Micromax GC700 Mobile

Micromax hasn't been around for too long, but they've made sure their products have made some sort of statement when it comes to their features. From 8MP camera phones with optical zoom to this, the GC700 Dual connectivity CDMA/GSM handset with its Gravity sensor. Their devices are very innovative but can they hold their own with serious competition with the likes of LG and Samsung or Nokia? That's what I'm here to tell you. So first up is the GC700, and here's how it fared.

Form Factor

The first impression I got is, great, at last here's another gaming phone. This should be fun. The two round five way nav-pads on either end of the device and call take and end keys on either side of them, gives off the idea that you can hold the handset in landscape and use the pads as joysticks for gaming. That couldn't be further from the truth. This curiously plump phone (15mm thick) supports both CDMA and GSM simultaneously. The C depicted in the middle of Nav-Pad is for CDMA and the G is for GSM. Both Nav-Pads also act as earpieces so you can hear incoming calls from either end. The idea is to distinguish the usage of reception technology. The handset is equipped with a 2.8-inch Capacitive touchscreen display that sports a 240 x 400 pixel resolution. A 2 MP camera that's barely visible is located at the back.

The handset has one hot swap, under the rear panel for one SIM card as well as microSD memory card. An issue I have with this is, in order to access the memory card; you have to remove the SIM. It should have been the other way around. There's plenty of space on the sides to have included a microSD port along with the mini usb port that's already there. The CDMA SIM slot is accessible only by removing the battery. The reason I'm assuming this is the CDMA slot is because I put my GSM card in here and was not unable to either receive a signal or alter the settings to recognize the card. A 3.5mm handsfree socket is located on one of the sides as well.

Innovative is the word that immediately comes to mind when I think about the GC700. The only 2 flaws are the SIM card over the memory card placement even though there seems to be ample space for a separation and the stylus that needs to be screwed in to the cap which is time consuming and the fact that the company couldn't build a slot for this as well. It ends up hanging by a thread, literally, and is a bit annoying to have dangling around.



Features and Performance

Interface

Using what they're calling Sense-Flo technology for the accelerometer and motion sensor, the fluidity of rotation and flick control for the image section is superb with no lag at all. Of course the display only rotates from one side to the other and not to landscape mode in all menus. A clock that can be placed on the desktop can be bounced around the screen by moving the handset in any direction. The music player also uses the sensor for skipping tracks. It's similar to sony Ericsson's Shake Control, but you won't need to press any button here, just swing your hand in the direction you want to skip.



The funny thing is this handset could have been perfect for motion sensitive gaming or other styles considering the design and features. Instead there are 3 simple games included that may be entertaining but don't utilize the handset's potential.

One might also consider the Slide to Unlock screen lock mode to be an Apple rip off. Then again, the fact that you can keep an icon pressed on the desktop till it vibrates and then drag it around the grid to change the location is even more of a copy cat function. The funny thing is I've seen a couple of others like this and this one just happens to be the smoothest. Of course it's nothing like the iPhone's UI, but it's pretty damn good nevertheless.

I liked the GC700's UI even though you can't really change the theme to any other color or alter the background. It's quite finger friendly for most part but I do wish the keypad could also have been designed like that. The onscreen QWERTY keypad is too tightly packed for use without the stylus. The navigation system is also quite useful most of the time but there are some parts of the screen that will also require the use of the stylus for accessing functions and settings. If you have slim fingers you shouldn't have too much of an issue.

The UI is quite intuitive but has a few oddities like the lack of being able to use in landscape. It's a waste actually. But it's never the less very fluid, but I wonder what Apple thinks? (via)