| It may not be the slimmest phone in Samsung's stable but the SGH E200 has some solid features going for it. THE slim factor seems to be "in" thing right now and this is where Samsung has always been a step ahead of the competitors since start of the handphone slimming race back in the late 1990's. While the SGH E200 is not as thin the newly released Ultra Edition II range, it is still pretty slim at just at 9.9mm thickness plus it comes with enough reliable features to command respect. However, a few of the features could not be tested since the review unit came only with the handset and charger.
Also since there wasn't any documentation, I had to rely on the information on the Samsung website to find out the full range of capabilities. Standard design The E200 employs a rather standard candy bar design but the sleek finishing gives it a polished look. The earphone and charger uses the USB 1.1 slot located on the left side panel which also houses the volume control. The right side panel is home to the microSD card slot.
Users who constantly communicate via SMS will like the rather ergonomic keypad which allows quick text messaging. Clear viewing The interface is user-friendly and it doesn't take a lot of effort to figure out how the E200 works. The 1.8in display is a boon when it comes to reading messages and viewing pictures and video clips. In terms of sound, the E200 has speakers that do a pretty good job of making the phone audible enough when there's an incoming call.
When I accessed the camera function, I also found the video recorder function tucked in the same place which makes good sense. The camera comes with all the standard options for shooting mode, effects and timer. There are also all the standard mobile editing options available. If you have a compatible printer, you'll appreciate the option to print direct via Bluetooth. Good music player I was impressed with the music player as it was very user friendly. It has a good graphic display that shows you all the options including the option to add music from memory cards or via WAP or Bluetooth download. There are also enough options in the settings to help you create the perfect listening environment. There are preset equalisers for pop, rock, jazz, dance, and classical music as well as for the spoken word. Visualisation is also available with the onboard options of rainbow pulse and disco lights. In terms of regular phone functions, the E200 worked well without any problems. All calls were clear and I had no problems with connecting to the Internet via the WAP browser. I could also send text messages to 20 people at one go. Value for money Overall, the SGH E200 is a value-for-money handphone. It is very user friendly and comes with all the standard functions used by the average mobile phone user. Additionally it has some neat extras such as Bluetooth connectivity, a good music player and FM radio. In fact, the only quibble I have is that the camera could have been better. Pros: Easy to use; good music player; nice screen. Cons: Camera could be better.
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Sunday, December 2, 2007
SAMSUNG SGH E200
Saturday, June 23, 2007
DOPOD U1000
Manufacturers have been experimenting with small form factor computers for decades now, with varying degrees of success – but even now, there just hasn't been one compelling enough to make large numbers of people choose a tiny computer over a regular notebook.
Now Dopod is taking a stab at it with the U1000, a device with a completely new form factor for a Windows Mobile device – it's the largest Pocket PC ever made, but very tiny when you compare it to notebooks.
What it is
The U1000 is one nice-looking device. I've seen many nice handhelds come and go, but the designers really went to town with the design of the U1000.
The brushed aluminium finish with white accents looks really elegant and brings to mind the design of certain Sony products.
Also included is a very nice leather wallet which does double duty – not only does it serve to protect the U1000, but it also houses the keyboard which is attached via a very strong magnet system.
Similarly, the main body of the U1000 attaches to the keyboard magnetically and once it all comes together, you have what looks much like a very funky little notebook PC.
The only thing you have to remember is that with these strong magnets being used, you should never keep the U1000 in a bag together with your credit cards, bank cards or portable hard disks as it might result in all the data stored on the magnetic media being wiped clean.
FUNKY DESIGN: Sitting on its magnetic keyboard, the Dopod U1000 looks just like a funky notebook PC.
Turn it on and you'll be presented with the classic Windows Mobile 5 interface (an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6 is promised soon) – a Today screen with your calendar, messages, etc displayed on the front although displayed a LOT bigger than what it usually looks like on other devices.
In fact, I think the screen is a little TOO big for Windows Mobile – the soft keys, icons and toolbars look really large on the screen of the U1000, thus offering no real advantage in terms of desktop real-estate unless you have some form of myopia.
Nevertheless the device works well in Tablet mode, with some very strategically-placed buttons that can be used whether you set the device in landscape or portrait mode – there's a directional joystick for navigation, a Windows key and an OK/Close key, all three of which will allow you to navigate without having to tap the screen much (except for the software keys which are only mapped to buttons on the keyboard if you have it connected).
If you attach the device to the keyboard, it will automatically switch to landscape mode, which is generally the orientation that you will be using the U1000 in.
Let's not forget that the U1000 is also a phone and a 3.5G (HSDPA) one at that – the SIM card slot is located in the battery compartment although since the slot is very narrow, there's a special way to access the SIM slot.
To get access to the SIM slot, you first have to take out the battery (which even here has a special catch which is actually attached to the battery itself) then flip a little cover to open the SIM slot. All I can say is that it's lucky I don't have to do this every day!
Thankfully, the U1000 has its own network setup wizard, much like O2 devices, which means all the connections and MMS settings will be set for you automatically when you insert your SIM card – a lot easier when it comes to Windows Mobile devices, as the network settings are all over the place.
The Dopod U1000 is about the size of a paperback novel.
Since it's a really large device, you might be wondering how you're supposed to put this humongous device to your ear to make a phone call.
Well, luckily you don't have to – if you don't have a Bluetooth headset or the supplied headset handy, the U1000 by default works as a speakerphone, and it's loud enough that you can comfortably hold it in front of you to make a call, except in the noisiest of environments.
On the hardware side, the U1000 is as packed as they come – not only is it a 3.5G phone, but it also comes with a built-in SiRF StarIII GPS chipset, 3-megapixel digital camera with a VGA secondary camera for video calls, runs on the Intel (now Marvel) PXA270 624MHz XScale processor and, surprise, surprise, has an 8GB hard disk drive. Yes you read it right – an 8GB MicroDrive is used for storage inside this device in addition to the already generous 256MB of regular storage ROM and the 128MB of RAM for running applications.
Non-tactile keyboard
Of course the most interesting feature of the U1000 is also its Achilles heel – the detachable magnetic keyboard is really cool, but unfortunately, there's very little tactile feedback as the keys are really flat and have very little travel.
I'm pretty used to all kinds of funky keyboards, but I have to say that the U1000's keyboard is certainly NOT one of my favourites.
The only good thing I can say about this keyboard is that at least it's a good stand for the PDA when you want to watch movies.
Keyboard issues aside, the U1000 actually performed very well and was speedy in actual use.
However, when I tried to install Coreplayer, the payware version of the classic TCPMP (The Core Pocket Media Player) for my usual performance test, I discovered that there were some driver issues with the built-in ATI Imageon graphics chip that wouldn't allow me to properly run either Coreplayer nor TCPMP.
A little research revealed that this is a common problem with certain handhelds running the ATI chip and is apparently not a problem with Coreplayer per se.
Dopod has interestingly included the Opera browser with the U1000 even though it already comes with Pocket Internet Explorer (PIE) – a good move, IMHO, since Opera is a more full-featured browser and has better support for high-resolution screens compared with PIE.
Unfortunately, the screen's VGA resolution doesn't really help the browsing experience much – considering that this screen is about 5in, the pixels are quite visible and webpages don't look much better on it than on my VGA Axim x51v Pocket PC.
I'd have preferred it if Dopod had upped the screen resolution as well to maybe about 800 x 600pixels to take advantage of the extra size of the screen – most webpages are built for at least 800 x 600pixels nowadays anyway.
Tilt and navigate
Another really nifty feature that the U1000 has is VueFLO, which takes advantage of the accelerometer (normally used to protect the hard disk from damage by parking the heads when the device is accidentally dropped) to give you scroll control in the browser.
With VueFLO activated, you can scroll down or up long webpages in Opera or PIE by just tilting the U1000 backwards or forwards – a small tilt forwards will scroll the page down slowly and if you tilt the device more, the scrolling speed will be faster.
This method does take some getting used to but it does work quite well in use, although you may occasionally find yourself scrolling down the page if you accidentally tilt the device when reading.
The large screen did work very well for the GPS feature – with MapKing R12 running on it, the screen was bright and clear enough to see even when driving.
However, be aware that the U1000 does not come with any car mounting kits in the standard bundle, so if you are going to be using the GPS on the U1000 a lot, you might have to spend extra getting the car kit.
Battery life was actually pretty good – with occasional use of WiFi, regular use of the phone, and playing a few videos, the battery lasted about two days, and from the looks of it, should last you about a day at least under heavy use.
The 3-megapixel digital camera worked very well – though not the sharpest compared to standalone cameras, it is better compared to those found on phones and other handhelds.
The 8GB hard disk drive inside is probably the most ever integrated into a Pocket PC device, and should give you loads of space for almost anything you want to store, including a compressed movie or two or lots of music.
The only problem is that you have to go through the Microsoft ActiveSync connection to transfer files to the hard disk. This means you need ActiveSync installed on the host PC and since not all PCs have this, you can't really use the U1000 as a portable hard disk like you can with some hard disk-based music players.
Also the transfer rate via of ActiveSync is very, very slow – it took me a good 45 minutes to transfer about 3GB of data – it would have been better if Dopod provided a sort of pass-through where you could access the hard disk drive directly, at USB 2.0 speeds.
Conclusion
So is the Dopod U1000 the perfect mobile computing device?
From a performance standpoint, the device is hard to fault – it is fast and most of the features work as advertised.
However for RM4,288, I really expected much more, such as a full-featured operating system like Windows XP or Vista instead of just Windows Mobile, for example.
Sure, Windows Mobile is pretty full-featured and battery life is good, but it doesn't have the flexibility nor the wide selection of software compared to its desktop siblings.
I mean just think about it – for the same price you can buy a very good Windows Vista notebook that can do a whole lot more AND perhaps throw in a Bluetooth GPS device or a mobile phone to go with it.
Yes, there is an argument for putting it all into a single device, but if so, each separate component has to work well enough to make it a compelling device.
While the Dopod does everything, none of them really stand out – for example, as a phone it makes some things (such as tapping out a simple SMS) very difficult to do; and as a wordprocessor, the keyboard makes it very difficult to type fast and accurately.
About the only thing that works very well is the GPS where the extended screen space allows for very easy viewing in the car – but that's still a bit too much to pay for just this feature.
Pros: Great design; feature-packed for a Pocket PC.
Cons: Too expensive.
Quoted from : The star online
Saturday, March 24, 2007
RAZR V3xx
If you simply must be seen with one of the latest fashion phones, you can't go wrong with the Razr V3xx.
Continuing the success of Motorola's stylish V3 line of phones, this latest incarnation has been redesigned to deliver high speed Internet browsing and is complemented by a host of other multimedia functions.
Bringing sexy back
In terms of design, the Razr looks downright sexy.
The first thing you will notice is Motorola's signature metallic black, slim phone design.
The V3xx is sure to turn some heads when you whip it out at your next social event as it is stunningly designed with premium metal finishes, precision cut keypad and a svelte form measuring barely half an inch thick.
Opening up the Razr, you will be greeted by the sight of its bright 2.2in LCD screen.
The large screen is obviously designed to show more text and information, making it easier for web browsing.
It also helps that it displays absolutely high contrast and remarkably stunning colour pictures.
The smaller exterior screen on the outside is not to be taken lightly either.
While its big brother on the inside takes much of the user's attention, the exterior screen proves useful in viewing caller IDs for incoming calls and for changing the phone's profile, all without opening the phone.
More than just looks
In terms of functionality, the Razr performs its job as a phone very well.
Calls made from the phone sounded clear and crisp, free of distortion.
The phone packs other common calling options such as speakerphone and voice dialling.
The user interface of the current Razr has been greatly improved over its predecessors.
The phone's flat metallic keyboard is not only pretty to look at — it is also very responsive.
The Razr didn't not show any sluggishness or delay when I was navigating through its menus.
Text messaging was also easy with the phone showing no signs of lag when typing.
Another strong point going for the Razr is its long battery life.
The phone managed to last at least three days without needing to be charged.
Definitely a plus when you are travelling or when energy conservation is a concern.
Surfing the Web
Proving that the Razr is more than just another slim fashion phone, the V3xx has a collection of different functions that will certainly keep you busy on your commute.
Armed with HSDPA and EDGE support, the Razr delivers high-speed Internet browsing on the go.
The phone does a good job surfing online with its built-in web browser.
Additionally, the phone comes preloaded with Yahoo!'s new mobile application, Yahoo! Go.
The Razr does deliver relatively good browsing speeds.
In testing the browsing speed of the phone, the browser took five seconds to load the default Google homepage.
However, despite the fast browsing speed, the Razr had problems loading webpages that are not optimised for mobile phones.
Due to this, webpages are often stretched across many pages, forcing users to click through page after page.
It would have been nice if the browser allowed for users to choose between viewing the page in "fit-to-screen" size instead of stacking up content onto a single column.
Not one for multimedia
On the multimedia side of things, the Razr comes with two cameras — a main 1.3- megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom and a secondary VGA camera for video calling.
For the most part, the camera works — you will be able to get clear pictures with it so long as there is good lighting.
The only drawback is shots taken at full zoom are extremely blurry and mostly unusable, but this is to be expected with digital zoom.
Also, the absence of a built-in LED light makes it difficult to shoot pictures in the dimly lit environments.
The phone's integrated MP3 player comes with a useful Media Finder, which allows you to search through songs by artiste and album name.
The media player itself is very simple and lacks more advanced options found in other music phones like adjustable equaliser modes and customisable playlists.
To its credit, however, the phone's builtin speaker was surprisingly loud for a phone this slim. I can't recall the number of times its message alert tone drew everybody's attention.
The phone does come with a decent helping of built-in storage space, 60MB to be exact.
But if you are seriously considering using the phone for listening to music, you can opt for an additional microSD memory card.
You will also need to get an optional mini- USB stereo headset before being able use the V3xx as a music player.
Alternatively, you can use the A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth stereo profiles for wirelessly streaming music to compatible Bluetooth headphones.
Rounding it up
The Razr V3xx is a solid phone that serves well as a mobile phone with Internet browsing capabilities.
This one model you will definitely not want to leave home without if you want to get some surfing done while on the go.
The bottom line is, the V3xx is an ideal mobile phone for basic everyday usage.
If multimedia functions are not what you are looking for, the Razr V3xx will suit you just fine.
Pros: Stylish design; slim; HSDPA support; good battery life.
Cons: Multimedia features could be better.
(QUOTED FROM THE STAR ONLINE VISIT THESTAR.COM.MY)
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Sony Ericsson W950i
'Sony Ericsson has been releasing quite a few eye-catching phones of late. Out of the lineup, the W950i is probably one of its more unique offerings.
For one, it is a smartphone that has Walkman capabilities. And as part of the Walkman family, the W950i offers no less than superb audio quality – something that is lacking in most smartphones.
Also, unlike smartphones which are bulky, the W950i looks rather sleek with its slim monoblock body.
It actually looks very similar to Sony Ericsson's M600, but in a more refined manner when it comes to how the keypad is designed.
Like the M600, the W950i is broad and easy to hold. Having a wide body also means it is able to host a bigger screen, which is always a plus point.
Sony Ericsson made a wise choice by giving it an overall solid black-coloured casing with just a few orange highlights.
I also like that it has a jog dial that can be used to scroll through contact lists and other options.
What I didn't like about the phone was its keypad. Justlike most of the phone, the keypad is flat with just a few dot-like protrusions to guide your fingers during key presses.
Though stylish, the keys were hard to use as it did not have much tactile feedback, so I had to rely mostly on its stylus.
Regardless, the W950i looks very classy and expensive –but then again, it is, at its recommended retail price of RM2,699.
Some good, some bad
Wow, that's expensive, you say? But perhaps that's the price to pay if you want a phone with a whopping 4GB onboard flash memory.
Yes, you can go all crazy with storing your favourite songs and even movies in the W950i. And you never have to delete a SMS message again.
Unfortunately, this may also be why the W950i does not come with an expansion slot for external storage.
Another gripe is that the W950i does not come with a built-in camera.
Though I much prefer to take photos with a real digital camera, I must admit that it is still convenient to have a phone with an integratedcamera.
Also, you would not be able to make video calls, which makes the 3G capability seem quite useless.
Sure, you can argue thatyou can surf the Internet and watch mobile TV with 3G. But why not put in WiFi instead then?
Grouses aside, the W950i has one of the nicest-looking display for a smartphone.
It comes with a brilliant 2.6in touchscreen that is very suitable for browsing websites and watching movies.
Another good point about the W950i is its speakerphone. When I drive, I can put the phone on the seat next to mine and the person I call can still hear me as clear as if the phone was right next to my face.
However, I found thatthe phone is not as loud assome of the other Walkman phones when playing music through its integratedspeakers – though its stereo headset more than makes up for this by producing excellent audio.
One for newbies?
The W950i runs on Symbian OS 9.1 and has a similar user interface to the P-series phones from Sony Ericsson.
One of the differences when compared to the P-series, for example the P990, is that the W950i has a "Walkman" icon in place of the "Calendar" icon in the main menu.
This in a way, seems rather redundant, since the W950i already has a similar iconon its main screen by default plus a dedicated Walkman button!
Though I've had experience with a variety of mobile OSes, I must admit that I had to resort to the manual to use the W950i.
Some parts of its user interface are intuitive enough, but I still had trouble getting used to it. It took me about two weeks before I was able to navigate the phone effortlessly.
This is especially true when it comes to text input. If you are used to the handwriting text input in PDAs (like me), you would have to forget just about everything you have learnt.
Without referring to the manual, it took me a while to figure out how to scribe some letters.
Looking at the manual helped, but even after several weeks, I still have problems with some characters.
Interestingly, a friend of mine who has never used a PDA had less of a problem. Granted, he still got some letters wrong, but he had better results on his first try.
Conclusion
If you want a phone that can subsitute an iPod, the W950i is definitely it.
Then again, with its hefty price tag, you would wish it came with a little more – perhaps WiFi, a decent camera or a memory card expansion slot, at least.
Pros: Impressive storage space, brilliant screen, superb sound quality.
Cons: No EDGE support, no camera, no WiFi, expensive.'quoted from the star online
Saturday, March 17, 2007
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