First announced at the 3GSM World Congress in February 2004, Panasonic has finally jumped on the smart phone bandwagon with its flagship model, the X700. Being a Symbian clamshell like the Nokia 6260, it has been eagerly anticipated. Thankfully, it looks to be worth the wait.

Design
The X700 adheres to the predominantly silver appearance popularized by Korean and Japanese handset manufacturers. A gray oval on the front accentuates the design while housing the camera aperture, a flashlight, and a mediocre 4K-color LCD display.At 97 x 49 x 24mm and 107g, it is fairly compact and one of the lighter series 60 handsets in the market, though not as wafer-thin as the Panasonic X400 which uses the same form factor.

Build quality and finish are solid, and the clamshell opens with a resounding click to reveal a 176 x 208-pixel, 65K-color TFT. While we have no complaints about the sharp screen, the wobbly keypad is disappointing. Buttons are shallow and lack tactile feel. Users should note that both softkeys can be customized to launch different applications. However, unlike other Symbian devices such as the Nokia 7610, this feature does not extend to the directional pad.

Features
The X700 is Panasonic's first Symbian offering and it is a commendable effort. The menu interface is identical to its series 60 brethren and comprises rows of three icons. Quickword, Quicksheet and Quickpoint come preloaded for viewing and performing simple tasks on office documents, though the inability to edit PowerPoint files is a current limitation of Quickoffice.Phone functionality may be extended by installing third-party applications and the hot-swappable miniSD expansion slot is also welcomed. Our only gripe is the occasional lags encountered when accessing menus and the contact list.

An onboard VGA CMOS sensor allows users to capture still images or video clips. While picture quality is nothing to shout about, the shutter lag is negligible and a nifty, preinstalled photo-editing program PhotoBase enables users to tweak images by adding Clip Art, frames and even text. The onboard photolight is also bright and useful under low-light conditions.

Sound-wise, the X700's polyphony will not disappoint music aficionados. The 40-chord polyphonic ringtones are melodious and easily audible even in crowded areas. MP3 support is not available, though.

The X700 has abundant connectivity options. In addition to GPRS and Java support, this mobile offers flawless serial, infrared and Bluetooth connections.

Reception, Battery Life And SAR
We had no issues with reception and voice quality from the triband handset but audio output from the speakerphone was a tad soft.

The 780mAh battery lasted between two and three days on moderate phone usage and the highest Specific Absorption rate recorded was 0.48W/kg, which meets international requirements concerning exposure to radio waves.

Conclusion
As more manufacturers adopt the Symbian standard, consumers are increasingly spoilt for choice. The X700 is a decent handset with excellent build quality and a strong feature set, though the occasional lag is a letdown. That said, this handset should appeal to users who desire Symbian functionality in a clamshell form factor, and a worthy alternative to other Symbian phones like Nokia's 6260 and 7610. The X700 is retailing now for S$598 with a two-year plan and S$758 without contract.