I first chose this phone because of it's MMS feature - I was off to France for my brother's wedding, needed a new phone and my camera was broken so it made sense!
It's a great size, conventiently fits in most bag pockets, leaving space for other vitals. The battery is so flat and compact that some of my friends didn't believe that it was actually a phone battery at all! It's not hard to remove/put back, like some are. The sim card is easy to insert/remove as well, which is nice.
The only draw-back I can think of is the fact that this phone gets scratched rather too easily. I've only had mine for 7 or 8 months and the paint-work is chipping off, the body-work has chips in and denting it is very easy to do.
The silver paint
on the menu navigation key has been worn away so as it looks black, but that may be something to do with my nails as opposed to anything else!
At first it was rather confusing to 'find my way' around the menu but, once figured out, there wasn't anything to it. The phonebook feature is excellent - as well as the phone number and name, there is the option to have a little photo of the person as well as other contact infomation on them so, essentially, the phonebook is more of an organizer!
The data folder is where all the photos are stored - it says it's capacity is 900 files, but i've only ever been able to hold 200 at most at each time. Photos can be saved in low, medium or high quality to save storage space... There's also the effects that you can apply to them - monochrome, sepia and negative. There are also 10 frames for the photos to choose from. The camera also features a self timer, zoom and "twighlight mode" - for when lighting isn't very good, although it doesn't do much and makes the screen move ever-so slowly - may as well just turn up the brightness whilst in camera mode.
Another thing I find a little annoying is the fact that you can't turn off the camera-shutter noise. They introduced this because, apparently, some folk had started taking 'indecent' photos of people without them knowing.
The games feature isn't amazing, but it's a phone not a games console! My phone has Teris and "Herding Sheep" although a friend of mine says he can download/send games, so I'm guessing they vary from phone to phone.
The SMS feature isn't anything to write (or text, hoho) home about - 299 characters in each text, as per. 200 messages (in both in and outbox) can be held at any one time. As soon as you send a text, assuming your memory isn't full, it is saved to the outbox. This can be a bit annoying at times because I don't tend to make a habit of deleting texts once receiving them, meaning they clog up the memory! I think there is an option to turn that off though, I've just not found it yet.
MMS is very easy to work, although sometimes i can't connect in order to send things - that's most probably down to my network supplier though!
There is also a sound recorder - 10 seconds, I believe. The quality isn't that great, but that may have just been because the only things I've recorded were bands playing rather loudly. Hmm.
When I first got this phone, the battery life was terrible. It wouldn't even last from morning 'til afternoon and that was without using it non-stop. I got a new battery and all is well now.
WAP is, although expensive, a nice little feature. I am on O2 (UK network, aka Cellnet), which offers a great expanse of features on mobile internet.
Infrared is always a fun alternative to MMS - but only if the other person has an infrared port as well!
There is a data cable for the GD87, to link up to your PC and exchange files, but costs a fair bit and mine has broken already anyhow!
Other features included are: schedule/calendar, alarm clock, calculator, changeable wallpaper, polyphonic ringtones, voice activated calling, hot key dial, currency converter, voice memo, 11 different languages, melody composer, vibration alert, key guard/phone lock.
In conclusion, a very good phone although starts to look a bit "shabby" after a few months.
I gave it full marks for value for money, as I got it free on contract.
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Advantages: Bluetooth, Nice looking interface, Small and lightweight Disadvantages: Slow for writing texts, Games included are not very good, Camera takes low quality pictures
DooYou 12.06.2009 ·
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Review of Panasonic GD87
Advantages: Excellent camera, Lots of memory space Disadvantages: Breaks down - Switches itself on and off whenever it feels like, one game if you're not on orange
welshgal17 06.05.2005 (06.05.2005)
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Review of Panasonic GD87
Advantages: screen display, good picture quality, tough and durable clamshell design Disadvantages: sometimes awkward with the navigation key, not Java enabled
glen.bolton 08.11.2003 ·
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Review of Panasonic GD87