vB Easy Archive - My Very Own O2 X3 / BenQ S700 Review!

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My Very Own O2 X3 / BenQ S700 Review!
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Posted by: dontpannic

My o2 x3 review.

(my first ever review so bear with me)

Upon opening the box, I found the phone, Stereo Headset/Handsfree, SIM Card, miniSD card, Cleaning cloth, data cable, battery, and charger. Also included were the Instruction manual, SIM Card offers, and the installation CD.

Upon first turning the phone on, was greeted with the same start-up noise and image as the x1 (made by Maxon at the time). Which was a good sign, obviously. The straightforward menu was a breeze, with the icons exactly the same as o2 Active, which meant not much confusion! The bottom right of the corner, labelled "Media Centre", was my first looking, where Images, Ringtones, MP3's, Videos, and wallpapers are found. The Video function was the killer for me, where I have seen Nokia 3650's recording in 120x120 resolutions for 10 seconds. This phone is capable of unlimited recording (depending on memory card and battery status) at a VideoCD resolution. This was the first thing I tested. Very good quality, along with sound as well. At some point I will post a video sample.

Next along the list was MP3, but i'll come back to that later.

I was also anticipating the 1.3 MegaPixel camera. Personally I am of the belief that if you want a camera, buy one. But, with the 1.3 MP camera included, I didnt think I needed to. Wrong. The camera is OK. If you want to take a small shot of something. Remember this is at 1.3MP resolution. I was fairly impressed, considering I last had a T610! I uploaded the photo onto the phone using the software (which again I will come to later) and viewed it. Quite blurry, I thought, but oh well... what do I expect! On VGA or Q/CIF resolutions, the camera is very good, IMHO.

MP3's!
This is the function I have yet to test, as the software supplied with the phone does not allow MP3's to be uploaded.

On this bombshell, I realised I needed to get a card reader for the miniSD card, as that is the place the MP3's can be stored. Not the phone memory. So I drifted off to ebuyer and picked up an internal card reader and 256 meg card for £26 (inc shipping). Which will be coming on Jan 6th FYI

.

Onwards to the software...

Very user friendly I think not. I suppose it isn't as bad as it looks on first impressions, but does struggle to speak good english...

The installation was a breeze, albeit slow. The cable does not directly recognise the x3. It recognises the cable as a USB - Serial Bridge. Which I installed OK, and went on to the second screen, which was to install the handset manager software. This all went well, and synched with outlook (i think :P). I found it easy to upload and download images and ringtones to the phone. You can type and veiw SMS and MMS's in the software. By the way, if anyone does read this just having bought an X3, dont worry, it is OK to close the flip while connected to the PC!

The text input method used is one called iTap, which is basically like T9, but without the ability to add your own words.

Multimedia Messaging is a good addition, allowing the sending of Pictures, Sounds, Videos etc. When a new media message is received, the external screen reads "New Media - Open Flip" to which it connects and downloads the message. The sending process is displayed with a progress meter (i.e it gives you a percentage of how much is done). One point to note is that the message alert tone cannot be changed from the doorbell... :S

The connectivity options of the phone are the data cable, and IrDA. Under the Tools option, you will find Infrared, of which you will open up the infrared to receive something someone can send. You however, cannot send anything via infrared.

Pro's of the phone:
- Small,
- Light
- Good design
- External Colour screen (allows photos to be taken and texts to be read from it)
- Memory Cards
- MP3 (you can set them as ringtones)
- Data Cable Included
- Reception good
- Ability to answer calls just be opeining the flip

- Very easy to send/receive SMS and MMS messages.

Con's of the phone:
- Can't change message tone
- External screen is a little faded
- No bluetooth
- Cannot send by IR
- iTap is not as good as T9 or manual!

Thanks for listening.

I will post some sample stuff on my website at Dontpannick

Once again I thankyou.

Note form:

Its a good phone. Camera could be better at 1.3MP mode. Buy it!