Introduced in 2005, Sony Ericsson W800i was greeted by critics and consumers. Key factors for success were few, but all of them were verified to the last detail. It was the first phone with a legacy of the famous players Sony from no less famous Walkman brand with all the ensuing consequences. In fact, the phone W800 was really a serious music player. It shows today’s situation in the market, new F300 from Samsung, Nokia 3250 or 5700 XpressMusic. To grow on megapixels 2 million cell phone makers have taken a time out. Secondly, W800i has serious functional content.

Design

Certainly, now thin phones are fashionable, important and sometimes even very practical. However, the overwhelming number of slim-devices is extremely inconvenient to use. In pursuit of millimeters manufacturer forgets about ergonomics, forcing the user to break the nails on the keyboard and when working with menus to twist his/her fingers in the untold patterns.
Fortunately, this fate to a greater extent bypasses Sony Ericsson W880i. Its dimensions are 103×47x9, 4 mm and weight is 71 grams. Thus, the device is long enough, but due to its rectangular shape it has stunning design.

Thickness, or rather its absence, and light weight make it possible to carry the phone anywhere. Whether it is a breast pocket of your shirt or the pocket of tight jeans, W880i looks good from everywhere, more precisely, in jeans, it is imperceptible.

The front part of Sony Ericsson W880i is made of stainless steel, and can be in silver (Steel Silver), and black (Flame Black) colors. In the first version the rear face of rubberized plastic is matte black, while the second one is orange. Both the colors and the presence of metal among the components add to an already excellent design of W800i a fraction of sophistication. Moreover, it is worth noting the excellent build quality of this phone.

Keyboard

When dealing with the keyboard of Sony Ericsson W880i it is possible not to feel discomfort.

But there is an unambiguous claim to the navigation key. It is too small.

And if girls with nails of medium length speak positively about the numeric keypad, than they will scold the navigation. So if you prefer long nails, you should think about shortening them.

On the right side there is a key to access the camera (horizontal mode).

At the top there is a small multi-purpose “rocker” (or even a slider).

With its help you can get into the menu of the phone, adjust the sound volume, or play around with the scale of the photographs. Access key to the player Walkman 2.0 is located on the left end.

By tradition, the Sony Ericsson phones are not usual green and red phones, and their functions are performed by two context keys. Beneath them there is a button fast access to the Internet browser and “My Menu”. Below that are key “return” and “C”.

So we glad to note that the keyboard of W880i is somewhat unusual, but it is viable.

Display and menus

Screen of W880i is rather narrow, but it has dimensions of 1.8 inches, supports QVGA-resolution (240×320 pixels) and displays up to 262 thousand colors. The display, of course, belongs to the premium class – high brightness, excellent clarity, rich colors. Due to its elongated shape, the upper line with the level of reception, battery indication, hours and other information icons are always active when you move the menu (if you have the theme Walkman), unconditional and very significant advantage.

Simple and intuitive menu of W880i consists of 12 icons, and subsections in a tree form.

However, changing the theme to the standard Walkman on “Bits of the City” you can get a stylish black and red menu with icons, arrayed in a row. These moves through the main menu will be accompanied by a mild vibration.

To master the organs and functions of control of W880i can even unprepared person. Anyone who has ever spoken on Sony Ericsson phones over the past three years, the process of learning and adapting to the new product will take a couple of minutes.

Multimedia

Traditionally, the older phones of the Walkman series inherit a full set of features and capabilities of their business counterparts. So the user of W880i gets 16 MB of internal memory, support for memory Memory Stick Micro (1 GB card included) card, Bluetooth with support for A2DP protocol (wireless stereo headphones), convenient and functional web browser Net-Front, Java , support for USB and much more.
Well if living without ICQ to you means not to exist, then go to the menu “Applications” and run powerful client which is able to function (like other Java-based applications) in the background.

The phone works in three GSM and UMTS 2100. This means support for video streaming and video calls. For the latter there is a small camera on the front panel.
In general W880i is a modern phone with classically-considered trifles. Does it have tuned Bluetooth? Does it easily work with uploaded files? Does it have functional organizer? Can it work in Flight Mode? All these questions can affirmatively be answered with the abbreviation of five characters – W880i.

Walkman 2.0 is stuffing, let’s consider hardware. Headset connector (HPM-75 included) is located at the left bottom.

This is quite inconvenient, since the plug is not small, so it still goes on thick wire, which is not particularly flexible. The most reasonable accommodation would be a 3,5 mm input on the top of the phone. Headset HPM-75 has decent quality and should satisfy most of the audience. We have to test headphones Sennheiser CX 300, in order to feel all inside the player. Fortunately HPM-75 is a structure of the adapter and headphones, so that the 3,5 mm input is available, albeit not at the phone.

To start the music application you can use the little orange button or through the menu.

At the start screen “My Music” can sort tracks by artists, albums, play-list or simply the list of tracks.

Play-lists can and should (because 1 GB is about 250 songs in good quality, very easy to get confused) be created directly on the phone.

In addition, the player has a standard set of visualization (animation, or album cover), play mode “in a random order”, repetition, and changing colors of the application.

There is also an equalizer. Unfortunately, it was a simpleton, from the available preset modes you can choose – Bass, Mega Bass, voice, lifting high frequencies.

In addition to these four settings, it is a possible and a manual calibration. Player responded only to the most understated or overstated frequency. And the description on the website Mega Bass Sony Ericsson says “improve bass, let music become more volume, in practice, the sound remains flat. But what pleases me is that only player can be scold in W880i.

The volume is enough comfortably to listen to music not only on a busy street, but in the subway or any other public transport.

Out of interest, just as noteworthy feature, is TrackID. A

gain we turn to the description on the official site – “Just record a song a few seconds and all the information about the track, artist or album will be available within a few seconds”.

Funny opportunity for Walkman with FM-radio on board, but in the case of W880i it is a useless icon on the desktop, because the music that pours from the player to know there is no possibility, as composition should be recognized only through a microphone. Another function of downloading content PlayNow seems much more interesting in this case.

The player supports popular formats such as: MP3, AAC, AAC +, E-AAC +, WAV, WMA, M4A, however, it is difficult to imagine that many users listen to music in the format E-AAC +.

As a conclusion of the player it should be noted that it has many useful features. As for the level of the music, Walkman in this sense is ahead of other phones. However, if you are a music fan beginner, features of Walkman 2.0 will be sufficient.

Camera

In case of W880i camera is more a design element than a serious application. In fact, a small lens with a penny coin and the matrix of 2-megapixels is not as bad as it might seem at first glance.

Using the camera in landscape mode is very practical. The camera settings are standard – resolution, quality, effects, 2.5-fold digital zoom.

Conclusion

A small step for Sony Ericsson is a big leap for the market. Player phones go to the next level, slowly biting more and more of the market. Union of a phone and a music player looks more organic than a phone and a camera. In case of W880i nirvana is aggravated with battery with a capacity of 950 mAh. At 30 minutes of calls a day, using all sorts of functions and player for 2 hours a day, the phone worked for five days. It is an excellent result.

Having examined W880i brick by brick on the components, we have a stylish phone, rich functionalities and a decent player. Definitely a successful model, I recommend to buy it.

One year after successfully launching the X830 swivel handset, Samsung upgrades the line of the handsets that mix MP3 player functions with those of a standard GSM mobile phone. The new addition to the lineup has been branded as Samsung SGH-F210. Despite the fact that it kept the same design as its X830 predecessor, F210 has been improved in many ways that have been thought almost impossible for that time. Samsung also managed to keep the device small enough, so it can be used as a dedicated MP3 player with ease. The successful blend between 2 different devices (MP3 and mobile phone) will always be in high demand on the market, so either you like it or not, Samsung’s innovative ideas will still have lots of fans.

Design
Samsung SGH-F210 looks exactly like a chocolate bar. All shiny and very well polished, the device attracts looks only in a minute. If you keep it closed, others can easily take it as a good looking MP3 player, but they’re in for a big surprise. The moment you swivel the small device and put it to your ear, it will suddenly change into a small stylish mobile phone. One handed handling is much easier for right-handers, as the phone swivels to the left. It’s a little bit troubling for left-handers, but I’m sure they’ll get used to it pretty fast. When closed, the candy-bar form factor of the handset stirs one’s imagination. The small screen on the front part of the phone only displays the MP3 plater interface, which can be controlled very easily with the big wheel that you see in the pictures.

Commands like forward, back, stop or pause are only a touch away, as the wheel can be pressed. The Hold button placed on the right side of the phone will help users avoid starting the MP3 player when they aren’t aware. The left side of the phone features only a dual volume key. The bottom of the phone is detachable, so that the headset that comes in the sales package can be attached. The same port can also be used to synchronize the phone with any PC or simply to charge it. There’s no need to detach the whole bottom part of the phone in case you need to charge the phone, you will only need to open the plastic plug-in that covers the port. Obviously, on the back of the phone you’ll find the 2 Megapixel camera, which doesn’t feature any flash capabilities. There’s no external speaker, the music can only be heard through the in-call speaker.

When the MP3/phone is swiveled, it reveals a standard keypad with big enough keys. The difference between the older X830 and F210 model is that the latter has the keypad divided onto 3 rows. The X830 had a 2-row keypad, which was a little bit weird to use. This has been corrected, so you can dial numbers as with any other standard handset. Besides the usual keys, there are 2 more contextual keys, the C key used like a Delete key and a Camera key, which suggests that you cannot use the phone’s camera unless the handset is swiveled. At the base of the keys you’ll notice a small gap where the microphone has been placed. There are definitely big improvements compared with Samsung’s X830 model, but there are also some things that remained the same or worse.
The screen embedded on both devices is the same small display that doesn’t enable users to read the entire menu, not to mention that anyone interested in browsing the Internet will have big issues when trying to read any page displayed. Even if the phone may look a little bit flimsy at a first glance, I have used the phone for almost 3 weeks and the swiveling mechanism didn’t showed any sign of ‘weakness’. Perhaps in time it will ‘collapse’, but I don’t intend to use it more, so I can’t really say for sure. Anyway, its size (87.8 x 31 x 20.5 mm) and weight (72 grams including battery) recommends Samsung F210 both as an MP3 player and a mobile phone.

Display and Camera
Samsung F210 features a TFT display (128 x 220 pixels resolution) supporting 262k colors. The screen is great in terms of quality, but in truth it fails to help the user as it is way too small. Just like its X830 predecessor, Samsung’s F210 display measures around 1.5 inch, which is not enough to display the whole menu, so you’ll be forced to wait for any writing displayed to scroll from left to right to really understand what’s written. The problem is even bigger when you want to play a game, navigate on the Internet or even write a SMS message. If these don’t bother you, then you’ll sure like F210’s display.

The small camera module integrated on the back of the phone is a little bit low on performance. Don’t expect too much from it, and don’t try to use it with the phone closed because you can’t. It will also be difficult to preview anything you’ll want to shoot, because of the small screen. Either you won’t be able to see everything displayed or the preview will simply be too small for you to understand what’s really there. There are some settings that can be used to increase the quality of the snapshots: Effects (Black and White, Negative, Sepia, Emboss, Sketch and Moonlight), White balance (Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy and Daylight), Timer and Frames.

There are also some modes (Single shot, Multi-shot and Mosaic shot) that can be used. The maximum size of the pictures is the usual 1600 x 1200 pixels resolution, while clips can be recorded using 352 x 288 pixels resolutions CIF.

Communications

Samsung F210 is GPRS (Class 10, 32 – 48 kbps) and EDGE (Class 10, 236.8 kbps) compatible, which is more than enough to satisfy any user needs. It is also compatible with Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP and USB 2.0 features for high speed data transfer.
I have to say that everything related to data transfer, Internet surfing is working ‘mildly’, as in ‘mediocre’. It also fully supports SMS, EMS, Email, MMS, but small screen will probably make owners use its messaging capabilities less than normal.
The triband (GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900) network compatible handset has a mediocre GSM signal reception. Instead, the sound is very clear, but medium in terms of loudness (only level 7 volume). I have experienced terrible sound only when the signal reception was weak, but overall it has good GSM capabilities.

MP3 player

Samsung’s swivel has been especially designed as an MP3 player, so we should expect many multimedia ‘goodies’. Unfortunately, I couldn’t understand why Samsung hadn’t put in an external speakerphone, especially since it is said to feature 3D sound.
All the vibes that you hear are coming through the in-call speaker, but even so, the sound is clear and superior to many other music dedicated mobile phones. The headset that comes with the phone aren’t the best, but the sound it delivers is surely above average. Interesting vision from Samsung, it’s like you have two different devices stuck together. When closed, you can use the MP3 player (MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+ and eAAC+) or the FM radio, when swiveled, you can take advantage of the GSM capabilities.
No functions of either one work at the same time, so you should be aware that you won’t be able to run music in the background and access other application related to the phone. Music player and FM radio are both offering sound above average.

Conclusion
Samsung F210 doesn’t look like any other phone, because it looks like an MP3 player. The moment you swivel the handset, it really reveals its ‘WOW factor’. Anyway, youngsters are the only target that will buy the phone, as you cannot do any business related stuff with it. Looking more like a toy, Samsung F210 offers the innovation much needed when one tries to attract young people.
The best thing I have noticed with F210 is definitely related to its look. More than appealing, the phone doesn’t feel when you put it into your pocket, or carry it with you, just like an MP3 player. It has everything that a young person would want: music, big storage space, radio and camera. Combine all these with an easy to use interface and you have the optimal phone for youngsters.
Even for someone who is not interested too much in using the GSM capabilities of the phone, the small screen could be a big issue. Probably the battery is also a negative point, as it lasts only half of the time offered by these days dedicated music phones. The inability to install any 3rd party applications is also a big downside.

Sony Ericsson has a new flagship model K850i. This is a heir of serious phones like K810i and K790i, and like no other device it deserves the “brutal monoblock” definition.
If you look at a brand new device Syber-Shot from Sony Ericsson K850i, you’ll understand that this is a real flagship, a kind of severe male phone for touch fans.

Keyboard
I don’t want to play “find 10 differences from K810i”, although some similarities can be traced in the appearance of both typesetting keyboards. Unlike its predecessor, the buttons are not circular and made of metal. Buttons are square.
But the principle of location of these buttons has remained the same. There is a distance between the “squares”, so no mistakes occur while dialing numbers. The proceedings of the buttons are small, fixation is not very clear, however, no inconvenience arises.

Display and menu
K850i does not have a touch display. TFT-screen with a resolution of 240×320, caresses view of quality and natural color reproduction, ultra-fine grain (if you notice of course), high contrast. Out onto the actual settings, there is only brightness.
In the sun, just under the rays, the screen behaves properly, ie the image quality is good; the picture fades slightly, so you can work almost at any lighting. Yes, probably, under the rays of the North African sun, you have to cover up the display with a hand, but it’s not a problem.
K850i menu will be familiar to the owners of Sony Ericsson, because the principle remains the same. Bold icons, clear “image”, known from previous models.

Multimedia
Though this is a Cybershot and not a Walkman phone, K850i is one of Sony Ericsson’s flagship phones, and the K850i’s music-oriented feature set is identical to most Sony Ericsson Walkman phones. Auto-rotate of the display works in the Media suite of applications, and it’s generally fairly responsive. Video playback performance is better when auto-rotate is turned off. The display is one of the best we’ve seen on a mobile phone: extremely bright, sharp and saturated.

Media uses Sony PSP interface which is both intuitive and cool looking. The app handles photos, video and music. The FM radio with RDS has a good reception. The FM radio app can save favorite channels and play the radio in the background. K850i has Sony Ericsson’s free TrackID service that identifies songs playing on the radio or in the environment, and this feature works quite well (it requires a data connection since the track info is downloaded over the Internet using the phone’s browser).
The phone supports a wide variety of audio formats including MP3, Podcasts, Audiobooks, MP4, AAC, RealAudio (.ra, .rm), WMA, XMF, M4A, WAV and midi. Video formats include MPEG4 (MP4 with AAC or AMR audio), 3GPP, WMV (.asf, .wmv) and RealVideo 8 (.rv, .rm). The K850i supports OMA DRM 1.0 and 2.0 for copy protected music, video and Java applications.

Camera
Obviously, the 5 megapixel camera with an autofocus lens and Xenon flash is the centerpiece of the Cybershot K850i. And it didn’t disappoint us, in fact for the first release firmware, the camera was stable, and overall did an excellent job of imaging. The SE isn’t as fast as a dedicated digital camera, but it’s quite usable and you just might manage to catch a fleeting moment.
K850i can shoot photos at a maximum 2592 x 1944 resolution in 5MP mode and has a variety of lesser resolutions from 3MP down to VGA. The camera can shoot video at QVGA resolution (320 x 240) at 30 fps. The phone has a hardware slider button that you’ll use to select photo, video or playback mode. There’s a tiny camera application launcher button that turns the camera on and off as well as controlling the lens cover. When the camera app is running the entire screen becomes a viewfinder and it runs in landscape orientation.
Photo quality is excellent, with more usable data than K790i and K800i’s 3MP images and better exposure (no white haze or washed out effect which we sometimes noticed with K800i). Colors are accurate, if not sometimes understated and we couldn’t find a hint of color cast in outdoor shots. Indoor shots became overly warm as the camera didn’t compensate well enough for incandescent lighting in auto exposure mode with the flash on (turning off the flash fixed the problem). Indoor evening shots in poor light were pleasing with good blacks, but surprisingly the N95 managed a more exposed shot.

The K850i’s Xenon flash illuminates close subjects very well, but doesn’t add much ambient lighting, which means your subject will be decently exposed but awash in a sea of near blackness. For all but dark club shots and outdoor night shots, we recommend experimenting with turning the flash off – we consistently got brighter and more balanced shots while it was off. The camera uses a LED (actually 3 tiny LEDs) to illuminate the scene for focus and fires the power-hungry Xenon flash only when snapping the photo.
Should K790i owners upgrade it, based on the higher resolution camera? That depends on what you do with your photos: 3MP is really good enough for viewing on the average monitor (if you’ve got a 30″ LCD display, that’s a different story), and you won’t be able to view a 3MP image at 100%, let alone a 5MP image. But if you want to print photos, the extra pixels and sharper images are worth it. From what we can tell, the lens quality hasn’t improved.

The camera has a wealth of manual settings for ISO, white balance, flash control, auto/infinity focus, metering mode and 7 scene modes. Sony Ericsson’s BestPic feature shoots several shots with varied settings so you can choose the best one, and Photo fix lets you tweak photos you’ve taken before transferring them to a PC. The camera has 16x digital zoom, but alas no optical zoom (that’s still a rarity on camera phones). Video quality is very good with no jerkiness or blockiness. Colors are strong and accurate, even in low light, and the sound is clear.

Working with K850i
When you connect your phone via cable to the USB-port on your computer, mobile phone becomes visible as a normal flash drive, for ie it is available as a card, and built-in memory about 40 MB.
Data transfer rate floats from 75 to 60 kB / s, for example, the absence of the cable makes it easy to transfer a few tracks in MP3-format into the phone.
The battery power is enough for about two days: you can listen to music, make few shots a day and for an hour and a half use the Bluetooth-headset and talk 15-20 minutes a day. If you find yourself a more active user, then the battery life will decrease accordingly.

Conclusion
We get a very feature-rich (and not in vain) phone that can compete with brand new smart phones from top manufacturers.
Significant functional and somewhat dramatic appearance make K850i unless a bestseller, and surely one of the most cherished and sought after market mobile phones.

At the edges of the shell many interesting things can be seen, and it is not only a key power top, having fitted to one side of the central 3.5-mm input for headphones. If you have to charge the device or connect it to your PC, you will need to look at the left edgee, where microUSB-socket is fitted with an LED charging indicator, and in the corners was found some place for two polyphonic speakers. In addition, in the center you can find a convenient slider lock, which has no alternatives. On the right side of the shell there is everything you need for casual work with the camera, and not only. This is a big comfortable shutter release button with a soft touch for focusing. In addition, there is a comfortable swing for regulating volume, which is easy and pleasant to use.

And now it is better to look at the back surface. Under the “curtain” you can find a 5-megapixel camera with CMOS-matrix and autofocus optics. In addition, there are two LEDs, which are called flash.
The battery cover has matt surface. It has 1500 mAh Li-Pol battery, and a memory card slot, microSDHC, next to the camera unit.
The battery is the same as in the old Nokia E71. The majority of owners discharge the battery only after 2-3 days of use. A wonderful result for the device with 3.5-inch screen, though the same Apple iPhone is not worse.
Under the battery there is nothing interesting, as in 5800, but the slot for SIM-card is available without removing the battery, as the card is placed in a steel tray and stuffed somewhere inside the cell.

Communications
In general in this flagship there are many tech devices from Nokia, and the first thing I should say that in the device there is Bluetooth 2.0 with support for all necessary and unnecessary profiles. We’ll also note the possibility of comfortable listening to music via wireless Nokia headsets.
In Nokia N97 there is also a Wi-Fi module, the index specified by IEEE 802.11b / g, which characterizes the solid performance with different types of WLAN-access points at up to 2.3 Mbps, as well as the opportunity of working in wireless networks, UPnP.

Music
Taking into account the modest capabilities of watching movies that still need somehow to be converted into the appropriate format with the MP4 extension, the main way to fill the space in the memory of Nokia N97 is music. Here you can add many MP3, AAC, WMA music. It is commendable that the library can seek out the appropriate albums / artists and so on without any slowdown, and the album covers can be changed.
And while enjoying the music these covers occupy half of the screen, leaving only a little space under the battery icon and the network receiving, and you can use the half of the screen for easy and convenient navigation.

With regard to the sound, everything is alright, and such a conclusion can be drawn not only when compared with all sorts of musical devices from different manufacturers, but after comparison with MP3-players. The device plays music in various genres. It copes especially well with electronic and heavy rock; there is Metal and other similar directions, suggesting many nuances in the midrange.
Radio in Nokia N97 can only be compared with brand new 5530. The same 20 memory to store stations in the FM-range 87.5-108 MHz, smooth animation of inscriptions in the background, and the quality of play will not disappoint.

Camera
In Nokia N97, which we will not call a computer, there is an ordinary 5-megapixel camera with two LEDs instead of a normal flash and auto focus optics with a good opportunity to take close-up with 10 cm.
Working with the camera is easy and convenient; because all control rests on the right thumb or on the left index finger if you want to create a large panel of settings and adjustments. There are settings where you can select the resolution of the image. In addition, you can record good videos in 640 x 480, when strained to 30 fps. Video is not so interesting for us, because quality is identical to records from 5800, despite a decent difference in price.

Conclusion
The device is strictly for connoisseurs of all the details of the prorated interface S60 from Nokia, but at the same time seeking the world’s only bunch of QWERTY-keyboard and 32 GB of internal memory. In terms of multimedia and iron power the device lags behind the market for exactly one year, but this Nokia flagship has not lost a huge reservoir of loyal fans of brand, among which may be you, confirming it by buying N97. Others are advised not to rush buying Nokia N97 because it will obtain more attractive design only in December.

Nokia N97 Unlocked Phone, Touchscreen, 3G, 5 MP Camera, A-GPS, 32 GB, MicroSD Slot, and Integrated Ovi Applications–U.S. Version with Warranty (Black)

In 2006 Motorola began releasing a new line of MOTORIZR image sliders. The first was the model Z3, which is the first GSM-slider of the company. Great attention was paid to materials, as well as on internal functional filling which couldn’t make this mobile phone a bestseller. In early 2007, an updated model Z6 was launched. Now the phone is positioned as a musical image slider. And again – beautiful, functional, but unpopular. Till the end of 2007 an updated Z8 model released. In addition to black-and-green color it has Symbian UIQ platform and many other advantages.

Finally, there comes RIZR Z10 – an updated model of Z8 which has a more rigorous design. So let’s have a look at this novelty.

Design

With all of its non-standard (in a good sense of the word) design, Z8 had a very cool reception. Young people, to whom the acidic insert might come to taste, started criticizing the price of the device.

Speaking about its design, we can not accept the harsh brutality of the Staff. This feature is peculiar to many phones from Motorola. On the contrary, in an era when everything is “Slim, soft and low”, to have a heavy device in the hand during conversation is not very convenient.

Unfortunately, here come some disappointments. First of all the metallic color. The phone is entirely made of plastic.

The original arrangement of this new Z8 slider has not been modified. Moreover, the numbers did not differ from each other with designing elements, with the exception of the back side, which is caused by a more serious camera in RIZR Z10.

As in the previous model, the opening of the upper half is lifted under a small angle. This is definitely an interesting solution.

With regard to the process of opening / closing, despite the complex mechanism, to perform this operation you can either injure your finger in a special rubber stress below the display, or in the upper halves of the rib.

As for the remaining designing solutions they are acceptable, such as bolts on the rear lid. The size of the phone and the weight fit into the overall image due to the fact that the phone is large in order to work with it comfortably. In general, even in the pockets of jeans or trousers Z10 isn’t comfortable to carry. However, if once again we draw a parallel with the predecessor, the Z8 is 1.5 mm thinner and 5 grams lighter.

Display

Z10 is only a continuation of Z8 (in fact – an Update). Like Z8, it has a 2.2-inch TFT-display with QVGA-resolution (320 x 240 pixels) and supporting 16 million colors.

As in previous models, the screen does not have impressive specifications, but generally looks modern. Getting ahead, I will say that Z10, with its entire functions is a simple device poorly suited for multimedia.

Keyboard

Describing this phone’s keypad, we traditionally divide it into three units – nautical, digital, and additional keys. In the case of Z10 the navigation block is executed in classical style for this line. There is a 4-position button in the middle, two soft keys, two additional buttons (Menu / list of tasks and “back”), as well as standard “phone”.

The buttons are made of rubber, so pressing them is hard enough. That is, any action requires serious effort.

The second stage of our conversation will be about additional buttons. At the left end of the monoblock there are three buttons.

Two are responsible for the volume, and the third – for quick access to multimedia gallery. This is more than a controversial decision. You can easily get to the gallery through the menu and, yes, and you need it less frequently. Below there is a slot for memory cards. Suitable card format is microSD, up to 32 GB.

Right end is equipped with one button, which is responsible for the rapid launch of built-in camera. Here is the miniUSB connector, serves to connect the peripherals and the charging / docking to a PC.

All connectors are covered with plastic plugs, so the aerodynamics of the shell did not violate anything.

The digital keyboard brings controversial feelings. In principle, it has not changed since Z8.

All the keys are highlighted with pale green light, which is not very suitable for this device. Milky and white would be fine.

Features

As we have already noticed, the phone is built on Symbian 9.2 (Motorola Symbian UIQ 3.2). In fact it is a capricious platform which has little in common with the classic S60 from Nokia, and with UIQ from Sony Ericsson. As a result, all the charm of the smartphone as a multimedia device is reduced to 0.

First, it requires a very long download time. In order to switch the language from English into Russian (search for the notebook, or enter the address in the browser), you must enter the corresponding menu, select language, press “save”, then “use”, and only then get the desired result.

Almost every operation is perceived as a personal affront to the phone and requires a minimum double confirmation. For example, setting the alarm clock: you choose the time, say 9:00, press “save” and come out of the directory. In the morning, you get at 11:00, remembering that you have not clicked “use”.
However, the heavy menu is the only serious shortcoming of the phone. It is not just difficult to control; it is not suitable for everyday use.

From the additional features we can mention a list of supported formats, such as: AAC, AAC +, WAV, AMR NB, MP4, MP3, MIDI, WMA, MPEG4 (30 fps), H.263, H.264. Thus, the device is more than suitable for listening to music, and even for viewing videos. The player is quite suitable.

Regarding the possibility of connecting to other devices, you can use USB-cable or Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP, AVRCP, DUN-GW, FTP, GAP, GAVDP, Headset-AG, HFP 1.5 AG, OPP-Client, OPP).

Camera

The camera is good. Basically the camera is the main difference of Z8 from the Z10. Thus, the latest has a 3.2-MP CMOS-matrix with autofocus and flash, and the opportunity to make up to three images per second.

The camera works in a horizontal mode, like Sony Ericsson. For the convenience of shooting the camera has a pre regime: “normal”, “indoor”, “street”, “Sport”, etc. There is not a very powerful LED flash (there is a regime of “red eye”). It has the following functions: color effects, white balance, sharpness, you can select the image quality and size. As you can see, it has a solid set of features.

Z10 has a 3,2 MP camera. The photos in good lighting are bright, juicy, but not ideal.
You can save the images in the internal memory (45 MB) and a memory card, moreover, the phone has a built in Photo Editor, so you can process the received pictures.

The modern phone should have a powerful battery. Battery 1130 mA • h (Li-Ion) is able to provide vital energy for needs of the phone up to 3 days.

Outcome

In a competitive market Z10 is largely inferior to the alternative proposals to price / capabilities and status of the device. If you want to stand out, then it is for you. The phone did not become popular and is quite rare. However, once again reiterate that this does not make Z10 a bad phone, it just has its own specifics.

Get Motorola RIZR Z3 Rose Phone (T-Mobile) from Amazon

Design
It seems that the philosophy of ROKR EM30 is “to unite a phone and a player in one device, which is more a player than a phone”. We have met similar tricks before. Thus a series of Samsung phones “F” (particularly F210) have used the concept. However, Motorola implemented the idea in its own way. The first thing you will notice in the exterior of the EM30 is the small display. The disproportion of the screen compared to the body gives a clear association with a music player.

ROKR EM30 looks quite cool, and it is evident that the main audience of the model is adolescent people young in spirit.
Interestingly, the EM30 is executed in the same colors as the music box Nokia 5320 ExpressMusic. While putting together the units look at least like cousins. Or, maybe, this impression is created with the over-popularised combination of black with red?
The sleek and wide body is the legacy of ROKR, which in this case, is only an advantage for the ROKR EM30. The dimensions are 115 x 53 x 10,6 mm and it weighs 100 grams.

The model is equipped with a standard 3.5-mm jack for connecting the headset. If you do not like the headphones supplied with the set, then you can always connect something of your own choice.
This connector is located at the upper end of the phone (it is closed with a plug) and this fact is a few more points for a good music phone. The remaining facets of the tube demonstrate a standard set of buttons and connectors. Thus, at the right end are located the microUSB connector and the mechanical key of locking the keypad. On the left are the volume button and the camera activation key.
The body of the ROKR EM30 is made of plastic, and the rear lid is from a metal with a special rough surface. In general, the quality of the assembly leaves a very pleasant impression. The phone inspires credibility and it is able to survive a few falls, without any consequences.
So, the challenge of combining a player and phone in one unit is executed by the Motorola designers in a fine way. The model looks modern and to some extent, even fresh.

Keyboard
Motorola very often uses this keypad design in its latest models. Using such a keyboard is unusual only for the first time. Over time, the fingers get used to the slow course of the keys. The keyboard of the 30 is hardly an example of ergonomic, but does not cause negative emotions either.
The main feature of the keyboard of the new model is that it is created on the basis of ModeShift technology. What is so unique and useful in it? The thing is – when you use the phone, the numeric keypad looks and works like all mobile phones. But when the music player is activated, instead of the number keys appear the buttons of work with the player and the color of lighting changes from bright blue to red.
The keys of the player are between the digital buttons so that they do not hinder the work either of the phone or the player. It is a simple and effective solution for switching quickly from talking to listening to music.
The navigation unit, on the contrary, is standard. There are two content keys at the disposal of the user, a four-position navigation button, a shortcut button to the music player, “back” key and the two “tubes”.
By the way, the navigation key in the number mode is highlighted in blue, and the outer circle of the key is lighted. In the player mode the color changes from blue to red, but instead of the external circle, the inner one is highlighted.

Display
Perhaps the weakness of the EM30 is the screen. The specifications are as follows: a diagonal of 1.8 inches, a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels, a support of 65 thousand colors.
It is funny, but the TFT-technology in this case seems even a luxury. It is obvious that the display is mostly needed for reading text information. Media browsing is inconvenient due to its size, and because of the resolution. But with its main objectives the screen copes well. Volumetric icons, large font, high brightness and contrast make it possible to enjoy all the convenient functions of the phone.

Functions and menu
Because of the restrictions of the display the main menu is represented by ten icons arranged in two rows. The musical orientation is once again confirmed by the fact that the first item on the menu is “Music”, and then come the other sections.
They all correspond to their names and are linked logically. In the “Organizer” you can find such features as: calendar, e-mail, alarm clock, data synchronization, the controller of loading (shows the files downloaded and sent via the Internet and Bluetooth), file manager (separate for the memory card or by category: music, pictures), world time, calculator, task list.
Thus, the menu is slightly different from the standard one in Motorola tubes of the latest period, but remains easy to work with.
From the functional point of view, the EM30 is a typical representative of a class of low-cost phones. Today, fortunately, this concept implies the existence of Bluetooth (A2DP for listening to music in stereo), EDGE (Class 12), Java, a convenient web-browser.
The recorder was found in the multimedia folder, although this feature is more suited to the definition of “business application” and it is not very much to the place in a folder of applications for entertainment.
The integrated 2-MP camera has an 8-fold zoom and has nothing stronger to boast of. However, a digital zoom is not a special reason for pride either.
Below you see the test pictures, and the full-size pictures are in the archive, which can be downloaded here.

Music player
To begin with, it is noteworthy that the player of the ROKR EM30 supports the following formats: MIDI, MP3, AAC, AAC +, Enhanced AAC +, WMA, WAV, AMR-NB, Real Audio (RA) v10. So, music can be enjoyed in almost any convenient format, except for FLAC and OGG.
We have already met the implementation of the music player in the previous EM30 models of the company. For example, by pressing a shortcut key, we get to the section “Library”.
The main menu allows the player to navigate through your own music collection (music files can be located in any folder on the memory card; the search for new songs is done automatically). Music files are sorted in the following categories: the last played, random songs, all the songs, lists, artists, albums, genres, composers. All categories are filled in automatically, with the exception of “lists”. These are the so-called “play-lists” that the user creates. In this context, it is not out of place to recall the full support of Windows Media Player 11 (Microsoft music ecosystem support), and given that the vast majority of music programs for the PC have a similar consistency, it is clear that EM30 easily supports playlists set up on the PC.

It is time to remember the ModeShift technology and to tell what keys are available in the player mode. These are five standard: rewind / switching tracks, forward / backward, play / stop, random play and autorepeat.
During the playback of music, the screen displays the file name, artist name, song name, and the elapsed and remaining time. The set of additional features pleased with its usefulness and wide range: random play, autorepeat, EQ (you can choose from 12 preset options, Bass Boost, 3D-stereo).
The sound of the player surprised with its quality – clear sound, with virtually no distortion. Such things as the equalizer and 3D-stereo, really affect the quality of music. We will not compare the EM30 with other musical patterns, but this novelty from Motorola is much higher in quality than most of some modern tubes. Even the traditionally heavy comparison of the musical players in the case of the EM30 does not look so intimidating. Yes, Motorola compared with them does not have enough volume, but this can be forgiven. Just listen to a couple of songs before buying, and you will see the decent music capabilities of the EM30.
The memory on the phone about 30 MB, but do not boggle at this small volume. There is a slot for microSD memory cards of up to 8 GB.
Unfortunately, we have no information as to the capacity of the map that will be included with the EM30, but considering the low prices on removable media, even the most affordable 8 GB, are affordable to many.

Outcome
The technology CrystalTalk is used in ROKR EM30, to ensure clear sound during a call. It is necessary to acknowledge that making calls using the EM30 is as comfortable as listening to music.
The battery capacity of 970 mAh easily satisfies the appetites of the cell phone for three days (3 hours listening to music, 30 minutes of conversation, 30 minutes for other functions), which is a decent result.
The phone is ideal for the replacement of the music player, has a decent (and harmonic) set of functions. If you are not confused by the design of the EM30, then there is just no other obstacle for buying this model. In its segment the novelty looks very confident.

Appearance
The phone turned out to be bigger than it appears in photographs. When wearing it in a jeans pocket a real feeling of discomfort does not occur, but the case of the Samsung M7500 Armani is always there.

Samsung M7500 Armani is clearly perceived as a male-model, and the reason is not only the size of the tube but also the size of the keyboard. By the way, it only tries to appear to be sensory, this is just an illusion; there are usual buttons under a flat surface made of solid sheets of metal.

The case is made almost entirely from high-quality plastic and the unit seems solid, but not a strident combination of different materials. The affiliation with the clan of Armani is betrayed by a great, bright emblem of this fashion house, which cover the whole rear lid.
Armani inscriptions glow on the right and left ends. You can even choose the color of the lighting!

Our first association was with the telephone Siemens M65, with «winkers». Well, it’s just an association, nothing more. So, the first thing we did with Siemens was to switch off the «winkers», and the same thing was done with Armani after half an hour of use.
At the ends are placed the player buttons, but due to the large size of the shell, the developers made the «musical» buttons quite large and with a distinctly perceived abrasion.
So the player can be commanded blindly, without delivering the phone from a jacket pocket. In general, the keyboard and the arrangement of additional operation buttons were pleasing, especially when combined with the size of the phone, which is not lost in male’s hand.
It was pleasing that Samsung Armani M7500 is equipped with a normal microUSB jack, carefully covered with a lid. Connection to the PC does not require special drivers; the phone is recharged from the computer, and of course, is recognized by it as a usual USB device.

Display and menus

The display of M7500 is made in the OLED-technology, bright and contrast, with large angles of view.
In addition, it submits to the lighting sensor which automatically changes the brightness of the screen, depending on the conditions of exterior lighting. The sensor is working correctly, and as a result, the display is always readable.
The menu is made in form of icons, for example, the settings are under the sign of a wrench, the player is «hidden» under a «note».
In general, the menu is organized logically and easy – everything fits on one screen and specific blunders in the transition are not observed. While the logic of constructing sometimes suffers, for example, to turn off the sound of the confirmation key clicking, it was necessary to get into the «profile» and change the settings of the current profile.

Instead this function could be put in the menu «phone» – «settings» – «sound», where it would look much more logical.
For a long-time Nokia user, the menu of this model does not look confusing. Possibilities of customization are rather broad – there are several predefined themes, screensavers and wallpapers.
A shot from the camera can be set as a wallpaper. In principle, everything is usual and convenient, but no revelations.

Music and image
It’s nice that this model is equipped with a standard 3.5 mm jack for headphones, because the possibility to connect any headphones is very valuable.
The music player supports not only the MP3 format, but also WMA and AAC. In general, the player is pleasing; however, it is unnerving that you cannot set the equalizer to your liking, but to choose from only nine finished presets.
In case of using good headphones, the sound quality is high, so the phone can be recommended as a complete replacement of an MP3 player.
The device has a sufficiently large amount of internal memory – 125 MB, so a little music library can be placed directly in it.

The FM-receiver is working properly, i.e., has a good reception. There is an RDS function, but it is very limited – the screen displays only the title of a radio station.
The setting and saving of stations is organized on the intuitive level of understanding. There is a convenient tool – RSS Reader – for reading news tapes. It can be guessed from the title, anyway.
The integrated camera with a resolution of 3.2 MP has no flash, but is equipped with autofocus. With good lighting the obtained images can be very decent. On a clouded day or indoors the matrix of the camera begins to make «noise», which is normal for this type of technology. The functionality of the camera is also standard for a phone of this class. It is possible to apply to images a standard set of effects, such as: sepia, transfer the images in black and white version, etc.
 

Outcome
Frankly, we were displeased with the low volume of the ring and the low vibration; somewhere in a noisy street, you can easily miss a call. Apparently the Armani icon, under which the speaker is located, is of no help in this case.
The 960 mAh Li-Ion Battery, with an average load on the phone (20 minutes a day and an hour and half of music) was sufficient for a three-day work, and that’s OK. 
Without getting into deep jungles to describe the tube, it can be said that in general the phone had more minuses than pluses. Personally, the too much brightness and blatancy were annoying; even with the backlight off, the phone looks very defiant – «thanks to» the Armani logo on the back side. While certainly there are people who will be ready to forgive this phone everything for only the Armani emblem alone. In general, if consider only the technical characteristics of the device – they are pretty good.

]]> http://www.newphonesreviews.com/samsung-m7500-armani-review/feed/ 0 http://www.newphonesreviews.com/lg-ks660-review/ http://www.newphonesreviews.com/lg-ks660-review/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:58:52 +0000 Mia http://www.newphonesreviews.com/?p=380

LG KS660: Design and Features

LG KS660 has the most common type of touch phones’ cases – a mono block unit. Its dimensions are 104.9 x55×14.95mm. It is thin enough for carrying it comfortably in the pocket of jeans or trousers. It could be carried in the pocket of a shirt, if not its weight (110 grams), which is justified by the presence of two radio modules.

The front side of KS660 is almost entirely occupied by the main element of a touch phone – a huge display. It is entirely focused on the management of your fingers. It will take some time to get used to the sensitivity of the sensor, and in general to this type of management.

The screen resolution is 240×400 pixels, with the diagonal of 3 inches. The proportions are ideal for watching videos. The image on the display is bright and rich. Since your phone screen is at the same time the control management unit, it collects fingerprints with an enviable speed. This is practically not noticeable when the display is on, but when it is turned off, all your touches are seen very clearly.
The logo is located directly below the display. By the way some people who like this mobile often say that they would not have bought it only because the phone is LG. And the question is what else do you need from this manufacturer?

In addition to the display, there are normal keys located on the front. Besides being a dialling key, a quick access to the management of two SIM cards, and a Task Manager key, it is also responsible for finding selected applications, and finally, it is a ring-off key.
The facets on the perimeter of the phone are framed by chrome plastic insert. At the right end there is the volume and slot for micro SD memory cards up to 8GB, which is covered with a plastic plug. On the left there is the camera starting key, the lock, the firm connector for all at once (for charging, headphones and soft-cable). For many people the connector may be a negative fact when choosing the phone, because there is not either mini-USB, or support of conventional headphones. I remember how long ago many people were puzzled by the absence of standard connectors in the same Samsung i900. Well there is nothing to be done, these are our Korean manufacturers.
The phone has a Lithium-polymer battery at 950 mA / h. It is simply unrealistic to remove it without any improvised means. I think that even if it is dropped from high altitude the phone battery will remain in place. When you finally remove the battery, you will see, two signed slots for SIM cards that have the same form. Problems with installing and removing the SIM card will not arise.

LG KS660: User Interface
A notable feature of the interface of LG KS660 is the availability of more than one desktop. Switching between them can be conducted across the screen from left to right or right to left. On the speed dial screen, you can place labels of up to 10 contacts. But to be more precise, labels of only 9 contacts can be placed, because one of them, as in push-button phones, will be reserved for voice mail.
The second desktop can accommodate up to 10 preset widgets. You may set yourself the order and arrangement on the two tables, but you can also trust it to the phone, by shaking it a bit.

All items can be secured so that they are not accidentally moved when switching between desktops.
The service information (the level of the network signal for both SIM cards, active mode, maps availability, Bluetooth, battery and time) is displayed on the main screen, not depending which of the desktops you are on. By clicking on the center of this area, you will get a quick setup menu.
Below are the names of the operators, with the selected labels. And at the bottom there are four icons that have access to dialling, phone book, messages, and the main menu. I would like to note that the images or animations for each of the desktops can be different.
The main menu can be presented in two versions, which fundamentally do not differ from each other. This is either a scrolling list or scrolling tabs. Only the effect of appearance is changing: on top or on a side. It looks really good.

LG KS660: Call service

Phone Maps are divided according to two principles: primary and secondary. When dialling a number, unless you choose another one, the call goes from the first SIM card. Naturally, the default settings can be changed, but this phone will ask you to reboot.
You can receive calls and voice calls, have an Internet access from both cards. The phone book can hold 1000 contacts. Do not forget that in addition, you can save another 500 records on both SIM cards. This should satisfy the vast majority of users.

LG KS660: Communications
Bluetooth supports: Basic printing, Serial Port, Dial up, Hands free, Headset, File transfer, Object push. Of course, there are A2DP and AVRCP profiles, which were verified using the headset of Motorola S9. The only disadvantage was that when pairing with the headphones, you can only adjust the volume on the headphones themselves.

LG KS660: Multimedia
The phone is not positioned as a multimedia device by the manufacturer, however, everything is on a decent level.
Music can be rated, in order to sort them subsequently according to that ground. You can listen to music files of following formats: MP3, AAC, AAC +, AAC ++ and WMA. The playback information is displayed on the desktop, or directly on the preset widget.
Radio can boast of saving up to 50 radio stations. Search can be performed automatically or manually using the touch wheel, like in old radios.

LG KS660: Camera
There is a 5-megapixels camera with a maximum resolution of 2560×1920. The quality of pictures is bearable. There will be no need to bring along a digital soap-dish. The size of images with good coverage can reach up to 1.5 MB. And in low-light environment the flash can somehow fix the situation.
The image can be immediately edited. You draw by hand, add a picture, remove red eye, change the background, etc.

Recording is possible with a maximum resolution of 720 x 480 pixels. But the main point is not the resolution, we should not forget about the bit rate and speed of recording. Any handy video converter will show that the image is recorded at a speed of 25 frames with a bit rate of about 700-1000 kb / s, but when viewing the file the perception is not greater than that of 15 fps. And the cubes are very striking. Viewing a picture can be in a horizontal or vertical orientation.