| Panasonic SA7 |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 / Gsm 1900 |
| Announced | 2005, 1q |
| Status | Available |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 102 X 53 X 26 Mm, 116 Cc |
| Weight | 140 G |
| Display |
| Type | Tft, 16m Colors |
| Size | 240 X 320 Pixels |
| | - Second External Cstn Display, 4096 Colors, 96 X 64 Pixels
- Downloadable Logos |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Polyphonic (40 Channels), Mp3 |
| Amount | 21 Preset |
| Customization | Download, |
| Vibration | Yes |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | 500 Entries |
| Call Records | 50 Dialed, 50 Received, 20 Missed Calls |
| Card Slot | No |
| | - 30 Mb Shared Memory
- 2 Mb For Mms |
| Data |
| Gprs | Class 10 (4+1/3+2 Slots), 32 - 48 Kbps |
| Hscsd | No |
| Edge | No |
| 3g | No |
| Wlan | No |
| Bluetooth | Yes, V1.2 |
| Infrared Port | Yes |
| Usb | Yes |
| Features |
| Messaging | Sms, Ems, Mms, Email |
| Browser | Wap 2.0/xhtml |
| Games | Sonic The Hedgehog, Soccer, |
| Colors | |
| Camera | 2 Mp, 1600x1200 Pixels, Video(qcif) |
| | - Java Midp 2.0
- Mp3 Player
- T9
- Calendar
- Syncml
- Voice Memo |
| Battery |
| | Standard Battery, Li-ion 1660 Mah (eb-bs002) |
| Stand-by | 300 H - 860 H |
| Talk Time | 4 H - 16 H |
|
Panasonic - SA7Panasonic's Rugged SA7
The Panasonic SA7 is the company's latest offering, which combines the features of the svelte VS7 and the excellent battery life of the MX series. Encased in a metallic blue housing with rubber inserts on the sides of the flip, the SA series is aimed at outdoor enthusiasts. Sporty and Active is what SA stands for, and with a 1660mAH Li-Ion battery, Panasonic states that the SA7 will outlast the competition.
The Panasonic SA7 is a tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz) phone, sporting the same 2.0 megapixel camera and glorious 2.5" QVGA screen found in the VS7.
So is the chunky SA7 a capable performer in our tests?
Physical Aspects
At first look, I did not like the SA7's design at all. It was just wrong. The rubber inserts on both sides of the flip made it look tacky. The metallic blue of the housing is awful, and the weird design of a narrower lower flip than the top flip just added to the ugliness of the SA7. However, the SA7 feels less plastic than the MX6, which we reviewed recently, and is a really solid phone. There were no creaks or squeaks found anywhere on our review unit.
On the front of the SA7, you will find the 2.0 megapixel camera perched at the top with an indicator light below it. The camera is slightly recessed, and the silver ring around it helps to protect the lens. The indicator light will flash accordingly when you have unread messages or missed calls, and also acts as a photo light when taking pictures. A 1.1" CSTN external display can be found on the front as well, giving you details like the time, date, signal bars, and battery life.
On the right side of the phone, you will find a multi-function key, which activates the camera and works as the shutter button. Next to it, you have the Infrared port. The volume keys are located on this side of the phone as opposed to the usual left side.
On the left side of the phone, you will find only the universal connector, which is protected by a rubber flap, and is used for your charger, hands free, and USB cable. The 'One Push Auto Open' button is located on the left side of the hinge. This is the flip release button, and enables you to flip open the phone by just pushing on it. However, due to the SA7 being slightly top-heavy, the opening action is much slower and smoother than the extremely powerful flip of the VS2 and MX6.
On the back of the phone, you will find the loudspeaker and an eyelet for you to attach your favorite wrist strap or lanyard. The battery cover is the slide-on kind with no release button - however, it is secure and will not come off easily. At the bottom of the SA7 lies the charging indicator. There is nothing on the top of the phone.
When opening the handset, you will find the macro mode switch just below the screen. Under this, you will find the 5-way navigator key flanked by the right and left soft keys, and also the Call and End key. The End key also functions as the power key. The white backlit keypad is set flushed with the body of the phone, and is slightly smaller and feels more cramped than the keypads found on the VS2 and MX6. I often had trouble with missed key presses when using the SA7. Overall, I really didn't like to use the SA7's keypad at all. Not one bit.
Measuring 102mm x 53mm x 26mm (4.01" x 2.08" x 1.02"), the SA7 is about 8mm (0.31") thicker and 2mm (0.07") wider than the VS7, and it weighs in at 140g (4.93oz). I am really not a fan of the SA7's design. I think it is too large, and the color is terrible. However, you might think differently.
Multimedia
The Panasonic SA7 has a glorious 2.5" TFT screen, capable of displaying up to 16 million colors. The QVGA resolution (240x320 pixels) makes icons and text appear smooth and sharp. At a maximum brightness of approximately 300-candela per square meter, the SA7's screen is very bright and is usable even under harsh sunlight. Having 16 million colors at its disposal, the SA7 displays photos magnificently, reproducing them accurately with no pixilation or color loss.
The external display is a 65k color 96x64 pixel CSTN unit. Color is of course not as brilliant, and it is washed out under sunlight. You can use the screen for taking self-portraits and reading new SMS messages.
The SA7's 2.0 megapixel camera creates images in seven different sizes – 1600x1200 (ultra large), 1280x960 (extra large), 640x480 (large), 320x240 (medium), 160x120 (small), 240x320 (for wallpapers on the main display), and 96x64 (for wallpapers on the external display). You have the option of choosing night mode for taking pictures in poor lighting. There is also an option for you to take pictures in three different quality levels - Super Fine, Fine, and Normal. The multi-shot mode will temporarily switch the image size to 320x240 and continuously snap 15 shots.
The camera's white balance system was fair, and pictures taken were generally average. Sceneries were a little out of focus, as expected from a camera phone, but the real surprise was the Macro shot mode. As you can see from the sample photos taken, text captured in macro mode was clear and readable. Overall, I personally do not see much difference from this 2.0 megapixel camera to the VS/MX range 1.3 megapixel camera, except for less chromatic aberrations.
The SA7's camera is also capable of recording video clips at 176x144 pixel resolution. You can choose to record short 10-second clips to be sent via MMS or email, or you can record video clips to a maximum length of 1-minute. Unfortunately, you cannot record unlimited length video clips. This is probably a good move by Panasonic, as the SA7 does not have a memory expansion slot. However, the 32MB built-in memory is good enough for quite a number of photos and clips.
Audio wise, the SA7 is capable of MP3 playback, and it can support up to 40 voice polyphonic ringtones. You can also use MP3s as ringtones, however the playback volume on the loudspeaker was soft - a problem that has plagued all recent Panasonic phones. An MP3 clip that plays at deafening levels on another phone sounds weak on the SA7. MIDIs, on the other hand, were deafening when the volume was set at maximum.
User Interface
The UI of the SA7 is smooth, responsive, and easy to use. Navigating the menus was a no brainer, and it was easy to find what I wanted. This new Panasonic UI is user-friendly and I really like it. Of course, animated icons on the main menu might have made better use of the brilliant screen, but I have nothing to complain about.
In standby mode, the left and right soft keys will launch the messages sub-menu and browser respectively. Unfortunately, you cannot personalize these two soft keys to any other shortcuts. However, the directions of the d-pad can be used to launch various applications, and can be customized.
Pressing the centre key of the d-pad, you will be taken to the main menu, which is displayed as a 3x3 grid of icons. The keypad is linked to these nine icons, reducing menu access time, as you can easily press the 9-key if you want to get to the Settings sub-menu, for example.
Theme support in the SA7 is limited to changing the color scheme of menu buttons, nothing fancy. The phone comes with only three themes – Aqua Blue, Leaf Green, and Black. However, users can change their main menu icons (Messages, Settings, etc.) to any picture that is stored in the phone's memory. Users can also download new icon sets from the Panasonic website. This feature pretty much makes up for the lack of theme support in the SA7. You can also choose to display your operator name on the upper left, lower left, or centre of the main display.
Phone Functionality
The SA7 shares the same audio quality problems as other recently reviewed Panasonic phones. The earpiece volume was sorely lacking, and in noisy environments, it was almost impossible to hear the other party. Also, voice quality was lacking in bass, so voices usually sounded very shallow and unpleasant. However, reception was good, and I experienced no dropped calls. I primarily use the GSM 900MHz band, but when tested, the MX6 also performed well in the 1800MHz band. I have no complaints here.
The profile system of the SA7 is quite good. There are five predefined profiles where you can set different ringtones, incoming ringtone volume, different message alerts, message alert volume, different key tones, keypad volume, turn on or off warning tones, and also set vibration alert on or off for each profile. Users can easily switch their phone to vibration only mode by pressing and holding on to the # key. However, there are no timed profiles available, and you cannot add on personalized profiles.
The phonebook of the SA7 allows you to store up to 500 contacts. You can store three different numbers (mobile, home, office), three different email addresses (mobile, personal, work), a birthday, postal address, and notes for each of your contacts. That should be more than enough to keep track of 500 contacts. You can also set personal ringtones, personal message alerts, illumination lights, and caller ID pictures for each of your contacts.
Like the MX6 we tested, the SA7 also boasts very good battery life. With exactly 30 minutes of calls each day and frequent SMS messaging, surfing via GPRS, and taking pictures, I had to recharge the SA7 after 5 days. With intensive use of Bluetooth, that duration went down to 3.5 days. This is not a bad figure at all for a phone with a 2.5" screen. So if good battery life with a huge screen is what you want, go for the SA7.
The SA7 does not have voice dialing, but makes up for it with speed dialing functions. The speakerphone function, like the earpiece, also suffers from low volume and lacks in bass, making it rather worthless.
Connectivity
The Panasonic SA7 was easy to set up for browsing via GPRS. There is a list of service providers in the browser application, and all you have to do is select yours. Surfing was smooth, and the high-resolution screen made text and graphics appear great.
The built-in Infrared port and Bluetooth capabilities enable users to transfer pictures, MP3 files, ringtones, and videos to and from the handset. Pairing the SA7 with my Motorola HS850 was easy, though calls took ages to be transferred to the headset. However, range was fair, achieving about five meters between the headset and phone before distortions were heard. Other than that, the Bluetooth system worked as expected, and users also have the choice of using a USB cable to transfer their files. The cable is an optional accessory, and together with the Handset Manager software (included on the CD-ROM), users can easily manage their phone information on a PC. You can easily synchronize contacts, messages, and multimedia files.
The SMS and MMS system worked well. It was also fast enough to keep up with my typing, and new words can be added to the built-in T9 dictionary. However, the poor keypad does cause some problems when inputting text. Punctuation is handled with the 1 key, case and input modes with the * key, word alternatives (which pop up in a list) with the d-pad, and spaces inputted using the 0 key. Disappointingly, the only way to check for email is by logging on to a web-based email client.
Applications
The SA7's calendar application is good. Events and appointments can be set for any time or date, and can have multi-day durations. You can also assign a location and a reminder to the event. The reminders can be set to go off at a wide variety of times before the event takes place, or exactly for when the event is scheduled.
Besides the usual voice recorder and calculator, there are two pre-installed games on the SA7, and you can always download more Java based games in the future. One of the games is a rather challenging 3D soccer game and the other is Sonic the Hedgehog, one of Sega's all-time most popular games. This excellent port of the original game will definitely bring back fond childhood memories for those who once owned the Sega MegaDrive console. The game runs smoothly, with no noticeable lags, and will certainly entertain during boring commutes.
Conclusion
With excellent battery life, a huge 16 million color screen, capable camera, and Bluetooth capabilities, the SA7 has a lot going for it. However, with my huge thumbs, I just cannot live with its lousy keypad. That is the deal breaker for me.
I will give the SA7 a Recommended rating, as despite all its shortcomings, it is still a capable phone. With that said, if you need good battery life, Bluetooth capabilities, and you don't mind the bulk and a hard to use keypad, you can't go wrong with the Panasonic SA7. |
| Common misspellings on this brand: panasoinic , panasonhic , panasnoic , panasonuic |
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