A camera phone with severe limitations.
Written: Apr 04 '03 (Updated Apr 26 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Clarity: |
 |
|
| Portability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
|
|
|
Pros: Bright main display, good design and styling, convenient swivel camera, intuitive layout.
Cons: No Bluetooth, IR port is useless, no voice dialing, limited picture options. No PC connectivity.
The Bottom Line: This phone has excellent hardware design. But the built-in firmware is substandard and doesn't exploit the full potential of the phone. Mainly the camera, IR port and PC connectivity.
|
|
|
| aashok's Full Review: Samsung SGH-V205 |
Take a look at more pictures of this phone, on my profile page.
My Buying Decision.
I recently upgraded to a family wireless plan and had the need for an additional phone. I was not entirely convinced that having a digital camera in a cell phone was such a great idea, considering that the resolution is terrible and I already had a great digital camera in my Canon PowerShot S230 EPLH. My rational intellect finally lost to the gadget geek in me, but blames T-Mobile for their ad nauseam advertising. So far my favorite phone has been the Sony Ericsson P800.
The Layout.
The layout of buttons makes it very easy to quickly access the most common and popular functions. The keypad has the standard alphanumeric buttons in addition to the dial, hang up/power on-off, cancel/clear and four directional navigation buttons. The 4 navigation buttons can also be custom set for one button access to your favorite functions. There are four additional specialized buttons for WAP browser, Camera, Soft left and Soft right keys. The soft keys are for selecting functions on the display. On the side of the phone, is a headset jack, an IR port, and two volume-control buttons, which can be used to scroll through the V205's menus. The digital camera lens is attached at the center on the hinge between the keypad and the main LCD display.
What's HOT:
Small size Sleek and attractive design / styling. I was amazed at the small size and feel of the phone in my hand. It was extremely light even with the battery and holster. The brushed silver finish enhances the sleek clamshell design. People with small hands will love it with the slim battery installed. But my caveman mitts demand the additional size of an extended battery. The buttons have a pleasant blue back light that can be turned off or set for short duration to preserve battery charge. The shiny chrome trimmings make this a very attractive package.
Large color display. The main display is a large LCD screen, capable of 65000 colors, backlit and super bright. It displays the various icons on top, graphics and text in the center and Softkey functions at the bottom. This works very well even outdoors on a bright day. There is also an onscreen menu option to adjust the brightness level. The resolution is 128x160 and at 65k colors, the images almost jump off the screen.
External display on cover. This shows incoming calls or messages, alarm reminders, battery / signal strength and current date/time. It is blue backlit when the phone rings or is in use.
Convenient digital camera. The camera captures images with a 352x288 pixel CCD sensor. The camera lens is located on the large hinge and can be swiveled to face the front or the back of the phone. When turned towards yourself, the image is inverted. You need to press the arrow up/down to turn the image right side up. To take pictures, the large LCD acts as the viewfinder. The small external LCD does not do this. Hence the phone has to be flipped open to use the digital camera. The phone makes a simulated shutter release noise when you take a picture. The pictures taken in daylight were very clear and bright. Those taken in low light were very grainy and blurry. The brightness can be adjusted before taking a picture by pressing the arrow right or left buttons. There is no Zoom option what-so-ever. The phone has a capacity of storing up to 100 pictures in JPEG format. The resolution of images is 352x288 pixels and file sizes range from 7-12KB. This size is great for MMS and wireless messaging but looks terrible on a PC. Image transfer options to and from a PC are very limited.
Differences between the SGH-v200 and the SGH-v205 models:
- Samsung sells the SGH-v205 in North America. It has 25 Polyphonic ringtones included and the camera does not have any zoom feature.
- In Europe and Asia, Samsung sells the equivalent SGH-v200 model, which has 40 ployphonic ringtones included, and the camera allows for the image to be reduced or enlarged up to 20 different levels. 10 levels for enlargement, and 10 levels for reduction in size. I had a friend in Israel, e-mail me various pictures at different enlargement levels, for comparison purposes. The digital enlargements did result in excessive pixelation.
WAP browser and wireless messaging. I found the WAP browser to be quick and responsive. The phone allowed me to save links to some of my favorite sites as bookmarks. Sending and receiving of pictures, text/mms messages was quite easy. The menu was easier to explore and navigate with the softkeys and the four directional buttons. The only limiting factor to my enjoyment of the wireless web, was the substandard and spotty T-Mobile GPRS service.
Multi colored service light below external LCD window. Initially I found the multi colored flashing LEDs to be tacky. But they serve an important purpose. When you are in a ‘silence required’ environment like a meeting or a movie theater, the service light flashes rapidly to give a visual call/message indicator. It can be preset to flash in different color RGB color combinations. Solid blue is the best and brightest choice.
What's NOT:
Lousy Substandard Firmware. Although I found the phone hardware to be impressive, I felt that the firmware was severely lacking and did not exploit the full potential of the phone. There were many minor quirks, which just seemed like careless programming. For example, one option for the service light was solid pink, but when selected the service light was solid blue. When I called Samsung technical assistance to address various connectivity issues, they said that the firmware is preliminary and that they may be issuing updates to address consumer issues including added functionality.
Very limited picture options. Once you get the phone, you will enjoy taking pictures for a few days, but then you will hit a wall. What can you do with all those pictures inside the nice little phone? It turns out, VERY LITTLE. You can attach them to MMS and e-mail messages and send them to your friends or yourself, set them as wallpaper, but that is it. I couldn’t download them to my desktop, notebook or my iPAQ Pocket PC handheld. I couldn’t even associate a picture with a phonebook entry. And if you really want to capture moments and memories, do it with a real camera like the Canon S400.
Useless Infrared Port and No PC connectivity. Typically the IR port is supposed to allow for convenient wireless transfer of data between various IR equipped devices. Samsung technical support claims that the phone is capable of synching with MS Outlook, using the IR port. After exhaustive testing, I found that the IR port on the v205, cannot be used for anything. I couldn’t transfer pictures between my IPaq or my notebook and this phone. I did succeed in making an IR connection between the v205 and my HP xt375 notebook, but it wouldn’t let me upload or download any data. I have over 150 contacts on my SIM card. I was hoping to be able to manage and sync them with MS Outlook. I even purchased a $60 USB data cable, hoping that it would solve my problem. I downloaded and installed the ‘EasyGPRS’ software, as instructed by the Samsung level-3 technicians. They swore that this would allow me to sync my address book to MS Outlook. No dice. At the end of a week full of aggravation, I reached the following conclusion. Forget about connecting/sync to a PC and Samsung technicians are a waste of good oxygen. All Samsung needs to do is write device drivers for Windows. This would enable automatic image file downloads and sync with Outlook, as soon as an IR connection is established. But that would be too simple.
No voice activated dialing. Unlike my Sony Ericsson T68i , I cannot associate a voice tag to individual phone book entries. Voice activated dialing is invaluable for individuals who need to make and receive calls while driving, exercising, working etc.
No Bluetooth capability. I cannot use my Sony Ericsson HBH-30 Wireless Headset. Bluetooth is slowly becoming a standard for local wireless connectivity. It can be used to wirelessly connect and sync various peripherals and small electronic to each other. I have found a wireless hands free headset to be very convenient and practical. This phone does not support it.
Holster design could be better. Although I found the retention mechanism to be very sturdy and secure, it won’t accept the phone with an extended capacity battery.
No regular ring tones. Call me an old fogey but I was rather embarrassed the first time I was in my bosses office and my phone started to sing a jingle. The phone is capable of polyphonic or melodious ring tones. There are about 25 various ring tones included, but nothing that sounds like a plain old ring. I thought I could download some from T-Mobile online, but all they have are tons of more junky funky teenager tones. Wake up T-mobile. Teenagers cannot afford this phone.
The Bottom Line.
Samsung has excelled in the hardware design of this phone. But the built-in firmware is substandard and doesn't exploit the full potential of the phone, mainly the camera and IR port. The v205 is an easy to use camera phone. It adds digital imaging to the convenience of wireless messaging and wireless web. But lack of PC connectivity is a serious handicap. Overall, I cannot recommend this phone when there are other significantly better models available. (Nokia 3650, Sony Ericsson P800)
Included Accessories.
- Slim Li-Ion battery, 720mAh capacity,
- Standard Li-Ion battery, 900mAh capacity,
- Travel charger,
- Hands free headset,
- Holster,
- Wrist strap and
- User manuals.
Specifications.
Mode: Tri-band (GSM 900 MHz; 1800 MHz; and 1900 MHz)
Dimensions: 4.3” x 1.8” x 0.9”
Weight: 3.4oz
Talk Time: 2.5 - 4 hours (Slim), 3 - 5 hours (Standard)
Standby Time: 100 - 120 hours (Slim), 120 - 140 (Standard)
Main Display: 128 x 160 pixel, 65,000 color TFD display
Other Features.
Caller ID,
Conference calling,
Voicemail,
Multimedia and text messaging,
Alarms,
Internal phone book can store 500 entries.
Calendar,
Calculator,
To-do list,
Currency converter,
Wireless Web access,
Three games,
25 polyphonic ring tones,(but no regular ring tone)
Vibrate mode,
IR or infrared port.
==============================
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 349.00
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
aashok
|
 - Top 200 |
|
Member: Ashok
Location: The BIG Apple
Reviews written: 77
Trusted by: 194 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.