vB Easy Archive - X70 Brief Review

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X70 Brief Review
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Posted by: ozone

The X70 officially launched in Bangkok, Thailand three weeks ago. It became available in quantity about 2 weeks ago. The handset currently retails at approximately 420 Euro.

Have it now for about two days. Here's my short take:

Design:
The phone is alot smaller than I thought. With it's smaller size and more curves, the phone is very nice to hold on to and look at. Attract plenty of stares. I just wish that Panasonic would make it in powder blue and even pink variety (like the later version of GD88 from Taiwan).

The gunmetal grey is just really dreary.

The buttons have a more satisfying feel than the GD88.

Screen:
I'm happy to manage to keep the screen size of the GD88 intact despite the reduction in size...the screen was definitely one of the best features about the GD88.

The X70 screen seems to have slightly better and brighter color resolution than the GD88. However, it cannot compare to the new Sharp GX20 series. In term of the GSM market, I feel that the X70 has the second best screen after the Sharp.

Camera:
The nightlite thingy helps. Not quite flash but good enough. It's disappointing that Panasonic does not endow the X70 with at least a VGA resolution.

As a matter of fact, the VGA should be the minimum resolution for all GSM camera phones coming out today. I mean, they should have bunch of CCD parts left from their Japanese side of the house...probably want to clear out those CIF stock from three years ago.

That said, the X70 has one of the best looking CIF, if not the best one. The presence of the hugh TFT screen makes the picture look good right away without having to transfer it to see what it would look like on a PC.

Bluetooth:
It works well enough with my SE handset.

UI/OS:
Prettier than the GD88. However, they could've, once again, taken the page off their Japanese-design phone. The UI on those newer Panasonic phones looks so much more attractive than the X70.

A bit easier to use than the GD88 but not as good as say the SE T610 platoform or those from Nokia 30/40 series.

No annoying random shutdowns like I get with my super early version of the GD88 yet.

JAVA:
Ok performance. About the same as those of Nokia. Certainly faster than SE. Not enough apps available to really give it a full run though.

Call Quality:
Good enough. I'll give it a grade of "B".

Contact Mgmt/PIM function:
A marginal improvement over the GD88.

Price:
At least here in Thailand, fairly good value. The two biggest competing products (here) are Samsung E700 and SEZ600.

How It Stacks Up:
Let's see...the E700 has nicer sound, design, and camera. No bluetooth and E700's Java implementation are a bit shoddy. The UI is a tossup. T9 implementation suck a big one. Infared is useless. Superb storage ((mb).

Z600 has a pretty nice screen...better than E700 and on par with X70. Sucky camera. Excellent bluetooth and connectivity. Awesome softwares. Kick-*** Contact Mgmt/PIM functionality, probably one of the best for a non-smart phone. Decent sound. A bit thick but love the exchangable panel. Great personalization capability such as theme and caller picture id. Weak storage (2mb). Would be my perfect phone if it has a VGA camera, better JAVA performance, and bigger memory (removable would be perfect). Hmm...sounds like the Z0101 doesn't it?

X70 has almost everything, feature-wise. If they loose the antenna, broader color option for the case, and take the UI design from their Japanese current phones, and add VGA capable camera, it would be a compelling argument.

Conclusion:
If you have the GD88, save your money. After the novelty of the better design wears off, it's a marginal improvement over the GD88.

I would save my money on the GX30...or if the Z0101 comes out that would be great...meanwhile, give me that P900 already SE (I know it's out but they supposed to give me a loaner soon).

Posted by: ducvader

What he said! Save your money for a better phone. X70 isn't that much better than the Gd88 anyways. Most of the specs are the same except for the size and a few added features.

Posted by: lost_rebel

Since the mobile does not have Java, how is it that he rendered an opinion?
Also the screen is physically smaller but maintains the same resolution. This accounts for brighter colour and clarity. Pixels are closer together.
I have put my thoughts on this mobile...the one I have physically used on my website

Posted by: leety7

Quote:

Originally posted by ozone
How It Stacks Up:
Z600 has a pretty nice screen...better than E700 and on par with X70.

Sorry, just have to make a point here.

I have both the E700 and Z600 in front of me.

The display quality of the Z600 is nowhere near as good as the E700.

Posted by: pkipper

How about picture caller ID? Is it still small like in GD87/88?

Posted by: lost_rebel

It is bigger about 1/4 the size of the screen. About the size of a US postage stamp

Posted by: heybabyheybaby

I'd like to see how it compares with the soon to be released Moto V500 or V600.

Posted by: Totoro

Does X70 have active flip?

and can you post some pictures taken by X70?

Thanks

Posted by: Jax826

yeh..active flip is very important feature to me^^
Does it have a speaker phone?
How is the volume of the speaker? Is it like gd87/88 where you have to hold on to a specific position to hear what the other parties are saying?

Posted by: ozone

Quote:

Originally posted by lost_rebel
Since the mobile does not have Java, how is it that he rendered an opinion?
Also the screen is physically smaller but maintains the same resolution. This accounts for brighter colour and clarity. Pixels are closer together.
I have put my thoughts on this mobile...the one I have physically used on my website

Which mobile doesn't have JAVA? Please be a bit more specific. If you're referring to the X70 it certainly does have JAVA support. How do I render an opinion?

My company develops mobile games. In order to be able to make a more informed decision as to what platform we want to invest our development effort, we put together a J2ME performance benchmark for most current GSM phones.

Once we have the X70 in hand, we run it through our benchmark.

That's how I render my opinion.

As for the screen, they're both 132x176. Same physical size. And the X70 is brighter, a marked improvement over ther GD88.

Bottom line, X70 is J2ME complient and has the screen that's the same exact physical size of the GD88. And how, may I ask, do you render your opinion?

Posted by: Jax826

what about my questions^^?
You didn't answer my questions

Posted by: canox

Quote:

Heard people saying whether x70 has Java or not depends on the network provider. If the provider supports the Java, then one can certainly d/l java applications on the x70. The same is true for the opposite.

Posted by: lost_rebel

As I have both mobiles....hmm maybe I do know. The screen is physically smaller although the same number of pixels. I stated that before. Just because a monitor is set to 1024x768 does not mean that they are the same size, only the same resolution!!!!
It does not support midlets. The only java that it does support is through the infusio game engine! Same as 87.

As for those that want pictures. Just look at the ones by gd87. They are the same....same size...same quality

Want more details? visit my website and read what I wrote on it. Why should I type it more than once?

Posted by: O'BlueTouring

yes, it does have active flip.. if the active flip feature is off, you can take pictures with the camera when the flip is closed and by pressing the side key.

Posted by: o0MattE0o

they better get there finger out there arse three mobile are getting phone soon with Carmra res of 1600 by 1200 pixels
thats better than allot of digital Camras and with a 2 mega pixal

Posted by: lost_rebel

hmm and what do you do with a two megapixel camera in a mobile? I agree that they should have put in a camera that is at least capable of 640x480...1024x768 would be even better but over that is not really of much use. I would just use by Fuji 6MP for that!

Posted by: lost_rebel

Quote:

Originally posted by canox
Heard people saying whether x70 has Java or not depends on the network provider. If the provider supports the Java, then one can certainly d/l java applications on the x70. The same is true for the opposite.

that would be for infusio online. The x70 supports infusio both on and off line. But the browser is not j2me compliant.