Philips 755

Editors' note: The price of the 2-year subscription plan of the phone was not available at press time. According to Philips, the 755 handset will retail for S$598 (US$440.28) without subscription.

Design
On first impressions, the phone has a very "plastic" feel to it. The 755 sports the familiar candy-bar form factor. At 106 x 46 x 18 mm and weighing 89g, the handset is lighter than many other offerings in the market. Featuring a 128 x 160-pixel 65K touch-screen panel which covers half its face plate, the phone's keypad and five-way joystick complete the setup.

The keypad feels rather crowded, with keys so narrow in height that it took some getting used to. The joystick feels a little rigid and was positioned too flushed with the phone's surface, making rapid joystick navigation a skillful endeavor. On the left side of the phone sits the stylus cradle, while the right side hosts the earphone, power-in and IrDA ports, along with a nifty camera button. The VGA camera is located on the back of the phone and has a cool flick-operated camera cover to protect the sensitive lens. Beside the lens is a fish-eye mirror to facilitate self-portraits. The phone speaker is situated just above the camera lens.

If you thought using the touch screen for text inputs would be quicker, think again. Although the touch screen is extremely sensitive and responsive, using the onscreen interface takes considerable effort owing to the virtual buttons being so small that it takes precision tapping for any meaningful input to be made -- ruling out the use of touch-screen finger-tapping during SMS composition. A stylus is provided specifically for that purpose, but the stylus itself isn't bug-free. Positioned at the side of the phone, removing the writing implement can be difficult and unintuitive for some, especially if it is cradled too tightly.

The onscreen interface is also sluggish, taking a noticeable amount of delay when navigating from one menu to the next. To add to the list of troubles, the low resolution of the display looks almost blockish as compared with its industry counterparts, and because of this, the photographs taken from the VGA camera look pixelated and lack fine details.

In the sound department, the ringer is less audible, making its presence hard to detect in the noisy drone of an MRT cabin. The vibration function is also rather weak.

Features
Thankfully, the triband 755's huge number of features more than redeems it for its shortcomings. Being touted as the first non-smart phone to feature stylus input, Philips makes full use of its touch-screen to implement its Tag-it functionality. Tag-it is an innovative and fun image-processing tool which permits users to draw lines and shapes directly onto the photographs in the phone, effectively allowing users to "Tag" their photographs with personalized messages before sending the pictures to their friends through MMS. They can also download the edited pictures onto their desktops via GPRS or IrDA. While there's no USB connectivity or Bluetooth for rapid file transfer, the 7MB of internal memory provides ample space for trigger-happy shutterbugs. The integrated VGA camera comes with standard features that accompany most modern camera-phones, including night-shot, 4x digital zoom and special effects such as emboss, sepia and negative imaging.

Another worthy feature would be the BeDJ sound studio. Using the stylus, users can mix up to nine tracks of audio and save them as ringtones or use them in MMS attachments.

Apart from the usual set of standard functions, the 755 also offers voice recording function, with the added ability to record phone conversations. Without regard for the underlying legalities, this is really a great tool for uses such as recording phone interviews.

Reception, Battery Life And SAR
When reviewed, we found our voice calls clear and reception strong. On normal usage, the 755 lasted around 3.5 days per battery recharge.

The highest SAR value for this handset was found at 0.71W/kg, which meets international guidelines for exposure to radio waves.

Conclusion
Never judge a phone by its cover, a phrase especially true for the Philips 755. While its design leaves much to be desired, its innovative and thoughtful features make up for much of its inadequacies. Coupled with a relatively long battery life, the 755 is a good choice for anyone who appreciates creative expressions. The set retails at S$598 (US$440.28) without a plan.