Sharp's latest handset offers one megapixel photography, but only Vodafone Live users need apply. Read our Australian review.The GX30, like the GX20 and GX10 before it, is marketed exclusively in Australia by Vodafone, and designed solely for use on its high-speed GPRS Vodafone Live! network. In most important aspects it's just a redesign and update of the GX20, so if you're familiar with that model, you'll find only the barest improvements -- with the exception of the integrated camera, which now weighs in at a weighty 1 megapixel resolution, but more on that later.
The GX30 sports two LCD screens. The main screen is essentially identical to that of the GX20, sporting a 240x320 pixel display capable of 260,000 colours. The external screen, located on the opposite side of the GX30's flip, can be used for taking self portraits and measures in at a relatively tiny 0.9inches and 64x96 pixel/65,000 colour resolution. Both screens support custom user wallpaper, and in a nice touch when choosing wallpaper for the tiny external screen, you use a selection box to pick the part of the image you wish to display. The GX30's screen was visible under a number of different lighting arrangements in our testing.
For a phone with such a good quality screen, it's a bit disappointing to be met with the standard Vodafone interface when going into the phone's main menu. It's certainly utilitarian, and anyone familiar with the earlier phones will fly around menu selections with ease, but it's also incredibly plain compared to the menu options on many other phones. It's only once you delve into using the phone with Vodafone Live's services -- especially games -- that the screen actually lives up to its potential.
As a tri-band GSM phone, you should be able to use the GX30 just about anywhere that has Vodafone coverage. The two other connectivity options that the GX30 brings on board are Bluetooth and MMC/SD memory card support. While just about every phone currently selling above the budget price point offers Bluetooth, until you can actually use it with every other Bluetooth device, it's a bit of a white elephant, in our opinion. The SD/MMC card support, however, is quite useful. The phone comes with a supplied 8MB card, which is good for a large number of images or about two decent-quality MP3 tracks -- expect to shell out extra for a decent sized card if you're thinking of picking up the GX30, in other words.
The GX30's camera is quite simple to operate, with resolutions starting at 120x160 all the way up to 858x1144. One nice practical application that's included is the ability to take shots at 240x320 resolution, exactly matching the size of the GX30's main display. There's also nice integration with the phone's MMS capability, as you can quickly jump from picture taking to MMS sending -- called PXT by Vodafone -- although you can't reverse that procedure, starting an MMS and then deciding to take an extra picture. At highest resolution pictures start to move into what we'd call the 'acceptable' range -- most existing camera phones are reasonably good at taking drunken happy snaps, but the images on the GX30 are ones you're more likely to actually keep. There is one catch however, and it's the sensitivity to hand motion. The most common way to use the camera phone (or indeed any camera phone) is by holding it your hand so you can see the screen viewfinder, but if you do this -- or if your subjects are moving -- you'll end up with a high level of blur. Placing the phone flat on a surface and then raising the screen will eliminate most blurring problems, however.
The GX30 is also video capable, although like most tiny portable video cameras, the final image quality isn't all that much to get excited about. Sending a PXT picture message will cost you a flat AU$0.75 at the time of writing, while a video PXT costs AU$1.25. Compatible phones will simply display pictures and videos, while users sending to email addresses will get messages with attachments. The GX30's video format will necessitate downloading a Media Player before video files can be seen. Vodafone's press release suggests a Philips player that we couldn't in fact find, but the current version of Apple's Quicktime player will in fact play 3GPP files.
The GX30 supports polyphonic ringtones and MP3, although disappointingly you can't cut up your own MP3 files to use as ringtones. Vodafone offers a large selection of downloadable ringtones for use with the GX30, and it only took us minutes (and a rather painful AU$4.50) to set our test unit to ring with the main theme from Monty Python And The Holy Grail in quite good quality.
The GX30 unit we saw only came with one game -- BombLink -- although like the previous Sharp phones, you can download a number of mobile games through the Live service. If mobile games are your thing, it's worth noting that the selection dial is quite tricky to use with games, although the keypad fares better than many other units we've seen in fast action games.
Battery life on the GX30 was surprisingly solid, mainly due to the default setup that dims the screen after a very short period of inactivity. The phone is rated for 200 minutes talk time and 220 hours standby time, and in our testing the unit lasted a little over four days with very heavy phone usage.
The GX30 is a incremental improvement over the GX20, and as such it's still a very solid and capable phone. The inclusion of what is the first 1 megapixel camera to be seen in the Australian market will no doubt entice many consumers, and at the same time, it'll hopefully prod other handset makers into releasing other phones with better camera functionality. At the moment, however, unless you're either an existing Vodafone customer or a prospective Vodafone Live! customer, it's not an option that's open to you.
Sharp GX30
Company: Vodafone
Price: AU$899
4%
2%
Guys your GX-30 review was half baked. You portrayed it as a slightly improved GX20. It's not - 1MP Camera, Longer Video, SD (not MMC) card backup, 260k Colour vs 65k, MP3 Player! It is in a league of its own in GSM Flip phones. (And its Quad-band, not Tri-band.)
Love (most of) your work,
John Gay, Phoneworld Southport.