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Review GSM phone Voxtel RX100/RX200

Standard kit:

Handset
Battery
Charger
Manual

The Voxtel RX100 and RX200 are low-end color screen candy bar models. Only an integrated VGA-camera is different in the RX200 from the RX100 and everything else is the same. So, we'll consider the elder model called the RX200.

The device is small for its class, its dimensions are 104x43.5x17.5mm weighing 75 grams. The RX100 weighs 5 grams less due to the absence of the camera. Here are the dimensions of the closest rivals, Motorola C650 (102x42x20, weight: 91 g) and Siemens C65 (105x47x18 mm, weight: 76 g). The device sits well in a hand and may be carried wherever you like due to its small size and weight. The combination of a silvery color and black gives some strictness to the device making it look like a business phone. The plastic the body is made of is smooth to touch; the front panel is made of black plastic and is very easy to get dirty, though it's almost unnoticeable. The body is of quality plastic, the assembly is of great quality, and all the details are close to each other with no backlash.

A volume button is placed on the left-side surface. On the right side there is a camera button slightly sunk into the body and a headset connector closed with a rubber shutter fixed to the body.

Traditionally, an interface connector is placed on the bottom of the device, it is closed with a rubber shutter that is better to pull out and put into a box in order not to loose it, since the shutter is not fixed to the body. A strap hole is in the corner of the top end of the phone.

On the front panel we see a 65K STN display of 128x128 pixels (28x28 mm). The quality of the picture is average and the screen is comparable to Motorola C650. Realistically, it doesn't look bad for its class.

The keyboard is plastic and an even backlighting allows reading the characters well. A small 4D button with an "OK" inscribed into. It is comfortable to work with, menu access is assigned to side deviations (favorites, games, phone book and messages), and reassignment is impossible. Function keys and Call/End call buttons are placed on both sides.

Number keys are average size and close to each other. The middle row is a bit higher than others and thus dialing a number is easy, no accidentally pressing other keys. Both Cyrillic and Latin symbols are inscribed on the buttons.

A VGA-camera is centered on the back and an auto portrait mirror is to the left. To avoid scratches the objective is sunk into the body a bit.

The rest of the back is taken up by a cover hiding a 860mAh Li-Ion battery. According to the manufacturer the device will work for 120 hours in the standby mode and up to 3 hours in the talk mode. In Moscow the device worked for about 2 days with about 20 minutes of talking a day and about 1.5 days with more talking (up to 30 minutes a day).

The battery indicator on the display has three points, the first one disappeared in 1.5 days depending on the usage described above and the others vanished in 2-3 hours. Thus we couldn't estimate a real charge. Having set off to the office with a battery indicator showing two points we had it completely discharged on arrival. That is a software bug that is likely to be corrected in the future version.

The main menu is shown as animated images with only one item and a tip to it represented at once, submenus are horizontal lists. Despite the main menu being animated, there is no evidence of slowing down when moving between items. Horizontal movements on the navi button are responsible for moving between the items, you can switch sub items on a lower menu level. There is a fast navigation using numbers.

The menu lacks some reasoning, for instance, the most evident problem is that the "OK" button is not responsible for confirmation for all of the items, sometimes you'll have to press the left function key. That is uncomfortable sometimes and confusing.

The "Favorites" menu is accessed by pressing left on the navi button in the standby mode. The item allows adjusting user menu for fast access to the most frequently used functions (up to 10 items). You can only add the items indicated with a pale blue heart when selected (the red one means the item has already been added). Adding the item is made by pressing and holding the "*" button.

Menu is well localized without abbreviations. If the name of the item doesn't fit the screen it is shown in a creeping line.

The device supports Russian and English eZi input. About 1856 KB of memory are available.

Phone book. Pressing the right function key puts you in the phonebook. There is room for 250 contacts. Each contact may have a name (24 characters for Russian and 28 for English), up to 3 numbers and an e-mail address assigned. One of the 10 preinstalled pictures or a photo may also be assigned. You may also add the names to as many as 10 groups. A name (up to 6 Russian characters and 12 English ones) and a personal call signal may be kept for a group.

SIM-card contacts are accessible only via a "SIM-manager" menu. The device can't confront numbers from the SIM-memory, which means if the contact is kept on the SIM-card the caller's name will never be shown (if even automatic number determination is on).

Fast dialing for 9 numbers is available. Search by name in the phone book.

A user's photo is shown in a small window at the incoming and outgoing call, and you'll have to use all your imagination to understand who that is.

Messages. Up to 80 messages may be kept in the internal memory. The device works also with EMS. There is a small set of preinstalled animations (26), pictures (6) and melodies. Only two alert signals are available for incoming messages.

The device works with MMS limited to100 KB level per a message. Creating a message is not difficult and the only thing you have to do many key presses (for instance, 8 presses to insert a picture); there could have been at least half that.

Screen. Everything connected with display settings. There are many preset pictures divided by themes (animals, sports, nature, culture), and only two animated pictures. You can choose the way to represent the clock on the main screen - analog, digital, double, set a calendar for a month or a week on the screen.

Sound. You can choose a call signal type - silent, signal, vibra, vibra and a signal at the same time. One of the 25 preset melodies may be selected, like the images they are divided into groups by themes (pop, classic, original, bells, effects, signals). Up to 10 personal melodies may be uploaded.

Settings. All the settings connected with time, date, alarm clock and other are here. Display contrast may be adjusted (10 levels), backlighting time (5, 10, 20 seconds or always).

A plain file manager is also here and you can also view memory status.

Network. Everything connected with network settings.

Helper. Here is an organizer with the possibility to view the calendar monthly, weekly or all the events for a selected day. Time and type (meeting, birth date, anniversary, incoming call), repetition (a week, a month, a year), a signal (on time, 10, 30 or 60 minutes before) is set for events. A small text note may be created (up to 20 Russian characters or 40 English). Preview of the just created event is possible.

A search can be made by a date, type and/or a text note in a calendar.

A plain calculator, unit converter, world time and biorhythms are also here.

Personal. Up to 10 text notes may be created here (up to 70 characters in Russian and 140 in English). Call duration may be viewed here, but you can't see the total time, only separated for incoming and outgoing. Data counter, PIN setting and passwords are also here.

Games. There are three games preset Fish Ball (some kind of balls), Solitaire (everything is clear) and Survivor (arcade).

Internet. WAP-browser version 2.0 is available. The device supports batch communications class 10.

Camera. As we have already said above, the elder model comes equipped with an integrated VGA camera. A 5x zoom is used by pressing back/forward on the 4D navi button; right/left movements allow adjusting the contrast level. The following resolutions are available - 640x480, 320x240, 160x120 and a portrait (for a phone book). There are 11 effects and 20 frames that may be applied to the photos. Multishooting allows taking about 6 photos one after another with a small interval. A timer may be set for 2 or 10 seconds. About 8 levels of exposure adjustments are available.

A comfortable camera menu is represented with small icons on the bottom of the screen (5 icons are shown at the same time), switching between the items is done by pressing horizontally on the navi button; pressing vertically allows changing of the settings in the selected item. Pressing the left function key brings up the menu.

In the photo album you can view photos in a series but not the whole list. It's interesting that a password may be set for the album, then nobody but you will be able to view it. Also the fact the photos can be set as wallpapers but not sent via MMS is interesting. The photos look decent on the phone screen but bad on a PC. We advise not to load photos to a PC in order not to hurt your feelings. However, acquaint with the samples.

Sample photo №1
Sample photo №2
Sample photo №3

Impressions

The device poses no problems in the connection quality. The volume of the loudspeaker is good enough, but it is not very loud. Preinstalled melodies sound puny due to the 16-tone polyphonic sound. The power of a vibra is average.

The device made a double impression. On the one hand, we have an interesting design, small size with a quality build. On the other, poor functionality compared with the rivals (such as Samsung X120, Siemens C65, Motorola C650).

The younger model with a price of 109 USD will be more interesting than the RX200 for 145 USD, since paying more for a rather bad camera makes no sense.

Melody samples ( 321 KB, mp3)

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

Published — 13 April 2005

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