Sharp GX30i, one of the best phones on the market (Sharp GX30)

Member Name: bowdeni

Product:	Sharp GX30
Date:	02/04/05 (2950 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good battery life, Amazing quality screen & camera, Good buid

Disadvantages: Average navigation interface, camera can be blurry when taking photographs

The Sharp GX30i is an amazing quality phone and you will have to look hard to better it. I purchased this phone on contract on Vodafone, so would like to state the contract detais.
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VODAFONE
Phone cost: FREE
Monthly rental: £15.99 (18 months)

Texts = 250 per month
Calls = 600 minutes off peak
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The range and quality of phones that you can pick up for free on contracts varies greatly. So it is important that you get the one of the best phones available and by getting the Sharp GX30i, you will.

The Sharp GX30i is exclusive to vodafone and features flip phone design. It is high specification, having many features that many phones do not have.

SCREEN
The Sharp GX30i has a stunning 262k colour display, and a 128k external display. The intenal display is the best quality display i have seen on any phone. I believe that mobile phone screen performance can not do much better than what the Sharp GX30i has accomplished. The images displayed are razor sharp, and colourful. If you are looking for a phone that has a great screen, then you must definatly look into getting this phone.

CAMERA
The Sharp GX30i features a fantastic camera. It has a 1meg pixel camera which not only takes superb quality photographs, the phone also has video capture abilities. Yes the phone does take amazing quality photographs (one of the best on the market for a cameraphone) but the only criticism I have of the Sharp GX30i camera is that you have to hold the phone still to take a sharp image. Slight movement can make the image blurry. That aside, the Sharp GX30i has stunning picture capabilities.

PHONE CALLS & TEXT
As specification of phones has increased and new technological advancements have been made in the market, the fundamental reason of having a phone has been ignored. While there is not much room for innovation in this feature, what the Sharp GX30i does, it does very well. Calls are presented well, clearly and potentially loudly. The text function on the Sharp GX30i is same to any other phone, featuring T9 etc. The only criticism I would have of the text feature that sometimes the phone limits how fast you can text. This is not an issue though.

BATTERY LIFE
Improvement in phone technology such as colour screens and cameras have generally meant that the battery life on phones has decreased. The Sharp GX30i features a very good battery life, with myself only having to charge it every few days. This compares to other phones I have had, by sony ericsson that have had in the past been required to be charged every night. So battery life is important to you, then the Sharp GX30i is a solid performer in this catagory.

MP3 PLAYER
The Sharp GX30i does have a built in mp3 player, which is of a suffice quality. The phone comes supplied with earphones, which aren't the greatest quality. If you are at the bustation and desperate to listen to some music then this may be appealing but the Mp3 player on the Sharp GX30i certainly won't replace your ipod. The phone has about 6mb internal memory which is about average but does have one other feature that allows fantastic options...

MEMORY CARD
The Sharp GX30i has a SD card reader. This means that you can put little memory cards into the phone. The obviously attraction of this feature is that it is EASY to transfer pictures and ringtones onto your phone... FAB. You can stick a load of mp3s on the card too, to listen to. The Sharp GX30i coems supplied with a 8mb card.

OTHER CONNECTIVITY
The Sharp GX30i also features bluetooth and and infrared, which have been compatible with all phones i have tried them with apart from Samsung. You can send pics... ringtones... whatever. Bluetooth also allows the option of a headset.

RINGTONES
Although this wasn't a huge concern for me when purchasing a phone, i can understand if it is to a lot of others. As far as ringtones go on the Sharp GX30i performs well. The criticism i have of the phone is that mp3s can't be used as ringtones, but can be concerted to another format and used, overcoming this problem. The volume of the ringtones is louder than usual.

CRITICISMS
In regard to a comment, I acknowledge that I have not really addressed criticisms of this phone. The first criticism I guess is the size. While it is average, and a good size for me, there are smaller phones on the market which may suit some people. Another criticism of the Sharp GX30i is that it is not 3g. This means that it is not third generation and so does not work on the high speed network. This is not an issue for me since I don't want to do video calling and download sport clips. As already commented, other criticisms include the picture going blurry when you move the phone when taking a photograph and the mp3 ringtone niggle. A very final criticism of the phone is that the navigational interface (like menus) isn't beautiful. Its a simple red and white structure, which may put some people off.

To conclude the Sharp GX30i is a very good phone and I urge you to consider it if you are purchasing a new phone. Available from FREE on contract, it is definatly value for money. Some people are put off that Sharp are perhaps not a ronound for making phones since they don't market them that much, but Sharp are a leading manufacturer. The Sharp GX30i is well built, has an awesome screen, great features and superb battery life. Definatly recommended!

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