By Carlo S. Suerte Felipe
We've seen a lot of phones with MP3 player functions. We've seen it slim, slide, flip, swivel, big and small, but nothing has gone as far as Samsung's SGH-X830. To think that it's still a phone in its small size, it shows more of its MP3 player side rather than its phone side.
I know it sounds confusing but that's what it says on the box: "Phone-enabled MP3 player." Well, at first glance it really looks like an MP3 player because of its small size—just a little bigger that a lipstick. The LCD display is quite small for a mobile phone but knowing Samsung, they were able to make it a full color display. It also has that clickwheel that reminds you of the iPod. You can either rotate it with your thumb or press it like a d-pad (up, down, left, right).
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| Samsung's SGH-X830 | |
As you swivel the LCD clockwise, the X830 shows its other personality (which is the phone side) and also reveals the unusual two-column keypad. The first row in the keypad is made up of three buttons - the selection buttons are located to the left and right of the cancel button (which also acts as the camera's shutter button). The call and send button is placed side by side, and the numbers count down from left to right. For those who have large thumbs, good luck with texting and it may take you twice the usual time to get used to it as you would in a traditional keypad layout.
Yeah, you heard that right; the X830 has a built-in camera with 1.3 megapixels. This adds another point for Samsung, since most people who love music also love photos. I have to say that the LCD display and the camera are mismatched. But, hey, it's better than nothing.
The sides of the phone (or MP3 player, it’s up to you) contain the hold button and the dedicated volume button. The latter also acts as the Zoom In/Out button in camera mode. Equipped with Bluetooth, the X830 can share music and photos stored inside its built-in 1-Gigabyte flash memory.
With the keypad revealed, users can access the phone's other features. The application sub-menu is where you can activate the music player, and other applications like calendar, voice recorder, java world (or simple games), world clock, alarm, calculator, converter, timer, stopwatch, and memo. Surprisingly, with its small size, the X830 has a web browser feature but I had second thoughts on whether or not to use it considering the small LCD display.
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| Samsung's SGH-X830 | | So far, the X830 is impressive in terms of its MP3 player function because the speaker (which is also the ear piece when used as a phone) is of stereo quality. The settings also include equalizer presets and 3D surround, which you can enjoy using the supplied earphones (it does not have much effect if you use the speaker).
The camera function can only be used in phone mode and it automatically closes if you swivel the phone back to MP3 mode. The drawback is that your index finger has a huge chance of blocking the lens as you shoot. You have to hold two-thirds of the lower half of the phone, which measures 8.3 centimeters. Again if you have a big hand, you need to get used to it.
Showing it to a number of people, the X830 got a lot of raves. They thought it was the newest Yepp model but suddenly turning it to a phone is a huge surprise. For many, its small form makes it an ideal back-up or gimmick phone since it can be easily hidden in a pocket or a purse. Some see it as a fun phone (which I think it is) that can be used in case of an emergency, and only one or two ranted about its camera. I did remind them that it comes in five different colors so we still have to see how the SGH -X830 would do once it's officially out.
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