REVIEW : ZEN Z77 (Ultra Budget Phone)
Zen Mobiles, zenmobiles.in, yet another of the very many Indian Mobile companies who have entered the market with ultra-budget phones, many of which have features like Dual SIM (even triple in some cases), QWERTY keyboard, Memory card support, Wireless Radio etc. The model I am going to review here is a Blackberry Clone called the Z77. Broadly speaking, its marketed by the above mentioned company, as a Dual SIM phone with social networking support . I even saw an advertisement of the model a few days back on TV , so I guess most of you would have heard about it too. I got it from Ebay for 3240/- after using a 10% coupon. So you can do the math to calculate the actual price. (2 marks
)
This is my 1st review. So pardon me for any mistakes which I might have committed. Before I commence this review, I would like to make it clear that I use this phone as a secondary phone, my primary one being the Samsung Omnia HD. So I won’t be touching on features like Camera and Video Recording because basically, that is not why I use this phone for, nor what this phone is to be used for. The camera quality is pathetic and you would be better off shooting pics with your age old Nokia 6600.
So Moving on….
The Bundle:
The sealed box comes with the handset, the battery (1100 mAh), Travel Adaptor (the one with the USB slot to which you any connect any data cable), Micro USB Data cable, Headset with 3.5mm jack (In-ear ones like the creative EP-630.) and a Manual. Please note that the box did not come with a Micro SD card and I had to use my own which has quite surprising. I expected them to bundle atleast a 512 mb card. Oh Well…
Rating 4/5
The Form Factor/Build Quality:
The phone looks like a *surprise* *surprise* Blackberry. I can’t quite pinpoint which model of RIM’s Blackberry because I am not very conversant with its models. You can check out the pics to get an idea regarding the same. It has a QWERTY keyboard, a 4 way D-pad with a center button, a Home/Menu Key, a back key, 2 Call keys(For SIM 1 and 2 respectively) and 1 Call end key. The Call end key also sums up as the Power On key. Overall I was satisfied with the layout. The buttons would take some time getting used to, but once you get the hand of it, you won’t be committing many mistakes. The one thing that bothered me quite a bit was that the D-Pad was slightly protruding and gave me an uncomfortable feel whenever I pressed the Menu or the Back key which are placed on either side of the D-Pad. For a second, I used to feel that there was something wrong with the buttons as they were shallower as compared to the D-Pad. The left hand side has the 3.5 mm port while the micro USB port is stationed at the bottom. There are no Volume buttons on the side. It has to be increased or decreased using the U & I buttons just below the Back key. Overall, I liked the feel of the phone. It is very lightweight, much lighter than I expected it to be, considering that it sports a QWERTY keypad. Another thing which I liked was that, neither of the ports were covered (which is not the case in cellphones like Omnia HD, wherein each and every slot is covered.) The cover might be good in a way, but becomes an annoyance during commute especially if you don’t have long fingernails
.
As you can see, there is no slot for the Micro SD card on the surface which naturally means that there is no hot-swap facility for the same. You have to remove the battery everytime you want to remove/insert the memory card. So that is a drawback, especially if you and your friends exchange memory cards containing Shakira’s latest album/Jodha Akbar
Overall, I am happy with the build quality. Not the best I have seen, but that would be asking for too much from a 3k odd phone.
Rating: 4/5
Usage/Interface/DUAL SIM functionality:
Z77 is a Java phone, so interface is a breeze. Every menu item is self-explanatory and I don’t think anyone will have any trouble surfing through the various menus. I have not seen Blackberry’s menu but a friend told me that even the cosmestic layout is a copy. The screen is very bright and vibrant, something which I was skeptical about.
Dual SIM functionality works seamlessly. Both the SIM cards can be active at the same time. But one thing worth noting is that, if you are talking to someone from SIM-1 and someone calls you from SIM-2 , I don’t think the phone will notify that there is a call waiting. The call/voice quality is very good. There was no disturbance whatsoever and there were no call drops either. On clicking the menus like Messages, Web Browsing{ i.e where Dual SIM functionality comes into picture}, you are greeted with the SIM-1 / SIM-2 submenu which prevents all the clatter and neatly segregates incoming and outgoing messages SIM-wise. In case of Web browsing, I have activated Pocket Internet in one of the 2 SIMS. So the fact that it asks me which SIM to select is good, so that I don’t mistakenly end up paying for usage from the other SIM.
Rating: 5/5
Multimedia/Applications:
The phone comes with MP3/MP4 support. It has its own audio player (the Up D-pad acts as a shortcut for the same.) It has a video player too, but it was stuttering like hell, so it’s best left alone. But coming to the audio quality, one word: OUTSTANDING! Plus the fact that one can use one’s own headphones (I used Creative EP-630) is the icing on the cake. The music quality I would say is comparable to my Creative Zen MP3 Player. Look, now I am no audiophile and don’t go around bashing me that a cellphone can never give me an output similar to a standalone MP3 player. But most persons can’t even make out the difference in sound quality between FLAC and MP3 files. Especially, while commuting in a bus or a train, due to the ambience, I will to find any difference between a MP3 player and Zen’s output. Still if you are not satisfied with the sound, you are provided with an Equalizer which you can tweak to your heart’s content. The volume through the speakerphones is LOUD and that would be an understatement. A guy sitting six seats ahead of me in a crowded bus, starting searching for the source of the music when I started playing a song, so that says it all. The phone has a feature called ’Shake to Shuffle’ which changes the track everytime you shake the phone. I think one of the Sony Ericsson Walkman phones also had the same feature which is more a novelty than a useful feature. The phone is also promoted as a Social Networking handset and comes with Nimbuzz and Opera Mini preinstalled. It supports WAP and GPRS and I personally used Reliance, Aircel and Airtel GPRS in it and all them worked well, albeit I had some problem configuring them. The thing is, none of the service providers have the settings for this phone in their system and so you will have to do the settings manually which is kinda confusing. I tried installing Google Maps under the impression that I would also be able to use the phone as a GPS device as google maps has that feature. Alas, the software failed to install due to some odd reason even though the phone is a Java phone (It said that the phone is not supported). The phone also has FM (not wireless) which gave me better than average reception. There were instances of static but is good overall. It also has a FM scheduler and FM recording feature which will be useful for FM fanatics. I am not much of a radio listener, so these features don’t mean much to me. It has Bluetooth as well, so transferring songs between friends won’t be a hindrance. When connected to the PC, it shows up the option of Mass Storage, Web Cam and one more option which I don’t recollect (was a useless feature anyway). One good thing was that it charged via USB when connected to the PC too.
It says that the Camera is 1.3 MP, but I think that is a clear lie. Nokia 6610i used to take better pictures than this. Besides, the camera can also be used as a webcam when plugged into the PC, but I can guarantee that it would be hopeless!
One thing which I would have loved to see was a torch/any light key which was present in the Made for India phone Nokia 1100. I think it would be a really useful feature especially on roads where you might end up dropping something like a coin and need some light to search for it. They guys from ZEN could have dropped the camera altogether and even features like Shake to change to incorporate a torch which would have had a greater utility.
Rating : 3.5/5 [ If you only consider the Audio, then 4.5/5]
Battery Life:
On a full charge, I managed to get 2 ½ days before the battery fully ran out. This included frequent messaging, about an hour of talktime, an hour of music playback and WAP usage here and there. This is better than average for me, considering that I hardly get 1 full day of battery backup in my Omnia HD, although the comparison is a bit off.
Rating: 4/5.
OVERALL RATING: 20.5/25 or in other words 8.2/10, which is very good if you ask me. As long as you stick to what this phone has been built for i.e texting, music and WAP (in that same order), you will have no qualms whatsoever. Is this phone good enough to be used as your primary phone? Well, that depends. If Dual SIM functionality is a must have for you, then that is a feature missing in even the most high ended phones, so in such instances, this phone gets a thumbs up. But if you are one who likes to have a good camera, just in case, for that once in a while snapshot, then this is not the phone for you.
To sum it up, if you are an avid texter, like listening to music/radio during commute without worrying about the Battery low sign popping very soon, and check your facebook account once in a while during work, then this definitely should be the phone to buy, for those on a strict budget.
Ironically, people on a strict budget are spoilt for choices now, with other options being Micromax, Maxx, Spice, Lava, Karbon with many other companies springing up every other day. I haven’t really used any other model of the above mentioned companies, though a friend of mine has the Micromax Q5 which I didn’t particularly like.
You can get more info on these handsets in the following link:
Budget QWERTY Mobile Phones
But having used the Zen Z-77, I can vouch for it and can safely say that we have a winner! Good going, Zen!
P.S: As mentioned above, this is my first review. So please be a little lenient. Let me know if you have any further queries. And point out any mistakes which are apparent. I would correct them ASAP. Pics taken from my Omnia HD have been added.
Thank You.
Rajesh.
Zen Mobiles, zenmobiles.in, yet another of the very many Indian Mobile companies who have entered the market with ultra-budget phones, many of which have features like Dual SIM (even triple in some cases), QWERTY keyboard, Memory card support, Wireless Radio etc. The model I am going to review here is a Blackberry Clone called the Z77. Broadly speaking, its marketed by the above mentioned company, as a Dual SIM phone with social networking support . I even saw an advertisement of the model a few days back on TV , so I guess most of you would have heard about it too. I got it from Ebay for 3240/- after using a 10% coupon. So you can do the math to calculate the actual price. (2 marks
)This is my 1st review. So pardon me for any mistakes which I might have committed. Before I commence this review, I would like to make it clear that I use this phone as a secondary phone, my primary one being the Samsung Omnia HD. So I won’t be touching on features like Camera and Video Recording because basically, that is not why I use this phone for, nor what this phone is to be used for. The camera quality is pathetic and you would be better off shooting pics with your age old Nokia 6600.
So Moving on….
The Bundle:
The sealed box comes with the handset, the battery (1100 mAh), Travel Adaptor (the one with the USB slot to which you any connect any data cable), Micro USB Data cable, Headset with 3.5mm jack (In-ear ones like the creative EP-630.) and a Manual. Please note that the box did not come with a Micro SD card and I had to use my own which has quite surprising. I expected them to bundle atleast a 512 mb card. Oh Well…
Rating 4/5
The Form Factor/Build Quality:
The phone looks like a *surprise* *surprise* Blackberry. I can’t quite pinpoint which model of RIM’s Blackberry because I am not very conversant with its models. You can check out the pics to get an idea regarding the same. It has a QWERTY keyboard, a 4 way D-pad with a center button, a Home/Menu Key, a back key, 2 Call keys(For SIM 1 and 2 respectively) and 1 Call end key. The Call end key also sums up as the Power On key. Overall I was satisfied with the layout. The buttons would take some time getting used to, but once you get the hand of it, you won’t be committing many mistakes. The one thing that bothered me quite a bit was that the D-Pad was slightly protruding and gave me an uncomfortable feel whenever I pressed the Menu or the Back key which are placed on either side of the D-Pad. For a second, I used to feel that there was something wrong with the buttons as they were shallower as compared to the D-Pad. The left hand side has the 3.5 mm port while the micro USB port is stationed at the bottom. There are no Volume buttons on the side. It has to be increased or decreased using the U & I buttons just below the Back key. Overall, I liked the feel of the phone. It is very lightweight, much lighter than I expected it to be, considering that it sports a QWERTY keypad. Another thing which I liked was that, neither of the ports were covered (which is not the case in cellphones like Omnia HD, wherein each and every slot is covered.) The cover might be good in a way, but becomes an annoyance during commute especially if you don’t have long fingernails
. As you can see, there is no slot for the Micro SD card on the surface which naturally means that there is no hot-swap facility for the same. You have to remove the battery everytime you want to remove/insert the memory card. So that is a drawback, especially if you and your friends exchange memory cards containing Shakira’s latest album/Jodha Akbar
Overall, I am happy with the build quality. Not the best I have seen, but that would be asking for too much from a 3k odd phone.
Rating: 4/5
Usage/Interface/DUAL SIM functionality:
Z77 is a Java phone, so interface is a breeze. Every menu item is self-explanatory and I don’t think anyone will have any trouble surfing through the various menus. I have not seen Blackberry’s menu but a friend told me that even the cosmestic layout is a copy. The screen is very bright and vibrant, something which I was skeptical about.
Dual SIM functionality works seamlessly. Both the SIM cards can be active at the same time. But one thing worth noting is that, if you are talking to someone from SIM-1 and someone calls you from SIM-2 , I don’t think the phone will notify that there is a call waiting. The call/voice quality is very good. There was no disturbance whatsoever and there were no call drops either. On clicking the menus like Messages, Web Browsing{ i.e where Dual SIM functionality comes into picture}, you are greeted with the SIM-1 / SIM-2 submenu which prevents all the clatter and neatly segregates incoming and outgoing messages SIM-wise. In case of Web browsing, I have activated Pocket Internet in one of the 2 SIMS. So the fact that it asks me which SIM to select is good, so that I don’t mistakenly end up paying for usage from the other SIM.
Rating: 5/5
Multimedia/Applications:
The phone comes with MP3/MP4 support. It has its own audio player (the Up D-pad acts as a shortcut for the same.) It has a video player too, but it was stuttering like hell, so it’s best left alone. But coming to the audio quality, one word: OUTSTANDING! Plus the fact that one can use one’s own headphones (I used Creative EP-630) is the icing on the cake. The music quality I would say is comparable to my Creative Zen MP3 Player. Look, now I am no audiophile and don’t go around bashing me that a cellphone can never give me an output similar to a standalone MP3 player. But most persons can’t even make out the difference in sound quality between FLAC and MP3 files. Especially, while commuting in a bus or a train, due to the ambience, I will to find any difference between a MP3 player and Zen’s output. Still if you are not satisfied with the sound, you are provided with an Equalizer which you can tweak to your heart’s content. The volume through the speakerphones is LOUD and that would be an understatement. A guy sitting six seats ahead of me in a crowded bus, starting searching for the source of the music when I started playing a song, so that says it all. The phone has a feature called ’Shake to Shuffle’ which changes the track everytime you shake the phone. I think one of the Sony Ericsson Walkman phones also had the same feature which is more a novelty than a useful feature. The phone is also promoted as a Social Networking handset and comes with Nimbuzz and Opera Mini preinstalled. It supports WAP and GPRS and I personally used Reliance, Aircel and Airtel GPRS in it and all them worked well, albeit I had some problem configuring them. The thing is, none of the service providers have the settings for this phone in their system and so you will have to do the settings manually which is kinda confusing. I tried installing Google Maps under the impression that I would also be able to use the phone as a GPS device as google maps has that feature. Alas, the software failed to install due to some odd reason even though the phone is a Java phone (It said that the phone is not supported). The phone also has FM (not wireless) which gave me better than average reception. There were instances of static but is good overall. It also has a FM scheduler and FM recording feature which will be useful for FM fanatics. I am not much of a radio listener, so these features don’t mean much to me. It has Bluetooth as well, so transferring songs between friends won’t be a hindrance. When connected to the PC, it shows up the option of Mass Storage, Web Cam and one more option which I don’t recollect (was a useless feature anyway). One good thing was that it charged via USB when connected to the PC too.
It says that the Camera is 1.3 MP, but I think that is a clear lie. Nokia 6610i used to take better pictures than this. Besides, the camera can also be used as a webcam when plugged into the PC, but I can guarantee that it would be hopeless!
One thing which I would have loved to see was a torch/any light key which was present in the Made for India phone Nokia 1100. I think it would be a really useful feature especially on roads where you might end up dropping something like a coin and need some light to search for it. They guys from ZEN could have dropped the camera altogether and even features like Shake to change to incorporate a torch which would have had a greater utility.
Rating : 3.5/5 [ If you only consider the Audio, then 4.5/5]
Battery Life:
On a full charge, I managed to get 2 ½ days before the battery fully ran out. This included frequent messaging, about an hour of talktime, an hour of music playback and WAP usage here and there. This is better than average for me, considering that I hardly get 1 full day of battery backup in my Omnia HD, although the comparison is a bit off.
Rating: 4/5.
OVERALL RATING: 20.5/25 or in other words 8.2/10, which is very good if you ask me. As long as you stick to what this phone has been built for i.e texting, music and WAP (in that same order), you will have no qualms whatsoever. Is this phone good enough to be used as your primary phone? Well, that depends. If Dual SIM functionality is a must have for you, then that is a feature missing in even the most high ended phones, so in such instances, this phone gets a thumbs up. But if you are one who likes to have a good camera, just in case, for that once in a while snapshot, then this is not the phone for you.
To sum it up, if you are an avid texter, like listening to music/radio during commute without worrying about the Battery low sign popping very soon, and check your facebook account once in a while during work, then this definitely should be the phone to buy, for those on a strict budget.
Ironically, people on a strict budget are spoilt for choices now, with other options being Micromax, Maxx, Spice, Lava, Karbon with many other companies springing up every other day. I haven’t really used any other model of the above mentioned companies, though a friend of mine has the Micromax Q5 which I didn’t particularly like.
You can get more info on these handsets in the following link:
Budget QWERTY Mobile Phones
But having used the Zen Z-77, I can vouch for it and can safely say that we have a winner! Good going, Zen!
P.S: As mentioned above, this is my first review. So please be a little lenient. Let me know if you have any further queries. And point out any mistakes which are apparent. I would correct them ASAP. Pics taken from my Omnia HD have been added.
Thank You.
Rajesh.
