krug3r
16-12-2003, 11:38
Well it been a couple of weeks nearly that I bought this phone so I thought it was about time I produced my first impressions review.
When I first picked up this phone I wa immediately impressed with the overall feel and quality of the design. I had read up on known issues from other owners and the one thing that stood out for me was that certain batches of these phones when you press the sides produce a funny creaking noise. This is due to the fact that there is more space inside between the battery and outer casing, and in some models slightly too much. I had heard stories of people beefing up the memory card by placing selotape around it to pad out the fit. I looked at two models in the shop and the first one did dsplay the creaking noise but the scecond one did not...so do check for this if you have the chance before you buy.
I picked up the phone for just under £300 on a £30 a month contract with Vodafone, you can get the models cheaper with some deals...but I was impatient :)
Anyway when I got home I decide to get stuck in. The first suprise was the size of the manual, more like a mini novel, and to be honest I haven't really looked at it much as I prefer to find things out myself by playing around with the phone and looking at the manual if I get stuck...so yes the manual is a comprehensive guide, where you will find out just about all you need to know.
After pressing the on switch which took a while to find :) I was greeted with a superb colour display start-up screen and then once 'logged in' various options on the menu system. There are many many many menu options on this phone and not just the usual contacts, SMS Inbox etc... Each menu option has something like 15 to 30 other sub menu options available...this was going to be fun. The best way I can describe this phone is as a Windows computer, I really wanted to plug a mouse into the phone to use it :)
The whole operating system in itself is fast and slick, there is no long waiting for options to be selected and displayed, but it can become easy to get lost in the sub menus if your not using the stylus. While I'm on the subject of the stylus, this has been greatly improved from the arlier P800 version avaiable...more sturdy and looks like it can handle the job, the previous one was very tacky and flimsy.
I then rooted around in the box to find the other goodies that came with the phone...another sytylus...very handy...hands free stereo headphones, a nice leather case...although I'm not the sort to wear these on my belt it is a nice touch...I have never had a phone that supplies a leather case before. The synch station also came in the box which doubles as the charger, along with 2 SE CD's. The synch station comes with a USB connection so that immediately what I tried next. Plugged in the cable on Windows XP machine, placed the software CD into the drive and I was all ready to go with a brand new My P900 icon on my desktop. I opened up windows explorer and could browse to various folders on my phone, or phone memory card. Drag and drop heaven...this was so easy it felt good.
The first thing I did was to download a bunch of MP3's and some videos to the memory card so that I could check out the quality of the sound and video playback. Once they were on the phone it was fun time. Opened up the music player and then selected MC Hammer :) The music playback was perfect although on the speaker it sounds pretty tinny, with the stereo headphones on its just as good as a decent MP3 player available today. Next came the video playback, again the sound was great and the movie quality was great, although there is a full screen option that stretches the video and makes it a little graing...but decent enough to watch. I know that some people have full movies on a bunch of high end memory cards....now that would be a bit painful on the eyes after an hour. One thing to mention here is that the MP3 player does drain the attery life which on this phone is great...but the music take a lot of juice.
The phone itself comes with a 32Mb memory card....and after loading 5 MP3's and one short 4 minute movie...it was full.....thats a big downside to me....I need a bigger memory card...which costs....However overall the screen itself has great quality and I haven't seen anything better on any other phone....its a great size especially when the flip is down and does not jepordise the overall phone size.
Well after my playing with video and audio, I went onto the next thing the customisation stage.....making the phone more personal to me :) As this phone is based on an Operating System, you can customise various options via Themes, just like Windows etc.....Again this was a prety simple process...find a theme on the web, download it to the phone and then install via the phone Control Panel, new colours, backgrounds, screensavers etc......and the best bit MP3s as ringtones...again MC Hammer :)
I also decided to purchase a piece of software that lets you customise the phone even more called Tracker. This basically lets you alter everything down to the menus and overall desktop. You can customize the icons to open apps that you use and not ones that they think you use....The best way to describe using this phone is use a PC with a tiny screen via a stylus :)
As you know this phone comes with a flip, now again like the stylus this has been improved greatly from a see through platsic lump to a nice metal solid flip, which can be removed if need be. When the flip is closed and you don't want to use the stylus then it is possible to do everything via a 'Jog Dial' button that normally controls the sound and the flips keys. As I mentioned before as there are many menu options this can be a bit tricky to use for all the phones functions....and I'd recommend using the stylus if you want to delve deep into the menu system. I must admit I have had trouble using this phone with the flip closed as I haven't set up any speed dial numbers which I should and I often press the wrong buttons....but all of this will be overcome with multiple use....The menu system and overall workings are nothing that I have ever been used to..Samsung & Nokia tend to have a similar phone menus system across the range...this however is again similar to Windows there's a different way to do most things...a bit like right clicking in windows.
After my evening of fun I decided to actually use this phone to make some phone calls to check out the overall quality of reception etc.... My first phone without an aerial in a long time...However before I could make the call I had to decide how to make it. Again many ways to do one thing.....via a Bluetooth headset, via a handsfree speaker phone or via the normal way...holding it to my ear. I decided to try out all three and was sutiably impressed with them all. The handsfree speaker phone option is great and by far one of the best features as I use this a lot on a normal telephone, the only slight criticism I have is that I can be a bit deaf and I would have liked it to be slightly louder...the mic also is great...alhough you can sound a bit funny to the caller listening to you speak.
The next day I started searching for software to load onto my Phone/PC and managed to get some great products like Yahoo Messenger, MSN messenger etc....the web browser that comes with the phone again allows full HTML browsing however a big downside is that I can't browse the web sideways on the phone the way you can view the videos...this is annoying and gets a thumbs down for me.
Finally the one thing that all phones have nowadays is a camera....but no this phone doesn't just have a camera...it has a video camera. The camera seemed to be decent enough quality but there are so many damn options that you can select for picture type that I couldn't be botherd to go through them all, however the picture quality is good....but when you are in dark surroundings its a bit crap....The video record function is fine a decent enough frame rate...but again not home cinema quality....but after saying all of this...a camera in a phone is meant for those quick snaps and MMS messages to you mates...if you want great quality buy a digital camera....but the Shap GX20 does have better quality I tested my mates :(
Well thats about all for know I'll do a follow up review sometime....once I'm more familiar with this great phones qualities...
But for now...here's my take out of ten.
Price 6
Phone Size & Quality 9
Screen Quality 9
Features & Functions 10
Camera 7
Fun & Games 9
Ease of use 7
Battery Life 10
Accessories 9
Show off factor 11
When I first picked up this phone I wa immediately impressed with the overall feel and quality of the design. I had read up on known issues from other owners and the one thing that stood out for me was that certain batches of these phones when you press the sides produce a funny creaking noise. This is due to the fact that there is more space inside between the battery and outer casing, and in some models slightly too much. I had heard stories of people beefing up the memory card by placing selotape around it to pad out the fit. I looked at two models in the shop and the first one did dsplay the creaking noise but the scecond one did not...so do check for this if you have the chance before you buy.
I picked up the phone for just under £300 on a £30 a month contract with Vodafone, you can get the models cheaper with some deals...but I was impatient :)
Anyway when I got home I decide to get stuck in. The first suprise was the size of the manual, more like a mini novel, and to be honest I haven't really looked at it much as I prefer to find things out myself by playing around with the phone and looking at the manual if I get stuck...so yes the manual is a comprehensive guide, where you will find out just about all you need to know.
After pressing the on switch which took a while to find :) I was greeted with a superb colour display start-up screen and then once 'logged in' various options on the menu system. There are many many many menu options on this phone and not just the usual contacts, SMS Inbox etc... Each menu option has something like 15 to 30 other sub menu options available...this was going to be fun. The best way I can describe this phone is as a Windows computer, I really wanted to plug a mouse into the phone to use it :)
The whole operating system in itself is fast and slick, there is no long waiting for options to be selected and displayed, but it can become easy to get lost in the sub menus if your not using the stylus. While I'm on the subject of the stylus, this has been greatly improved from the arlier P800 version avaiable...more sturdy and looks like it can handle the job, the previous one was very tacky and flimsy.
I then rooted around in the box to find the other goodies that came with the phone...another sytylus...very handy...hands free stereo headphones, a nice leather case...although I'm not the sort to wear these on my belt it is a nice touch...I have never had a phone that supplies a leather case before. The synch station also came in the box which doubles as the charger, along with 2 SE CD's. The synch station comes with a USB connection so that immediately what I tried next. Plugged in the cable on Windows XP machine, placed the software CD into the drive and I was all ready to go with a brand new My P900 icon on my desktop. I opened up windows explorer and could browse to various folders on my phone, or phone memory card. Drag and drop heaven...this was so easy it felt good.
The first thing I did was to download a bunch of MP3's and some videos to the memory card so that I could check out the quality of the sound and video playback. Once they were on the phone it was fun time. Opened up the music player and then selected MC Hammer :) The music playback was perfect although on the speaker it sounds pretty tinny, with the stereo headphones on its just as good as a decent MP3 player available today. Next came the video playback, again the sound was great and the movie quality was great, although there is a full screen option that stretches the video and makes it a little graing...but decent enough to watch. I know that some people have full movies on a bunch of high end memory cards....now that would be a bit painful on the eyes after an hour. One thing to mention here is that the MP3 player does drain the attery life which on this phone is great...but the music take a lot of juice.
The phone itself comes with a 32Mb memory card....and after loading 5 MP3's and one short 4 minute movie...it was full.....thats a big downside to me....I need a bigger memory card...which costs....However overall the screen itself has great quality and I haven't seen anything better on any other phone....its a great size especially when the flip is down and does not jepordise the overall phone size.
Well after my playing with video and audio, I went onto the next thing the customisation stage.....making the phone more personal to me :) As this phone is based on an Operating System, you can customise various options via Themes, just like Windows etc.....Again this was a prety simple process...find a theme on the web, download it to the phone and then install via the phone Control Panel, new colours, backgrounds, screensavers etc......and the best bit MP3s as ringtones...again MC Hammer :)
I also decided to purchase a piece of software that lets you customise the phone even more called Tracker. This basically lets you alter everything down to the menus and overall desktop. You can customize the icons to open apps that you use and not ones that they think you use....The best way to describe using this phone is use a PC with a tiny screen via a stylus :)
As you know this phone comes with a flip, now again like the stylus this has been improved greatly from a see through platsic lump to a nice metal solid flip, which can be removed if need be. When the flip is closed and you don't want to use the stylus then it is possible to do everything via a 'Jog Dial' button that normally controls the sound and the flips keys. As I mentioned before as there are many menu options this can be a bit tricky to use for all the phones functions....and I'd recommend using the stylus if you want to delve deep into the menu system. I must admit I have had trouble using this phone with the flip closed as I haven't set up any speed dial numbers which I should and I often press the wrong buttons....but all of this will be overcome with multiple use....The menu system and overall workings are nothing that I have ever been used to..Samsung & Nokia tend to have a similar phone menus system across the range...this however is again similar to Windows there's a different way to do most things...a bit like right clicking in windows.
After my evening of fun I decided to actually use this phone to make some phone calls to check out the overall quality of reception etc.... My first phone without an aerial in a long time...However before I could make the call I had to decide how to make it. Again many ways to do one thing.....via a Bluetooth headset, via a handsfree speaker phone or via the normal way...holding it to my ear. I decided to try out all three and was sutiably impressed with them all. The handsfree speaker phone option is great and by far one of the best features as I use this a lot on a normal telephone, the only slight criticism I have is that I can be a bit deaf and I would have liked it to be slightly louder...the mic also is great...alhough you can sound a bit funny to the caller listening to you speak.
The next day I started searching for software to load onto my Phone/PC and managed to get some great products like Yahoo Messenger, MSN messenger etc....the web browser that comes with the phone again allows full HTML browsing however a big downside is that I can't browse the web sideways on the phone the way you can view the videos...this is annoying and gets a thumbs down for me.
Finally the one thing that all phones have nowadays is a camera....but no this phone doesn't just have a camera...it has a video camera. The camera seemed to be decent enough quality but there are so many damn options that you can select for picture type that I couldn't be botherd to go through them all, however the picture quality is good....but when you are in dark surroundings its a bit crap....The video record function is fine a decent enough frame rate...but again not home cinema quality....but after saying all of this...a camera in a phone is meant for those quick snaps and MMS messages to you mates...if you want great quality buy a digital camera....but the Shap GX20 does have better quality I tested my mates :(
Well thats about all for know I'll do a follow up review sometime....once I'm more familiar with this great phones qualities...
But for now...here's my take out of ten.
Price 6
Phone Size & Quality 9
Screen Quality 9
Features & Functions 10
Camera 7
Fun & Games 9
Ease of use 7
Battery Life 10
Accessories 9
Show off factor 11