Panasonic X70

...X1, LG 7100, and the Panasonic X70. After another inspection, and a couple more questions, I plumped for the X70, mainly because it was unique to Orange (I like the network, I also like the exclusivity thing!), and had everything I wanted from a phone (including the now essential Bluetooth).

The X70 was available for free on Orange Talk120 or above, which basically gives you 120 minutes of talktime a month for £25. I felt this to be ...
...as PNG, which works between Panasonic phones and is also widely used on the internet.

The camera is easy to use, and quickly selectable from the main screen, the right hand side softkey being assigned to this function. One press of the D-pad takes a photo once the camera is on. One particularly nice feature is the addtion of a "photolight", which illuminates a sizeable area in front of the lens, allowing low light/night ... more

After almost a year of putting up with cancelled calls, disappearing debits and idiotic Indians, I finally lost my rag with 3 mobile when my Motorola A830 decided to stop picking up signal altogether.

As the quality of service from 3 had been poor to say the least, I decided that with the January sales in full swing it was time to find a solution to my phone problems.

After looking around online and then in most of the various high street retailers, I found myself in The Link. Normally, I'd avoid the place like the plague, but this particular branch seemed to be different from the other ones I'd been in (perhaps times have changed!).

I informed the salesman of what I was after, namely a phone that could do everything, was cheap enough to run on a student budget, and wasn't on 3! Now, most of the Link salesmen I've encountered in the past (and mobile salesmen in general) either want to push one particular product, or have no idea of what features a particular phone has! This guy was a refreshing break from the norm. He was able to answer all my questions, pointed me in the direction of various phones in my price bracket, and wasn't pushy in any way.

Eventually, I narrowed it down to one of 3 phones, all of which had similar feature sets - the O2 X1, LG 7100, and the Panasonic X70. After another inspection, and a couple more questions, I plumped for the X70, mainly because it was unique to Orange (I like the network, I also like the exclusivity thing!), and had everything I wanted from a phone (including the now essential Bluetooth).

The X70 was available for free on Orange Talk120 or above, which basically gives you 120 minutes of talktime a month for £25. I felt this to be reasonable in order to get a top of the range phone, although I have since altered my contract setup as I text much more than I talk.

Sign up and registration was easy once I'd got the relevant ID (Orange are quite picky about what they'll accept!), and the Link take care of all this for you while you wait. The whole process took about 15 minutes from start to finish.

So, walking out of the shop, my phone was ready to use (apart from really needing a 16 hour charge as all mobiles do when new). First impressions were good, the X70 is stylish in its design, feels solid in the hand, but is also quite light in weight, and it takes up no pocket space, as it's very sleek and small (not even fat when closed as some clamshell models can be). A world apart from my A830 then!

In the box, you get the handset and battery, a mains charger, software CD, and manual. This is a fairly standard package, and there are no fancy extras, but as you'll soon see, these are not needed!

After charging it overnight, the next day I began to experiment with the phone's various features and become accustomed with them.

Firstly, calling and texting, the most important aspects of any phone. These are both handled superbly by the X70 - calls sound crystal clear, and making and receiving them is as simple as you'd expect from a modern mobile phone. Caller ID is available (as you'd expect), this takes the form of the name/number and also a photo on the main screen (if one is stored and assigned), and the caller's name on the outside screen, which lights up/flashes in one of a number of selectable colours. Last call made, last call answered, and last unanswered call are also accesible by pressing the call key when on the main phone screen (as long as no number is entered obviously!).

Texting is also simple, although it takes a while to get used to the mechanism required for changing characters/case. However, this is my only real gripe with the text messaging system, which has T9 predictive text, and allows the sending/receiving of multiple page messages seamlessly and easily unlike on a lot of phones.

The current buzz is for multimedia messaging ("picture messaging"). Orange should enable this on the X70 (although you might have to give them a call to get it switched on), and once set up, you can send and receive pictures, sounds and text in one message. Composing an MMS is as simple as writing a text, and the service is both logical and reliable in its operation.

Related to MMS is the camera which comes built in as standard on the X70. It's predecessor, the GD87 had possibly the sharpest camera on the market when it hit the streets, and the X70 doesn't disappoint in this respect. Photo capture is possible at several resolutions, and in several JPEG formats, as well as PNG, which works between Panasonic phones and is also widely used on the internet.

The camera is easy to use, and quickly selectable from the main screen, the right hand side softkey being assigned to this function. One press of the D-pad takes a photo once the camera is on. One particularly nice feature is the addtion of a "photolight", which illuminates a sizeable area in front of the lens, allowing low light/night shots to be taken with more success than on the majority of mobiles (which don't have this function). It's not as good as a full sized camera with a flash, but is probably the best example of such technology I've yet seen on a phone. It's certainly more than adequate for those drunken pub/club shots, which is inevitably what most of us end up using our phone's camera for!

Also, the X70 has full infrared and Bluetooth functionality, which allows interaction with other phones and PC's, and the transfer of ringtones/MIDI files, games, information or pictures between devices. IR is fast and simple to use, no additional software is required for file transfer with my Windows XP laptop, and Blueooth has a 5 minute discoverable mode (better than the average 60 secs, no need for constant fiddling!), allows naming of you phone, and is fast and easy to use. I've transferred several pictures to friends' Nokias and Motorolas, and have yet to experience any problems. Certainly a good way to share your pics without running up a huge bill sending MMS messages!

Other notable features on the X70 include full WAP and GPRS capability, these giving access to both Orange's mobile content and the wider internet. There's a comprehensive organiser section, with voice memo, calendar/schedule, clock and alarm, business card, currency convertor and calculator being amongst its tools.

One area where the X70 excells is in the contacts list/address book. A veritable feast of information can be stored about each contact, including photo, name, address, home/work/mobile phone numbers, home/work/other email addresses, website address, company/employer and more. Contacts can be grouped together as well, which can be useful, particularly if the phone is used for business and pleasure! All the information is set out in a logical manner and is easily edited/manipulated.

Games are another buzz area in mobile phones at the moment, and the X70 has full Java capability, and via Orange, you can download a wide selection of things to play on your handset. Wallbreaker, a Breakout clone, comes pre-loaded, and is presented well enough in colour and also comes with sound. The X70's 65k colour display does lend itself towards mobile gaming, and also provides a large viewable area for general use. Unfortunately we haven't had any sun since I bought the phone, so I can't comment on how badly the screen suffers from the common niggle of glare/sunlight making it unreadable.

The X70 supports polyphonic ringtones, and a number come loaded as standard. MIDI files are also compatible with the phone, and these can be saved and set as ringers themselves. MIDIs can be found all over the net, and provide a great way of getting polyphonic tones for free, as most of the expensive downloadable polyphonic ring tones are esentially only midi files themselves! Vibrating alert and quiet mode are also selectable, and all the ring/alert settings can easily be customised for any situation via the appropriate menu.

Menu wise, the X70 follows the trend of having two assignable softkeys visible on its main screen, along with the time, operator logo, signal and battery strength, and ring mode. Also visible is a "menu icon", which is aligned the D-pad. One press of this takes u into the familiar 3x3 grid style phone menu, from which a further press leads into the selected sub-menu. This is a much used, and effective system, and Panasonic have implemented it well. Navigation is quick and easy throughout, with the softkeys offering various exit/back options as you scroll through the phone using the D-pad.

Battery life and talktime claims can often be a source of annoyance, but in practice the X70's battery lasts around 3 days before you even need to consider charging it, although this is obviously going to be shortened by heavy use. For everyday use however, the battery life is excellent.

It's hard to find fault with the X70, I've only had it two months, but it seems to be the most complete phone I've ever used. Navigation is simple, call quality is brilliant, messaging is easy, it has an awesome, super-sharp camera, and to cap it off, the phone has a very stylish design and finish.

The only negatives that I can think of are that the phone is only available on the Orange network, and to get it free you need to get a Talk120 or above contract, which will cost you £25 a month. However, not many operators offer a phone this good for free without you taking out a £30 contract, which is why I've rated the value for money as good. On Orange Pay As You Go it currently retails for around the £250-£270 mark, which is expensive, but that's not the capacity which I'm reviewing it in.

Also, the clam-shell design may not appeal to everyone, and there'll always be the Nokia-holics who refuse to even contemplate a different brand of phone, but for anyone else who wants a small, feature packed, stylish handset, then the Panasonic X70 provides everything that you need. Highly recommended!

Specifications:
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Tri-band

4Mb internal memory

150 minutes Talktime - Up To

120 hours Standby Time - Up To

Blue Tooth Compatible

88mm x 48mm x 23mm Dimensions

Photo Light for taking pictures indoors

Vibracall

GPRS Compatible

85 g Handset Weight

Update - 16/02/04
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Found a couple of things whilst looking on the internet today that might be relevant to the review, so I thought I'd add them.

Firstly, there seem to be a lot of people moaning about the camera quality on the X70. I happen to think it's damn good, and as I've said in the review, whilst the photolight is no substitute for a standalone digital camera with a flash, it performs more than adequately in the capacity which it's meant to!

However, the camera resolution is actually only 176x120 pixels, which is why pictures can seem small and also maybe a bit grainy when transferred to PC. Having said this, I've compared them with the 640x480 images off my old A830, and to be honest, there's not much of a visible quality difference (using JPEG fine setting on X70, high res on A830), only a size one, which seems to have upset some users, but is fine for MMS, arguably it's primary function.

I've not found this to be an issue, and have used them to advertise products on eBay with no negative comments about the picture quality. It is worth bearing in mind that the settings are variable (see main review), so it might be worth venturing outside the defaults and experimenting once in a while!

Also, the menu system seems to have come in for a lot of stick. This is mainly in the form of "it's so unlike a Nokia", which really doesn't surprise me (there's a lot of blinkered phone users out there!), but I really can't see where the complaints come from. The menu is both fast and logically laid out, and I've been able to pick it up and use most of the functions straight away without ever consulting the manual.

Battery life has also come in for some stick. I've had no problems with mine, my guess is that not enough people have heeded the advice that they've been given as to charging the battery for 16 hours before first using the phone, and as such, the battery "memory" hasn't been properly charged, thus leading to shortened battery life. As mentioned in the main text, I normally get 3 days use of the phone before needing to consider a charge.

The last gripe is that text messages don't show the sender name and time, again, this is rubbish, you just need to scroll through the message until you reach the bottom, a two click process at most! Again, maybe because I've never owned a Nokia (hate the interfaces and the phones!), I can't see why this is such an inconvenience. Maybe I'mjust not popular enough and don't get enough texts to get confused!

 

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