Samsung X200 - small wonder
( Review )
 
 
Samsung X200 
(actual size)
Samsung X200 is truly a small wonder. All important functionalities bundled in a small ( 85x43.5x19.8 mm), slim, light ( 75 gms), sleek and compact clamshell with integrated antenna. Elegantly coloured in Titan Silver and black, it fits easily into both trouser or shirt pocket. Very comfortable and smooth to hold in hand.  

The battery and sim compartment's cover at the back is very easy to open as against some handsets where you have to really struggle to open it. 800 mAh Li-Ion battery is good enough. A headset connector on the side top is covered with a shutter. Below it are rather large volume buttons and IrDA at the bottom. A strap is fixed through a hole on the top and bottom features an interface connector covered with a plastic shutter.  

Easy to open with one hand and very comfortable while speaking as microphone gets quite close to your mouth. It has handsfree speakerphone too. The phone provides good connection even under noisy surroundings. Both loudspeaker's volume and microphone sensitivity are good. Call signal volume is higher than average, although vibra is not very strong. 

 
Display  
Samsung X200 has pretty good 65K Color UFB screen with resolution of 128x160 pixels (28x35 mm). Quality of the picture is good especially for a low-end phone.  

Keypad  
It has a standard Samsung keypad layout. A small 4 dimensional button with an "Ok" at centre. Two functional buttons on its sides are comfortable and large. The keys are easy to press. Keyboard backlight illuminates the characters and makes it easy to operate in dim light too. 

 
Menu  
The main menu is displayed in the form of a 3x3 matrix of beautiful icons. A selected icon is displayed as an animation. Submenus are vertical lists. Numbers can be used for fast navigation.  
 
 
Phonebook  
Phonebook can store 1000 numbers with four fields for mobile, work, home and e-mail that can be assigned to each contact. You can group numbers in the phone book and give a name to each group, assign a call melody, a message alert or associate a picture to the group. You can search in the phonebook by letters or groups. Can access both phone memory and SIM-card memory. Speed dial for up to 8 numbers is possible. Rainbow dialing displays digits in rainbow colours.  

Messages  
40 interesting embedded emoticon make SMS fun. Around 200 messages can be stored in the phone's memory. It supports EMS also and provides a preset of small pictures, animations and melodies. You can also create your own  templates. Predictive text input T9 is also supported. MMS editor is easy to use. The maximum size of an outgoing message cannot exceed 95 KB. Total memory available for storing all messages is 700 KB. SMS LED alert light indicates incoming SMS.  

Call list  
20 incoming, outgoing and missed calls are stored. Selecting a name or number here, you can see the number itself, date and time of call. Calls from the same numbers are not grouped but are displayed separately.  

Sound settings  
Sound settings is where you select a ringtone, ring volume, alert type like vibra or melody, keypad or message tone etc. This handset has around 40 Polyphonic ringtones offering a variety to your ears.  
   
Organizer  
Organizer of Samsung X200 includes Alarm where you can select Daily alarm and morning call too apart from once alarm; Calendar in monthly format, you can assign text for events (up to 40 characters) and turn a sound alert on; Time & Date settings with an interesting World Time function where you can instantly see the time of important places on the world map; To do list with priority setting, Voice memo, a simple Calculator and currency converter.  

Fun box  
You can play two preinstalled Games - BubbleSmile and Fun2Link. It includes WAP browser version 1.2.1. Sounds and Images can be downloaded in 600 KB memory. The handset supports Java MIDP 2.0. Around 512 KB of memory can be used for applications.  

Phone settings  
Phone settings include display settings where you can set a Wallpaper, adjust brightness and contrast settings, backlight, servicelight, graphic logo, dialing font color settings. Greeting messages, Language can also be selected here. This is also the place for Security settings, Shortcuts, Infrared activation etc.  

Connectivity  
It supports USB and IrDA. Although IrDA capabilities are limited where you can send only contacts and not pictures or melodies.  

Well, of course you can't expect smart phone functions at this price but with minimal function set the design is quite pleasant. 

 
Specifications: 
Frequency GSM Tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz)
Dimensions 85 x 43.5 x 19.8 mm, 77g 
Display 65536 Color UFB LCD (128x160 pixels, 8 lines), Wallpapers
Ringtones 40 Polyphonic Ringtones 
Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Emoticon, T9
Memory 1000 Entry Phonebook, Voice memo (5 x 30 sec), 512 KB for Java apps, 600 KB for ringtones and pictures, 700 KB for MMS 
Connectivity IrDA, USB
Browser WAP 1.2.1 
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps 
Battery Li-Ion 800 mAh, Talk Time up to 3 hr, Standby Time up to 350 hrs
Other Features Vibra alert, Speakerphone, Calculator, Calendar, Alarm Clock, Currency converter , To do list , Java MIDP 2.0 
Games 2 + downloadable
 
Drawbacks:
No Camera
Little internal memory (non dynamic)
Limited IrDA version

Advantages:
Small size
Comfortable keypad
Good phonebook capabilities
Colour display
Size of text & numbers is large providing easy visibility
Light weight
 
If you are looking for a simple phone with necessary functions and not for a camera or advanced features then
don't think twice, just grab it !!