My change from Nokia to Sharp (Sharp GX25)

Member Name: herbie1977

Product:	Sharp GX25
Date:	01/07/05 (1834 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great camera, easy to use

Disadvantages: A bit hard to open clam shell

My daughter was recently given a Sharp GX10i for her birthday, I was amazed by the photo quality on the camera & have to admit it's a nice looking flip phone. So as I was due an upgrade I decided to look at phones other than Nokia.

So I browsed the vodafone website to see what options I had. My heart was won over by the snappy looking Sharp GX25. The next step was to phone Vodafone & sign up for another 12 months & to order my new phone. I have to say after trying off & on for a few hours to get through, they were completely lovely when I did manage to get to speak to a customer services operator. She explained all the phones features & talked me through my current bill so I could make changes to suit my needs. To upgrade to this phone I had to pay an extra £20.00 but was told the phone would arrive the next day.

The next day, I stayed in all day, by 8pm no sign of my new phone so i called 191 vodafone, again they were very pleasant & told me that the phone has been dispatched, the courier had noted that delivery failed but left a calling card. Now I never left the house all day, we have a very loud doorbell & no calling card was left!! The very helpful girl from Vodafone told me that they would send out another one to be delivered on Friday. Well it arrived Thursday morning.

But this review isn't about Vodafone & their very lovely phone operators or their terrible couriers so I will tell you about the phone.

**THE PHONE & IT'S FEATURES**

The Sharp GX25 is 23.5 x 46 x 92 mm in size, 90g in weight, has 3.5 hours talktime & standby time of 240 hours. It is currently designed exclusively for the Vodafone network but will soon be available on other networks. It has 320x240 pixel resolution 262,000-colour high-density display. It also has a VGA resolution camera with flash, night mode and digital zoom & Bluetooth. The GX25 is a tri-band GSM phone with GPRS and a WAP browser and email client. It supports Java, polyphonic ringtones, PC synchronisation, and video playback.

I love the look of this phone. It has a black front & back with silver sides. On the front at the top is the camera, next to that a mirror & then a little light. Under this down the front is a section that lights up blue & has the time showing. When you open it up the inside is black with black numbers & a silver cursor at the top. The screen is big & the pictures are very clear.


**FUNCTIONS**

Games & more - The games featured on the GX25 are Puzzle Bobble which is a demo, you get 10 free goes but once you have used these up you have to actually download the game. I've played it once & quite enjoyed it so maybe I will download it. Arkanoid is another demo game, this one I haven't played yet but it looks like a space invader type game. The last featured game is Bomblink. This one doesn't seem to be a demo, it's a bombing game. There are lots of bombs on the screen & you have to blow them up! It doesn't end there though as you can download other games of your choice.

Vodafone Live - this is a new mobile internet portal which is a gateway to information, games, music & services. I used this today to download a couple of ringtones. It takes a bit of getting used to but all in all i found it easy.

Applications - this features sim application (but it seems that it isn't available on my GX25), alarms, calculator, voice recorder, melody editor & phone help.

Messages - create message, multimedia messages, text, email, live studio, vodafone mail, messenger, cell broadcasts & area info.

Camera - the best feature on this phone in my opinion. You can take photographs & also record video clips which last about 10 seconds. The camera lets you choose picture size, picture quality, has a delay timer, continuous shoot, anti-flicker & a light.

My items - this takes you to pictures, games & more, sounds, videos, text templates, bookmarks & memory status.

Calendar - self explanitory really. This features a large calendar of the month. You can add notes to the dates, birthday etc.

Contacts - now this is far more advanced than my Nokia. It has a contact list which allows you to add a group icon, mobile, home, work phone number, home address, e-mail address & notes for each person in your contact list. It has a call log, speed dial list, my numbers, call timers & data counter.

Settings - connectivity, this is where you will find your Bluetooth, infrared & PC software options. Now I don't really get this Bluetooth stuff. Myself & a friend tried to pair up our phones tonight as an experiment but it didn't work. More playing with this bit is needed. This section also features profiles (where you can customise your ringtones, ring volumes etc), display, sound, call settings, date & time, language, network, security & master reset.

**MY THOUGHTS ON THIS PHONE**

Well I have had this phone for two weeks now & I've fallen for it. It's looks are great, its small but not too small, it rings very loudly so hopefully there'll be no more missed calls where I haven't heard it ring. The screen is fantastic, so clear. It's so easy to use. Making a call is so easy & it's as clear as crystal. You have a a volume up & down button the the side of the phone & I have found that using the highest volume is actually too loud which is unlike any other phone I have owned as I always struggle to hear the person I'm talking to. Texting is pretty much the same as a Nokia. The symbols are in the same place, buttons are spaced nicely to make text messaging easy, it also has predictive text which I don't actually use.I have only ever had Nokia's before & to be honest was rather frightened of change but I have to say there will be no looking back from here. So if you want a mobile phone that takes a damn good quality photo then this little Sharp flip phone is for you. This is a natural progression from a Nokia & a definate improvement.

Summary: This phone looks smart, is very easy to use & takes great photos. There's no going back to Nokia now