Sunday, January 31, 2010

Introducing the Q7

I have been a fan of GSMArena, particularly when it comes to reading reviews of the latest phone model. But this time, waiting for a good review of Q7 at their website could be futile. Furthermore, the User Guide is also fairly inadequate, not to mention the poorly printed pages. So, I've finally decided to write my own, featuring the latest offering from Cherry Mobile.

The Q7.




Key Features
  • Quad band (850/900/1800/1900)
  • Analog TV
  • 1.3M Pixel compatible camera
  • FM Radio
  • Multimedia Player
  • 2.2"QVGA TFT Wide Display (very bright!)
  • QWERTY Keypad
  • G-Sensor
  • Java
  • GPRS / MMS Capable
  • Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP/AVCRP)
  • Micro SD up to 2GB
  • metal finish

Main disadvantages
  • No wifi
  • No 3g/EDGE
  • Camera 1.3MP
  • 2.5mm audio port
  • only preset SMS alert tones can be used (but ringtones are customizable)
  • mediocre battery (1000 mAh)

Package contents
  • 1 battery
  • USB headset
  • phone

Design & construction



Feels sturdy althought a bit on the heavy side. Design is a cross between a Blackberry Curve and Bold which surprisingly, turned out to be an elegant looking device. From afar, it would have been easily mistaken for the real thing. Up close you would be greeted by the large "Cherry Mobile" branding plastered on the top faceplate. Quite big fonts for my taste and totally ruined the black-chrome combination. The black portion has a rubbery feel on it. Much like the back battery cover of Nokia 3110 Classic.


Turning the phone on, you will be greeted with the company logo animation and a distinct chime.



Back plate is metal. Similar to Nokia E series.


The top & bottom side are devoid of any port. Only the eyelet for the lanyard can be found on the right. The left side contains the USB port (both AC & USB charging!), 2.5mm audio port, and a small circular port for charging using a Nokia charger (small pin type). Now this comes handy just in case you lost the original charger. Keep in mind though that the mini USB plug is not the same as the mini USB ones used by Nokia & other popular brands. So best not to lose that OEM cable!

Taking the battery out will show the 2 SIM slots and the memory card slot. The SIM slots are recessed so pulling SIMs require more effort than usual. Officially, only a maximum of 2gb memory cards are compatible, but i have used a Ridata 8gb SDHC with no problems at all. I did not experience any lag or slowing down, although the Ridata card was only half-full. It is advisable to reformat cards using the phone as it writes its own customized folders for multimedia use. I tried using another card taken from an E52 and although there are about 4 gb of MP3s on it, the audio player failed to find it. It will insist on putting your music files in a "music" folder.




Battery is rated at 1000 mAh. Moderate use lasts a couple of days. There are claims that using Nokia batteries is possible but I have yet to see one which is compatible.



User interface
  • similar to most china clones
  • some icons are so small you can hardly tell what it means (see below)
  • slight lag when switching menus (very seldom)
  • some functions buried deep into the menu hierarchy
  • fancy choice of colors on system texts

As you can see from the screenshot, there are 2 notifications for SMS, and 2 notifcations for missed calls. Each notification icon has a number on it which corresponds to the SIM number. However, these numbers are barely noticeable during normal reading distance, as shown below.



The screen is very bright & vivid. Take note that the backlight LCD setting in these photos is only at about 30% level. Thumb keys are also well and evenly lit. System fonts (and icons) need a bit of polishing as they appear rough and jagged especially when compared with fonts used by popular brands. There is also an abundant use of animations for system messages that may appear a bit feminine to some.







Menus & functions

Typing a phone number on the main screen will activate auto-search and show matching contacts. As earlier mentioned, multicolored numbers appear instead of black fonts.




There are many ways to configure SIM activation. Dual sim can be both active simultaneously or one at a time.



Very usfeul to have several options for ringing patterns. Personally, I prefer vibrate then ring.



User profiles are also customizable.



User profiles are similar to Nokia. But due to lack of a dedicated power button, switching between them will require accessing the menu. However, silent mode is easily activated by a simple press-and-hold of the hash key (#).



Total phone memory is ~1mb. Adding a memory card is highly recommended.


Memory card file structure recognized by device:



Ridata 8gb SDHC Class 6 was successfully detected by device:


Active GPRS connection is indicated by a G icon with number subscript corressponding to SIM in use:





Automatic capitalization is not supported.



Puzzle game under games folder"




Java apps can be installed but only in small chunks. Tried installing the whole bible from GoBible but failed due to file size (1.5MB). New Testament only works fine:



Several utilities are included:



Bluetooth 2.0 is supported. Phone automatically detected and paired the Sennheiser BT headset MM200. Pairing it with other devices was also trouble-free.



Bluetooth is AVRCP-enabled. Very convenient in controlling music playback.



Internet connectivity is only via GPRS. No 3G. No EDGE. No wifi.

On a positive note, the phone comes pre-installed with settings from the 3 major carriers: Suncellular, Globe, Smart.




Phone has a limit of 1000 phone contacts and can include several information for each.



The navigation pad's up & down direction can be assigned to a custom menu item:



Either SIM can be configured in UART setup. To read more about UART, click here.



The LCD is bright & vivid. As shown below, even at the lowest setting, everything is still clear and very readable. Auto-dim preset is also available.



Motion sensor can be configured in a lot of ways, whether for music, radio, image, wallpaper, etc.




This is a nice feature for conserving battery life:





Keypad


The thumb keys give a positive click each press but could be annoying when used extensively in a quiet environment. It also tends to tire thumbs easily as it needs to be press firmly with ample pressure to register a stroke. Really nowhere close to the soft and spongy feel of keypads by expensive models of popular brands.

To lock/unlock the keypad, press spacebar then hash (#).




The phone can act as a mass storage device or a webcam when connected via USB. Using the unit as a webcam was unsuccessful, although i suspect compatibility problems with my OS which is Vista. As most laptops nowadays have a built-in webcam, i don't see this as a necessity. There is a third option which is COM port. My best guess is it's meant for added functionality like remote control over USB or internet tethering.





Analog TV

Quality of reception depends on geographic location. Watching video in the car will likely capture lots of static and interference. Using outdoor or indoor does not make a difference. But the moment you hit a perfect spot, you'd be watching with a big smile on your face. Color, saturation, hue, brightness, are next to awesome. And the audio is clear, too. Here's a short clip of a soccer game on Studio23:




Due to the QVGA resolution and small LCD size(2.2inch), minute details on video like the game score shown on the upper left edge of screen appears fuzzy. Be warned that TV drains the battery in hours! My guess is a good 3-4 hours. I have not done any test on uninterrupted TV/video since I am not fond of watching videos on a very small screen. Needless to say, I can live without this feature.


Summary


Overall, this phone offers considerably good features at a low price tag. It's not as dirt cheap as its siblings, but the additional bands and suprisingly good build can justify the cost.


Additional photos: