Sharp GX30
Discontinued 4th February 2004
Since the release of the GX10 a couple
of years ago, Sharp have shown themselves to be one
of the class leaders when it comes to designing high
specification and desirable clamshell phones.
The Sharp GX20, released early in 2003
was, and still is, one of the best specified camera
phones on the market with innovative features that set
it head and shoulders above most of the competition.
There were perhaps a couple of things
that could have been better, and with the forthcoming
release of the GX30, Sharp have addressed almost all
the shortcomings and zoomed back up to the top of the
class.
Firstly, the similarities. The GX30
is still a fairly conventional looking silver clamshell
with a layout that's instantly recognisable from the
rest of the range. It still has a large 240x320 pixel
colour display, and the size and weight is virtually
unchanged from the GX20. The large, friendly navigation
key is still unchanged and the phone retains the ease
of use of it's predecessors.
However, the GX30 has several major
improvements. One of the strengths of the GX20 was the
VGA resolution camera. The GX30 goes better with a 1.1
megapixel resolution camera - the highest resolution
of any phone currently on the European market - with
three and a half times the pixels of the old model.
The screen, although the same large size as the GX20,
has been upgraded to 262,000 colours. Instead of a tri-band
phone, the GX30 is a quad-band phone. The GX20 didn't
have Bluetooth - the GX30 does. In addition to all of
this, the GX30 takes SD memory expansion cards and can
play MP3s. The GX30 also has a much larger external
display than the older phone.
The
GX30 also supports WAP over GPRS, Java for games, polyphonic
ringtones, infra-red and cable connectivity and has
a multicoloured flash/torch.
In terms of specification, the GX30
has pretty much everything and beats the competition
hands down. One of the few missing features in a POP3
email client, but also it's likely that the battery
life will be a little short at around 3.5 hours talktime.
And for such an impressive feature set, the GX30's styling
is a little predictable and silvery.
Of all it's competitors, only combined
PDA/handsets like the Sony Ericsson P900 and O2 XDA
II come beat it in terms of screen resolution. The closest
clamshell is the Samsung D410, but the screen size and
camera resolution is not as good as the GX30.
We can expect similarly specified Sharp
GX31 and GX32 phones sometime in May or June for markets
outside of Europe.
The catch, as every, is that these phones
are exclusive to Vodafone. This is an enormously important
coup for Vodafone as the Sharp range is a key sales
driver. Although the other major carriers also have
exclusive phones, most of them are trust trying to keep
up with Sharp. In return for this, Vodafone give Sharp
a very high profile within its range, making it a profitable
and useful arrangement for both.
In terms of the market, the GX30 is
the first in a bunch of phones due in 2004 that have
megapixel cameras or better. It's at this point that
mobile phones will really start to compete effectively
with low end digital cameras. Whoever knows what those
clever people at Sharp might squeeze into the GX40?
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|
Sharp
GX30 Provisional Specifications
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Available:
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Q2
2004
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Network:
|
Quad-band
GSM
|
Data:
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GPRS
|
Screen:
|
240x320,
262k colours
|
Camera:
|
1.1
megapixels
|
Size:
|
Standard
clamshell 98x50x24
/ 110 grams
|
Bluetooth:
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Yes
|
Infra-red:
|
Yes
|
Polyphonic:
|
Yes
|
Java:
|
Yes
|
Battery
life:
|
3-4
hours talk / 10 days standby
|
|
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