my phone's anorexic

It’s four months old, and somehow still turning heads. I put my ring ring R70 a month phone on the table and people go apesh1t about how small it is. Yes, the Samsung X820 is, at 6.9mm, still the slimmest phone on the market. It’s an engineering feat that they managed to squeeze so many functions into such a tiny package. I got the D500 when it looked like a happening phone, and now Samsung handsets are firmly in the market. We’re going to take a little look at how my phone (‘rocksta42’ for those BT users) makes life easier.



We’re gonna start with the bad news. Shortcuts were necessary and unfortunately they did skimp here and there.
Battery life: not great, it’s plugged in every second night. It’s the trade off for a tiny package, if you’re a high volume voice user, don’t even think of getting one.
Flash: none..well that sucks, I used my last one as a torch all the time.
Ringer/Vibrate: this is a sore point from the D500, they don’t allow the phone to ring and vibrate concurrently. Might be something to do with current limitations, but it’s a crap issue, as you want to feel it when it’s in your pocket and hear it when its on the table.
Sound: The microphone is not that good, and speech quality is compromised.
Tones: it’s a huge mission to change alarm tones and the generics all suck, the best being the MTN one that comes supplied. New ones have been uploaded so that’s okay now.



I’m glad the bad news is done, because that could have got dragged out. Luckily this list is longer.
Tiny: Sometimes I look for the phone and its actually lost in my pocket, really low volume but no compromises with screen or keys.
Cheap: R69 pm all inclusive on MTN’s MyCall 100, the best package out there, 15 minutes during peak time are well worth it.
Rough ‘n tuff: Despite initial worries it would bend like a credit card, it’s actually quite hardy.
Hardware: Despite the package size it’s still got vibrate, 2Mpixel camera, MP3 player, Bluetooth, EDGE
Extras: The OS is really good, and there are plenty of handy peripherals with it. Calenders, Timers, converters, Picsel data viewer, on board image editor, JAVA amongst others
Connectivity, Bluetooth and EDGE (fast enough for my uses)
PC link: The Samsung PC studio that comes with the phone is a top package, and there’s a handy USB cable supplied.

Later on we'll look into clever ways the web has found its way into your phone