howlinghonda

Hey ppl, For the past 1 year i was using a bechara classic 201.. the INR 777 phone... the charger broke, and so i recently changed my phone... I bought an LG 3600 about 15 days back, and i would like to share my views on it. 15 days is not enough for a new phone to cause any problems, so i cant say anything about that yet... as for other factors, 1) Network: Pretty good, call drops are almost nil... the only time it has dropped a call yet was when i was in a train in the middle of nowhere... 2) Sound: Excellent! Sound is quite loud even at medium volume of phone. But if you use speakerphone, then you have to increase it to full volume to hear properly. (Also see FM for more on sound quality) 3) Mike: Good. Does not transfer too many ambient sounds, voice quality is good. While using speakerphone, volume drops a bit low on the other end, hence the "good" rating and not "excellent". 4) Headset: Excellent! Sounds are crystal clear and of music quality. The headset mike is very good too. If you want to talk while whispering in a library or a boring lecture, then use the headset mike 5) Display: Average. A minus point in the display is the small size. But there are no features as such like pictures, videos etc, so this display is big enough. Otherwise, it is a very bright display, and like all LG phones, has a bright backlight. Also, Visibility is a bit strained in direct sunlight. (I'm comparing a nokia phone here, which never has any problems with sunlight) 6) Buttons: Average. The tactile response is nothing to boast about. In the beginning they feel a bit sticky, but you get used to them in a while. 7) SMS: SMS freaks will be sad too. The phone does have T9 dictionary, but if you dont use T9, then its a problem, because if you want another character from the same button, then the waiting time is a LOT. On the plus side, the phone has hindi SMS, but on the minus side, there is no T9 for hindi like there is in nokia. 8) FM: Reception is very good. I got crystal clear reception when i was in a train and about 80km away from the nearest big station (thats about 60-80 mins by train). When listening to FM via speaker, there is No distortion even at highest volume. Just that Maximum volume is not VERY loud... its listenable while kept a few feet away, not more. I have seen louder speakers in music phones. But i guess you cant always have everything. Also, battery utilisation while using FM is pretty low, six hours of continuous FM drains about 1/4th of the battery. 9) Battery: And now for the final decisive factor, the battery. The manual says "high capacity battery". I have used the phone for just 15 days, so I dont know how the battery will behave 1 year from now... but as of now, I am very happy with the battery. The battery status display has 4 bars. I listen to FM on it overnight, while sleeping too, and in the morning, only 1 bar out of 4 is gone. As a comparision to the great nokia battery, I will give some numbers: the nokia BL-5C battery, in use in low end colour phones by nokia, has a capacity of 1020 mAh. My LG 3600 battery has a capacity of 950 mAh. So I guess the battery is not AS GOOD as nokia, it wont give you a standby time of one week, but i get about four days of standby time if there is less calling, and two days standby with heavy calling (100-120 mins a day). Small tip: I keep my display backlight off, and that does increase battery life a bit. The downside of this is, that the display becomes invisible in direct sunlight. (it is still very clear in closed rooms/shade even in day) 10) Charger: The phone has a micro usb charger, as is standard in the newer LG phones these days. The charging time is a bit long. I used the phone till its battery was exhausted and it switched off. The charging time to full battery was about 4 and 1/2 hours. (i may be off by 15 mins, cuz i was checking every 15 mins) 11) Bitpim compatibility: I am still trying to find a data cable for this phone. the moment i get my hands on it, I will try my best to see if i can access it from bitpim, and let you know the results. Conclusion: All in all, I feel that this phone is worth the INR1900 that i paid for it. But what you feel, is for upto you to read the review above and decide. Please let me know if you like the review, and feel free to ask any queries you have.