vB Easy Archive - VK2200 pre-production preview

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VK2200 pre-production preview
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Posted by: ippon

i got my hands on a pre-production sample model.
i was only allowed to handle it for a couple of hours so the review isn't in-depth, rather, a very quick first impression with some snapshots.
overall, the software is VERY buggy, because it is a pre-production model.
internally, it is basically a vk2000 with extra hardware like bluetooth, camera, and more memory.

snapshot of settings menu. there is bluetooth in the phone, but i was not abel to test it. when i tried to pair with my mac, my mac automatically generated a six digit code to verify pairing, but the phone only take a 4 digit input. also, whenever i tried to turn on bluetooth, the phone would freeze at the activation menu, forcing me to take out the battery, and when i turn it back on, only then the bluetooth is turned on.

the menu shows that it is a quadband phone and the bands are selectable between euro/asian and north american settings.

back cover comes off easily to reveal the sim compartment and microSD slot.
like some other vk phones, sim card can be swapped without removing the battery.
battery didn't state its capacity, unfortunately.
i wish vk would have made it easy to remove the front cover as well as the back so the users can opt to change them, but no go...

without the battery, the phone weighs nothing. i still can't believe how small the phones have gotten recently. only if we have figured out how the power these things from the electrical currency from the human body, this thing could be the size of a credit card.

it is a bit thicker than the vk2000, but not by much.

Posted by: ippon

this tiny thing sports a 4 megapixel CCD camera, while the vast majority of camera phones employ lower quality CMOS chips. i had some difficulty retrieving pictures because the pre-production software would not let me save pictures and video clips directly to the memory card. and since my test model did not come with a data cable, using the microSD was my only option to save any data. the phone did allow me to save them to the phone memory first then move them to the external memory, but by the time i figured it out, i had to give the phone back and i was only able to retrieve two pictures.

i have my doubts about the actually picture quality because it looks like the quality of the lense is pretty low, but what is impressive is that the phone has more customizable features than some low-end consumer cameras on the market.

selectable resolutions.

brightness compensation.

burst mode!!!

digital effects.

built in LED flash. it is not a bursting flash like in real cameras, rather it is an 'illuminator' that stays on when the flash option is chosen.

focus settings.

ISO settings. it offers 1600 ISO!!! incredible!!!!!!!

white balance.

Posted by: ippon

default highest resolution setting.
the picture lacks fine detail and the colours are washed out.
picture quality is nothing to brag about.

1600 ISO setting

as you can see, 1600 ISO setting is useless. it produces amazingly grainy results that look like it was from a VGA camera.
very few REAL digital cameras have useable 1600 ISO settings, so the bad quality wasn't a surprise to me.

Posted by: ippon

sorry that i don't have a sample, but i lost it during transfering.
quality was okay.
heavy compression artifacts were present and frames were a bit jumpy, but sound recording was pretty good and it was in sync with the video.

Posted by: ippon

for some reason, there is a mystery surrounding the real internal memory capacity of VK phones.
the menu shows it has roughly 96 megs of internal memory.

Posted by: ippon

it has an equalizer...
it will play mp3 files, but not .wav, not that anyone will want to store .wav files to play music. like other VK phones, speaker sound is very loud, but the reason why they omitted speaker phone is still a mystery.

Posted by: ippon

my overall impression is that the VK2200 is an intriguing phone and i wanted to know more about it, but the buggy software and my limited time with the unit prevented me from getting to know the phone more.
it this thing delievers what it promises on paper, it will be a strong presence on the marketplace.

Posted by: AlexandrKiev

Nice review. Thanks

Posted by: Guest 27

Wow, VK is really making a name for themselves. For a relative new comer to the market, their lineup is pretty strong.

Posted by: Junglizt1210

I remember when they still haad crappy little phones that were sold through Vodafone in the UK and no one had ever heard of them. Is steered clear of them.... but I want to see some more 3G phones in the market... in this day and age where we should be transferring from 2G over to 3G (or even 4G) I expect the manufacturers to take a leading role in the implementation of such devices....

Posted by: New Beetle

I was looking forward to seeing the 4mp camera from the VK in action, and as I was 1/2 expecting, its totally pants

Goes to show how little the numbers are important. The 2MP from the sharps and even the SE phones is 5 times as good as this 'so called 4MP' from VK. I will reserve full judgement until we see a working production model as hopefully this will improve, but lets face it it would need to be dramatic! Looks like they slipped 1.3 in there and guessed the rest of the pixel count lol.

Thanks for the mini preview though mate.

Posted by: ippon

Quote:

Originally Posted by New Beetle

Thanks for the mini preview though mate.

pleasure is all mine!

and yes, vk is trying hard to make a name for themselves.
i've heard from the grapevine told that motorola is trying to take over the company. apparently they are in negotiating to figure out if vk will do ODM work for moto, or moto will completely take over vk.
we'll see what will happen in coming months as nothing is concrete yet.
vk using moto software will vastly improve their useability i think. even the production vk models i've used had unstable software. i am not a big fan of moto software, but still, it will be a big improvement over original vk software.

Posted by: Junglizt1210

Quote:

Originally Posted by ippon

That would open up a whole new host of possibilities for the guys who SEEM edit and stuff.... sounds good!

Posted by: Guest 27

Quote:

Originally Posted by ippon

pleasure is all mine!

and yes, vk is trying hard to make a name for themselves.
i've heard from the grapevine told that motorola is trying to take over the company. apparently they are in negotiating to figure out if vk will do ODM work for moto, or moto will completely take over vk.
we'll see what will happen in coming months as nothing is concrete yet.
vk using moto software will vastly improve their useability i think. even the production vk models i've used had unstable software. i am not a big fan of moto software, but still, it will be a big improvement over original vk software.

"i am not a big fan of moto software"....

who is