According to the Birkman Color Personality Test, I am a red person and when I saw the mobile’s deep red color, I knew we were going to have a great time together.

But before I list down all its features, a definition of 3G is in order.  3G represents third generation wireless communication that can be used to transmit text, digitized voice, and multimedia data and be able to connect to the Internet and stay connected always.  3G also allows for video conferencing and multimedia streaming including television.  That said you could just imagine what this phone can do.

It’s a flip phone whose top cover can be rotated up to 180 degrees, much like another cellphone that connects people that I reviewed, too.  But the SX833 is a lot better because of its 3.2 megapixel CCD main camera lens and 110k pixel internal camera.  Besides taking still pictures and video, the camera can also scan barcodes and text; and the best thing is, its 2.4” QVGA CG silicon screen delivers sharp, grain-free photos.  I’ve reviewed a couple of camera phones before and nothing comes close to the Sharp SX833 in terms of resolution, brightness, and sharpness.  It definitely captures and displays true colors.  The camera has a 2x optical zoom and autofocus function.  Another remarkable feature of the screen is that even if viewed at an angle, there is no color distortion. 

The phone stores video in MPEG 4 and its internal memory can store up to 38 seconds of video clip but it has a built-in slot for mini-SD memory card for longer videos.  The unit came with a 64MB SD memory card.  Videos and photos captured can be displayed on TV, with a projector, and with any mini-SD compatible device with its TV-out port.

Even if the unit’s default language was in Chinese and didn’t come with an instruction manual, I didn’t have much trouble navigating the menus because of the very helpful icons.  Other mobiles would only have icons on their main menu, but with the SX833 even the submenus have icons so it wasn’t hard for me to determine which submenu to choose to change the language.  But I had to make a wild guess on which button to choose when I came to the languages list and it was a lucky guess because in a split second, everything looked familiar to me.

It’s not exactly on the light side weighing 148 grams and neither is it slim at 29mm thick, however the ergonomic design makes it handy and the leather-like texture of the bottom cover gives it a good grip.  The shiny and smooth texture of the top cover though prone to fingerprints on the other hand gives it a sleek look.
There’s nothing spectacular with the keypads except that it emits a warm orange backlight that complements the unit’s color.    On the keypad’s right side are short cut keys for navigating the menus when the phone’s display is on top (up/down) and a shutter for the camera.  There is also a LED on this side that lights up when the phone is charging.

To the left of the keypad are the covered ports for the mini-SD and the multipurpose hands-free port for the TV and headset.  The IR port is on the front side.  Stereo speakers are found on both sides of the display screen.  Below the camera is another LED that serves as an indicator for incoming calls, missed calls, and incoming messages.  It also doubles as torchlight in dark areas. However, you need to press firmly on one of the short cut keys on the right side of the keypad to turn it on.  A cool feature of this LED is that there are eight colors to choose from unlike other units with a similar feature.

In terms of connectivity, it has Bluetooth that is actually works with other phone models, IR, and a host of Internet connections to choose from. 

Since this is a 3G phone, it can send not only SMS and MMS but also email messages.  It also allows for viewing PDF and MS Office files downloaded from emails and playback for MP3 and MPEG4.  With this unit, you don’t need to get a separate iPod to play music.

The polyphonic ringtones are not exactly to my liking so it is recommended that you either download from the SmarTone Vodafone website or via the other connectivity features.
And for once, I didn’t find it difficult to use the Organizer which I couldn’t say of some models.