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.