Newgen E1200

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If small is always better for portable devices like mobile phones, then newcomer Newgen is certainly off to a good start with its debut offering, the E1200. Measuring just 78.5 x 47 x 17.6mm and weighing 66g, the Newgen mobile is possibly one of the tiniest and lightest candy-bar handsets in the market today. Combined with a glossy silver exterior and streamlined display, the E1200 looks set to be a hit among young female users.

Design
Our first impression of the E1200 was that of an MP3 player. This didn't come as a surprise considering the tiny footprint of the handset and a display that took up almost half of the front face, which is a typical design for most music players these days. What gave its mobile phone identity away was probably the four tiny strips of buttons. The small number keypad offered a surprisingly responsive feel but users with large fingers might find themselves struggling to avoid pressing two buttons at the same time.

We were somewhat attracted to the shiny silver frame that goes around the phone. The mirror-like front face (with the display) and the minimal use of buttons also added a touch of style in this otherwise simple-looking phone. The biggest highlight of this dualband handset, however, was really its small form factor. No bigger than a bar of soap or a pack of cards, the E1200 is so tiny, you can hang it round the neck with a lanyard or fit it into small pockets.

Our only gripe with the design of the E1200 was the plasticky feel of the chassis, which somehow doesn't give the phone a solid feel. The flipside, though, was a lighter handset that would not cause neck strains. It also helped that the unsightly cellular antenna was hidden inside the phone, which reduces the risk of breaking the antenna when carrying it in a pocket.

Features
Clearly targeted at entry-level users, the E1200 comes with a very basic set of features that offer the standard SMS and MMS as well as voice call functionalities. There is no infrared or Bluetooth connectivity but it does feature WAP and GPRS capabilities. For messaging, Newgen makes use of a system called eZi which works quite similar to T9 except when you need to enter single characters; it doesn't seem to give you a choice to cycle between certain letters.

As with many phones today, the E1200 comes with an integrated VGA camera that can capture images up to 640 x 480 pixels. Images generally turned out soft with slight underexposure in color saturation. Otherwise, it can still make for decent snapshots on credit card-sized prints. Other camera modes include a multi-shot function and video capture support for MMS. Interestingly, the phone allows users to perform several post-capture image processing, among which includes adding filters and text captions.

On the front face of the phone is a 65K-color 160 x 128-pixel TFT display, which is nothing to shout about. In terms of sound, the onboard speaker produces clear and audible ringtones. However, even with 64-chord polyphonic support, the handset's sound quality is nowhere near those you get from Samsung and Motorola handsets, reminding us of those from first-generation polyphonic phones instead.

For those looking for organizer features in a phone, the E1200 comes bundled with a good set of PIM features including World Time, Stopwatch, Currency Converter, Scheduler, Memo, Alarm and Calculator as well as embedded games.

Performance And Battery Life
During our lab tests, we didn't encounter any significant lag while operating the phone. Incoming calls were generally clear and reception was good, though we did find it hard to project our voice in crowded environments at times. Much of the phone's interface takes advantage of icons to make them intuitive and easy to use.

The small-capacity 650mAh battery that came with the E1200 provided up to almost two days of usage.