I was on a look out for a new phone to replace my trusty-but-ageing warhorse , the Nokai 3310. What I was looking for was a compact phone with a colour screen and not too expensive (~7000 Rs). After a week or so of intensive research (all right, I just browsed through a few websites and mobile shops) , 2 phones seemed to fulfill my requirements : the Samsung C-100 and the Sony Ericsson T230 .
The two phones were evenly matched and It was a bit difficult deciding between the 2 , but I picked this one even though the Samsung has a 65, 000 colour screen , compared to the 4096 colour screen of the T230 .
Size : The T230 is a small phone ( probably the smallest at this price ) , but has plenty of features . It is smaller the C-100( that’s why I choose it over the C-100), but is slightly thicker . It also feels pretty light(well, anything would feel lighter after 14 months with a Nokia 3310 ) dimensions : 101x43.9x19mm Weight : ~79 g
Styling and Build: Even though it has a plastic body , it feels solid enough . It looks pretty stylish ( comes in different colors ) .
Keypad: One of the low points of the phone. The number keys are arranged satisfactorily, and feel easy on the fingertips. But the Yes and No keys are really bad . You really have to push hard on them . They barely move when you press them and have a poor tactile response.
Display : The colour screen has only 4096 colours , so don’t expect an overly-dazzling display . But the colours seem bright enough and are easily readable. The screen is difficult to read in direct sunlight, but overall, it is quite satisfactory.
Sound : The sound quality is quite good , being loud and clear . The ring tones are 32-polyphony , and are much better than Samsungs Polyphonic sounds . The maximum volume of the tones could have been a bit higher though . One cool feature I really liked it the ability to record any sound and use it as a ring tone .
Phone Memory : The Phone has a total memory of 1140 KB ( For pictures , games , themes , MMS and sounds ) . You can store a total of 250 contacts in the phone book .
Messaging : All the standard features are here including T9 text input , multi-lingual support . You can also send Long SMS ( >160 characters ) and MMS . One Big Irk : While typing a SMS , there is no indication of how many characters you have typed/left !
Battery : The battery life is quite good.. I don’t use my cell for making a lot of calls ( I use it mainly for SMS ) , but I manage to get by 2-3 days without charging it .
Ease of use : Although it is not as easy to use and navigate as the 3310 , you can get a hang of the features after fiddling about with it for an hour or so . The Menus could have been a little more structure and figuring out some tasks ( such as finding out the total memory usage ) are totally unintuitive and you will have consult the manual to figure them out .
Other Features : other standard features such as an organizer , calculator , WAP are also present . Two games are included : V-rally and Abyss and both are quire good . You can download more from the Sony-Ericsson Website ( As well as more themes and Pictures ) You can also attach an optional CommuiCam camera to the mobile to take pictures .
But the mobile has only major problem : The keypad ( especially the Yes and No buttons) . Like I said before , they have a very poor tactile response. Other than that this is the best phone at this price range (although the Samsung C-100 is a close second )