Wynncom OGO 077-Konnect - A Definite No-Go

Continuing our series of inexpensive feature phones, today we have Wynncom’s OGO 077-Konnect under the spotlight. Some of the key features of this phone include Push mail, Social applications like Nimbuzz and Snaptu, and a QWERTY keypad with an optical trackpad which is not something we see often on low end phones. But, is this enough to stand out in a sea of Chinese clones or other low end devices that are in the same price bracket? Let's find out. 

Design and Build

The 007-Konnect is a dual SIM, quad-band phone with support for EDGE, but not 3G or Wi-Fi. It has a classic candy-bar form factor and is incredibly light (even with the battery) at just 69g. It’s not bad to look at either, in fact it's very presentable and you won’t feel embarrased if you whip it out in public. I also have to give them props for the build quality; the plastic used is sturdy and doesn’t creak even when pressed. The paint finish is good too but overly glossy so fingerprint smudges are always evident. The bundle includes a charger, data cable, in-ear headset, carry pouch and two back covers (red and black).

Backlight is even across the keypad

I was pleasantly surprised to see a 3.5mm jack and a micro-USB charging port present. There’s nothing else on the sides other than the volume rocker. The screen is a 2.4-inch TFT with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. Not bad, but not great either as the brightness is sufficient at the default settings, but the vertical viewing angles are not too great. Unfortunately, Wynncom has gone with a glossy finish for the keypad as well which makes it a pain to use with greasy fingers. Also, the keys have these weird grooves which are supposed to help you distinguish one key from another but end up being counter productive. The optical trackpad is another sore point as the sensitivity was not very good even after adjusting it. At times, it works well, but most of the times it's either over-sensitive or doesn’t work at all. And you don’t really have a choice but to use it, as there’s no D-pad. 

Features

Interface

The 007-Konnect features a Java-based interface like most entry level phones. I quite liked the style and design of the icons used, they are in-keeping with the whole red and black theme of the phone. Navigating through the menu is sluggish and the trackpad does not help one bit here. Thankfully you can use the two option buttons to quickly switch pages. The home screen has a neat layout as well with all the information about the signal, battery and currently used profile lined up on the top and there’s a shortcut bar below which you can customize in the settings menu to access features that you'd frequenty use.

Well designed menu but a bit sluggish to use

The one major problem I came across was that every little application is a separate icon in the menu and not in categories. For instance, 'Profiles' is not in the settings section which is the first place you’d look. Also, in order to get GPRS going, you need to set a Java profile in the browser, only then will all the Java apps be able to connect to the Internet. This unorganised menu system is really frustrating which is where it loses a lot of points. 

Media

The built-in music player supports mp3/MID/WAV/AAC/AMR. The 007-Konnect accepts micro-SD cards but only up to 8GB. The music player is pretty decent and easy to use. The built- in accelerometer is tied in with the media player allowing you to switch songs by simply flicking your wrist. The only problem is that it's too sensitive so even a slight twitch will change the song so swinging your hands while walking and listening to music is not a good idea obviously.

The in-ear headset blocks out sufficient ambient noise

The sound quality is poor with the bundled earphones, but does a decent job of isolating ambient noise. On the other hand, the built-in rear speaker is pretty loud, more than you’d want. The video player supports 3gp/MP4/RMVB file formats well enough provided they're reduced to a resolution of 320 x 240 and lower. An FM radio is present, as well along with a recording feature and reception was a non issue.