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Review GSM phone Samsung X120

Samsung has become the first manufacturer to produce a classic model equipped with an OLED screen as a main display. Before this moment organic displays were applied mainly in clamshells and the displays were outer. The number of shown colours still was not perfect and as a rule it were 4 colours or up to 16 tints of gray. And X120 is the first model with 65K OLED-screen.

In difference to other devices with colour screens it has a raisin, an upper service line with icons and time is always active. That means whenever you look at the screen you'll see all you need. The manufacturer even decided not to indicate this area as a part of the display and that is why in specifications the resolution of the screen is 128x128 pixels. That is for data output and the screen itself is longer what is seen with a naked eye. The display may show up to 6 text lines and one service line with tips for soft keys use.

The quality of showing colours is habitual, they are vivid, there are almost no tints and they are slurred over. The screen really differs from that any you may have seen before. And it also differs from its predecessors, old OLED screens provide with only a general idea of its characteristics. In the sun information on the screen is read well and that especially concerns the service area.

As for the quality of the picture the screen is inferior to TFT displays, the image looks grainy and crude. But it has its own charm and originality. In some kind it is a fashion solution and really attracts attention.

It was interesting to test energy consumption in connection with another type of the screen. The battery is Li-Pol, 830 mAh. According to the manufacturer the phone may work for up to 200 hours in the standby mode and 3.5 hours in the talk mode. In Moscow it worked for about 4 days in case of 45 minutes of talk and 30 minutes of using other functions (mainly games). Full charging time is about 1.5 hours. I'll note that 4 days is perhaps the maximum time and the majority of users will have to charge it once in three days. The increased working time as compared to similar devices of the previous generation by Samsung may be explained with the presence of new software. New models look more interesting on this point, if the type of the screen makes any influence then it is rather insignificant.

The design of the phone is familiar because of such models as С100 and С110. The same thin body and the device may be put into a pocket of a shirt or trousers easy and is almost not felt . The fact it is plane makes the phone extremely comfortable in use. The dimensions are 108 x 45 x 16 mm and the weight is 76 grams. The device is produced in four colour solutions, they are Metallic Silver, Ice Blue, Silver Gray, Indigo Blue.

A keypad is comfortable and the keys are distanced well. The backlighting is blue and the characters are seen well not in all the conditions.

There is a light indicator that has several backlighting colors around a navi button.

There is an interface connector on the bottom and it is covered with a rubber curtain. A connector for a handsfree headset may be seen on the side surface. It has a movable cover of plastic that makes the construction reliable. There is an IrDA gap and a coupled button for volume level adjustment on the left side surface. The possibilities of IrDA are traditionally cut in this model and it may be used only for synchronization with PC, loading new melodies and pictures and as a modem (EasyGPRS). It is not possible to synchronize the IrDA without any additional programs unlike other phones.

A connector for SIM-card is standard and there are no any peculiarities.

Phone book. It is possible to save up to 2000 numbers in internal memory and that is up to 3 numbers (home, work, mobile) and e-mail address for a name. When entering a new number you are offered to choose the type for it and then type it in, additional numbers may be entered from the editing submenu but not when making a new entry. Such organization both has pluses and minuses, that depends on the fact how often you make entries with only one number.

It is possible to assign an entered name to one of users' groups that may have personal signal and an icon.

A general list represents names both from the internal memory and SIM-card one and quick search for a name is possible. It is enough to choose the first letter of a name and the list will represent the first entry with it, then you may type a second letter and so on. And the same search is possible for any users' group. There is a possibility to assign speed dialing for 8 buttons. And what is strange enough there is no voice dialing.

Messages. There is a possibility to save up to 50 messages in the internal memory, the device supports EMS. And in connection with that there is not bad set of icons, sounds and animation in the phone. Also there is a set of emotion icons.

In all the rest its possibilities are standard, up to 10 own templates, predictive text input. There is a support for MMS and there are no any peculiarities also, the limitation on a message is 100 KB.

Call log. Here the lists with last 20 incoming, outgoing and missed calls are hidden. Date and time are specified for every call. An interesting peculiarity is that the same numbers in the list are not duplicated. The number is moved higher and new date and time are specified. This way the absence of the same entries is achieved and this organization is acceptable for the majority of users.

Sound settings. Here you may choose one of 6 bells, one of 8 animals' cry (a horse, a dog, birds and so on) and a melody (there are 31 of them). The melodies are various, from modern to classical, their set may satisfy even the most exacting taste and if to take into consideration high volume level and that all the melodies are polyphonic there will be no limit to delight.

There are no profiles in the phone but you may choose your own alert signal (light, melody, vibrating alert, vibra+melody). And in the same menu it is possible to switch a minute minder on, it'll work during a conversation.

Phone settings. Using this menu you may adjust the phone to fit your needs completely, choose a language for the menu, background image for the standby mode. Also here contrast level and security settings are adjusted.

Organizer. This menu item is responsible for several applications.

A calendar starts the list. It is possible to enter up to one event for a day (adding more events is possible by copying an entry of another day and it is not convenient), also there is a month view. The days that have assigned events are indicated with another colour and there is a quick switch to a date.

A to-do list expands the possibilities of the calendar. It is possible to create a task here and set the priority for it (high, low, normal). To-do list entries may be copied into the calendar.

Alarm clock. You may set it for once, everyday or weekly (from Monday to Friday, from Monday to Saturday).

Also there is a calculator and currency converter and here everything is traditional.

Time and date. Here the current date and time are set, world time function is also present.

A dictaphone allows to make up to 3 records for 30 seconds but doesn't work during a conversation.

Network services. This item is responsible for all the settings concerning your operator's functions.

Funbox. Here is a standard wap-browser version 2.0. Also there are games - BubbleSmile, Fun2Link, Ultimate Golf, Mobile Chess. The device supports Java MIDP 2.0 and you may load new games (512 KB are intended for that purpose). About 720 KB are for melodies and pictures.

Impressions

The model has no any problems with the quality of connection and it is a typical device by Samsung that is quite reliable in various conditions. The strongest, unique feature of the phone is its OLED-screen that has no any analogs for the moment. It is the screen that allows to refer the model to fashion solutions distinguishing it from such devices as Samsung C110, X100.

The volume level of the 64-tones polyphonic alert is high enough not to miss it in the street and let alone in the room. The vibrating alert is lower than average in its power and it hard to be felt from an overcoat.

Small memory size for applications and pictures may be referred to disadvantages. There are no any other significant minuses in the phone, it is stable in work.

The model will appear in the market in October and will cost for 170-175 USD. The price of the device in the first parties may be another and it is characteristic for the market in general but not for this model in particular. Starting with 150 USD X120 may be considered a good buying. The phone will suit those ones who need comfort in work and minimum of functions. And considering it such a solution with some part of a fashion device the model is rather good. The facts that it has the unique screen and acceptable price make it even more interesting. It will hardly get as popular as C100 in its time but it may get close to the device in the number of sales.

Ringtone samples(255 KB, mp3)

Eldar Murtazin ([email protected])
Translated by Maria Mitina ([email protected])

Published — 23 September 2004

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