Mixx
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
delicious
reddit
MySpace
StumbleUpon
LinkedIn
|
If you haven’t heard of this company yet and are assuming it's some affiliate to Creative’s Zen series of PMPs you’re mistaken. Zen mobiles is relatively very new to the Indian mobile phone sector and one of their first handsets to make it out is the Dual SIM (GSM + GSM) Z77. Anyway you choose to look at it it’s a BlackBerry clone, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing. Take a closer look. Form Factor It’s an extremely light weight handset and ergonomically sound. It’s as close to a BlackBerry as you can get without actually owning one, right down to the colors used in the keypad and leather-like rear panel. The 2.2-inch TFT LCD is bright and makes for very easy viewing. The Z77’s QWERTY keypad, although a little bit slick i.e. slippery, will take a couple of minutes to get used to, but once you do it's smooth sailing. The 1.3MP camera and rather large and loud speaker are also located at the back. What I really appreciate about the Z77 is the fact that it incorporates the use of very standardized forms of connectivity viz. a micro USB port (bottom) for the charger and USB, a 3.5mm handsfree port (side) with a really well designed and comfortable handsfree kit provided and microSD card support (up to 2GB). The card slot is unfortunately not of the hot swap variety so removing it constantly is not an option. On the whole it’s a well designed handset, but then again so is the original. Features and Performance Interface The Java based UI is very smooth with large clear icons and fonts making it easy to read and navigate. Unlike some of the other handsets in the same range, the Z77’s UI is un-cluttered and very clear cut making viewing and reading data very easy. It’s all very organized. It also incorporates a bit of motion based functionality for the music player to skip tracks by moving your hand either to the left or right. A dice throwing motion based game is also on board. Dual SIM cards will run simultaneously without any problem and the UI is well laid out to make sure you know exactly what you want or need from either. That includes simple things like accessing the right phone book, messaging, making calls and even internet access. Media The audio player is excellent. Although this is one of those interfaces that won’t just read all your media files form the card unless they’re placed in specifically created folders. That will turn out to be a very minor issue when you actually hear the sound quality the Z77 is capable of delivering. With sharp tones and a thump in the bass line, all at a very decent decibel level through the bundled in-ear handsfree which you won’t need to change, the handset fares very well. Zen has also thrown in quite a few EQ presets to help enhance the audio experience, and it does so without a hitch. Other media features include an FM radio that has really really good reception. It took less than 12 seconds to locate and preset 9 of our city's stations. You can also opt to use the radio as an alarm by scheduling its start up at a specific time. It gets better. It also has a scheduled FM recorder that records in AWB or MR format for later playback. A sound recorder for leaving voice memos is also available and the microphone is capable of picking up voice from a distance of up to 3 plus feet which is pretty good. In its array of media features the one disappointment I had was that I wasn’t able to watch videos easily. Playback of my 3GP and MPEG4 test files was choppy although audio seemed fine. I further converted the files to a lower grade and still faced the same problem. It could be an issue with this specific piece and I can honestly hope that it is. |
Tags: QWERTY , 1.3 Megapixel , Zen Mobiles , Dual SIM
Would you buy it?
RELATED STORIES
When the Bold 9900 was launched a few months ago, Bold 9000 fanatics, who never quite took to the Bold 97XX ...
Nokia launches Asha series handsets, music service in India
Nokia announces Asha Touch & Type series devices at Nokia World
Get Gadgeted this Diwali for under Rs. 10,000
Samsung launches Omnia W, Wave III and Galaxy Y in India
Vodafone 555 Blue Facebook Phone
Sony Ericsson Txt Pro
_011517074205_160x90.jpg "Epson Stylus Photo R3000")
