Curt wrote:
>BTW, what can you put on the SD/MS memory cards on these phones, besides
>pictures? Address book, maybe? I'd think your address book can start to
>get pretty darn large, once you start keeping pictures of everyone in it.
>
>Also, the D505i has now been out for two days: who's already bought one and
>can give us first impressions?
Ok here goes - I have a bit of spare time, so I'll write as much as I can.
D505 first impression
In short, I think it is a good first release phone for 505 series. I think
DoCoMo must be pretty pleased. The image quality is outstanding. Though the
screen size is 240 x 320, the actual Java canvas area on this phone is 240 x
270 (this makes me wonder what the other 505 phones will be - it would be
nice if they were all the same size). The usual i-mode access button has a
dual purpose which I like. Press it once and you go to the usual i-mode
menu. Press it again and the i-appli menu is seen. I liked the i-appli menu.
It is possible to directly set & delete machiuke i-appli instead of being
forced to wade through a list of both types of applis (normal & machiuke) in
one list(this is also possible). Seems like it is possible to store up to
4096K's worth of applis (& may associated scratchpad which is 200kb now in
line with latest FOMA).
Flash works as advertised, though when it set to machiuke, I would have
expected it to run the animation right away but instead it stays frozen on
the first frame. The animation doesn't start until the phone is closed and
opened again. I thought this behaviour was odd, but maybe there is a setting
somewhere..
General
The phone is bilingual. As indicated above, in addition to images & i-appli,
you can set a Flash file as a machiuke. The phone has cute "partners" which
are 3D animated characters which accompany every yes/no dialog - I think
this is not a new concept, but bound to capture the youth market who enjoy
cute embellishments like these. The default is a bird character (chocobo)
from Final Fantasy. Seems like you can externally create & download your own
3D partner characters.
Has a solid diary application built-in. It also comes with 4 Java applis (3
are DX mailers & 1 is a TV remote control with support for most
manufacturers).
Camera
There is one camera which is clevered located in the hinge but is attached
to the screen and swivels as the screen is opened or closed. So the camera
can either be positioned either (1) pointing towards the operator when the
phone is flipped open, or (2) be facing out the rear of the phone through an
opening. In position (2), when the phone is held horizontally, the closed
phone looks like a digital camera with the subdisplay acting as a
viewfinder, and a shutter button is positioned in a convenient location.
Next to that is a button to turn on a constant light source for shooting in
a dark location. There's also a self-timer & after the shot is taken, a
brief red flash can be seen from the light source - presumably to tell your
friends when to stop smiling when the shutter sound can't be heard.
There are 5 image sizes to choose from: 120x120, 288x352, 240x320,480x640,
960x1280. The image can be stored to the phone or directly to memory stick,
and there are 4 JPEG compression settings. There are 3 settings for the
power of light source.
Memory Stick Duo
The Memory Stick Duo is like a minature version of the regular Memory Stick.
The The phone comes with a 16Mb Memory Stick Duo & adapter (Duo to regular
Memory Stick - so you still need another adapter if you only have PCMCIA).
When in the phone, access to the Memory Stick can be protected by a PIN and
this protection is on by default.
Seems like you can store (looking at the menu): camera images, mail (in &
out), Phone book, bookmarks, schedule info, "import images" (Flash content).
I took some pics at the best settings & printed them out - maa so-so, par
for the course at 1 megapixel - barely acceptable at usual Japanese L size
print. Certainly a leap forward from prior 300,000 pixels jobs.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Michael.
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Received on Sat May 24 12:17:35 2003