9800 9mm Thick QWERTY Phone – Quick Review
Design is one of the factors that are taken into consideration to set phone’s apart from their competitors. So with this as a guide, does the China made 9800 stand out or fall to the wayside?
The 9800 phone sports an unfortunate product model moniker. In this case, the phone implies that it is supposed to be based on Blackberry’s 9800. In this case however, the makers deviated from the standard China copy formula, and created a phone semi original in design. In fact, one could almost say that it looks good?
Here are the China made 9800’s basic specifications.
At 9mm (.35 inches) thickness, it is one of the thinnest phones to have been released from China.
Input is done via its full QWERTY keyboard with raised keys, but the screen is not touchscreen capable.
Including the battery, this phone’s weight comes in at a light 115 grams.
Total measurements are (LxWxH) 113x56x9mm.
The size of the screen is 2.2 inches, has a resolution of 240×320, and is made from TFT.
This phone is unlocked, with access to any of the 4 GSM bands.
Dual SIM card ports including dual standby are built in.
It comes built with CE standard PCP plastic for its outer casing.
Acess to the internet from the phones done via WAP 2.0 and GPRS.
Battery life on standby clocks in at 70 to 90 hours on standby.
More programs or games can be installed by downloading and installing java apps to the java platform.
Extras include: a camera, a camcorder, an eBook reader, an analog TV receiver, a FM radio, and a MP3 player and MP4 player.
Multimedia includes: MP3 player/ MP4 player/ camera/ digital camcorder/ eBook reader/ TV with analog reception/ FM radio.
It comes included with a faux leather case that includes an extra battery for extending the battery life an additional 20 hours on standby.
So here are a few of my thoughts regarding the pros and cons of the China phone 9800.
Pros
The design is honestly stunning with nicely rounded edges, a very slim profile, and a weight that is next to nothing.
For both protecting the phone and extending the battery life, the included phone case is a good deal.
Pre-installed apps are both useful and nice to have, and with the ability to add more, the phone can potentially have many additional functions.
Though lacking in flash, the OS is very well built and very easy to use.
The QWERTY keys are raised from the phone and are easy and intuitive to press.
One would assume that a phone that looks like this would be a lot more expensive than its 73 dollar price tag.
Cons
Having no access to faster internet options (3G or EDGE) means browsing is slower than many people would like.
The screen would have been much better if they had made the size a bit bigger.
This phone, though named after the Blackberry 9800, goes its own direction in terms of design, and successfully made a quite attractive and very usable phone.
Price. US$72.84