at 20$, to have, 5 hours of unlimited call oh yours choice, unlimited text message, and 30cent/minute first two minute, and after 5 cent minute, rock, and is better then virgin mobile. Also bell have the white and red version which, virgin mobile dont have, and it is only 130$ with bell, it really rock, and it is a great phone, so pick bell
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I wanted to buy this phone but now i am not sure reading these comments about the short battery life. Can any one request any other phones similar to the samsung vice from bell. I am really looking for:
- full keyboard
- slide or flip version
- good quality
- newer design
thanks
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I’ve had this phone for about 3 weeks now and I find the alarm is terrible. It goes off randomly, it will be set for 10am and at 8:45 it starts going off saying its 10 am. I took it back and they exchanged it for another one, and the same thing is happening! I have to go back again. I also find the battery life isn’t the greatest either, and I also have problems with reception when I’m inside my university. Overall this phone is garbage and I will going back for the second time today to get a completely different phone
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This Phone Is Alright… Not the best for texting..Because when you send a text message..sometimes you will get it back like someone is mocking me..but its really just your message coming back to you.. and the message does not deliver to the other person.. so if u like texting this isnt the really best phone for it..
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i’ve had the vice for about 2 months now the battery life is AMAZING but i just cant figure out how to get my pictures from my phone to my computer does anyone know how to do that?
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I have had this phone for about 2 months now and I love it! The only thing that bothers me is that it connects to the internet in my pocket even when it’s locked sometimes! Does anyone know how to keep it from accessing the net?
In response to the battery life, mine lasts a good 5 days…
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I just got this phone from Virgin Mobile and I’m playing around with it now. Does anyone know how to get the menu to scroll along the bottom of the screen like the guy has in the video review?
And… how do you remove the battery door? Does it actually pull off or is it connected a little? I didn’t want to try pulling on anything but the thin leaflet that comes with it doesn’t really tell me anything.
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I’ve had the Samsung Vice since summer. I can’t do ANYTHING with it, because I can’t get the software drivers from Samsung website (only gives a .pdf user manual). It’s very frustrating because i can’t upload pic’s/vid’s to my computer from the phone & equally I can’t download music & use it like the MP3 player they say it is. I have the usb connected to my PC, & when the auto-hardware detector launches it asks for installation software.I’ve looked all over for driver installation on the web. There simply are none for this phone.I’ve contacted Bell who say the phone doesn’t come with software.It’s MADDENING. Then there’s the tinny voice quality;the MONSTROUS billing.You have to add every product or service (despite phone plan packages). I’m on a family shared plan-$40/month for 250 text messages, 500 incoming minutes & 250 shared minutes. Heaven for bid I accidentally launched the web browser a few times & was billed 100′s of dollars. First phone bill was $600 bucks! I was like…WHAT THE HELL!!? I have a $130/month network (3 family phones) my plan is $40, how’d I get billed $600???? The mobile browser charges were $52/megabyte, per phone!
I got things modified after sinking nearly $1500 in these phones. I knoW! Icould have bought a new bed & washer/dryer combo for that. Who knew, thought it would be handy for emergencies & connecting 2 family. Couldn’t get out of the contract (3 year). Things are cheaper, got someone KNOWLEDGEABLE at Bell who stripped them down & rebuilt the plan packages. But I still can’t do any downloads or uploads of pic’s without these Samsung drivers. Yet i see others using their Vice phone as it should.Idk where they found the installation software….HELP!
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lol i got this phone for $79.95 on prepaid with bell haha
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Has anyone tried to use BitPim with this Phone? I use it with my LG and was able to convert MP3′s to ringtones for it.
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I got the Samsung Vice with bell on pre-paid. The first day it seemed perfect. i find it great for texting, takes pretty good pictures, and i have no problem with the alarms i have put on it.
I have only had the phone for about a week though and sometimes I just want to throw it at the wall. I had $14.25 that should have been for me to spend on ringtones and such, but for some reason the phone is eating my money even though i already have $15 for the unlimited texting and that is all i have done on it so far. I was hoping to buy those ringtones but when i called to get my balance last night it told me i had 20 cents on the phone, then i called back later and it said -50cents. So i turned the phone off and left it off. Later that night i thought about it and decided to see if i could possibly get a representitive to talk to but it was to late. so i just checked my balance again, it said -90cent now. i cant figure it out my phone is off!! the next morning my phone was still off and my balance kept going im now at -$1.35 when my phone has been off!! Has anyone else had this problem??WHat did you do about it
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i got the samsung vice with bell (prepaid) for christmas, and ive had no problems.. other than bell taking money from my phone on christmas day ; but then they re-embursed me almost $30 (more than what they should’ve)
its a really great phone and the comment about going to entertainment – memory card – connect to pc ; works, cause i just did it and im transferring music right now. its a really great phone and the battery life is GREAT! i use my phone all the time, including the web on it in every class at school and on the bus etc. and when i get home my battery has only lost like 1-2 bars ? sooo anyone with battery problems you need to charge your phone for once..
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I got this phone back in August, and overall I’d say it’s pretty good but I still have problems with it. Just like someone has already mentioned – the service is horrible. I barely get reception in my house, but I can tell you that that is because of Bell, not the phone. This is my fourth phone on bell in the past two years (I’m clumsy, things break
) and none of them have ever had very good signal.
Also, whenever I read a text message and press the “back” button, rather than the “end” button my phone freezes. I’m not sure if that’s a common problem with everyone but it happens to my phone all the time.
My biggest concern about this phone is how it sends text messages back to me. Let’s say someone had sent me a text message that said “hey”, if they send me a text message saying “hey” later on in the day while the first message is still in my inbox the phone will send the last message I sent back to me. Does anybody know what I can do about this? I’ve had this problem ever since I’ve had this phone.
As for the battery life, I haven’t really noticed anything too bad about it. It never runs out of battery during the day, though, I charge my phone every night.
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Does this one come with Yahoo Messenger app already on it like the rumour 2 does?
I want it for chatting on YM mostly. Is this one good for that?
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Battery life on my Vice was 3 days – without it being used at all.(I have it for emergencies only.) After having it for a couple of months it started ringing to be recharged every two hours. Had to be repaired by Bell. Needed soldering where the battery connects to the phone. Now it has to be recharged every 2 days and it hasn’t even been reconnected – yet. Also, I cannot get service at the cottage which is not out in the sticks… unless I go outside. That’s Ok, sort of, but I don’t receive any incoming calls. I find when you use the phone as a phone the keyboard slips out too easily. I’m not convinced of the quality of this cell phone, tho’ I usually prefer Samsung.
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I would recommend not buying this phone. I’ve had mine since may, and I’m already looking to replace it. From the day I got it, it started freezing. The keyboard sticks, and no, I have not got anything in it. The screen fingerprints so easily and they are hard to get off. The sound/ voice quality completely sucks. The battery life however is pretty good, I can go 2 days without charging and I text and talk a lot. In conclusion, I want to throw my phone at the wall so it smashes into a million pieces and I never have to look at it again.
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When I first got this phone, I activated it on prepaid because it came with a fifty dollar credit. After one week, I was left with a negative balance? So I decided to activate the phone on a plan. Then I got my bill the next month. $75 bucks for data that I wasn’t using. I phoned bell’s customer service, and they said that they had never heard of this problem before. In the end, they credited the data charges back to me. Reading some of the comments here I see that several other individuals are suffering similar problems. I’m guessing a lot of the others probably paid for wireless web or data. Anyways, if you’re thinking of getting this phone, it’s best to have a web browsing package or to just simply disable the service, as I did in the end. Hope this helps to solve some of your woes. I must say, the phone is pretty great, but I’m not sure it was worth all of the grief.
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Does anyone know how to delete text messages on the samsung vice? when i look at ‘options’ there is no ‘delete’ option.
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I cant get my samsung vice to vibrate. when i use the side arrows to control the volume and put it on vibrate all it just makes sounds when i get a text. and when i put it on silence all and vibrate it doesnt do a thing. anyone else have this problem? or know how to fix it?
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On occasion when i am texting a friend of mine, for some reason, i do not recieve the friends textes for about 20 minutes or so, does anybody know why it is doing this and how i can stop it, because im tired of dealing with it
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Really want to like this phone. True the battery life sucks. But being on the internet, texting and such is hard on all phone batteries. Have to return it now because when I go to the web, any means possible,( web button, youtube or my account) the screen goes black and reconnects to the service area. (I’m with Virgin). Second time I’m trying with this model. Hoping it is just a bad batch. One more time! Anyone have the same problem? Everything else works like a charm.
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my reccommandation is to not get this phone, i have it, and it freezes up a lot, and text messages even have the wrong name when you recieve them.
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Really like this phone. Internet’s alright (with Bell and using the Built In Browser) but I recommend you to download Opera Mini 4.2 or 5 because it’s really fast. Calling is really good too (never used it much though), Texting is awesome on this device, except when you recieve a duplicate, it show’s what you sent and you need to go and look for it under the contact who sent you the message, other then that, Texting’s really good. TV/Sirius suck’s on the device. Low Volume when blasted all the way (On the Media Player App, not Music Player) Slowness in playback of Television so you need to use it Full Screen. Music from the Music App is really nice while using the speaker’s and Headphones. Camera/Camcorder is really good. 2.0 MP, really nice. Great Quality. My Rate. 8/10. My Advice? Go on the Fun 20 Bundle which includes Unlimited SMS, Unlimited MMS, Unlimited Mobile Browser, and Unlimited IM (Unlimited Media if in the Atlantic Region which is where I am, sadly.)
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Has anyone had the problem of receiving a duplicate of your message instead of the response from the person you were texting? It keeps happening….even after resetting the battery.
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I would not reccomend this phone to anyone. I receive texts from people hours after they are sent. The battery does not stay charged for more than a day. The browser is activated easily by mistake. The keyboard is not visible in low light.
It is not user friendly. Ready to throw it at the wall.
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I would not recommend this phone for anyone who will actually physically use it. Yes, I bought this phone for my son for Christmas and it literally broke in HALF, I thought surely this should not happen and it would be covered under warranty and YES I had extended warranty. Well Samsung has a pat answer they use it was “physical use” that did the damage. Come on, over course he physically used the phone, what person doesn’t physically use their phone. I was once a very happy samsung user but will now never buy samsung again. I urge you NOT to purchase this phone if you plan on PHSICALLY USING IT, THE SAMSUNG WARRANTY IS USELESS.
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The phone has very poor signal strength, the battery life is short and dont expevt any help from Bell Mobility, they talk to you on the phone with a codesnding attitude, their service SUCKS!!!!
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This isnt a great phone had alot of problems with it … wouldnt buy it agian
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i have the samsung vice too !
i just got it and it was at best buy
prepaid
for $25.00!
plus it came with $15.00 already on it
SO $10.00 !!!!
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DO NOT GET THIS PHONE !
i have had it for a little over a year and the batterly life doesnt last a full 24 hours.
not to mention that vibration has wore off and i agree ,
texting isnt the best . i have buttons falling off the keyboard and sometimes when i slide out the jeyboard the screen goes black . its a horrible phone .
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iv had this phone for about a year and a half, and i have lotss of problems with it. the battery life is just terrible and sometimes when i turn it on it says its trying to download something and it wastes all my battery power.
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iv had this phone for about a year and a half, and i have lots of problems. a couple of my problems are is that the battery life is just terrible. when i turn my phone on it has this screen that comes up and says it needs to download something its not a bad starting out phone though
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Whenever I haven’t used my phone for a few hours and someone calls, the phone goes directly to voicemail without ringing. I miss so many calls because of this. Does anyone know why it does this and how to fix it? I’m going crazy!
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