Geek Girl Review: First Encounter with the SMART Netphone

Okay, this post is a bit overdue so let’s go straight to business!

UN-BOXING

Hello, SMART Netphone!

Comes with the usual suspects: USB Charger, USB adaptor, battery, earphones, manual and other leaflets

The manual. They need to improve the manual! I had a brief noob moment when it took me a while to figure out how to remove the back panel *shame*

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Side by side with my HTC Chacha and my iPod Touch. One big happy family!

USB/Charger port

Speaker and volume controls

Ear speaker and the power button

Shiny, shiny screen! I have to admit, the screen is really nice.

The back, with its matte texture. The SMART Netphone comes with a 3.2MP camera

POWER UP!

The initial start up took a while. It took so long I actually got paranoid that the phone hanged, haha 🙂

Why, hello there, Android!

You are asked to register to SMARTNet on your first power up.

GeekGirlManila on SMARTNet! Booyah!

TECH SPECS

  • Smart Netphone (a.k.a ZTE Blade)
  • 3.5″ LCD display @ 480×800 pixels
  • 600 MHz ARM 11 processor
  • Adreno 200 GPU
  • Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset
  • HSDPA 7.2Mbps; HSUPA 5.76Mbps
  • WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi hotspot
  • Bluetooth 2.1 w/ A2DP
  • 3MP autofocus camera
  • FM radio tuner
  • GPS w/ AGPS support
  • Li-Ion battery 1250mAh
  • Android 2.2 Froyo

RANDOM THOUGHTS

  • The battery life is typical of an Android phone. If you are on Wi-Fi or 3G all the time, expect a battery life of 8-10 hours. But if data is off, expect a battery life of at least 18-20 hours on standby.
  • The interface of the photo gallery is kinda sucky. I hope it gets changed when an update comes out.
  • The camera gives so-so quality photos, even in bright light settings.

Photo taken with the SMART Netphone

GEEK GIRL’S VERDICT
I’ve had this phone for a few weeks now and I had a hard time coming up with a review for it. And I don’t mean it in a negative way.

It’s just that the concept of the SMART Netphone is so new that, to be honest, my thoughts on the SMART Netphone are running way too fast for my fingers to keep up with! 😉

As a phone, the SMART Netphone is decent. Tho admittedly there ARE better phones out there in the same price range, like the HTC Chacha for one.

But if we’re just talking about the SMART Netphone 701 (without any other option presented), it’s actually a very decent phone. It’s sturdy and does not feel cheap at all. The screen is VERY clear, and the speakers surprisingly deliver good sound.

On a scale of 1-10, the responsiveness of the touchscreen would be an 8. (Minus 2 points since there are times I’d have to keep my finger on an icon for 1 second before something happens.)

I would give the phone a more stellar rating if it actually had a physical keypad, but the haptic feedback will have to do for now. Oh, and Swype.

But you see, the Netphone is not just about the phone.

What you pay for is the SMARTNet experience. (Read more about SMARTNet here.)

For now, the best thing you can get from purchasing a SMART Netphone is the FREE unlimited access to your Social Stream and Netphone Messenger until December 31, 2011. (Even if you only have P1 in your balance!)

The SMARTNet is still in its infancy stages (hello, bugs!), but I believe in the long run that it will be made of greater things. I’m really looking forward to the other services SMARTNet will offer in the future. Really looking forward.

If you want to see what SMART’s vision is for the SMART Netphone, check out this video:

Awesome, isn’t it?

If you want to read more about my SMART Netphone experience, follow me on Twitter or ‘like’ the GeekGirlManila Facebook Page. I regularly tweet/post about my SMART Netphone discoveries and experience. You can also ask me a thing or two, if you’d like! 🙂

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Lia
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12 responses to “Geek Girl Review: First Encounter with the SMART Netphone”

  1. Clair Ching Avatar
    Clair Ching

    Between the HTC ChaCha and NetPhone, which one will you pick? And if ever SmartNet will be available for the ChaCha, will you prefer the ChaCha over the NetPhone? Just curious.

  2. Lia Espina Lopez Avatar
    Lia Espina Lopez

    Definitely the Chacha. I’m really more partial to phones with physical keypads 🙂

    If you’re choosing the between the Chacha and the Netphone, it’s the question of which do you like more, physical keypad or bigger screen 🙂

    But I recently installed Swype on my Netphone, so that makes texting bearable. BUT, nothing beats typing on the HTC Chacha!

  3. Lia Espina Lopez Avatar
    Lia Espina Lopez

    But if you’re going to compare it to other pure touchscreen Android phones, the Netphone comes out pretty competitive when it comes to price.

    The cheapest HTC I could find is the Wildfire, at P11,000. And that phone is only upgradable to Android 2.2.

  4. Chai Chen Avatar
    Chai Chen

    I wonder when can Globe advance and have theirs. LOL.

  5. Lia Espina Lopez Avatar
    Lia Espina Lopez

    Hi Chai,

    Good question! 😛

  6. Kam Gonzales Avatar
    Kam Gonzales

    “As a phone, the SMART Netphone is decent. Tho admittedly there ARE better phones out there in the same price range, like the HTC Chacha for one.”

    as an entry level android phone, maybe but I think you should stand corrected on the point of pricing since SMART Netphone costs only 9,900.

  7. mistermobile Avatar
    mistermobile

    I also want one! How did you get this? ^.^

  8. Lia Espina Lopez Avatar
    Lia Espina Lopez

    Hi Kam, you can get an HTC Wildfire for 11,000, while the HTC Chacha is sold at around P13,500 now in open market 🙂 That’s not such a far range, imo. For an additional P2,000-P4,000, you can own a ‘branded’ Android phone. 🙂

    But then again, these phones don’t have SMARTNet. For now.

  9. jam Avatar
    jam

    Can you specify the exact price of the net phone? because the specification is too bad, 600mgh processor and a battery of 1250mah, wtf, where you can buy SE experia pro mini for 9k, much worthy to buy.

  10. Lia Espina Lopez Avatar
    Lia Espina Lopez

    Hi Jam, the SMART Netphone is P9,900 🙂

    Like what I’ve said, what you pay for is the use of the SMARTNet ecosystem, not the phone itself 🙂 So it’s really your choice if you want to just have a plain smartphone or be able to experience the SMARTNet experience.

    They will probably make SMARTNet available to other handsets in the future, but it’s still undetermined when it will happen 🙂

  11. jehzlau Avatar
    jehzlau

    @Chai Chen – nasa Resorts World din ba u last week? O_O

  12. 1024L Avatar
    1024L

    Everything Arm v6 based is not worth even looking into lol it’s just too d*mn slow and old

    if you’re looking for a good keyboard the best one on the market is with the HTC Desire Z

    I think this netphone thing is going to die just like how addict mobile did lol

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