After using my sister's old Sony Ericcson K700i for a year and a half, I decided it was time to invest in a new handset.
There were four main requirements that I decided that any phone I considered must meet. It had to: 1- Be reliable. I found that my old handset could be really difficult to use due to the joystick used to navigate menus wearing out.
2- Be compatible with my current O2 SIM. (So I could keep my existing phone number)
3- Have a camera
4- Be within my price range. Up to £90
So I started my search and after looking through websites and shops found that a phone that met these requirements perfectly was the Samsung SGH-E250.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS My first impressions of it were really good. It's a stylish looking phone that is really thin, and the front of it slides up to reveal the main keypad. So this should make it more or less impossible to make inadvertent phone calls with it in my pocket or bag. Also the camera is cleverly hidden beneath the slide too, so that the lens will be protected against dust and scratches. Next to the camera lens there is a mirror (as the camera is on the back of the phone) that I thought would make self-taken photos easier and more accurate. It is available in either silver or black, and it was the latter of these two that I chose, due to it looking more grown up and manly than the silver version. There is a simple directional pad for navigating menus and texts, with straightforward up,down,left and right buttons. Price-wise it was well within my budget at £59.99. Perfect!
SET-UP As soon as I got back to the car I had the phone out of the box to have a look and give it a try. Putting it together was really easy, all I had to do was slide the back cover off,
put in my SIM and battery and that was me sorted. The battery even had some charge in it, so I could use it right away! I was able to transfer my contacts from the SIM to the phone at this point as well. The only real difficulty that I can foresee about this is that the back may be difficult to get off with frail fingers, as it needs to be pressed in slightly as it is slid off.
USABILITY The first thing that I did was slide up the front of the phone, which automatically unlocked the keypad. A standard function of sliders I believe, but really useful. At first I was quite confused by the menu system, due mainly to it simply being different from the one used by Sony-Ericcson. The first few times that I tried to access the main menu promptly started my WAP connection, due to the central WAP hotkey, which was really annoying. Also when using the menu, each choice of function brings up a sub-menu of further options on the same page. Again I found this to be quite annoying, but this as well is just different from my old phone. After getting used to it however, this system does seem to be reasonably easy to use, and quite quick. All functions are clearly labelled with a picture, and are all on one page too, so no scrolling is needed. The keys on the keypad are very close together and there is no nipple of any significance on them to make touch-typing easier for texts, but so far I have had very few problems using it.
PHONEBOOK The phonebook is easy enough to use- simply scroll down or enter the first couple of letters of a name and takes you straight to it. Using groups for texts can be a little fiddly though, because it doesn't seem possible to just send a message to an entire group. You have to choose the group and then tick each individual in the group, which sort of defeats the purpose of having groups set up in the first place. But at least when choosing from group members they are all on one page without having the rest of your contact list to look through.
CALLS Making calls is really easy; especially with the large font size on screen so that even with poor eyesight it would be possible to make sure that the correct number had been entered. The clarity during calls is really good, and I have yet to have any problems with understanding people on the other end of the line. Volume can be adjusted during a call by simply pressing keys on the side of the phone which I find is really useful. There is a hands-free kit included, and I have even seen some deals with a bluetooth headset included.
RECEPTION Usually reception is quite good, and there are four of five bars displayed on-screen. So far there has only been one instance of a call cutting out on me, and that was while travelling under a canopy of roadside trees and overhead wires. So therefore it is hard to say whether it was actually the phone that was at fault, but more probably it was the location that caused the issue.
CAMERA Using the camera is quite straightforward, with point and shoot, ready to use setup. The large screen works as an excellent viewfinder. Just don't do what I did and mess around with the various settings before reading the manual. Somehow I managed to invert the image, and this was now the default behaviour of the camera! Took me about half an hour to get it the right way up again.(by using the up and down keys on side of phone) It is possible to make using the camera as simple, or complex as I require, with various options including zoom, brightness, invert (as I discovered accidentally), and self-timer. There are also some fun effects that can be applied to the photos such as my personal favourite black and white, as well as other stranger ones such as sketch and an underwater one. I suppose these would be enjoyed by younger users, as would the option of putting a frame on the photos too.
VIDEO This works pretty much the same way as the camera function although I find that it needs to be held still or the picture can go slightly jumpy and has a slight delay in it.
GAMES There were 3 games pre-installed on the phone when I got it, but they are all just limited demos that need unlocked by purchasing the game which was a little disappointing.
MEMORY As standard there is only around 64Mb of memory on the phone, but this can be easily and cheaply improved to between 256Mb and over 2Gb with the purchase of a MicroSD card. I have found these for as little as £3-£4 online. For MP3s and videos this upgrade might well be essential. It's great how easy this upgrade would be though, just get a card and slide it into a slot on the side of the phone.
MUSIC I love that there is a built in FM radio with this, which automatically scans for available stations in seconds. The sound quality is really good too! And the phone can be used as an MP3 player which I like too. Another thing I particularly like about the use of music with this phone is that any song stored on it can be set as the ring tone, and individual tones can be set for different contacts too.
RELIABILITY So far this seems really quite good, as nothing has stuck, broken, fallen off or otherwise malfunctioned, but as it has only been a month since my purchase I can't accurately comment on long-term durability yet. I am hopeful that it will be good though, as the phone seems really well put together, with the slide top feeling quite solid and reliable.
BATTERY LIFE The length of battery life, or more accurately, shortage of battery life can be a problem. There is a need to charge every 2-3 days with normal use, but would probably be daily with heavy use. As yet I have been unable to track down any heavier duty batteries that work with this model, but it is not really a big issue for me anyway.
PRICE/ VALUE FOR MONEY I have found that prices vary a little between different retailers, but that as a rule this is mainly between £60 and £80. This can also vary slightly between networks too. The deal I found was in Argos, and at only £59.99 on O2 Pay-as-you-go, I was pleasantly surprised. Previous to this the best I had seen was £70 in Tesco. Value-wise, I would say that this is a really good buy. Yes there are many phones out there with far better spec, some look a lot better too, but at this price range it would be hard to beat.
CONCLUSION So far I am loving this little phone, and I think I will do for the foreseeable future. It is just so easy to use, and looks great too, with people commenting on it every time I take it out of my pocket. It fits nicely in the palm of the hand, feels so sturdy and robust, and is such a pleasure to use. The screen is large and clear, and even the on-screen numbers are incredibly easy to see. There are only minor drawbacks as stated above, but in relation to difficulties with menus, I have quickly readjusted, and now they pose no problem whatsoever. The great feautures and clarity of sound as well as previously discussed benefits of this model more than outweigh any issues I have had wih it.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Fantastic review! Really helped my decision. May possibly buy the little blighter. And yes, I did just use the word blighter. One question though: You say the battery life is low, but how low? How many hours/days exactly? Cheers! Matt
COOOEEE 18.06.2007 17:23
Thank you. I once had a phone that the reception was so bad on that I couldn't receive calls if I was indoors and the clarity was all crackily so I do like to read how good a phone performs in these areas. Happy to re-rate xxxx
COOOEEE 17.06.2007 23:32
A good review so don't shoot me for giving a lower rating but you don't actually mention what the phone sound clarity is like or the reception. It is great having all the extra little features but we do need to know how it also performs as an actual phone. Let me know if you add more and I will re-read for you. Fionaxx
The large screen is 2 Inches in size&provides a 128 x 160 pixel screen resolution. The more
user can view up to 65 thousand colours on the 2 Inch display. The Samsung E250 comes with a black user interface which provides a stylish way for the user to view the phones menus, as the bright colours show up beautifully against the black background
exceptional by (10%):
very helpful by (90%):
