SAMSUNG (Samsung SGH-X830)

Member Name: Butterfly-Wings

Product:	Samsung SGH-X830
Date:	22/09/08 (123 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: small,lightweight, variety of features

Disadvantages: the key pad layout is annoying at first

The Samsung SGH X830 is a slim line swivel phone which is very small and light weight. The size of the phone is W30 X H84 X D20 mm and its total weight is a small and impressive 72g. Some people may think that because the phone is as small that it may not be as good as some other mobile phones on the market, but this small phone packs a punch and is full of features. The mobile is not your standard Samsung slider or flip phone, the X830 is a swivel phone, basically you just push the side of the phone and it swivels round and doubles in length and in turn revealing the key pad. I really love the design of the phone because it fits snugly in the palm of your hand, it can fit into the smallest of handbags or even your pocket and it can remain unnoticed and concealed.

I think that the overall design and appearance of the phone is quite unusual because it isn't your everyday normal mobile phone which is quite bulky and heavy. I think that the phone looks more like an MP3 player because of the sleek and slim line appearance. Some people may dislike the appearance and overall design of the phone however it think that it fab and the design is a little more than ordinary and plain.

The screen on the phone is really small compared to the screen size of some of the earlier Samsung phones, and sometimes viewing videos and pictures on the screen can look small and lacking detail. But you cant really expect anything more from the phone as the screen size is limited due to the small size and shape of the actual phone. The screen is less than half the size of a normal Samsung screen and it measures a small and impressive 19mm wide by 32mm high colour screen. Another impressive feature on the phone is the fact that it has a silver wheel which is used to navigate and access the phones various folders and features, this wheel is quite different compared to the usual buttons or touch sensitive screen which is normally associated to Samsung Mobile phones. The wheel takes some time to get used to and is slightly difficult to operate if you have been used to using a touch screen mobile phone, however after a few minutes of getting to know the phone and how it operates the wheel is actually quite easy to get used to and easy to operate. The added benefit of the wheel compared to the touch sensitive buttons is the fact that you cant accidentally glide across one of the touch sensitive buttons and loose a text message or similar.

Like some of the other mobile phones on the market the X830 boasts some quick keys which are located on the side of the phone. These quick access keys are used to access the phones camera or video options where by you can shoot a video or take a photo. The phone boasts a 1.3MP camera, which takes fairly decent and clear photos, although my main criticism of the camera would be the fact that sometimes some images can look really blurred and out of focus especially if the object you are trying to shoot is moving or it is to close however this can easily be rectified by either zooming out or in on your subject. If your picture is out of focus all you have to do is delete the photo and take another one, but try zooming in a little more to see if the clarity is any better. The camera also has a flash which you can turn on or off before you decide to take your picture, I find that if the flash is on when taking a picture that the clarity is a lot better even if it is daylight and the flash is really bright.

After you have taken a picture it will be saved automatically to your picture folder in the phone, you ca edit and amend your picture after it is taken. There are various different editing options available to you , you could add some frames to your picture such as borders or decorative frames to make your picture look more appealing and add a little fun factor. As well as adding frames you can also change the photo effect to black and white, sepia or even negative effect, or simply change the ISO level or white balance. There are endless options to choose to edit your picture with, some of which can produce quite a fun looking and original photo. There is another added feature on the camera settings which is quite useful too, this feature is a timer which can be automatically set for 5,10,15+ seconds to enable you to be in the picture as well.

Unlike any other mobile phone the number keys are set out quite differently, instead of being arranged in rows of three the number keys are arranged in rows of two. This is quite unusual however because of the slim line design of the phone the standard 3 button key layout couldn't have been possible so Samsung had to improvise and arrange the keys slightly differently. The layout of the keys doesn't mean that the phone is difficult or confusing to operate, I didn't find it any different or more difficult from using a normal phone key layout. My only criticism of the phone buttons is the fact that they are quite small and sometimes hard to press as they can be slightly sticky; this is because the buttons don't really stick out from the phone much, they are rather flat. The flat design of he buttons is actually a good idea in the long run as there is less of a chance of things getting stuck in or around the buttons making them function differently or not at all. The phone has a couple of hot keys built into it which can be used quickly by pressing and holding the appropriate number. If you press and hold key number 1 it will automatically call your voicemail number for you so as you can listen to any missed voicemails. If you press and hold the # key it will put your phone on silent mode and to take your phone off silent mode you just press and hold the same button again.

As I have previously stated the X830 is full of modern features which you would expect from a newer model of mobile phone. Some of the features on the X830 as follows. ~


BLUETOOTH ~ The Bluetooth on the phone is really fast and easy to use. Bluetooth is used to connect to other mobile phones of friends and family who are close range to your phone in order to quickly send and receive files such as songs and photos. Bluetooth is a really quick way to connect and share files on your phone with friends and family. All popular mobiles have Bluetooth on them now. I would be lost if I didn't have Bluetooth on my phone because I am always sending and receiving ring tones and pictures from various friends and family members.

VIDEO CAMERA ~ The Video Camera on the phone isn't that good for filming short video clips because the sound quality is quite poor and crackly. If you are filming a video it will only let you film a video for a maximum of 3 minutes, which isn't that good so I very rarely use the video camera. This is probably one of the worst things about the phone because a lot of newer mobile phones on the market allow you to film longer videos and the quality is much more better. The Video playback quality is quite good providing that you are not playing back videos you have took with the X830 video camera. If you are playing videos which you have filmed yourself using the X830 video camera the visual quality is quite good but the audio quality really lets it down because there is alit of crackling sounds. I have noticed that videos I have received through Bluetooth are of much better quality because they have not been filmed using the X830.

MESSAGING ~ This phone allows you to send text messages, video messages, multimedia messages and e-mails. I only use the text messaging on the phone because there is no need for me to send multimedia messages with pictures and videos in them because I can do all that through Bluetooth. When you are texting using the phone you have the option to select T9 predictive texting so that you only have to click on the letter once and the phone will select the word for you. I find this too hard to do and I stick to the normal way of texting.

MUSIC PLAY BACK ~ The media centre on the phone is great because you can play all the songs that you have stored on the phone just in the same way you would do with a MP3 player. The volume is really loud and clear when playing songs back. The phone only plays back MP3 songs and the best thing about the music playback is that you don't have to look for another song to play after one has finished because it will automatically play through all the songs one after another like an MP3 player would do.

PHONE MEMORY ~ The best thing about this phone is the fact that it has quite an impressive sized memory. The phone boasts a massive 1GB of internal memory which enables you to store lots of MP3, picture and video files. I have over 150 full length MP3 tracks stored on my phone at present as well as quite a few pictures and there is still over 60% of the memory remaining. The massive memory capacity enables you to store lots of MP3 tracks on your phone and use it much like an MP3 player which is good as you can either listen to the tracks out loud, add earphones for when your out and about or even add Samsung Speakers to it enabling you to listen to the music at a much louder volume than the phone is capable of.

If 1GB of memory isn't enough for you and you feel the need of more memory then you can easily purchase a Micro SD memory card and insert it into the phone until you have the desired amount of memory. Micro SD cards can be bought from most places nowadays and are fairly cheap and are available in different capacities such as 1GB, 2GB, 5GB+ etc.

BATTERY LIFE ~ When you first open your phones box and install the battery it is best to leave your phone turned off and charge it for 16-18 hours so as the battery is charged to full capacity.

When your phone is fully charged you should get about 4 hours talk time or 265 hours stand by out of it. I usually only have to charge my phone twice a week, and I use it quite often every day for phone calls and text messaging as well as voice mail and sometimes taking pictures. The battery really does last for a long time and doesn't need charging very much. When I do charge my phone it takes 90 minutes to fully charge it when the battery life is extremely low, which is really quick compared to some mobile phones. Another good thing about the phone is the fact that it has a loud bleep which warns you when your battery is running low, the beeping can be quite annoying especially if it goes off at 4am in the morning.

CALL/RINGING VOLUME ~ as with some mobile phones I have often noticed that the ring tone volume is quite low and difficult to hear especially when you are out and about. I thought that this phone was going to be another one of the typical phones which had a really low and hard to hear ringing volume mainly because of the small size of it, however I was proved completely wrong. The ringing volume is very loud and is very easy to hear if you are out shopping and the phone is in the bottom of your handbag. If you find that the volume is too loud for you can easily turn it down a little until you find a volume level which is more suitable for you. Or you could also set to to silent or vibrate for when you are at work or in a meeting.

The call clarity is also quite loud and clear and not at all crackly or echoed, on the side of the phone there is a volume button which enables you to increase the call volume or decrease it until you find a volume level which is best suited to your own personal preference. As well as being able to increase/decrease the volume easily you can also switch to hands free or even speaker phone easily as well, switching to hands free would mean that you would have to use a hands free device and activate Bluetooth where as speaker phone would mean that all you have to do is press the green call button and the phone call goes onto speaker so as you can hear louder or so as more than one person can hear the conversations.


SAMSUNG PC STUDIO ~ When I got this phone there was also a CD included which is basically named Samsung PC Studio. You just have to install the software to your PC or Laptop which enables you to connect your phone to your PC in order to transfer and manage files between them. The best thing about the PC studio is that you can edit a MP3 song to make it shorter in order to use it as a ring tone. There are loads of other things you can do with the PC studio such as editing photos, editing movies, editing sounds, play multimedia files and manage photos. The PC studio is really easy to use and there is a help section and regular updates available when you install it on your computer or Laptop.


I really love this phone because it is really small and lightweight and has lots of memory so as I can store my favourite music tracks and lots of photos of my son. The phone has lots of good features and most importantly the call volume and ring tone volume is clear and loud so as I can hear properly. I think that the design and appearance the phone is quite unusual and different, and the small size enable me to squeeze the phone into the smallest of handbags. I would say that this phone is like a MP3 player and mobile phone combined into one. I can only pick out a small fault with the phone and that is the fact that the screen is quite small and some pictures and videos looks quite out of focus and blurred, and the screen gets scratched quite easily if you happen to drop the phone on the floor.

I love my phone even although my husband has renamed it the Samsung Tampax

This phone is available on Mobile contract from quite a lot of mobile retailers including O2, Vodafone, Orange etc although contract prices and offers are all different. If you don't like the idea of having a contract phone then you could also purchase it online or in store from mobile phone retailers or even EBay. Prices range between £100-£160 depending on where you purchase from.

Butterfly-Wings
2008

Summary: a fantastic phone from Samsung which has a ton of memory

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