Kyocera Rise Pro Reviews

The Rise could have been a home run for Kyocera. Just a few failures keep it from being a really great phone. The network, battery, and calling performance alone make the Rise worth recommending, but add in a very good keyboard and it's even better. I wish the design of the device were a bit more appealing, but in this case function truly does overrule form. Stock Android 4.0 was a pleasant surprise, and should make plenty of people who don't want a Nexus device happy. Performance, however, suffers a bit thanks to the older, slower processor. The display pales in comparison to even other mid-range handsets. Last, the camera is unforgivably bad. If you don't care all that much about the extras and really just want a solid smartphone that works well as a messaging device, the Rise is worth a look. It you want a smartphone that gets everything right, the Kyocera Rise doesn't fully rise to the occasion.

While the Kyocera Rise’s price point and physical QWERTY keyboard are appealing, you definitely get what you pay for. I’d recommend the Rise as a solid starter smartphone, or perhaps a phone for your clumsy teenager, but more-experienced smartphone users will be left wanting more. If you’re willing to shell out more cash, the Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE is another Sprint option with a physical keyboard, and it packs way more power.

If you need a physical keyboard, the Kyocera Rise for Virgin Mobile will suffice, but you can get a much better phone if you're willing to drop it.

The Kyocera Rise gets you a decent keyboard for a decent price on Sprint, but it has budget written all over it.

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 too. The camera was predictably bad, but for $20 on contract you’d expect that. The Rise gets bonus points for offering Android 4.0 at a low price, but we liked the Milano and LG’s Optimus Elite better.

Though it's always refreshing to see Android 4.0 run on a midlevel handset, not every Ice Cream Sandwich flavor is irresistible. While I did appreciate the Kyocera Rise's call quality and low price, outside of the relatively new OS, this device doesn't have much to offer. Unlike its wet and wild counterpart, the Kyocera Rise doesn't have the novelty of being waterproof going for it. Instead, it has a keyboard that, while attractively designed, doesn't give it enough of an edge to make its midrange specs and hefty design exciting.