Samsung SGH-X700

At a glance the X700 looks like one of the basic type phones that Samsung has produced in the past like the E350 which only had infra red for connectivity. I bought one x700 off Ebay in working condition to experiment with my flashing and unlocking software I had recently bought. On opening the box I was surprised how neat and small the phone was. I was even more surprised when I powered the unit up and went through the phones menu. First of all I was impressed by the clarity of the screen. It was just as clear as the more expensive phones and had a real quality in the vibrant colours the LCD produced. Then I went on to its connectivity…..Brilliant! It had bluetooth, and when connected to another phone and once accepted by it’s owner, you can roam around in the other persons phone viewing all the content just like viewing files on a PC. This is a trademark with Samsung and I have yet to come across a different manufacturers phone that can function the same way.
The ability to expand its memory with a memory card also brought a smile on my face and I immediately came to the conclusion that this phone is well worth having.
The ring tones where loud, it also had quite a few tones stored in the phone, but it suffered the same old problem as with almost all other Samsung phones, they still haven’t made the option for customising text alert tones! The preset tones are short and a little on the quiet side.
Incoming voice calls are loud and I had to reduce the volume about half way not to damage my ear-drum, the out going calls are very crisp and clear according to my wife who was helping me test out the phone.
The phone is internet ready and the screen is large enough to see the pages quite clearly. It also has a stereo radio but you have to use the earphones for it to work as they double up as the FM antenna to receive the signals. The camera fitted to the X700 has a 1.3-mega pixel camera taking clear pictures even in low light conditions, and they have omitted the option of a LED flash which in my opinion is useless unless you are about 12 inches away from the object, so no loss there.
Most of you reading this review must have come across the Samsung D600 at some point. The x700 is almost a carbon copy of that very popular phone, but the x700 is a lot more robust and will take a lot more rough handling that the D600. The D600 is a slide phone and the thickness on the LCD half of the phone is thin and thus more prone to the display cracking if handled without care, also the slide mechanism is prone to failure as it wears, as with the ribbon cable connecting the two sliding sections of the phone.
To sum up, If you want a phone with all the technical goodies, take a beating, have good looks and a economical price tag, this is the one for you!