Kyocera Rise

Overview
Specs
Reviews
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$12 - $119 Compare Prices

Public Mobile

7/10

320 x 480 display
Android
QWERTY, Touchscreen
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Speakerphone
GPS
Memory slot
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The Kyocera Rise is a chunky yet compact smartphone that offers a taste of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on the cheap. It’s one of the smallest handsets ever to be released to market with ICS, and that’s part of what makes it quite an attractive option. Although small, it features a speedy Snapdragon processor so users will have no problem navigating menus and running applications. However, it can be faulted for is its limited amount of RAM and internal storage—which are 512MB and 2GB, respectively.

How small is the Rise, exactly? It weighs less than 160 grams but is a bit on the chunky side, measuring 14mm thick. It comes equipped with a 3.5-inch HVGA touchscreen display and has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard that can be hidden behind its touchscreen display when not in use. The keys on its keyboard are quite large and evenly spaced, which makes typing for even long periods of time quite comfortable.

Some reviewers complain that the Rise ships with a low quality touchscreen display and spec-wise it definitely doesn't measure up to panels found on other ICS-powered handsets. But it’s still a relatively large screen and has a good native resolution.

In a world where physical smartphone buttons are quickly going the way of the dodo, it’s refreshing to see something like the Rise. Not only does it come with a full touchscreen display but it also has a full QWERTY keyboard. And with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as the default operating system, it’s an excellent model overall—a perfect fit for messaging buffs looking for a cheap new Android handset.

Need to Know: Kyocera Rise

1. Full QWERTY keyboard for user input. (The Good)

2. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as the default OS. (The Good)

3. Small, low-resolution touchscreen display. (The Bad)

4. Only 512MB of RAM. (The Bad)

Prices (Where To Buy)

AI [Bastex] for Kyocera Rise C5155 (Sprint/ Virgin Mobile) Perforated Hybrid 2 in 1, Black+red from Amazon Merchant

•Condition: New
•Availability: In Stock
•Contract: No

$11.99

Kyocera Rise for Sprint from Wirefly

•Condition: New
•Availability: Not available
•Contract: Yes

N/A

Kyocera Rise for Sprint from Wirefly

•Condition: New
•Availability: Not available
•Contract: Yes

N/A

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Latest Reviews

A great smartphone, at an even better price of $100

Joe B (5 months ago)

8/10

Been using this phone for 3 days so far with Public Mobile. I've been reading a lot of people going on about this phone having a terrible screen resolution. IMO, the screen is perfectly fine. Everything is quite clear, clear enough for the average smartphone's user's need. I don't... More

I love this phone because...

faith (5 months ago)

9/10

I love this phone because this is my first touchscreen phone and it has fast internet. My dad got me this phone for christmas and I think that it is awsome!

Mostly vanilla Android 4.0, screen is still poor quality, and call quality is not as good as its predecessor

Brian K. from PhoneArena (9 months ago)

5/10

The Rise offers some nice features, such as a decent slide out QWERTY and a mostly vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich build, but in the end it has too many shortcomings. Despite being bigger and higher resolution than the Milano, the Rise’s screen is still of poor quality and the call quality has taken a hit... More

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