| Sagem MY X6-2 |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 / Gsm 1900 |
| Announced | 2005, 1q |
| Status | Available |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 110 X 47 X 19 Mm |
| Weight | 104 G |
| Display |
| Type | Tft, 256k Colors |
| Size | 176 X 220 Pixels, 31 X 39 Mm |
| | - Screensavers And Wallpapers
- Downloadable Logos |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Polyphonic (64 Channels), Mp3 |
| Customization | Download, |
| Vibration | Yes |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | 1500 |
| Call Records | 20 Dialed, 10 Received, 10 Missed Calls |
| Card Slot | Microsd (transflash), Up To 256 Mb, |
| | - 10 Mb Shared Memory |
| 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 | |
| Features |
| Messaging | Sms, Ems, Mms |
| Browser | Wap 2.0/xhtml |
| Games | Yes + Downloadable, |
| Colors | |
| Camera | 1.3 Mp, 1280x960 Pixels, Video |
| | - Java Midp 2.0
- Mp3/aac Player
- T9
- Calculator
- Photo Editor/album
- Built-in Handsfree
- Voice Memo |
| Battery |
| | Standard Battery, Li-ion 760 Mah |
| Stand-by | Up To 350 H |
| Talk Time | Up To 4 H |
|
Sagem - MY X6-2French style with the Sagem myX6-2
Major features
Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900MHz, GPRS
2.0 inch 262,144 colour TFT 176 x 220 pixel display
1.3 megapixel CMOS digital camera, 8x digital zoom
64 tone polyphonic ringtones, MP3, AAC, AAC+ support
Music player
8MB internal memory, microSD card slot (no card included)
USB, infra-red and Bluetooth
SMS, EMS and MMS messaging
WAP 2.0 (xHTML) browser
MIDP 2.0 Java games and applications
PIM and organiser functions
Problems/Issues?
Slow user interface
Only MP3 ringtones included
Small internal memory / no memory card included
Memory card slot under front cover
Sales package (should contain):
1x Sagem myX6-2 handset
1x 760mAh Lithium-ion battery
1x Travel AC charger (110-240V)
1x Stereo handsfree earphones
1x User guide
1x Software CD
Introduction
Sagem is a French manufacturer known recently in Australia for marketing handsets aimed at budget-conscious people, as well as the Vodafone Simply handsets for people who only use a phone because they have to. Sagem has tried in the past to diversify into the higher-end of the market, but recently kept a low profile after its merger into the Safran Group last year.
The myX6-2 is a mainstream handset that was released early this year. Considering this, its feature list is quite impressive – 1.3 megapixel camera, 262k colour screen, Bluetooth, microSD memory card slot and a music player with support for the MP3, AAC and AAC+ formats. It’s topped off with tri-band GSM capability and packed into a compact candybar shell. Virgin Mobile now offers this phone for an astounding $169, so we decided to take a look in depth at this aging Sagem handset.
New/outstanding features
As mentioned above, the highlight of the myX6-2 is its value for money. It combines the multimedia features of a 1.3 megapixel camera, 18 bit colour screen, memory card expansion, music player and more, for less than $200. You’re also looking at Bluetooth, infra-red, triband GSM with GPRS, WAP 2.0 and Java MIDP 2.0 support, so the myX6-2 package is well featured.
The box comes with a multi-voltage AC charger, stereo earphones and a software CD for linking the phone up with a PC.
So while the myX6-2 doesn’t have one particularly fantastic feature about it, it has all the basic things mainstream phones provide today for a fraction of their price.
Physical aspects
There is nothing unusual about the myX6-2. It’s a medium-sized candybar and a tad on the thick side, although like most phones these days its antenna is built into the handset itself and sports no protrusion. My handset had a two tone colour scheme (blue and silver), and the back cover was slightly shiny and susceptible to fingerprints. Thanks to interchangeable covers you can customise the look of the phone further, but I’m not so sure covers will be easy to find. The phone has admittedly been around for a while, but with only Virgin selling the device it may not have become popular enough for covers to be released. It may be best to take a trip to your local phone accessory shop to see if they provide covers for the myX6-2, in case you’d prefer a colour scheme different to the default one.
So, we’re looking at a phone that measures 110 x 47 x 19 millimetres and weighs 104 grams. There are certainly smaller/lighter phones out there, but remember that this phone was developed last year and technology has advanced since then. The design is simple and easy to understand. You have the two inch screen on the front, while underneath is a four way arrow pad with confirm button, two soft keys and send and end keys. Below them are 12 somewhat notchy numerical buttons. They’re a bit stiff and can make message input a pain, but more on that in the messaging section.
On the left side of the phone is a set of volume keys and a tiny camera shutter button, while on the right the only thing you’ll find is the infra-red socket. The multi-purpose data connector is on the bottom (handling power, headsets and everything else), while there’s nothing on the top. The back cover is opened by way of a large rocker switch at the bottom, which comes off to reveal the battery. Underneath the battery is the SIM card socket, with the camera located just above the battery too.
If you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned the memory card, that’s because it hasn’t been exposed yet. You actually need to remove the front cover – pulling off the back cover first – to get to the memory card slot which is amazingly placed just above the charger socket. I think it’s needless to say that you won’t be removing the memory card very often with it placed in such an inconvenient location.
User interface & display
Take a closer look!
The myX6-2 displays through a 176x220 pixel, two inch active matrix TFT LCD. It’s capable of displaying 262,144 colours, like most other LCDs in phones these days, and the colours show brightly and clearly when displaying pictures and videos. The brightness of the screen is more than adequate, and while it does fade out in bright sunlight, it’s still visible. While backlight can’t be adjusted, an ‘economic mode’ can be set from display settings that allows you to deactivate the screen completely after a set period of time. Normally, a clock screensaver would display otherwise. Up to six menu items are displayed, while in message viewing mode up to 9.5 lines are displayed.
Sagem uses its own style of user interface, but it resembles those from Sony Ericsson and Series 40 Nokia phones. Menus are generally consistent – settings and options are where you expect to find them. However, the interface is slow to respond, with menus taking enough delay to make me impatient. This delay is less than a second though, so some people may find it bearable, but I would like it to be faster.
The only difference I can find between the above-mentioned manufacturers’ interfaces is in the standby screen. Only one soft-key shortcut is displayed – Menu for the centre confirm button – but by pressing the left or right soft-keys, a list of shortcuts are displayed and you can scroll through them and choose which function you want to use. The default option that appears for either soft-key can be changed in the phone’s settings. However, the option list that appears for each key is the same and it’s so huge that I would prefer not to scroll it at all. Also, the directional pad can’t be used for shortcut assignment. Instead, pressing in either direction will just open the menu and move the cursor in that direction from the centre icon. All this does is cut one button press out (i.e. pressing the menu button and then a direction button), so the use of function shortcuts for the direction buttons would have been better.
Backgrounds and colour schemes can be changed, although that’s as far as customisation features allow you to go. The main menu uses today’s typical grid layout, although there’s 12 icons arranged in 3 x 4 format. From the top-left, they are Games, WAP, Music player, Camera, Messages, Multimedia, Video (camera), Phonebook, Calendar, Applications, Connectivity and Settings. Number shortcuts work for the top-level menu – all 12 of the menu icons – but not for any sub-menus at all. It would be nice if they could be used to access sub-menus too.
Making and receiving calls
The myX6-2 did a good job of making phone calls. It was tested on Vodafone’s GSM 900/1800 network in Sydney, and I tested it in a variety of locations, including a nearby shopping centre which is a typical mobile phone black spot in all the GSM carriers’ networks here. While I did have some trouble keeping a phone signal in the shopping centre, in other places and in most situations the myX6-2 managed to hold four to five bars of signal (out of five maximum), and phone calls were clear and easy to hold. Call volume can be set to a fairly loud level, although the phone forgets what setting you left it at when the call ends, meaning you have to change it again when you make another call. This is annoying.
The myX6-2 has speakerphone functionality – what it calls ‘Amplified Mode’ – and it’s activated from a menu option once you’ve started a call. You can activate it the moment dialling starts – you don’t need to wait for the call to be connected. It’s tedious though, because the phone gets you to confirm that you really want to turn it on. When I need speakerphone I want to activate it as quickly and painlessly as possible, so I don’t need nor want a confirmation prompt slowing me down. In terms of call quality the speakerphone does the job well – my caller could hear me clearly and I could hear him clearly as well.
The retail package includes a stereo handsfree, which connects to the bottom of the phone. The handsfree consists of a detachable shirt-clip, a microphone and multifunction button for answering and ending calls, and the two earpieces with the cord for the right earpiece longer than the left one. Calls using the headset work well – sound quality is extremely good and the microphone is quite sensitive as well. My only complaint is that you must disconnect the handsfree completely if you want to activate speakerphone – the menu option disappears otherwise.
Finally, calls with a Bluetooth headset are possible as well. I tested the myX6-2’s Bluetooth capabilities with my Motorola HS801 Bluetooth headset, and all went well. When dialling a call the phone would start the Bluetooth connection automatically. The call was clear and I didn’t have any problems communicating with my caller.
The myX6-2’s phonebook capacity is shared with the phone’s user memory, so you can have as many entries as you like provided it fits within the eight megabyte limit. Up to three phone numbers and two email addresses can be saved per contact – provided the contact is stored in the phone’s memory – as well as a physical address, company, and web address, a unique ringtone and ID picture. The phone has SyncML for address synchronising, as well as a grouping feature for the sake of mailing lists.
Finally on the ringtone side of things the myX6-2 was unique. People who detest any form of synthesised ringtone and prefer recorded digital music will be right at home with this phone, because that’s all it comes preset with – digital music in both MP3 and AAC format. There’s 22 tunes to be exact, and absolutely no synthesised ringtones. Not even an old-fashioned phone alert ring. While I like recorded music tones, I don’t think monotone and polyphonic ringtones should be thrown out all together, because they have their place in certain features – such as the alarm or calendar reminders – and some people prefer them over recorded music as well. By default the tones start at low volume and rise after a second to the preset one. There’s no way to change this behaviour.
Messaging
The myX6-2 supports the main messaging standards of SMS, EMS and MMS. There’s no support for POP3 or IMAP4-based email, although you can send MMS messages to email addresses.
The Sagem handset’s SMS capacity stretches into thousands of characters. I got as far as 20 linked messages before giving up, which theoretically means a message of 3000 characters. I doubt most people will ever link that many messages together. However, you only have to type 100 characters in before the phone’s response time starts slowing down. By 200 characters it’s so slow you’ll want to throw the phone out the window, so if you frequently type long messages I recommend staying away from the myX6-2. If you type lots of short ones, you’ll be pleased to know that it supports T9 predictive text, and you can add new words to the dictionary as well. EMS support allows you to add small pictures and short sounds to SMS messages also. Up to 100 messages can be stored in the phone’s internal memory.
The character input slowdown unfortunately also affects MMS, but otherwise, MMS messages of up to 100 kilobytes can be sent (and up to 300 kilobyte messages can be received). You can attach pictures, sounds and videos, as well as take pictures or record sound on the spot. Phonebook contacts and calendar entries can also be attached as vData. There’s also support for slides, allowing you to attach more than one picture or sound.
Connectivity
The myX6-2 supports GSM 900, 1800 and 1900MHz bands, making it fully compatible with GSM networks in Australia, Europe and Asia. It can also be used to a limited extent in the US, Canada and South American countries. It’s bolstered by GPRS data support, allowing internet browsing at speeds up to 48kbps. While my test handset (and likely all the myX6-2 handsets being sold at the moment) are Virgin Mobile branded, it has data profiles for all the other carriers and can be used on their networks with full MMS and WAP support. I tested my phone on the Vodafone network and was able to log into Vodafone live! without any problems (although only the simple text portal is displayed).
Up close, the myX6-2 supports USB, infra-red and Bluetooth. USB support is for connecting the phone to a PC, although the retail package doesn’t come with a USB cable so I was unable to test this functionality. Both infra-red and Bluetooth can be used to communicate with a PC, as well as with other handheld devices to transmit multimedia data and, in the case of a PC, synchronise calendar and contacts data. The only difference is the convenience of either method – with Bluetooth you only need to have the two devices within range, while with infra-red you need to aim the two infra-red ports of each device directly at each other.
The retail package ships with ‘Wellphone’, Sagem’s PC data suite. The Wellphone suite comes with programs for accessing the phone’s internal memory, synchronising phonebook and calendar data and for organising phonebook contacts and SMS messages. It took no trouble to get the phone paired with my PC via Bluetooth. Once doing that with the Bluesoleil software on my computer, I installed the software from the CD and it detected the connected phone, set it up and I was away. I didn’t have any problems working the software – it just worked fine. I copied pictures from the internal memory, synchronised my phonebook with Outlook Express and used a Bluetooth dialup profile to access the internet using my computer through the phone. The only time I had trouble was if the PC attempted to connect to the phone and I didn’t tell it to accept the connection quickly enough (more than 10 minutes). In this case the PC software and Bluetooth connection would freeze and I’d need to reboot the computer to try again.
Build quality
Despite having exchangeable covers, the myX6-2 is a solid, durable phone. The covers are firmly fastened in and don’t move around, with the back cover clipped in using a rocker switch on the bottom of the phone. Without any mechanically moving parts, nothing stands to get worn out, so I had no problems with the phone’s build quality.
Battery life
I was impressed with the myX6-2’s ability to last. During my testing, which involved 30 minutes of phone calls and mild usage of messaging, WAP browsing and taking pictures with the camera, I was able to use the phone for nearly three full days before running out of power. Considering that I keep the phone on overnight and brightness is permanently set at a high level, this is an excellent result.
For the record, official battery time figures are 4 hours 15 minutes talk time and 350 hours standby. Recharging typically takes about 2 hours.
Major features...
Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900MHz, GPRS
The myX6-2 has the ability to connect to all GSM networks throughout Europe and Asia, as well as some in the Americas, thanks to its triband GSM capability. The phone has a selector setting to change between dual-band 900/1800 and single-band 1900 operation. Also, the GPRS packet data extension boosts internet download speeds up to 48kbps.
2.0 inch 262,144 colour TFT 176 x 220 pixel display
The myX6-2 display is a 176x220 pixel, two inch active matrix TFT LCD. It’s capable of displaying 262,144 colours, and colours show brightly and clearly when displaying pictures and videos. The brightness of the screen is more than adequate and while it does fade out in bright sunlight, it’s still visible. While backlight can’t be adjusted, an ‘economic mode’ can be set from display settings that allows you to deactivate the screen completely after a set period of time. Normally, a clock screensaver would display otherwise. Up to six menu items are displayed, while in message viewing mode up to 9.5 lines are displayed.
1.3 megapixel CMOS digital camera, 8x digital zoom
While the megapixel count may be high, the quality of this CMOS camera is rather low, making it function better as a camera for sending picture messages than for taking large pictures to keep. Photos can be taken at resolutions of 1280x1024, 1280x960, 800x600, 640x480 and 320x240, allowing for a wide range of potential photo sizes. Only two quality presets are offered – ‘MMS quality’ and ‘High quality’. Digital zoom can be used with any picture size at up to 8x, although the further you zoom the smaller the picture shrinks, right down to the smallest size of 320x240.
There’s little more customisation with an ‘exposure’ option for adjusting white balance (there’s no true brightness adjustment), as well as effects filters like Sepia, Negative and Grey Scale. There’s also a countdown timer. Video recording is even more limited. Size is fixed at 176x144 pixels and recording takes place at 15 frames per second. The only things you can do are tell the phone to limit video length to a size suitable for MMS, and mute the microphone for silent video.
64 tone polyphonic ringtones, MP3, AAC, AAC+ support
While the synthesiser might be capable of so many simultaneous tones, you won’t actually get to test it out because all the preset tones are in fact MP3 or AAC encoded digital music tones. There’s 22 of them, but not one polyphonic or monophonic ringtone – not even a standard, traditional phone ring sound. While I like recorded music tones, I don’t think monotone and polyphonic ringtones should have been thrown out all together, because they have their place in certain features – such as the alarm or calendar reminders – and some people prefer them over recorded music as well. By default ringtones start at low volume and rise after a second to the preset one. There’s no way to change this behaviour.
Music player
The music player application allows you to listen to MP3 or AAC files saved in the phone’s handset memory or memory card. It’s a simple player that will search for digital music saved in either memory space and line them up in a playlist. You can specify to have all the playlist’s songs, or just one song at a time play, as well as make the play order random. There aren’t any more customisation settings. The music player won’t play in the background – it stopped playing music as soon as I tried to go ‘back’ to the menu.
8MB internal memory, microSD card slot (no card included)
There’s little internal memory to start a music collection on the myX6-2, but you can buy microSD cards to expand the phone’s storage and make the music player and camera useful. There’s no card included in the retail package.
USB, infra-red and Bluetooth
While a USB cable can be used for direct connection between the myX6-2 and a PC, a cable doesn’t ship in the retail package and it may be difficult to source one this far into the phone’s life. Thankfully, both the infra-red and Bluetooth capabilities of the phone can connect it to a PC, or several other handheld devices as well. Bluetooth profiles supported are the serial, handsfree, headset, object push, dial-up networking and fax ones. The phone is used in conjunction with the bundled Wellphone software to synchronise PIM data with a PC (including contacts, calendar and message data) with its own organiser, as well as with Outlook Express. You can also access the phone’s internal memory and transfer data to the PC.
SMS, EMS and MMS messaging
The myX6-2 has support for the main messaging standards – SMS, EMS and MMS. There’s no support for POP3 or IMAP4-based email, although you can send MMS messages to email addresses. While I was unable to learn how many characters are supported by SMS, several thousand can be entered – I managed to link 20 messages before I gave up due to interface slowdown. Unfortunately, that slowdown starts early in the piece – after only 100 characters are input. Once 200 are reached it’s unbearably slow. T9 predictive text is supported and new words can be memorised. EMS support allows for small pictures and short sounds to be inserted. MMS of up to 100 kilobytes can be sent, while 300 kilobyte messages can be received. Pictures, sounds and videos can be attached in addition to phonebook contacts and calendar entries. Slide support is also included.
WAP 2.0 (xHTML) browser
The myX6-2 has a WAP 2.0 browser and can browse webpages that fit its standard – xHTML and WML pages. The browser is accessed from the main menu and comes with the data profiles of all Australian operators, making the conversion to a new operator quick and painless.
MIDP 2.0 Java games and applications
The myX6-2 supports Java applications that conform to MIDP 2.0 – like most phones on the market now. 3D games (JSR-184) are not supported and will only show errors if you try to run them. As usual, I downloaded the JBenchmark suite of testing applications to the myX6-2 to gauge its processing capabilities.
JBenchmark 1.0 1579
JBenchmark 2.0 41
According to JBenchmark, while the myX6-2 is a fairly capable device when running MIDP 1.0 applications, its performance suffers in running newer MIDP 2.0 ones. This is important to keep in mind if you’re downloading larger, newer games that weren’t designed for this phone – they may run slower than intended by the game creator.
The myX6-2 comes with only one game called Bubble Trouble. It’s a Tetris-style game but the goal is to connect more than four blocks of the same colour to make them disappear from the playing field. It’s hardly a new concept, used in games such as Capcom’s Super Puzzle Fighter amongst others. There’s also an application preinstalled called Chronometer, and as you might have guessed, it has the stopwatch and countdown timer functions. Despite being a Java application, if the stopwatch is running when you quit the program, data will be saved so that when you run it again the stopwatch will remember where it should have been up to and resume counting.
PIM and organiser functions
The myX6-2 comes with simple organiser functions. There’s a calendar with reminder function for alerting you before an event is about to happen. There’s also a to-do list, alarm clock, calculator and countdown timer (separate to the Java one). A stopwatch is included in a Java application. Finally there’s support for the SIM Application Toolkit.
Problems/Issues?
Slow user interface
The user interface isn’t as speedy as other phone models and could be faster. Most item selections take a little under one second to execute, although a few operations took several seconds to accomplish. Message input also slows down seriously after 200 characters are entered. Admittedly this is an old phone now, but a slow phone is an unfriendly phone to use and interface responsiveness should be on all phone companies’ agendas today.
Only MP3 ringtones included
I was amazed to find that no monophonic or polyphonic ringtones were included in the myX6-2 – all of them are digitally recorded music tones of some sort. While I agree most people today prefer to use such tones in their phones, I still believe the option should exist to use traditional phone ringing tones or synthesised tones. Polyphonic tones can be clearer and louder than digital music tones and because of this, I’d prefer one over a song when using the alarm clock or when I receive a message.
Small internal memory / no memory card included
10 megabytes of memory is certainly a small amount when you have a 1.3 megapixel camera and music player to fill it up with. While the microSD card slot is welcome, it’s a shame there’s no card slotted in from the beginning. Unless you already have a microSD card lying around, you’ll need to buy one to take full advantage of the phone’s features.
Memory card slot under front cover
The thing is, if you’re planning to use a memory card, make sure you don’t plan on removing it often, because the slot is in one of the most inconvenient places one could find in a phone. While it’s not under the battery, it’s still beneath the front cover, which means removing the back cover as well to take the front cover off. Phone manufacturers really need to work on having the memory card slots accessible without removing any cover at all, because they are a commonly used way of transferring data out of the phones. Putting them in a spot like this only makes it more difficult to do so.
In Summary
While the Sagem myX6-2 would only be considered an average, mainstream phone by today’s standards, Virgin Mobile’s decision to sell it at merely $169 makes it a steal. Remember, it includes a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, medium resolution colour screen and memory card slot, with a music player for filling it up. Sure it has its quirks and lacks in certain areas, but no other phone has such a lush feature set for its price. If you’re planning to buy it, I suggest you do it sooner rather than later as it’s a very old phone and it may be discontinued at any time. The myX6-2 can only be found in Virgin stores, having already been discontinued by all the other operators. |
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