Being my birthday the other day, my fiancée compensated me by buying me a Panasonic DG67, weighing in at a mid-range £99.99. I was so impressed with her choice that I decided to write a review on this featured-packed phone which, I think, represents excellent value.
• An Over-View and The Technical Stuff •
Standby Time - 190 Hours
Talk Time - 390 Mins
What this means is that you get 2/3 days of light usage before having to re-charge (a task that takes little more than an hour.
In summary the main attractive features include a full colour screen, WAP and polyphonic ring tones. It also has a very handy joy-stick control for navigation (A+ for this feature). Compared to the brick I used to own, at 81g this phone does not pull my trousers down when I carry it around in my pocket.
• The Look • (9/10)
This is a silver handset which looks fairly stylish. There is a changeable transparent back, in which you can insert any of the 6 free inserts or creature your own to personalise the phone. Some may find this a bit tacky especially as this bit gets easily scratched. You cannot however, change the front facia.
• The Screen • (10/10)
This is full-colour and very clear. You can adjust the contrast, but the default setting works fine for me. You can choose
from 7 different colour themes, select from 18 screen saver animations(or download your own); and if that’s not enough you can also select from 2 power-up animations.
The resolution is fairly high (equivalent to VGA standard) and the menus are akin to the Windows GUI with scroll bars, option buttons and the like. The menus are colour icon driven and easy to navigate.
• The Polyphonic Ring Tones • 9/10
You can select from 22 pre-loaded polyphonic ring tones or download your own from the internet or by WAP. Furthermore, you can create your own, although these are not polyphonic and the composing utility is rather difficult to get to grips with.
If this wasn’t enough the phone can also be set with a different ring tone for each different type of call (voice, fax, data, text message and voice mail). There is also the silent vibration mode.
All of these are downloadable (EMS/SMS) options and be stored in separate media folders and later sent as attachments to text messages.
• Making / Receiving Calls • 10/10
This is easy and the voice quality is excellent. Dialling is convenient as the keys are well-spaced and not too small. There is a hand re-dial facility along with caller identification, call barring and voice dialling. Considering the limitations of voice recognition, this feature works well, but can take a while to set up and use if there is any background noise. Call can also be divert to another number or voice mail if required.
• The Phone Book • 10/10
The phone book can store up to 300 entries split 100 on the SIM card and 200 in the phone’s internal memory. These can be grouped together and each group can have a different ring tone and animation, making it easier to distinguish who’s calling. Navigation and set up here is easy.
• The Applications • 7/10
The phone comes with the standard applications: clock/alarm, calendar/scheduler, calculator, and currency Exchange rate converter. These features are all akin to the standard found on most phones these days, except that the calculator is much easier to use than other mobiles as the joystick performs the operations prompted by helpful screen displays.
There is also a built-in modem and WAP, although this seems rather slow.
The phone also provides control over restricting the amount of airtime the user can use.
• Texting • 10/10
This is fairly standard with T9 predictive texting, normal, Greek and extended text modes and a very helpful QWERTY keypad controlled by the joystick. You can also cut/copy and paste text, add media attachments, chat SMS or do cell broadcasts. You can also set up recipient groups to send the messages to specific groups of people.
• Advanced Call Options • 10/10
The phone permits call holding, call waiting and conference (multiple callers at once). Calls can be transfered to another number and recorded too!
• The Games • 6/10
The phone has 2 games, which demonstrate the colour display and polyphonic speakers to the full, but this is where the multi-media nature of the phone falls down. The two games are called Atum and Kimang. There are hard and puzzle-natured.
Atum involves making various atom shapes fit into the screen area, whilst Kimang is a bit like pinball. You cannot download new games.
Overall this is a superb phone, functionality is great and the colour screen and polyphonic ring tones superb. The navigation is simple the joystick genius. The keys are the right size and easy to use. There is a handy earphone socket for hands-free usage, although the phone’s speaker copes well with out it. The phone’s size and ergonomic design fits easily and comfortably in the hand and is very lightweight.
Although there is no bluetooth, infra-red port, MMS, only 2 games and no camera, the phone is definitely recommended.
I am on Virgin Pay as you Go, and find the charges quite reasonable with calls charged at 15p per minute for the first 5 mins of the day, then 5p per minute thereafter. Text messages start a 3p per message. The reception is rather good whereever I go.
You can also set up text alerts from the Free Virgin Extras facility at www.virgin.com/mobile/xtras for football alerts, singles chart positions etc.
To use the phone abroad, you need to pay monthly by direct debit, although you still not pay any line rental, but do get an itemized bill.
You can also log on to www.panasonicbox.com to access further downloadable animations/ring tones for your phone.
One downside that I have discovered is that it takes an inordinate amount of time to "boot-up", so long in fact that you try it again and sometimes think it's broken.
As I have only had the phone a while I can't comment on how well it lasts without fault.
If in doubt – BUY IT.
by (1%):
03.08.2004 18:45
Have had one of these phones for just over a year now and it is still going strong. I must admit that the games are rubbish though. Great review. Darren
06.07.2004 10:15
Great Review I love the way everything is summerised.
25.03.2004 12:58
very easy to understand review. i've had this phone for about a year (actually 2 but I had to get a replacement when I lost the first one on a train). It's still going strong although sometimes do you find the battery decides to reboot itself in the middle of writing a text? great review. emma x