Opinion on GD87/88?

[MitzEclipse]

Hi All,

I have still yet to find the ultimate phone. I know the GD87/88 has been out for a while, but I haven't been around to using it yet. Can someone please comment on the following:

1) Reception - how well does it get signal?
2) Menu system - how intuitive is it? Like a Nokia?
3) Text messaging - how fast is it, and what is the space, a "0"?
4) Speed - are the menu systems and text entry slow?
5) Do you have to copy all your numbers from your SIM to the local phone address book, or can you just use the address book off the SIM?
6) How well does the screen perform in the sunlight?
7) How well does the camera take night shots?
8) I remember reading the past that you can't answer a phone call by opening the clam-shell.... is this still true?
9) Anything else I should watch out for when buying a GD87/88?

Thanks in advance!

[telejas]

Hi, I'm a newbie to the site, I've had my GU87 for only 1 week, but I love this phone. Here is what I've discovered about this phone to help you with your questions.
1. Reception- I can see the reception bars moving more than my last phone (a Siemens s55), but I dont have as many drop outs.. I did however put one of those internal signal boosters in my phone and it did help out some, not as much as the commercials say though.
2. Menu system- Very self explainatory, much easier than my wife's Motorola t720
3. Text mesg- seems pretty fast to type, to get a # to show up is a little different, you have to push a soft-key to change in the middle of a message to type #'s insead of letters, but I personally like it. The space bar is the pound sign.
4. Speed- no, they are pretty much instant
5. You can use the SIM for th phone book or the phone itself, you cant do a bulk copy from the SIM to the phone, you have to copy one at a time.
6. You do have to shade the screen in the sunlite, once again it is alot better than my wife's T720 though. The Screen is really nice and doesnt seem to get scratched up too easily.
7. Night shots are real dark, you need a light to be able to see the subject. there is no flash. (There is a flash on the soon to come X70)
8. You cant answer the phone by simply opening it, you can choose to answer by pushing any key or the "Go" key and I also think there is an auto answer that will answer it after so many rings?? I could be wrong on that it may be just a car set up feature.
9. It does seem to connect to the internet quicker then my last 3 phones and my wife's.
10. The earpiece volume could stand to be louder, but it is still better than any Siemens I've had, not as good as the T720 though.
11. The camera is a perfect match for the phone and the pictures look great on the phone, but are too low of quality to use on a computer.
12. The caller ID pics are real small, approx 1/2 inch tall by 1/4 inch wide.
13. Battery time is alot less then any of the smaller screen Nokias or Siemens, but I've been getting almost 3.5 days of use before recharging. My Siemens was about 6 days, my Nokia 7210 was about 5 days.
14. I have found out that it is much easier to download items to the phone via GPRS such as ringtones and graphics then with any other phone, I'm not sure why but I hardly ever get a page error.
15. You cannot get any other games for it right now, only Tetris and some sheep herding game. I dont play games much so it's no big deal to me. The GU87 doesn't support Java.

I think thats about all I know, this is the coolest phone I've had so far, but the X70 looks like it's gonna be really cool as well, but it still has a few months before it's released yet. Hope this helps some

[TriMesh]

Originally posted by MitzEclipse
Hi All,

I have still yet to find the ultimate phone. I know the GD87/88 has been out for a while, but I haven't been around to using it yet. Can someone please comment on the following:

1) Reception - how well does it get signal?
2) Menu system - how intuitive is it? Like a Nokia?
3) Text messaging - how fast is it, and what is the space, a "0"?
4) Speed - are the menu systems and text entry slow?
5) Do you have to copy all your numbers from your SIM to the local phone address book, or can you just use the address book off the SIM?
6) How well does the screen perform in the sunlight?
7) How well does the camera take night shots?
8) I remember reading the past that you can't answer a phone call by opening the clam-shell.... is this still true?
9) Anything else I should watch out for when buying a GD87/88?

Thanks in advance!

1) The RF performance is OK - it's not the most sensitive phone I've ever used, but it hasn't caused me any problems either. I don't generally worry about if there is enough signal. On my phone, it seems to work better on 900MHz than either 1.8 or 1.9GHz, but only by a little bit.
2) The menu is more like a SonyEricsson menu (such as the T68) - the top level is 3x3 graphical, and the submenus are text lists. It's generally quite easy to use, but some functions (like sending a picture messsage) seem to require a lot of button presses.
3) The text messaging is fine - the space key is '#'. If you are going to be doing a lot of SMS, it's worth checking that the phone has software version A39 or later, since that allows you to store 200 SMS messages in the phone. The early versions only allowed you to use the SIM card.
4) There are a couple of sub menus that take half a second or so to open, but most of them are very snappy. I have no problems with the text entry speed.
5) You can use the SIM phone book, but some features are are only available using the handset phonebook (like caller pictures - although you can get a similar effect using caller profiles)
6) I haven't yet found a situation where I couldn't read the display, but it's a lot harder in direct sunlight. The display is definately at it's best in the shade or indoors.
7) If you mean night shots outside with just street lighting, then pretty badly. Artificial lighting indoors works a lot better, but there is still some noise on the images. Outdoors under sunlight, the images are execellent.
8) No, you still can't answer the phone using the flip - despite the fact that it does have a switch on it...
9) If you are intending to get one of these, play with it first - some people love this phone, and others can't get on with it at all. Best of all, get it from a company that gives you a return period. I'm not saying that the phone is bad (I really like mine), but it has a very different operating style to most other handsets. Also, the camera is basically a toy - it's too low resolution to be a practical replacement for even the most primitive digital camera. The shutter sound is very loud and can't be adjusted. If you're composing an SMS message and you exit from the editor, you lose the text you've just entered without any confirmation.

[MitzEclipse]

Thank you TriMesh and telejas for your insightful replies. I was able to test the phone out in person and I may way for the newer version - Panasonic X30? (I think) to come out. It's smaller and has bluetooth.

I did like the menu system and it did feel solid. The screen is great too, but then again, I was indoors.

[SilvaRSX]

I was just wondering how to change Mhz on this phone.
and also i was wondering what DTMF meant.

Originally posted by TriMesh
1) The RF performance is OK - it's not the most sensitive phone I've ever used, but it hasn't caused me any problems either. I don't generally worry about if there is enough signal. On my phone, it seems to work better on 900MHz than either 1.8 or 1.9GHz, but only by a little bit.
2) The menu is more like a SonyEricsson menu (such as the T68) - the top level is 3x3 graphical, and the submenus are text lists. It's generally quite easy to use, but some functions (like sending a picture messsage) seem to require a lot of button presses.
3) The text messaging is fine - the space key is '#'. If you are going to be doing a lot of SMS, it's worth checking that the phone has software version A39 or later, since that allows you to store 200 SMS messages in the phone. The early versions only allowed you to use the SIM card.
4) There are a couple of sub menus that take half a second or so to open, but most of them are very snappy. I have no problems with the text entry speed.
5) You can use the SIM phone book, but some features are are only available using the handset phonebook (like caller pictures - although you can get a similar effect using caller profiles)
6) I haven't yet found a situation where I couldn't read the display, but it's a lot harder in direct sunlight. The display is definately at it's best in the shade or indoors.
7) If you mean night shots outside with just street lighting, then pretty badly. Artificial lighting indoors works a lot better, but there is still some noise on the images. Outdoors under sunlight, the images are execellent.
8) No, you still can't answer the phone using the flip - despite the fact that it does have a switch on it...
9) If you are intending to get one of these, play with it first - some people love this phone, and others can't get on with it at all. Best of all, get it from a company that gives you a return period. I'm not saying that the phone is bad (I really like mine), but it has a very different operating style to most other handsets. Also, the camera is basically a toy - it's too low resolution to be a practical replacement for even the most primitive digital camera. The shutter sound is very loud and can't be adjusted. If you're composing an SMS message and you exit from the editor, you lose the text you've just entered without any confirmation.

[TriMesh]

Originally posted by SilvaRSX
I was just wondering how to change Mhz on this phone.
and also i was wondering what DTMF meant.

The band that the phone operates on is determined by where you are and what operator you have. For anyone in North America, it's 1900MHz. If you're in Europe, then it will be either 1800MHz or 900MHz depening on your operator - For example, in the UK Vodafone and O2 operate on 900MHz and T-Mobile and Orange operate on 1800MHz.

DTMF is Dual Tone Multi Frequency. These are the phones that a wireline tone dialling phone produces when you hit keys on the keypad. It's normally known as "Touch Tone".

[btv94]

TriMesh,

How do you compare your nokia 8890 and panasonic GD87 as far as RF performance and Sound quality.


Thanks,

[TriMesh]

As far as the RF side of things are concerned, the performance is about the same on 900MHz, and the GD87 is better on 1900 - it's considerably better than the 8890 with the antenna down, and slightly better with it up. If you're going to be roaming in Europe, the GD also has the distinct advantage that it's triple band.

I don't think there is much difference in audio quality - probably I slightly prefer the Nokia, but only slightly. I haven't had any complaints of being inaudible or incomprehensible with either phone.

Currently, the GD87 is my main phone, and the Nokia only gets used occasionaly (mostly if I'm going out, and want a little phone I can keep in a shirt pocket).

[btv94]

Thanks, TriMesh for the info