Samsung's SGH-X100 is a stab at an entry-level candybar handset offering just more than barebones functionality. Anthony Newman finds out if it's hit the mark.
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Samsung are best known for their extensive range of clamshell mobile phones, but they also produce more conventional 'candybar' handsets, such as the SGH-X100 under review here. Aiming rigidly at the lower end of the market, its feature-set is limited: does the old adage hold true that it's not what you've got, but what you do with it that counts?
 | The Samsung SGH-X100 boasts better looks than most low-end handsets
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Exterior
With the SGH-X100, Samsung have chosen to adopt a truly gorgeous blend of silver, chrome and brushed navy blue to produce a ravishing colour scheme. It manages to look classy and modern without ostentation - a surprising find in a handset aimed squarely at the lower end of the market.
A square screen is framed in silver and sits on the front face of the handset, with a circular D-pad and the usual range of buttons arrayed beneath. The centre of the pad, which as usual for Samsung loads the WAP browser, glows white, while the rest of the buttons have a visible blue backlight.
The left side of the device holds a silver rocker switch and a headset socket protected by a bit of rubber. The bottom features the charging port, while the back hosts the removable battery, which in turn covers the SIM card. The only other feature on the body is a service light, which flashes every few seconds in orange, red or green - your choice. As is thankfully becoming increasingly common, the aerial is integrated within the phone, so there's no protuberance to get caught.
We should make clear that the SGH-X100 has the best build quality of pretty much any phone we've used. Nothing - not the battery, nor the buttons - creaks, rattles or moves, and this is so important to the overall impression of the handset. It may be basic and cheap, but the X100 feels like quality.
Ergonomics
Weighing in at 80 g and measuring 10.2 x 4.3 x 2 cm, the X100 is petite and relatively lightweight. This impression is reinforced by its solid, curvaceous body and the textures on offer, making it feel smaller than it actually is. We loved the way the X100 feels in the hand, and we were equally pleased by its buttons: nicely spaced and separated, they responded noticeably but not too loudly to presses, making for intuitive and fast input.
Features
Samsung have unashamedly gone for the minimum of features with this phone. Instead of the usual delicious TFT screen of their clamshells, the X100 has a 128 x 128 16-bit display, which is a little milky, dim and uneven, as well as having lower resolution than usual. Our particular review unit exhibited a rather annoying vertical row of bright red stuck pixels, too: the first and only visible sign that this is a budget handset. We can't be sure if the poor performance of the rest of the screen is unique to our particular phone; we can only assume that it's endemic to the screen technology.
Users won't find Bluetooth, a camera or even infrared on this phone: it's bog-standard dual band 900 / 1800 MHz GSM with GPRS Class 10. The whole lot is powered by a 900 mAh Lithium Ion battery, which is bigger than usually found on Samsung clamshells.
With 9 MB of RAM, there's plenty of space to store Java games, MMS, polyphonic ringtones and wallpapers, all of which are supported by the phone. This is very much a consumer device, as we expected. Samsung's typically high standard of 40-tone polyphonic ringtones is maintained here, and Java performance was quite adequate, with two games included. Our disappointment with the screen did hinder our enjoyment of the phone's visual features, though.
As well as a WAP 2.0 browser, other communication features include SMS (with storage space for 200), EMS and MMS - although there's no camera to take full advantage of this last feature. A quick operating system and good buttons made sending texts and using other features pleasurable, and most users will find the X100 to meet their daily needs with the minimum of frustration.
The X100 tries to help in other ways, too: it includes a handy set of organiser applications, keeping you up to date with calendar appointments, memos and to-dos. However, without an IR port or Bluetooth, forget syncing appointments with a PC. Other utilities include a calculator, stopwatch, converter and so on.
Performance
The X100 didn't shine in our tests. Reception proved only mediocre, and call quality was satisfactory. Ringtones were quite loud enough, and sounded good; the quickly accessible vibration feature also did the job OK. One surprise was that, despite the dimmer screen and larger battery compared to the very similar E100, battery life was only very slightly better, at a little over three days of moderate use. Considering the near total lack of features, we really expected more.
Availability
The Samsung SGH-X100 is available now in a range of markets for a recommended price of $259 USD.
Price and availability
The will start selling for TBA () in November 1999.
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