Such a 'cool' phone! (02 Ice Mobile Phone)

Member Name: AmyAmy

Product:	02 Ice Mobile Phone
Date:	21/02/08 (139 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: stylish, easy to use, wide variety of extras, cheap

Disadvantages: Clock on screen can freeze

About a year ago, my phone broke. I think the battery froze out or something, I'm not sure. But whatever the cause, I needed an emergency temporary phone for when I went away on holiday, which was unfortunately less than a week later! This meant I didn't have time to save for a new, decent phone, so I had to settle for a cheap handset - the Samsung C300. Though there is nothing wrong with this phone, it does the job required, but I was beginning to get extremely bored with its basic functions. Just as having a dull phone was starting to irritate me, my dad got himself a new model. This fortunately meant that I was offered his 'old' phone, which I obviously jumped at the chance of having! I am not the proud owner of a 'new' o2 Ice - the phone I had desired for a long time!


Appearance
-----------------
I had wanted this phone for ages! It is its style that I was attracted to first, not its functions! Normally, I like to go for flip phones, but for some reason my attention was drawn to the long and refreshing style of the o2 Ice. It looked so clean and fresh - a quality I feel all phones should hold! And I suppose the name is appropriate - it sort of does look like a block of ice! The keypad on the phone is quite simple too, no touch-sensitive buttons or joysticks! Although, the middle silver 'ok' button can occasionally be quite tricky to press, especially with gloves on! The screen is a nice, reasonable size too, taking up about half of the phones surface area!


Internal
-----------
At closer inspection, when the phone was switched on, I discovered that the display was just as perfect as the casing! When you first look at the screen, you are greeted by your wallpaper (this can be one that comes ready on the phone, or you can set your camera images too!), and a selection of quick links (messages, phonebook, profile and camera). On this main screen, the time and date is also displayed, as well as battery life.

Then you come onto the main menu! You can choose to view this in one of three ways; List, Grid, or Circular. The names pretty much state the way they appear. I personally like to use Grid, but all three ways look quite smart! Each function is nicely laid out, and easily accessed, to make using this phone even more of a delight!


*****Functions - profile*****
Like most phones, you can choose whether your phone is on silent, vibrate etc...With the o2 Ice, you have six options; Normal, Loud, Vibrate only, Silent (alarm on), Silent, and Headset. Headset is exceptionally practical, for obvious safety reasons! I just stick to either Normal, or when I am at school, Silent. I may never need to use the others, but it is nice to know they are there!


*****Functions - multimedia*****
When you click on the picture of the little yellow camera, you are met by three options; Camera, Video Player and Media Player.

The camera function is fairly straight forward, with a lens on the sleek back cover of the phone. It also has a selection of funny frames to offer to make your photos more fun, or you can change it from normal to black and white, or even sepia! It also comes complete with a self timer for those family shots! But there is one special feature about this camera which I adore - you can change the lens so it is facing you, and you are able to take photos of yourself! This is all down to the little lens that is situated to the right of the screen, just at the top! It's so small, it's bearably noticeable! It is apparently 1.3megapixels, but in my opinion, the quality is phenomenal, it could easily be more!
I've not really used the Video camera much, but I fiddled around with it, and the settings which are changeable are pretty much the same as that of the camera, though you can also choose to record with or without sound!

You also access your Media Player through this way, which displays all the songs on your phone, with a choice of skins available, which are displayed when the songs are playing!


*****Functions - Clock And Alarm*****
The next icon on the phone is for the clock and alarm. You can set the clock, which is displayed on the main screen also, to the obvious UK time, and you can even add and save cities into the phone memory!
I use the alarm clock every morning. When you set it, it tells you exactly how long, in hours and minutes, it is until the alarm goes off. I found this a neat little function, even though it isn't really necessary! There is also a choice of alarm tones, though they are nothing special!


*****Functions - Browser*****
Basically, this little globe icon takes you onto the internet. I do not use this though, as it costs a fortune! Though I did use it once, and it's pretty useful, though rather basic.


*****Function - Messages*****
There is no question about what section you are entering when you click on the little blue envelope icon! Yep, it's the messages - probably the function I use most frequently! You can create one of two messages; short message, and multimedia message (i.e. picture messages). When typing, you can choose to have it set to either freehand, or have the dictionary on. I personally prefer to type freehand! You can also insert symbols and emoticons to your messages! A standard message on o2 costs 10p.
The phone itself holds 300 messages!


*****Functions - Gallery*****
When entering the gallery, you have five options; Photos And Images, Sound, Video, Other Files, and Manage. Photos and images obviously stores all the photos on your phone! You can rename your images, and choose the order they are viewed in. Unfortunately, unlike my last phone, you cannot categorize the photos in to separate folders. And the Video option works pretty much the same way.
Going into sound, all the tracks are displayed in a list, so you can easily scroll and select. There is also a selection of 'default' tracks which came with the phone, but they are pretty awful!

Other Files really makes me curious - there is nothing in it, and I cannot think of any other types of files that could possibly be stored in there! If you have any ideas, let me know!

Manage - also known as memory! My phone stores up to 20MB of files, and I currently have 14.5MB left, and that is with three mp3 tracks, and a mere eleven photo files. I suppose that is ok, and you can also insert a Micro SD card into the side of the phone!


*****Functions - Tools And Games*****
I think it is clear what this section contains! The first option you are greeted by is Bluetooth - something I feel all phones should contain! The Bluetooth function on this phone in particular is really easy to use! You can search for devices, and add them to your device history! You can also name your phone, and set the visibility, as well as easy activation!

The next option is the games section. You can download games, but the phone also comes with two games; Basketball and Jukebox. I have no real praise for them, and you can delete them - which I have just done this second.

Third - it's the calendar! I don't really find myself using the calendar on the phones, but I suppose they can be practical - you can view the date, and set appointments etc. I find it easier to just use a general wall calendar though!

Calculator...I have no idea how many times I have used phone calculators when I'm doing maths homework, and can't be bothered hunting out my scientific one! Though, it's a basic addition/subtraction/multiplication/division job here though!
The phone also comes with a notepad - something I used to use a lot, but not really so much any more! It's simply there if you need to make a quick note - coincidentally!

Option six is the Voice Recorder! This can be useful if you need to record a quick voice memo, or I suppose you could record songs too! The recordings aren't too clear, but at the same time, they aren't all fuzzy or crackly!

The phone also comes with a World Clock - in case you want to know the time in Beijing?!

Then we come all the way down to the Stopwatch - I use this every now and then for timing during exercise etc, but otherwise this function is not touched. It allows you to record laps too.

Function nine is a favourite of mine - Converter. I have never seen this one on a phone before! Basically, it converts any units (e.g. pounds, millimetres, yards, mass, weight) into another form i.e. metric to imperial! I love this, it's really handy!


*****Functions - Contacts*****
Now there would be no point in having a phone if you could not store your contacts! This phone works like any other with contacts, though unfortunately you cannot store two numbers for the same name. That's quite annoying! The phone stores up to 1000 contacts, but your sim card will differ!


*****Functions - Settings*****
Like every phone, you can edit the settings! There is so much you can do to personalise this phone and make it more 'yours'. With the display, you can set the greeting message, so you are welcomed to text of your choice every time you switch the phone on! You can also edit the home screen and brightness, as well as the backlight timer, and screensaver (images can be set for this).

You can also edit several calling settings, so you can change how you answer calls, and whether your personal number is displayed or not! There are also several less exciting settings, to do with network and security...the usual safety things!



*****Other...
Not only do you get all those great things within the phone itself, but you also get a CD-Rom which you can upload on to your pc, which then enables you to upload your files from your phone, and edit them with the image editor and video DJ! It's really simple to use too, and you can even send files from your pc to your phone!

The way you connect the handset itself is with the USB cable, which actually acts as a charger too, when attached to the end of the plug! I thought this was a really neat idea! And as for the battery life itself, it lasts for quite a while, but when it hits one bar left, it does go down pretty speedy!


*****
I can give this phone so much praise, and it isn't expensive either, costing no more that £100 from any shops that I have noticed!

But one thing I am disappointed about, on some levels! I am a real 'pinkie' girl, and I was amazed when this phone was re-released - the new STRAWBERRY o2 ICE - the pink version! It's such a hot shade of pink too! I wish I had that one! But considering my phone was passed on down to me from my dad, the chances were slim there!



*****
I can really recommend this phone to anybody and everybody! It's really light-weight, and simple to use, but it is not too easy that it becomes dull! Just set your own background, fiddle with your mp3 ring tones, and attach a funky phone charm (mine's Playboy!) and there you have a groovy, personalised and stylish phone fit just for you!


© Amy 2008
(originally written for Ciao, 2007)

Summary: A practical phone with plenty of 'extras'!

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Sound quality:
Variety of features: