Smart Netphone 701 Review : No Frills Commentary, Verdict, More In The Flesh Photos!

TechPinas Gadget Reviews:
Smart Netphone 701 (full specifications via the link)

Type: Midrange Android Full-Touchscreen Smartphone
Price in the Philippines: Php 9,900

Overall Impression: Probably the Android smartphone with the best technical specifications in its price class. Paired with sulit SmartNet promo services, it's the phone to beat.

Strong Points:
1. High resolution display at 480 x 800 pixels, 16 Million colors (vs. 240 x 320 pixels, 256K in other handsets in its price category)
2. Bundled SmartNet services - Free Facebook, Twitter, SmartNet and Yahoo Chat until December 31, 2011. After that you can get the same services for as low as Php 20 a day.
3. Durable, fingerprint-resistant matte casing.
4. Landmark smartphone - First to introduce Smart's SafeBrowse technology, making it possible to isolate services, effectively cutting data overuse costs.
5 SmartNet Global Directory makes it easy to connect with other SmartNet users around the globe and send them messages via SmartNet widget.
6. Social Hub shows a timeline of status updates from your friends in Facebook, Twitter and Smart Network. Also allows users to easily update status in said social networking sites.
7. Smart Center, easily accessible via SmartNet widget, shows load balance and subscription status in special promos and services by Smart.

Points for Improvement:
1. Just like most other Android smartphones in its price class, it suffers from short battery life. But you can always tweak the phone settings - display, background data - to augment uptime.
2. The 3.2 MegaPixel camera autofocus camera doesn't come with LED flash. Then again, most similarly priced Android phones also don't have that.

TP Verdict: Consider getting it for 2 reasons --
1. It has the best technical specs in its price category.
2. Bundled SmartNet services are free until December 31, 2011 and they'll be 'sulit' once you have to pay for them.

TP Star Point: 9 out of 10.