Unboxing the Netphone 701 from Smart

Between the hubby and me, he’s always been more of the gadget freak. I can’t even begin to tell you the many hours he spent staring at a tiny screen when he finally made the jump to Android a few months ago. As such, I thought he’d be the better person to write about my new Netphone 701 from Smart. I'll give you my own review after I've gotten better acquainted with the Netphone. - Jen

As part of our plans to minimize expenses while maximizing benefits, Jen has decided to downgrade her mobile phone plan but upgrade her mobile phone unit. She’s been using a Nokia E63 for the past few years and it has performed wonderfully for her. She has also gotten very familiar with its functions and user interface. I knew replacing it would not be easy.

Fortunately, I am a recent convert to Android and like she mentioned, I was hooked from the very beginning. I missed having physical keys but I got over it fairly quick. Jen has played around with my phone enough times that I was pretty sure she’d get the hang of Android and using a touchscreen just as quickly as I did.

We decided on the Netphone 701 based on its features, price and the promise of added functionality via SmartNet, a new platform that Smart is rolling out that we will be discussing in a later post. For now, we shall be doing a quick unboxing of the Netphone 701.

PACKAGING

The Netphone 701 comes in a slim black and gray box with a window to the side that clearly shows the phone. Opening it was pretty straightforward. The box opens from the bottom and the clear plastic tray slides out easily, its contents snug in their individual containers.

ACCESORIES

Aside from the Netphone 701, the plastic tray holds a micro USB cable, a USB outlet charger, a Li-Ion battery and regular headphones and mic for hands-free usage.

Because Jen’s plan doesn’t expire for a few months, we opted to get the prepaid combo so this unit came with a Smart Buddy prepaid SIM card which we intend to use for her E63 so we have a back up phone.

The package also had a nifty little manual flush with lots of pictures so even newbies won’t find any difficulty in setting things up.

Inside the phone, you’ll find that it comes with a 2GB micro SD card.

THE PHONE

And now we get to the actual phone. For a budget phone, the Netphone 701 sure doesn’t look cheap, far from it actually! The overall build looks nice and sturdy. The three buttons in the front are very nicely done; they're subtle and understated, quite classy really.

I do find it a little light at 120 grams but that’s probably just me. I always like having a little bit of heft to my devices. That said though, it fits quite naturally in my hand.

The Netphone 701 sports a nice 3.5 capacitive touchscreen with a 800×480 pixels display that seems to have better resolution than my LG Optimus 1. Already, I am feeling a bit of gadget envy.

At the back, it also has a 3.2MP camera.

The media volume buttons are found on the side. These are possibly the only things I don't dig about the phone. I would have preferred it to be more of a matte finish. I think it would have gone better with the graphite texture of the phone's body. The shiny silver isn't quite my taste but again, I suppose that's just a matter of preference.

We’ll stop here for now as I’m going to let the unit charge up completely first. Do stay tuned here for a more comprehensive review of both the phone and the SmartNet Platform. For now, I shall leave you with the listed specs of the Netphone 701:

Android Froyo 2.2 (with SMARTNET)
ARM11 600MHZ Processor
150 MB storage, 512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
LCD capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors
480 x 800 pixels, 3.5 inches
3.2MP camera

I haven’t taken the unit through its paces just yet but at the moment, I’m already thinking of getting one for myself; anyone out there looking to purchase a 2 month old LG Optimus 1?