Interesting to note that all the Clearnet ads showing the PCS phone have the banner on the 2nd line of the display, which is not possible. The backlight may stay on if the phone is plugged in to charge. On newer versions the backlight automatically stays on if the phone is already on and is then plugged into the charger unit. If you want the backlight OFF, but want the phone on, plug the phone into the charger first and then turn on the phone. When the Roam Alert is on, the phone will beep whenever the phone looses a signal or switches between analog and digital.
Locked phones can still receive calls.
The battery will last about 14 hours in analog mode and 60 hours in digital mode assuming no calls are made. Talking on the phone will use up the battery in about 2 hours for analog mode and 4 hours for digital mode. Charge the battery whenever any of the bars on the battery icon are missing. The signal strength indicator gives you a value between 0 and 4 bars or 5 different levels. This indicator averages signal strength from the network and presents it as an exponential value.