Review GSM phone Samsung X660

Package:

• Handset
• Battery
• Charger
• Wire headset
• Manual

In contrast to the predecessor, the model is equipped with an external screen and IrDA. It is designed as a clamshell with an internal antenna. The design is strict with a little splay edges, the top edge is like cut in an angle of 45 degrees. The colours of the phone are also modest - that is a combination of black with grey.

You will find it easy to open with one hand and a big hollow rounds the body for more comfort. Almost the whole body is made of a dull plastic, only the cover is glossy and fingerprints stay on it. The body assembly is qualitative, with all details joining each other closely.

On the left side surface there is a socket for the headset's connection, covered with a plastic cover, which is fixed on the body. You will find a coupled key of volume control a little bit below. They are easy to press and sometimes accidental pressures happen. On the right side surface the button of camera's activation is located and an IrDA gap is slightly below.

At the top edge there is a strap hole, and on bottom face there is an interface connector with a plastic cover fixed on the case.

On the top cover of the device there is an objective of a built-in VGA-camera slightly sunk into the case in order to prevent scratches. Here the external monochrome display with the resolution of 96x96 pixels (19х19 mm) is also located. It is equal to Samsung E330N. In the sun information is well read, no problems will bother you.

On opening the device, you will see a small UFB screen with the resolution of 128x160 pixels (21x33 mm) capable of 65K colors. Its quality of the picture is good, the picture looks vivid even in the sun, no problems and information is readable.

A standard for Samsung keypad layout is applied. A small 4D button with an "Ok" one centered in it is comfortable in use and rather large. Number buttons are also comfortable and large, they allow no accidental pressures. Even people with big fingers will find this keypad comfortable. And a white backlighting is evenly spread all over the surface of the keypad.

Almost the whole back part of the phone is taken by an 800 mAh Li-Ion battery. In the condition of Moscow MTS network the device worked for about 2 days in case of 15-20 minutes of talks and about 20 minutes of other functions. Full recharging takes about 2 hours.

The battery holder is not very comfortable as sometimes is gets uneven and can open at any moment.

Menu

The main menu of the device is standard for last models by the company and represents a 3х3 matrix. A portrayal of menu's icons is good, icons are animated. Submenus are presented as vertical lists. There is fast navigation with the help of number sequences.

You can assign fast aссess to various menu items to the navi key press.

Phonebook is accessible only by pressing the right functional key in the standby mode, otherwise through the main menu. The phone memory can keep about 1000 numbers. Any number of phone numbers (you can select even its type - mobile, work, home) and e-mail addresses (up to 50 characters) can be assigned to each user. Besides this each contact may be associated with a picture or a photo, and also with a melody of a ring tone. You may add a contact to one of ten callers group.

There are no integrated groups in the phone. But you can create own ones. You can give a special name to each group (up to 20 characters), assign a picture or a photo, and a call melody.

Contact search letter by letter is carried out. Both data from the internal memory and SIM-one is represented. Fast dialing for 8 numbers is present. At incoming call a photo assigned to a contact is shown only on the internal display, almost full-screen.

Messages. Messages. About 200 messages can be kept in the phone's memory. Since this handset supports EMS standard, it provides a preset of small pictures, animations and melodies. Besides, you will find a set of emotion icons, which will be suitable if a recipient's phone has no EMS support. You can also create about 10 own templates. Besides, you are allowed to attach calendar events, contacts from the phonebook and wap-links. Predictive text input T9 is supported.

MMS editor is plain and clear, for your comfort special pictures are kept besides explicative tips. The maximum size of an outgoing message cannot exceed 95 KB. And total memory bank available for storing all messages forms 3072 KB.

Call list. Standard lists (up to 20 numbers in each) of incoming, outgoing and missed calls are stored here. Calls from the same numbers are not summarized, but shown separately. Pressing a name/number, you see the number itself, date and time of call. Call counters are exactly here.

Organizer. In the phone's memory it is possible to keep up to 400 events of four existing types - "meeting", "business", "anniversary", and "call". For each record you may set date and time, and a number for a call. You can also set a signal and an interval it will work in, recurrent events are possible.

In a calendar only monthly viewing is possible. Those dates which have records are marked with color, everything is very representative.

File manager. Here are all folders with pictures/photos, videos and sound, and other files. About 4096 KB is available for storing them.

Applications. JAVA world. The device supports Java MIDP 2.0, 4096 Kb are allocated for applications. Three games are preinstalled: a logic game Bubble Smile, Airship Racing and Arch Angel.

A dictaphone allows recording both in the standby mode and during a conversation (activated only through the menu). Each entry cannot last for longer than 2.

Alarm clock. Three separate alarm clocks are used in the phone - once, recurrent, daily and morning. You are allowed to set own melody for each.

World time is displayed for two selected cities, everything is plain and visual.

In the same menu there is a measure converter joined with a currency one, stopwatch with intermediate values and countdown timer.

Browser. Here is a WAP-browser version 2.0. .

Camera. There is a built-in VGA-camera in the device. Both internal and external displays may act as a view-finder. Despite the external display is monochrome, it is quite good for shooting a self-portrait.

The camera can take pictures of the following resolutions: 640x480, 320x240, 160x120 and 128x120 pixels. Besides it is possible to expose compression quality: super fine, fine, normal, economy. While shooting, it is possible to impose one of 30 frames or to take advantage of one of 8 effects. Multishooting allows from 6 to 15 frames in a certain interval. Besides, you can make a mosaic of 2x2 or 3x3, when you take 4 or 9 photos later joined into a single picture.

You can record video with the resolution of 128x96 pixels. And quality can be adjusted here - super fine, fine, normal, economy.

The camera's quality is average; more or less good pictures can be received only at good illumination, otherwise it is rather difficult to determine what the photo represents. Despite IrDA is present, pictures cannot be transferred to the personal computer, viewing is limited only by the phone's screen.

In a picture album you can view pictures both as thumbnails (3 pictures are displayed simultaneously) and one by one in a full screen mode. Or a slide show is available.

Impressions

The phone provides good connection almost under any condition. Both loudspeaker's volume and microphone sensitivity are on a good level. The 40-tones polyphony sounding is wholly satisfactory, and mmf files can be set as a call signal. Call signal volume is higher than average. However the power of vibra is lower than it should. A speakerphone is also present and works without a problem.

Samsung X660 is interesting for its design. The external monochrome display is more a plus, than a minus. However the presence or rather a middling VGA camera only increases the price. And also the thing that disappoints is IrDA capable of only receiving; you won't be able to send any file.

The phone is to appear in December 2005 for about 170 USD.

Vladimir Fokin ([email protected])
Translated by Maria Mitina ([email protected])

Published — 29 November 2005

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