| Panasonic X800 |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 / Gsm 1900 |
| Announced | 2005, 1q |
| Status | Available |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 100 X 48 X 17 Mm, 79 Cc |
| Weight | 99 G |
| Display |
| Type | Tft, 65k Colors |
| Size | 176 X 208 Pixels, 36 X 43 Mm |
| | - Second External 65k Colors Display (96 X 64 Pixels)
- Downloadable Logos |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Polyphonic (40 Channels) |
| Amount | 20 Preset |
| Customization | Download, |
| Vibration | Yes |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | In Shared Memory, Photo Call |
| Call Records | 10 Dialed, 10 Received, 10 Missed Calls |
| Card Slot | Minisd, 16 Mb Card Included, |
| | - 8 Mb Internal Memory |
| Data |
| Gprs | Class 10 (4+1/3+2 Slots), 32 - 48 Kbps |
| Hscsd | No |
| Edge | No |
| 3g | No |
| Wlan | No |
| Bluetooth | Yes, V1.1 |
| Infrared Port | Yes |
| Usb | Yes |
| Features |
| Os | Symbian Os 7.0s, Series 60 V2.0 Ui |
| Messaging | Sms, Mms, Email |
| Browser | Wap 2.0/xhtml |
| Games | Balloon-headed Boy, Micro Golf + Downloadable, |
| Colors | |
| Camera | Vga, 640x480 Pixels, Video, Flash |
| | - Java Midp 2.0
- T9
- Office Applications
- Calendar
- Calculator
- Currency Converter
- Photo Editor
- X-changeable Covers
- Voice Recognition |
| Battery |
| | Standard Battery, Li-ion 720 Mah |
| Stand-by | Up To 230 H |
| Talk Time | Up To 5 H |
|
Panasonic - X800Panasonic's Symbian OS X800
The Panasonic X800 is Panasonic's second clamshell Symbian OS smartphone, the first being the X700. Clamshell aficionados will definitely love the slim form factor of the X800 with its glossy white back, and X-Changeable front covers. Those looking out for a smartphone with a svelte size will not be disappointed with the X800, either. The triband GSM (900/1800/1900Mhz) X800 sports a VGA camera, Bluetooth, and GPRS connectivity. It is basically a X700 with an update look and an internal antenna.
Physical Aspects
Measuring 100mm x 48mm x 17.2mm (3.94" x 1.89" x .68"), the X800 is one of the slimmest clamshell mobile phones on the market. It isn't as slim as the anorexic Motorola RAZR V3, but bear in mind that the X800 is a smartphone. It surely beats having to lug around a chunky phone, and definitely won't induce an embarrassing bulge in your jeans pocket. On the front of the X800 you will find its VGA camera, perched at the top portion with an indicator light below it. I don't quite understand the real purpose of this indicator light. It lights up when the camera is in use, but doesn't blink nor light up otherwise. It seems to me that its sole purpose is to inform others that the camera is in use, or the battery is being charged, which seems a waste. It could at least blink red when the phone is running low on battery power.
A LED camera assist light is located to the left of the camera, and the external CSTN screen is located in the middle. The display is capable of showing up to 4096 colours at a resolution of 64 x 96 pixels. You can press a button on the X800's side to view information like signal strength, battery strength, and network name. There was no way for me to include a background on this external display, and when the flip is open, the screen is just blank. Well, it does its job by giving you the necessary information, but Panasonic should have given users some options to personalise the screen a bit. What is the point of having the ability to display up to 4096 colours when the only colours you see are different shades of blue behind an analog clock? They could have used a monochrome display for that.
Below the external screen lies the loudspeaker. You will find 4 screws holding the X-Changeable cover down. Included in the X800's package is a small tool for removing the screws when changing the front cover. I liked the look of the X800 with the screws on, giving it a rugged and sporty look, but removing them was a real hassle just to change the front cover. On the right side of the X800 you will find the aforementioned side button, which apart from switching views of the external display, has no function. You can't even allocate the button to a certain application, or activate the camera when the flip is closed for self-portraits. There are no dedicated volume keys, either, and disappointingly, you will have to rely on the D-Pad to adjust the volume. The miniSD slot is located just above the side button. The external memory card slot means you can hot swap your memory cards, which is very convenient.
Moving on, we have a chrome button on the right side of the hinge. This is the flip release button, which enables the spring loaded opening mechanism. To flip open the phone, you do not have to use both hands or try to master a maneuver with your thumb. You just press the large chrome button on the hinge and voila! However, make sure you have a good grip on the phone as the spring mechanism is pretty strong, and the X800 will fly crashing to the ground when being flipped open if you are not careful. [I did precisely that the first time I used one at 3GSM earlier this year -editor] On the left side of the phone, you will find the universal connector for your charger, handsfree, and USB cable. The connector is protected by a rubber flap. On the top of the X800 you will find an eyelet for attaching your favourite wrist strap or lanyard. On the bottom you will find the infrared port on the flip. When you flip open the phone, it will be located at the top. This makes it very convenient for you to beam information or files to other devices. The battery cover is latched on securely on the back of the X800. You can't change the back cover, and the glossy white colour is a real fingerprint magnet.
Flipping open the X800, you will be greeted by its bright 65K, 176x208 pixels TFT screen, which is quite usable even in direct sunlight. No complaints there. The keypad is almost completely flush with the surface of the X800. Although the keys are well-spaced apart, they are rather small. I often had trouble with missed keypresses when using the X800. The left and right softkeys, Application and Cancel keys, and the Call and End keys flank the round D-Pad. The Power button is located below the keypad along with the Edit and Browser keys. The backlight is blue, but only lights up the numerical keypad, Power button, Edit, and Browser keys. The D-Pad and its flanking buttons are not backlit at all. As such, it was almost impossible to use the phone in dim light conditions. I was constantly fumbling around for the right and left softkeys. Very annoying.
Overall, the Panasonic X800 is a solidly built phone. There were no squeaks or creaking found anywhere on our review unit. However, I do have concerns as to whether the spring mechanism in the hinge can last for a couple of years. Our review unit was already showing signs of failing. There were times when after flipping open the phone, the release button would get stuck preventing the flip from being able to be latched closed. Otherwise, the slim X800 is a real good looking phone, and will definitely appeal to the fashion-conscious as well as tech geeks.
Phone Functionality
The X800 comes with 8mb of built-in memory and comes bundled with a 16mb miniSD card. The built-in memory will allow users to run several applications in the background for faster access. However, most users will want a larger capacity miniSD card. I just feel that 16mb is measly, and stingy of Panasonic. A 32mb memory card would have been better.
Nokia Series 60 users will be very familiar with the Panasonic X800 user interface. The UI is pretty similar to the stock S60 UI, with only minor changes to icons and filenames. The UI was a little laggy when opening applications, but the one thing that truly irked me was the slow startup. It took a whopping 45 seconds from the time I pressed the Power button until the time the phone was usable. When pressing on the Applications key to access the menu for the first time after switching on the phone, it takes about 5 seconds before the menu is displayed. However, subsequent access took much less time. The keypad is linked to the top 9 icons in the main menu, and the keys even work when you have scrolled further down in the menu. Icons and folders can be arranged as you please, though you still cannot create a subfolder in a folder.
The X800 delivered excellent voice quality during calls. I did not experience any dropped calls or poor reception, and calls were loud and clear. The speakerphone worked well and had good volume too. I was able to hear the other person in my car with the speakerphone on and the phone on the passenger's seat.
When the X800 is in standby mode, the only shortcuts you have are via the Left and Right softkeys. Pressing on any direction of the D-Pad will give you no response. With that said, you can allocate certain functions to both the softkeys. It would have been much better if applications could be launched from the D-Pad, though, as can be done on many other S60 phones.
The X800 has a profile system which is similar to Nokia Series 60's, but is slightly lacking since you cannot create your own profiles. There are a number of default profiles available but there is no support for timed profiles. You can link each profile to one or more groups of contacts, so that the ringer is disabled if the caller is not a member of the appropriate group.
Voice dialing is done via the VoiceSignal application which comes pre-installed in the X800. You do not have to pre-record voice tags to be assigned to your contacts or applications. Just launch VoiceSignal, say one of the commands displayed on the screen; Voice Dial (to say a contact's name and dial the number), Name Lookup (to look up a contact for details), and Open Application-Name (to launch an application by voice, just say,"Open" followed by the application's name). You can choose the applications that you want to launch via VoiceSignal from a list. Basically, I didn't like this system at all. It couldn't recognise my voice about 95% of the time, and it was a hassle just to get to the VoiceSignal application due to the lack of shortcuts on standby. I definitely prefer the old, tried and tested method of pre-recording your voice tags.
Battery life was horrible. The phone lasted about 3 days on standby with no use. With roughly 30 minutes of calls, SMSing, taking pictures, and GPRS usage, the X800 had to be recharged every day. I would suggest purchasing a spare battery.
The X800 is a well connected phone
The Panasonic X800 does not support EDGE networks, but it does have GPRS capabilities. It has an infrared port along with Bluetooth. With that said, the X800 is a pretty well connected phone. Setting up for GPRS was easy and surfing was fast with the built-in browser which works and looks very much like the Nokia WAP v2.0/xHTML browser.
The X800's email client supports both POP and IMAP protocols. Creating a new message is simple, as is attaching a file of just about any type. Mail sending and retrieval seemed pretty quick, owing mostly to a good GPRS connection, I believe. You can define multiple email accounts, but are still limited to having only one of them active at a time. T9 can be used when typing out emails, SMS, and MMS. Text input was fast and there was no noticeable lag.
The SMS system works well. Multiple recipients can be selected, text templates can be used as the basis for a message, and confirmation receipts are stored in a separate folder. New words can be added to the dictionary and the system was fast enough to keep up with my typing. Punctuation is handled with the 1 key, case and input modes with the # key, word alternatives with the * key, and spaces inputted using the 0 key. However, messages can only be typed entirely in uppercase or lowercase, somewhat shocking for a Symbian smartphone.
The Bluetooth system in the X800 works well. I could send and receive pictures, MP3 files, and videos easily from various Bluetooth-enabled devices. The X800 also worked flawlessly with my HS850 Bluetooth headset. There were no distortions and I could stand about 5 meters away from the phone and still have a clear conversation. However reception got a little poorer when the distance was more than 7 meters and worse if there were obstacles around (walls, desks, chairs).
In the Bluetooth application, you can view a list of paired devices, each of which can be set as either "authorized" or "not authorized." An authorized device will be able to connect to the X800 without intervention from the user, whereas when an unauthorized device (even if it is paired) attempts to connect, the user will be prompted first so that the connection can be rejected. Unauthorized is the default state, even for headsets, so you will want to change that after you pair up a headset. There is also an option for you to set the time for which the phone will remain discoverable (when it can be detected by other Bluetooth devices). Overall, the Bluetooth system worked great.
Applications
The X800 comes preinstalled with a few applications. These include a To Do list, a calculator, converter, voice recorder, and clock. All are of good quality and function well. But the key, of course, is being able to install your own selection of applications.
Apart from the VoiceSignal application, the X800 came pre-installed with a full version of QuickOffice. This is great for users who need to view and edit their Microsoft Office documents on the go. T9 input can be used when editing Word documents, too. However, large files tend to take quite a long time to open. Nevertheless, this is a good application and its free for users who purchase the X800.
Another application worth mentioning is Arcsoft's Photobase Mobile Edition. You can add clip art, fancy frames, and even warp your pictures with it. Pretty cool, actually. You can see some of the tweaked sample photos produced with the Photobase app. There are 2 pre-installed games in the X800: Microgolf and Balloon Headed Boy. The former is a basically a game of Mini Golf. It looks simple, but it is actually quite challenging. Balloon Headed Boy is a platform puzzle game which involves a Balloon Headed Boy (no prizes for guessing right) jumping and floating around to find the key to unlock each level. Pretty addictive.
Multimedia
The X800 is equipped with a VGA camera, a disappointment in view of the number of phones with megapixel cameras currently on the market. The integrated camera creates images of 640x480 pixels in size. The camera has a relatively simple set of available options. There is no night mode, but there is a Photolight function that enables the LED assist light. You can only turn on the Photolight by accessing it via the menu, or by holding down on the * key in standby mode. Pressing it on any other screen, including the main camera mode, will not turn on the Photolight. This made it very inconvenient as I had to exit the camera app and then turn on the light before returning to the camera. In any event, the Photolight is of not much use as it is simply not bright enough. There is a digital zoom function, but it is entirely worthless. The camera's white balance (light color balance) system is pretty good. However, the lack of focus and detail made pictures fuzzy - especially shots of scenery. Overall, pictures were of average quality.
The X800's camera can record video clips. You have the option of shooting clips in either the 176x144 or 128x96 formats. There is a mute function that allows you to turn off the microphone when recording a clip. You can choose to record short 10-second clips to be sent via MMS or email, or you can record maximum length clips, which are limited only by the space available in your memory card.
MIDI ringtones of up to 40 voices are supported by the X800. The included ringtones are loud and will definitely catch your attention - even when you're in a noisy environment. Unfortunately, there is no MP3 support built into the X800. Users will have to rely on third party applications in order to listen to their favourite MP3s, and to use them as ringtones.
Conclusion
The X800 is a good looking effort by Panasonic, but its UI leaves a lot to be desired. The absence of shortcut allocation to the D-Pad and side button, and poor keypad backlighting was very disappointing. I don't believe that the X800 is good enough to compete with other Symbian OS smartphones out there in terms of functionality. However, it will appeal to clamshell zealots and the fashion-conscious. If you are looking for a smartphone, but do not wish to weigh your pants down, the Panasonic X800 might be the phone for you, but only if you can overlook its flaws. |
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