Review BenQ M560G

Phone's specifications

This device is a test sample and it won’t appear on the market in the near future. I used this device only for couple of days, so, the review won’t be very detailed. I was attracted by phone’s design. But frankly speaking the ideas of well-known manufacturers are seen in phone’s appearance. The device is not big, it fits well the palm. The menu is logical, instinctively intelligible and not overladen. The interface is quite user-friendly. By functionality, the device has nothing extraordinary. The phone has standard features for this segment. They are the following: GPRS, organizer, profiles, SMS-chat, EMS, alarm, stopwatch, calculator, 3 games (they are quite funny), shortcut number navigation, 20 melodies (polyphonic) and ring tone editor, the device has also a folder for downloaded melodies and pictures. You can also find external aerial connector and handsfree connector.

The case is made of plastic. My sample had silver face panel and mat-grey back panel. It’s impossible to change the panels.

Keyboard

The keyboard is pleasant by touch but has some lacks. First, using cancel key you can browse only one level up, then you should use soft keys, which are located under the screen, that’s rather inconvenient. Second, the joystick is 4-way instead of 5-way. Key backlight is of bright blue color, it is observable well in conditions of insufficient light. The device has predictive text input – itap. Auto keylock is also supported. The keys under screen provide fast access to phonebook without stupid questions and access to shortcut menu.

Screen

The display has 3 backlight colors – lilac, orange and blue. The backlight can be changed even in games without breaking the light. You can also adjust its activity, duration or full switch off. Besides, the device has 3 different screen savers, which you can preview before enabling. In standby mode the screen displays provider’s name, charge level, signal level, clock, data or screensaver.

Battery

The phone has lithium-ionic battery which capacity makes 700 mAh. The device operated 3 days in case of 10-15 minutes of talking.

Menu

Menu’s organization represents a set of animated icons, submenu is similar to low-end devices. As a whole, menu’s organization is known well by models from Motorola, as T191 is produced by BenQ (earlier Acer).

Phonebook

The device has 500 names phonebook. It’s possible to arrange entries by groups (up to 6). You can also remove the phonebook completely and know your own number. Call list are located here too. Voice dial is not supported. Fast dial is supported (up to 9 numbers).

Messages

The device has 15 preset templates and 5 changeable templates. The same feature is supported for sending melodies - 10 preset and 5 own. This also concerns to animated and static pictures (15 preset and 5 own). SMS-chat is supported. The test sample could not send/receive messages written in Russian.

Tones

Ring tone volume has 7 levels and is quite acceptable. Basic melodies are 20, all of them are 16-poly. The phone has 5 adjustable profiles, but you can’t change their name. Vibration alert is quite powerful – I didn’t miss any call. Ring tone editor is rather well realized. 8825 bytes are allocated for your creative work (5 melodies). The ring tones are created using 3 instruments.

Settings

You can find standard settings set here. The user can adjust WAP over CSD or GPRS, shortcut menu, reset all settings here. The scheme of this menu is traditional, it is not worth talking about.

Organizer

The organizer is awfully orgniased, but it has all necessary functions – nothing excess. It displays all dates for current month. Reminded days are marked with bold font.

Extra

This menu contains a set of useful functions. Such as simple alarm, stopwatch, hour signal, calculator, automatic time update and 3 funny games: Air Hawk, Dance Dance and Mini Mouse.

Download

Contains 2 folders – one for melodies and the other for EMS.

Services

This menu contains 2 items too. One of them allows connecting to WAP and the other opens access to SIM-menu.

WAP

You can use WAP thru GPRS or thru CSD, up to 3 profiles are provided for each connection type. Synchronization with PC is not stipulated.

Reception quality

I see no purport in describing reception, because I think that all the phones have similar reception quality if they function properly. So, reception quality has no claims too.

The sound in speaker is clear, if not to say resonant. If to adjust maximal volume it will seem like the interlocutor shouts at you.

Impressions

The phone created an impression of a workhorse. For sure it will find the customers among the young people. The price segment is from 100$ to 120$. The device will compete with LG-W3000, Motorola 33x, Nokia 3510, Siemens C55. Design and ergonomics are rather good.