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Samsung SGH-J700
by mizpoli
I bought this phone about five years ago and it is still going strong and as good today as it was when i bought it.Mine is a metallic pink and very feminine.It is slimline and sleek and its colour makes it stand out.It is extremely easy to use with no complicated buttons and would suit a new mobile phone user.The menu has just the right ... amount of options and although the built in camera only has 1.3 mega pixels it has been sufficient for the purpose i use it for, which is to take photos of family and friends and to capture scenic sights whilst out and about,the colours of the photos are bright and clear.The phone fits snuggly in the palm of my hand and is quite lightweight.I would recommend this phone to all age groups and especially to people who do not like handsets with too many functions,and of course Samsung are a quality make.
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Sony Ericsson W995
by hopey123
I acquired this Sony Ericsson W995 last year as my old phone stopped holding charge properly so this phone is my partners old one.
Now until last week it has been working perfectly despite being a few years old now. What happened last week was, well here is the message I was sending to a friend so see if you can tell what the ... problem is!
Hi, what tim os your train gt in? o you ancy mting atr your appointmnt.
Yep that's right the number 3 key has died so I have no D E or F in texts or number 3 in phone numbers. It is a right pain, if I fiddle enough it will work but when texting or even trying to post on Facebook I don't have 10 minutes waiting for 1 letter to work lol. Time for a new phone I think.
This phone is a push up the front part to reveal a normal 1-0 dial keypad with each number also representing letters of the alphabet for texting. The screen is a good size and can clearly view things on it without a struggle. I'm not into lots of technical items really so a simple phone like this is ideal for me. For example we have an apple TV and my partner is fed up of showing me how to use it lol. This phone allows me to make call, text, and get onto Facebook, the three most important uses it can have but saying that it does have a GPS thing (yes thing I don't know proper word) If I found myself lost then I open up the location servies tab and it will find my location, hopefully I'm old enough not to get myself lost but could come in useful if I was visiting a new area without my car satnav.
There aren't heaps of buttons on this phone, the picture shows that on the front the centre of the circle button is for accessing the screen menu and the circle gives quick access for contacts, messages, and sound controls. It has the call out and end call/off button and a quick internet access button. On the side of the phone you will find the camera and video filming controls.
Now the camera is 8.1 mega pixels which I feel is very good for a mobile phone camera and the quality of the pictures from it is also very good and clear, my partner prefers the camera on this phone to his i phone.
There is also a radio on this phone which I often use for listening to football if it's not on TV (yes a good that follows footy more then her partner does lol). I can listen on the headphones or leave the headphones plugged in and switch to speaker as the earphone cables act as the aerial.
Another feature I like about this phone is the speed dial which I have set up so number 1 is a person then number 2 etc. I have also a couple years ago on my old phone shown my son how to call daddy with speed dial, I was actually expecting my daughter when I taught him this and all he has to do is press the allocated number and the dial button. As I'm writing this I've realized his dad is actually on a different dial number on this phone but if something was to happen and dad was out he'd get through to his Grandad instead on the speed dial number he has learnt.
This phone stores lots of numbers and messages and always easily accessed. The phone records go up to a few weeks and show missed calls, received and calls made. The storage for messages must be huge as I rarely delete my messages. There is a option to view conversation between a friend you were texting so instead of trawling through looking through all messages for a particular one you can look through conversation with a particular person to find it.
This phone has had a few drops in it's time and still going strong about from the number 3 being on strike. the back sometimes will come off if dropped but slots back on easily. Talking of the back yes the back comes off easily so you can access the slim battery and sim card which is under the battery. The charge point on this phone is on the side, the opposite side from camera controls.
This isn't a heavy phone and fits into my jeans pocket fine, I prefer it in my pocket so atleast if I don't hear it ring I will feel it vibrate, well that's the plan anyway.My old jeans actually had a phone shaped mark on the pocket where it was constantly in there whilst wearing them. I'm trying myself to keep it near me but not always in my pockets now, maybe I should get a phone necklace lol.
Well I've covered the parts of the phone I like and use the most hopefully giving readers a good in sight to the phone.
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LG KS360
by sirg0508
When it comes to mobile phones I never buy the latest models. My current phone is the LG KS360 which although was now bought over 3 years ago wasn't top of the range back then but I really wanted a full keyboard without having to opt for a Blackberry. When I read the reviews back then a lot of them seemed to comment on slow reaction ... times, it automatically switching itself off and a couple on battery life but for the first 6 or so months I really couldn't fault the phone. Priced around £70 from Tesco it also wasn't that expensive compared to other PAYG phones.
I love the size of the phone as it's not that big even or thick even with the slide out keyboard underneath. If I'm using the touch screen (which can only be used for calls rather than SMS) I don't feel as though it's going to fall out my hand even though this takes up 3/4 of the front. The buttons are a little low down especially when trying to end a call or press cancel but if the keyboard is out the screen flips from portrait to landscape and they don't become a problem because it's generally held with both hands then.
I don't need anything fancy from my phone as I generally just use it for texting, the occasional phone call, taking pictures (if I've forgotten my camera) and if I'm really desperate, accessing Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo mail. I find the keyboard easy to use as each key is separate but if my nails are too long then it can slow me down a bit. I find that if I ever type the letter K in a text it will move one character to the left so the K ends up at the end of the text and I don't put number lock on so always end up having to press the Fn button for each digit entered into a SMS whereas I would have preferred just to hold Fn down. I like that it stores SMS by person rather than individual messages as it's then easy enough to remind yourself of the conversation but it can become very tedious to scroll through previous messages - especially if working your way back down because it has to go through each line of text.
When using the phone to make phone calls I've never had a problem with the quality of the sound and I'm rarely asked to repeat what I've said but a lot of that can be down to having a good signal too. I prefer to slide the keyboard out rather than use the touch screen for a call though as sometimes I end up pressing the wrong digits but more often than not, holding the phone to my ear while on touch screen will end up pressing numbers too which isn't helpful if I'm trying to top up my phone. The speakerphone can be activated during a call too which I prefer to use at home if I know I have to navigate through O2s menu as they're always quick to say "That didn't work".
The camera on the phone is only 2 mega pixels so really not great quality. I hate the fact that if I take a picture, I can save it but then if I want to send it in an MMS it has to resize it when then overrides the original saved picture and it becomes a small picture when transferred to computer. Outside in good light it actually doesn't take that bad a photo but it's not good indoors or in low light. It will record short videos too which don't look too great on the small screen but it will pick up sound well. If I don't have my camera with me I will use the camera/video options on my phone if really wanted. Files are stored neatly in the My Stuff folder each separated into images, sounds, videos, documents (never used!) and others. I've only ever transferred one song to my phone for the MP3 player as I've never bought an external memory card and it plays back well - even have it as my text tone but I just wouldn't use my phone as an MP3 player because the headset is even more uncomfortable than the basic set you get from Apple. Annoyingly the headset has to be attached if planning on using the FM radio which I would have been more likely to use.
The phone uses Java and came with 3 games pre-loaded. Sudoku Café was a game I also had on an MP4 player and I can't get anywhere near matching my times from that on my phone because it lacks the ability to use the touch screen so you have to scroll through each square. Extreme skateboard is one I've never managed to get the hang of - I'm lucky if I can last 30 seconds on that and the third game is the Shrek the Third Demo which has limited play (but seems to give more) but really just isn't playable on this phone as you have to use keyboard and it's just too fiddly. Apps can be downloaded but the only one I've downloaded is Facebook. It claims to be faster than using the website but I can't say I notice a huge difference. On that note, Facebook, Yahoo Mail and Twitter are usable but I much prefer using my laptop for those. My Twitter account got hacked while I was on holiday though so I'm always very wary about visiting sites on my phone. The speed in my area is incredibly slow but I notice a huge difference if I go to a large city like Glasgow or Edinburgh.
Now onto those problems I'd read about. Over time I've found that when sliding open or closing the keyboard the phone will just switch itself off. There doesn't really seem to be any specific reason as it will do it even when not opening/closing it violently. Thankfully these are few and far between but it always has me worried it will stop working and the last time meant my phone was off all day as I'd not noticed it had switched off. The reaction time can also be related to the slide as there can be a few seconds delay between opening it and the screen rotating to landscape. This can become worse at some points to where it won't cancel back to the home screen or it takes its time catching up with the buttons pressed. Again this doesn't happen too often but more often than I'm happy with. The only other problem I've had is my text tone, which should only last 10 seconds; actually play a lot more of the song than it should. Not a big issue but thankfully it's only happened in the house than in public.
Bad battery life is actually not something my phone has suffered from. Even with the original battery I can keep the charge in my phone for at least a week - even when it's on 24/7 and sending texts/checking for messages or the phone continually reminding me I have a text. It does decrease quite rapidly when using the internet which if using for a few hours can reduce the battery to 1-2 days.
The phone is easy to customise with tones, pictures and comes pre-loaded with some quite nice graphics. One of the things that did annoy me early on with the phone was the quick key to O2 active as it would waste my credit when accidently pressing it. The phone keypad will lock when not in use but this will unlock when the keyboard opens. It has the very handy tools of reliable alarm clock, calculator, stopwatch, world clock and unit convertor, calendar and memo, Bluetooth and USB connections - I only ever use USB to transfer photos and videos which is easy to do.
If I were to have known about all these little problems with the phone 3 years ago I probably would still have bought it and it's a phone I expect to be using for a quite a while yet. I wouldn't recommend buying a second hand one though as the problems with reaction and switching itself off only seem to develop over time so although it is coming more frequent with my phone I'm hoping it doesn't die quite yet. It doesn't really bother me that the camera isn't that good quality or that that browsing isn't ideal because I usually have my laptop and digital camera with me and it's just not that user friendly for games. As a phone though it sends texts and makes calls just fine. I bought mine in blue and I'm actually quite surprised none of the colour has come off the keyboard over time. The screen does have a couple of scratches and the back is a bit scuffed but it has worn well.
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