SGH V200C phone: A strong contender from Korea

SGH V200C phone: A strong contender from Korea

Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id

These last few weeks I have been quite busy doing what I like
doing most: Trying out new and cool gadgets. A handful of IT
vendors have been busy launching new gear, and there was the
opportunity to test-drive some of them. The best part of this is
the opportunity to play around with really good products.

So, in the next few weeks there will be plenty of interesting
new products to write about. In addition, I would also like to
share with you my personal, very interesting, but quite costly
experience in upgrading my Pentium III work PC. It is coming
soon.

Last week, courtesy of Samsung Indonesia, there was the chance
to try out the first camera-equipped cell phone that they have
brought into the local market, the SGH V200C. I got my turn after
someone who was quite careless with it -- perhaps because it was
not his own, and I received the demo unit with a lot of smudges
and smears. I used a soft cloth to wipe it and the cell phone was
back in a very clean and shiny condition in no time.

* Well-built

Frankly, it was the first time I have ever used a Samsung cell
phone, despite the fact that theirs are the second best selling
cell phones in the Indonesian market. When CDMA becomes more
widely available later on, it is quite likely that Samsung will
even grab the top spot as it is already the largest CDMA cell
phone maker worldwide.

However, for now, the SGH V200C really impressed me in many
respects. Opening the box, I immediately liked what I found.
Samsung has been quite generous in supplying every SGH V200C with
two batteries -- a regular one and a slim one. A travel battery
charger was included, of course. There was also a serial port
data cable that could be used to connect the unit to a PC. This
makes transferring files and even sending messages via the
Internet a snap. Strangely, this cell phone is not MMS capable.

I really marveled at the quality of the craftsmanship. Every
small part of the very lightweight metal casing seemed to fit
perfectly into the other. Besides, at only 96 gram, this gadget
was really featherlight, much lighter than all the other cell
phones that I have used or played around with -- especially the
classy Nokia 7650.

Come to think of it, with such meticulous attention to details
-- which was demonstrated by this particular cell phone, it is no
wonder this Korean giant is sweeping the entire world off their
feet with their products.

The SGH V200C is a folding cell phone. The camera is attached
to the left of its hinge. As you would expect from a folding cell
phone, it is also a compact cell phone and it dropped into my
pants pocket easily. There was a hole at the back of the hinge,
so one can hang the cell phone around our neck if we wish. It
would be a good thing to do inside the office, but definitely not
when you are walking outdoors.

The camera can be rotated 180 degrees so that it can capture
the scene in front of us as we look at the screen, or it can
capture our own face. The camera is a capable one, too. If the
light is too low, we can increase the camera's sensitivity by
pressing the Up arrow on the Navigation button. Although not
expandable, the camera's memory can hold up to 100 pictures.

Samsung has introduced several dual screen models to the
market, and the SGH V200C is one of them. We can, for example,
check the current time just by glancing at the external screen.
Below the screen there is also a fancy light that will tell us
whether the cell phone is active or powered down. The light will
blink faster if we have a message waiting for us on the cell
phone. The battery seems to last a long time, too, although I did
not have the chance to really run a test as Samsung only gave me
three days to review it.

More impressive is certainly the main LCD screen. It is
capable of displaying 65,000 colors, making the pictures more
realistic-looking. While wallpapers and menus looked much more
interesting with more colors, it was the screen fonts that really
enamored me. The text was big and so easy to read.

The cell phone's menu is fairly intuitive. My daughter, who is
also a gadget aficionado, was able to change all the settings
without the help of the manual. She certainly had a lot of fun
changing the 40 polyphonic ring tones. Despite the very compact
size of this cell phone, the sound of its ring tones was
surprisingly strong and rich. The manual, however, was very well-
written. It had all the guides that we might need.

* Final word

This is a truly great cell phone. Like most other people, I
liked the screen and the clear text. I also admired the compact
design and the quality of the fit. The ability of the camera to
rotate may not be a really strong point after all, as some effort
would be required to position the lens for an optimal aim. When
you take snapshots, you need a camera that you can use instantly
before the moment is gone. Therefore, a point-and-shoot camera
would be more useful than a camera with a rotating lens unit when
it comes to seeking fun..

What is on my wish list? At around Rp 4.5 million, this cell
phone is not really cheap. But, then again, for a lot of people
-- including spoiled, urban teenagers, that is not really a lot
of money for a cell phone that they can proudly whip out in
public places.

This cell phone has a infra-red connection, but I missed data
and audio Bluetooth capability. With the audio Bluetooth feature,
we would be able to use a wireless headset with our cell phone.
However, given the short product life cycle in the cell phone
industry, I should not be surprised if Samsung soon introduces a
Bluetooth-enabled successor to this model.

All in all, however, if you want a very attractive camera cell
phone with easy-to-read screen text as well as the General Packet
Radio Services (GPRS) and Enhanced Multimedia Service (EMS)
capability, the SGH V200C should certainly be on the top of your
list of candidates.