Introduction
So this is my second Glofiish review in the past 3 weeks and with this review I intend to cover some of the points raised by readers in the past few reviews. I have been using both Glofiish phones for the past 3 weeks and of the two I’m afraid that this one was not my favourite.
Eten Glofiish X610
The 10 second review:
Device: Eten Glofiish X610
Cost: SIM free only: £464.13 (Inc VAT).
Available to pre-order from: CLOVE technology (Go and buy one from here)
Summary: A pretty depressing device with very little more to offer than GPS and an FM radio that requires no headset attached.
Best of: Box & Packaging, FM Radio, Battery Life
Worst of: WiFi connection, phone signal loss, Design
What’s in the box?
Well we wont go into too much detail about what’s in the box as we have an Unboxing Video already online.
Specification
Matt has posted the specs along with the Unboxing Video already so have a look there before reading on.
General
The Eten Glofiish X610 not unlike the other x range Glofiish handsets out there. Weighing in at 136g it’s a good bit lighter than the V900 which was reviewed earlier this month.
The phone design is rather rectangular and apart from the curved edges it looks old. With a large 2.8" 320 x 240 touch screen its not a clear in resolution as the V900. At the top of the screen there is an small square earpiece grill and a status light to both the left and the right hand side of it. The bottom of the pone consists of (from left to right) a call start button, quicklink GPS button, 4 way D-Pad with silver submit button in the centre, home key and call end button.
Angled view of Glofiish X610
The left hand side of the phone has just 2 buttons starting at the top with the rocker volume switch and a button a bit lower down which is defaulted as Voice Command but can be customised. The reset button and the 2.5mm Jack socket (please stop this device manufacturers) can also be found here.
The Left Hand Side
Moving over to the right hand side we find the power button and the camera button.
The Right Hand Side
The top of the handset again has nothing interesting to see except for a simple GPS logo etched in.
Top View
At the bottom we find (from left to right) the telescopic stylus, microphone, MicroSD slot and the miniUSB port.
Bottom View
Looking to the back of the phone we find the 2MP camera, the tinniest self portrait mirror I have eve seen, an LED flash, and large speaker sitting just to the right of it. At the bottom of the back cover there is simply a windows logo etched into the plastic. A surprising addition to the back of the phone is the sticky out part of the stylus which means that if you want to remove the back cover the stylus has to be removed too (not a great move Eten)
Back View
Removing the back from the phone allows you access to the Li-Ion 1530 mAh battery and simcard area. The battery can be removed by flicking a catch downwards that is set to lock the battery in place.
Highlights and Lowlights
+ GPS
+ FM Radio
+ Screen Size
– Loss of phone signal
– Poor ability to hold a WiFi signal
– No full paper version of instructions
– Design & Shape
Review
Considering the phone is priced phone is priced alongside the better V900 I was surprised at just how depressing the phone was. Aimed I guess at the business end of the market and the less techy people this phone really didn’t do a lot for me. You might find when reading through this review that is reads very similar to the V900 review but take it from me that whilst paragraphs may well read the same the phone’s are very different.
When I took the phone box out of its box the first thing that caught my eye was again a very simplistic yet very orange box. Opening the box again like the v900 was very refreshing, no confuddle of leaflets, cables etc… just a very plain cardboard insert housing the phone. Underneath the initial cardboard insert lay a cardboard box which was very neatly packed with the cables and leaflets that normally clutter the box.
Powering on the phone gave the normal Eten bright orange background After running through the normal Windows Mobile set up it loaded the spb Shell interface which we are seeing being built in as standard more and more now.
Navigation was very simple as you’ll find that all Windows Mobile systems handle the same way. The D-Pad was a lot better than the V900 to navigate with.
Inside the phone menu there was not a great deal on offer program wise with the highlight being the Multimedia folder which had the FM Tuner.
The MicroSD slot this time was 1 million times easier to use than the V900 with a simple slot at the bottom which took and released the card very easily with a finger push.
Moving on to some of the normal asked questions I’m gonna go with Matt’s X1 Q&A section to keep it clean.
What’s the in-call sound quality like?
Actually very good, I had not a single complaint from anyone whilst on a call either outbound or inbound
What is the actual RAM in the device?
64MB SDRAM however the settings page shows 46.25 Storage memory and 49.13 Program memory
What is the Spb Panel like?
Not a big fan of this at first but it seems to work really well and its pre installed which is always a good thing
Can you post sample shots taken from the X610 camera?
I’ll ask Matt if he has the time to post some of these however I will say that the picture quality on its low spec 2mp camera is bumpy and doesn’t really take a great photo.
Does it have a motion sensor?
Nope, fraid not
How is the speed switching between screens?
There is an approx 0.5ms delay in switching screens or launching apps.
How is the feel and reaction of the control touch screen?
To touch it’s the normal smooth texture and the touch is nice and sensative.
How is the sound output quality of the speaker?
Very poor to be honest, in speaker phone mode it’s quite distorted and a little annoying
How well does the FM radio work? How is its reception in areas with weak signals?
This works really well but I do have a very high signal where I live and round about me given that most places in my town can see the FM transmitter mast.
How well does it hold on to cellular signals during calls?
During calls it’s great but off calls it seems to loose itself every 10 to 15 minutes and when you have put the device to sleep it wakes itself back up as a result of this.
Is the hardware fast enough to cope with several applications in the background?
100% no, it’s slow when running 3 apps never mind multiple.
How quickly does using GPS, 3G/HSDPA and Wi-Fi drain the battery?
The battery is one of the better bits of the phone, even using the WiFi it seems to last over a day.
Which is better, the V900 of the X610?
This is a simple one for me, the V900 everytime
How did the GPS handle?
I honestly have no idea because despite having the GPS ability there was nothing worth using on the phone to test it.
Left Angled View
Conclusion
I used the phone for over a week and found it a tad simple and boring. I not saying I never enjoyed having the phone but for me there we just too many downsides and I would not be wiling to spend the money wanted for the phone. I am a big Windows Mobile fan and in general love all phones so to have a phone I didn’t find exiting was a bit disappointing for me. I really hope Eten stay away from making devices like this in the future and concentrate in making the v900 a better phone.
I intend to be sending the phone back this week so if you have any more questions then let me know and I’ll do my best to post them before handing the phone back to Matt.
If you are interested in this handset then why not pop over to CLOVE technology where you can pre-order this handset for £464.13 (Inc VAT).
Posted by: John
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