Review: Samsung P207
SmartPhoneToday is all over the Samsung P207 cell phone, with many pictures and a pretty nice little review. The most interesting feature of the P207 is its speech to text capabilities which are reviewed as well.
The majority of mobile phone buyers evidently believe that small is beautiful. Despite the obvious functional advantages of bigger, chunkier PDA phones, most will opt every time for little bitty phones.
The trouble is, tiny phones with tiny numeric keypads and tiny screens make it very difficult to enter text for SMS messages, e-mails or to add data to address books or to-do lists. The only text input method available on most involves pressing numeric keys once, twice or three times to select one of the alphabetical characters associated with it. Users eventually get used to it, but this makes for v-e-r-y slow input.
The Samsung p207, a tiny trimode GSM/EDGE camera phone available from Cingular Wireless and in Canada from Rogers Wireless, does not entirely solve this problem, but it goes part of the way—far enough to make it intriguing as a model for future products.
The p207’s claim to fame is that it is one of the first mobile phones, if not the first, to offer built-in speech-to-text capabilities. We tested the p207 on the Rogers network.
280 Million Camera Phones are Forecast to be Sold Worldwide in 2005
Research and Markets has announced the addition of The Taiwanese Compact Camera Module Industry, 3Q 2005 to their offering.
Worldwide mobile phone handset sales continued to rise in 2005; at the same time, the leading international handset vendors were increasing the share of new handset models equipped with camera modules. It is anticipated that approximately 280 million camera phones will be sold worldwide in 2005, representing over 40% of the global mobile phone market, and that camera phones will come to account for more than 50% of the handset market in 2006.
LG C960
Not too many things are known about the new LG C960, but the little that is known blows away competitors.
The design of the phone is unlike anything seen before. It is a candybar in the traditional sense but then its upper and lower halves can be easily rotated / twisted, which is not something that the other candy bar designs do.
The C960 is said to carry a 5 megapixel camera, which is better than my 3.2MP digital camera. Unlike the usual method of placing the camera lens behind the display, the C960 places the camera behind the keypad. This is done since the upper and lower halves are not equal in size. The lens and display are thus on different halves, its better to shoot photos and videos this way, with the phone rotated into two halves. The 5 megapixel camera is also supported with a flash.
The camera is also said to have pretty high quality MP3 capabilities, and easy controls and interface. Also included in the handset are a few 3D games which should be fun to play.
Like I mentioned before we do not have the detailed technical specifications of the LG C960 as yet but it is one good looking phone.
Pantech PG-8000
Pantech launched the PG-8000 mobile phone in Korea. The PG-8000 is designed to resemble a digital camera. It features a 2 mega pixel camera and a wide, horizontal LCD display. The mobile phone is also geared towards music oriented users and incorporates an MP3 function, supporting MP3, AAC, and AAC+ files. A FM Tuner is also featured.
The PG-8000 has a memory card slot and a 2.0 inch 260K TFT screen. It has a USB connection for transferring files and syncing the phone.
No word yet about it making it to North America. Other products from Pantech have not been seen over here yet.
Samsung e635
T-Mobile USA has launched the Samsung e635, validating rumors that started last month. The super-light slider phone weighs in at 2.78 ounches and is similar in design to the E800.
The phone is pretty much the average phone being picked up by the major cell phone distributors currently, with a basic digital camera, and a million features packed into a tiny case. One feature that caught my eye is that the SGH-E635 also automatically senses the intensity of sound around users and increase the volume and clarity of the incoming call to make it more audible. I have used cell phones in areas where people were talking, and it is so annoying to have people repeat themselves as your cell phone minutes count down.
Features of the e635 include:
- VGA camera with 4x digital zoom
- 20MB internal memory
- 128 × 160 pixel 65K color display
- Speakerphone
Some of the basic specs are as follows:
- Size: 3.3 x 1.7 x 0.9 inches
- Weight: 3 ounces
- Included battery: Li-Ion
- Talk time: Up to 4 hours
- Standby time: Up to 5 days
- Tri-band (850, 1800, 1900 MHz)
T-Mobile is charging $149.99 after rebate for the Samsung e635. A one year contract is required.
Sony Ericsson W800i
The Sony Ericsson W800i is the first in Sony’s new Walkman Phone line. Here is a cell phone that has so many uses that you don’t really need anything else. It features a 500MB Memory Stick Duo Card, stereo headphones, 2 megapixel digital camera, up to 30 hours playing time per battery charge on the music player and a dedicated start stop button.
The stylish look, ease of use, and music features are part of Sony’s marketing campaign to bring back the Walkman name. The W800i’s menus are a virtually the same as those of the K and D 750i. The only perceivable alteration is the removal of the generic media player, replaced with a Walkman-branded version. This Walkman application allows your stored music to be viewed by either artist or track name as well as allowing you to create play-lists on the fly.
Some downsides of this phone are that it has a weird file transfer process with confusing file structure, and the Sync software is for PC only. Since one of the main features of this phone are its music playing abilities, Sony better get this right on their next version.
LG VX5200 launched by Verizon Wireless
Another clamshell form factor phone released from LG, the VX5200 released for Verizon Wireless, showcases both style and function. Some of the major features include an integrated VGA camera, speaker-independent voice recognition and LG’s hands-free ‘drive mode’ for maximum safety while using the phone in the car.
Being able to send picture messages with the VX5200’s VGA CMOS camera owners will never miss a moment with its digital zoom, integrated flash and room to save up to 200 photos in the phone’s gallery.
Another bit of evidence of more and more PDA functions being put into a cell phone.
Some Technical Specs:
- Networks: AMPS 800 / CDMA 800 / 1900
- Dimensions: 3.46″ (H) x 1.85″ (W) x 0.94″ (D)
- Internal 65K Color STN, 128 × 160 Pixels
- External 65K Color STN, 96 × 64 Pixels
- 32 MB Flash/8 MB SRAM
- Weight: 4.16 oz.
- Standard Battery: 1,000 mAh Li-Ion
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