Review Samsung SGH-X100

Many companies construct new models using one technological platform, they vary the function set depending on model’s positioning in the model range. The same we see in Samsung X100, this device is similar to top-model E700 by its hardware, but X100 has classical form-factor. Other differences are the following: absence of IrDA and different screen.

The targer group of this phone is young people and also adults; the design of the device is to everybody’s liking. It’s impossible to tell that the device is aimed to men or women; the phone is apprehended equally by both.

The handset has the same color spectrum as others novelties from Samsung, i.e. silver edging around blue plastic. Side faces of the devices and also back face are silver. The phone looks attractively. This was mentioned by many people who twisted it in hands. Quality plastic also plays a role; it doesn’t seem the device is a cheap stuff. The edging around speaker and the keys are silver too. By the way, the keyboard is made of plastic. The backlight is blue and it is visible in different conditions. The central line of keys is lighted most of all. Sometimes it hinders reading the designations on keys.

Navigation key, which is placed under the screen, is 4-way and it is sunk in the case. The key is rather small by size, it is the problem for those, who have big hands from birth. So, it’s recommended to twist the device in hands before buying. Wap-browser button is inserted into navigation key.

The sizes of the phone are a bit bigger than other devices of this segment have (the phone is higher). But on the whole the device is enough comfortable (106x45x19.6 mm). You can carry the device however you want. The phone weights 80 gr., this allows not noticing it hand, but the weight is felt.

There’s handsfree (included into the standard kit) connector on the left side of the device. The connector is covered by rubber bibb. The bibb is fastened to the case. Our test sample did not have strap holder, which allows carrying the device on neck. Seems like it will appear later.

There’s system connector on the bottom butt-end of the phone, it is covered by rubber bibb too. You can see speaker’s outlet on the phone’s back face. It is used for playing ring tones and other events.

The battery is a part of phone’s back face. It is fixed strongly and it has no backlash. The phone is equipped with lithium-ionic battery with capacity of 800 mAh. According to the manufacturer it is capable to provide up to 230 hours in standby mode and up to 3 hours of operating in talking mode. The device operated about 3 hours in case of 40-45 minutes of talking and up to 25 minutes of using other functions (per day). Taking into account the quality of the screen, it is possible talking the device operates from one charge the maximum period of time. The reduction of using the device doesn’t result in considerable augmentation of operating time; it increases up to 4 days. Time of full re-charging is about 2 hours.

Battery status indicator doesn’t always display remained working time. For example, if you leave the phone for 2 days and won’t touch it, the indictor will show that it the battery is full (3 points). If you try to make a call then, you will see only one point after it. Remember this peculiarity if you have pauses when use the phone.

Some words about the screen. The screen is made under STN-technology, the screen fades on the sun, but you can discern some information. The resolution of the screen makes 128x128 pixels, physical size of the screen is rather big – 30x30 mm. The screen displays up to 65K colors, the colors are not bad, but let the screens of top models. The screen is capable to display up to 4 text line, 2 service lines and text labels for soft-keys (sms reading mode).

Menu

We’ll quote an extract from Samsung E700 review, as X100 is a cut version of E700. The main menu of this phone looks in the following way: menu title, animated picture and first three items of this menu under them. Each item has its own number, fast shortcut number navigation is available. Unfortunately, the navigation can be used only in the selected item of the main menu. It is a payment for such menu organization.

This product has an excellent localization. There are T9 vocabularies for all menu languages. While inputting data, it is possible to switch them. Russian predictive text input is also available.

The phone’s interface is considerably revised in E700, pop-up menus are made in new style. In our opinion it looks nice.

Phonebook. Up to 1000 phone numbers can be stored in the phone memory. Up to 5 phone numbers, e-mail can be added to one name. All phone numbers can be grouped in caller groups (up to 6). It is possible to assign a melody or a picture to each entry. Unfortunately only pre-default picture can be assigned. It is impossible to add a picture taken by a digital camera. Today it is the main shortcoming of the phones from Samsung.

Horizontal scrolling allows listing bookmarks and viewing the phone numbers. Both phone numbers from SIM-card and phone memory are displayed in the total list. There is a search by name, you need just to enter first letters of the name to change the list.

You can adjust up to 9 fast dial numbers.

Messages.There are two separate items, which allows operating with SMS and MMS messages relatively. Up to 200 SMS-messages can be stored in the phone. There are up to 9 editable SMS-templates. The phone support EMS, so it is possible to add pictures, animation and melodies. Set of standard files is usual, there are no changes compared to other models.

Now it is more comfortable to work with MMS-messages. When you create a message, a template with fields to input text, music, picture, theme is appeared. You can create several pages, set showing time between them, adjust font (size, style). The maximum size of one MMS-message couldn’t exceed 80 Kb.

There is a special folder for drafts and own messages. Memory for storing photos and MMS-messages is shared dynamically. Total memory pool is about 9 Mb. It’s more than sufficient for the phone of this class.

Call records. There are lists of 20 missed, 20 received and 20 dialed calls in the phone. Time and date of each call is indicated in this menu. You can also view time of the last call, total time of all incoming and outgoing calls.

Sounds.The phone supports 40-tones polyphony, which sounds not bad. There are several modes of incoming alert, for example, only sound, only vibracall, and then a melody. Other settings are standard. You can select signal tone for SMS-messages, MMS-messages, adjust minute minder during the talk, select silent mode (only vibra).

Settings. Apart from greeting messages, you can adjust display settings here. You can set animation (up to 5 pre-default ones) as a wallpaper. It is possible to select font style and location of text.

One of the 4 color schemes is available.

Duration of backlighting can be also different (from 15 seconds to 10 minutes). The longest value is interesting for those who like to play games. In this case they will not move keys to activate backlighting while playing a game.

There are up to 15 points of brightness of the screen.

Organizer. You can easily add a new reminder (up to 100 characters). After inputting text, you could select one of the categories (Schedule, to-do list, call, anniversary). Depending on the selected category, different actions will be offered. For example, if you select a schedule, you will see a calendar, then select a day, indicate time, set alarm-clock. Then, this record will be saved and displayed in the separate window. Unlimited number of records could be added to one day, totally up to 25 records of each category are available. When you view several records added for one day, you could see the number of the current one. On the whole, the organizer is well-realized.

World time functions is usual. The same is related to calculator, unit converter, including currency converter. Countdown timer, stop-watch with intermediate results are also available in the phone.

Alarm-clock can be set only for one time. The consumer can use an autopower on/off function. Alarm-clock will be active even if the phone is switched off.

Network Services. Just settings, connected with calls diver and etc.

Fun Box. Wap-browser of 2.0 version is hidden here. It allows to view color images. The phone supports GPRS 4+2. So, you won’t pay much for browsing.

All received pictures, images and melodies are kept in Media Box.

There are three pre-installed games in the phone: Honey Ball (a kind of archanoid), Go! Hamster (you should open the picture and avoid flying animals), Bowling. These games can’t be deleted from the memory.

A special menu item – Java World is also placed here. There are two pre-installed Java-games there, which can be deleted. The first game is Snow Ball Fight. You move on the map and throw snow balls to your enemies. The second game is well-known BubbleSmile – nice logic game.

Up to 600 Kb can be used for Java applications, this memory space is separate from the memory pool available to store photos, pictures and messages.

Impressions

The device has no problems with reception quality, the voice is audible well in speaker. Volume of the 40-tones polyphonic ringer is high, this is a big advatange. Melodies sound nice. Vibrating alert is stronger than average.

It is possible to presume that the device will be in demand on the market, taking into account the fact that X100 is middle segment model. Release date and function set talk in favour of this statement. There are no models with such memory size in this segment now. The absence of IrDA is a deliberate marketing step, otherwise X100 will compete with very popular C100. The company tried avoiding this. Supposed price is 230-240$ (during first weeks), then it will fall up to 200$. Next price step is 175$. It’s worth waiting in January, February. The device is very interesting by its function set and opportunities. It’s worth paying attention when choosing a phone.