Thursday, March 22, 2007
E-TEN Goes QWERTY: Glofiish M700 Reviewed
Posted by Darius Wey in "HARDWARE" @ 08:30 AM
Figure 5: The rear of the M700 - (1) 2.0-megapixel camera with flash and mirror, (2) microSD slot and Mini-USB port, (3) camera button, and (4) power button.
As with most devices, there's not much on the rear. Toward the top, we see a 2.0-megapixel camera with a flash and mirror, and adjacent to it, a mono speaker, which is loud enough for most purposes. The battery cover consumes the remaining space. It includes a rubber grip near the centre and two small projections toward the bottom. They're purposed for elevation and indeed a nice idea, but said idea is poorly executed as the mirror adjacent to the camera protrudes far enough to override the effects of the rubber grip. As a result, you may find that minor scratches will develop on the mirror over time.
Figure 6: Let's take a peek inside - (1) SIM slot, (2) battery compartment, and (3) the 1,530mAh Li-ion polymer battery.
Unsurprisingly, popping the battery cover off the device exposes the battery compartment. The slot for the SIM card is located beneath it.
Figure 7: The M700 from an oblique angle - (1) call buttons and soft keys, (2) Today/M-Desk button, (3) stylus, and (4) microSD slot and Mini-USB slot (and microphone, if you squint hard).
Touring the side of the M700, it's immediately noticeable that the button arrangement matches that of the X500. Both the power and camera buttons are located on the right, the microSD slot and Mini-USB port are on the bottom, and volume controls, voice command button, and headphone socket are on the left. The M700 actually features some slight improvements in this regard. The sensitivity of the volume controls (a problem affecting earlier builds of the X500) has been tuned, and they also sport raised notches that help minimize accidental pressing of the voice command button during blind operation.
Like the X500, the headphone socket of the M700 is of the 2.5mm type. E-TEN includes a stereo headset designed specifically for it, although they do not include a 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter, so if you plan on using your own 3.5mm headphones, you'll need to pick up a suitable adapter from a third-party vendor.
The M700 accepts the increasingly common microSD card via a slot located on its bottom edge. It's accessible, but exposed. Without a rubber cap, there's an increased chance of the microSD card accidentally ejecting when the device is subject to hard impact. microSD cards of up to 2GB are relatively available and affordable. While the microSDHC specification allows for card sizes of 4GB and up, the M700 does not support it.
