TINY Phone (Samsung SGH-X830)

Member Name: JJJJ

Product:	Samsung SGH-X830
Date:	20/12/08 (164 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks

Disadvantages: Keypad layout difficult for texting

Consumer technology is getting smaller and smaller, and this is perhaps most apparent in mobile phones. The Samsung 'X830' is without doubt the tiniest phone I have ever seen, measuring around 3cm across.

I recently picked up one of these little beauties second-hand from eBay, after dipping my previous phone into a pint of Guinness to prove its robustness. Unfortunately my old phone wasn't to happy to be submerged in stout, and showed its disappointment by refusing to turn on.

The X830 looks just like an MP3 player, and features a scroll-wheel as you might see featured on an iPod. The phone itself is in the 'swivel' style, which means you have to rotate the top section open to reveal the keypad. It is this keypad however, which is one of the phones main weaknesses. The numbers are arranged in two columns rather than three, which means that the letters when texting are in a different location. Using it feels like when you learnt to text for the first time - a very slow process!

The phone features a 1.3 megapixel camera, which isn't very much these days, but it actually works quite nicely. The downside however, is the fact that the lens is positioned in an awkward location, and holding the phone as you would normally means your fingers will naturally obscure the lens. In one review of the phone, I read that you could operate the camera without opening the device - which would be much better. I have tried to do this, but it doesn't seem to work, (and it also doesn't mention it in the manual) so if you know how to, let me know!

The X830 houses an MP3 player which is marketed as being the phones main feature. In fairness, this works very well, and the sound quality really is good. The options for music playback are fairly basic, but feature repeat, shuffle, fade-out and '3D sound' options. In terms of storing music, the phone has 1GB of internal memory, which equates to holding roughly 240 songs. Slightly dissapointing is the lack of a card slot for holding more music.

When using the X830 simply as a phone, it works to a high standard. The sound quality is good, and there is a rocker switch on the side of the unit to adjust the earpiece volume level. The Battery life is supposed to be 230 hours on standby time, and 5.2 hours talk-time, but these figures are usually exaggerated. I found the phone to generally go for about three days of low use before it needs charging.

In conclusion, the Samsung X830 certainly is a designer phone. If you use your mobile mainly for calling, then you can't go wrong here - however, if you're a serial texter, then due to the unusual keypad layout, you should look elsewhere. If you're keen on purchasing this model, you can buy the X830 for £119 from Amazon, or for under £50 if you're happy for a second hand version from eBay.

Summary: Looks good, tricky to use

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