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CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 11/05/2002
- Updated on: 11/26/2002
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 Short and sweet: one of the more compact mobiles around. |
At 3.5 by 1.8 by 1.0 inches and 3.6 ounces, the S105 is on a par with the SPH-A500 yet is smaller and lighter than Motorola's T720. Open or closed, the S105 feels great in the hand and easily disappears into the pocket of your pants or jacket. The antenna nub sticks up an extra inch, and even when it's open, the S105 is 6 inches from end to end--a perfect fit for most faces. But the center of attention is a four-way navigation pad; however, unlike the joystick design used on the Sony Ericsson T68 and the Samsung N400, merely pressing it doesn't activate your selection.
We appreciated the large, readable numbers that appear while dialing. In addition, the cover has an oval, external monochrome LCD that shows day, date, time, charge level, and network status. When a new call comes in, it displays the caller's number or indicates that you've missed a call.
Along with the standard battery, the phone comes with an in-ear headset, which is painful to use and isn't that loud; an extended-capacity battery is available. This Java (J2ME) phone has virtually every feature imaginable and a few that wouldn't have occurred to us, from its 500-entry address book (the SIM card can hold data for another 250 of your closest friends) to a built-in world currency converter, an alarm, a calculator, caller ID, and call waiting. The S105 can even handle conference calls. We should mention that you can't record voice notes. Its only Achilles' heel is that the phone has room for a mere 300K of downloadable material, a fraction of what phones in its class usually contain. In addition to a vibrating ringer, the phone comes with two alerts and 18 tunes, each more irritating than the next. You can quickly preview any of T-Mobile's stock of hundreds of downloadable ring tones, which will cost you about $1 each.
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 An earfull: One of the nicer included headsets we've seen to date. |
Calling takes a back seat to e-mail and SMS with the S105, which can also work with AOL Instant Messaging. Once you master Tegic's T-9 character-entry system, messaging becomes second nature. Text messages flowed back and forth within three minutes of being sent, but incoming notes were limited to about 30 words. With three built-in games, the S105 can be a time sink or a friend on the road. We tested the S105 (GSM 900/1800/1900) using T-Mobile service in and around New York City. All calls came in as clear as a bell, although the audio was a little clipped. In noisy environments such as a train station or a party, it was occasionally hard to hear callers.
The best and the worst aspects of the S105 are evident with its battery life. With the standard 750mAh lithium-ion battery in place, the phone met its rated 4 hours and 40 minutes of talk time but fell short of its 92-hour standby rating, lasting only 66 hours without recharging. While not terrible for a color mobile, these results are disappointing when compared to the A500's nine days. And there's no warning of when the battery is about to fade.
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 Don't leave home without the charger. This phone's big on talk, short on standby. |
We took advantage of the phone's high-speed GPRS data-access features by trying out T-Mobile's T-Zones, which provide the regular fare of news, sports, travel, and entertainment, along with a few surprises. Our favorite was Local Information, where you can find movies, restaurants, and cultural events based on location. Response time is adequate but far from swift, and all this wireless Web wandering is a tad tedious because every selection requires two taps.
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