June 29, 2010 at 23:33Beeline A100: extremely budget phone with surprisingly rich functionality
Despite the fact that in my everyday life I use pretty sophisticated smarts, I continue to experience unremitting tenderness for “just phones”. Firstly, because my parents (especially my father) prefer the simplest models possible, and therefore I try to keep abreast of the offers on the market. Secondly, because deep down I understand that normal mobile phones should be just such simple, cheap and unpretentious. In order not to feel sorry to throw it in a bag, to drop it, you could immediately fly into a tangible amount without fear, and so that the battery lasts not a day, but a week. Or two. And on a business trip or vacation, such an unpretentious companion is simply necessary, because local pickpockets do not sleep, and an expensive phone is guaranteed to cause an influx of tender feelings in them. And to stay in an unfamiliar place is not enough without your favorite gadget,
I have to travel quite a lot, and finding myself there, I put the iPhone deeper into my inner pocket, and I use the Nokia N70, who has been living in the household and is scared to remember how many years. In principle, there are no special complaints against him, and after changing the battery a year and a half ago, he seems to have gained a second wind. But recently, I began to somehow squeak strange strange when I received SMS on and off. Is it weird? Yes, not the right word ... In the service I was advised not to suffer and buy something new, since the same functionality is now inexpensive. And I thought that on trips, in fact, I did not need anything except voice, SMS and a capacious battery. Therefore, I decided to look at very, very unpretentious models. I went to the guys I knew at Savelovsky Market and saw a phone with the Beeline sign on the back cover. “What,” I ask, - “It is the Chinese who instead of the Knock began to rivet? Do you have such ones with MTS or Megafon? ”
“No,” the guys answer, “It’s quite an official phone, Beeline branded some Chinese for itself, it costs 850 rubles in stores. If you want, take it for 800. " Of course, I did not immediately buy anything, but I asked for a weekly telephone for experiments. And, having understood it better, he was pretty surprised.
First of all, this is, of course, not Beeline, but ZTE itself. I could not calculate the exact name of the model, because under the A100 code on the Internet there is some ancient ZTE clamshell, and on the official website there is nothing like a bee phone. At the same time, ZTE is better than complete namelessness.
Secondly, the functionality of the beast (of course, taking into account the price) is quite wide. Vibrating alert, speakerphone, radio, favorite by many flashlight - all this is there, and the radio works even without connecting a headset. The latter is included and, unfortunately, is connected via a non-standard connector. Unfortunately - because the sound in it leaves much to be desired, and if it is quite suitable for conversations, then it is not very good for listening to music. Meanwhile, the desire to listen to something vigorous may arise, because Beeline A100 supports ... microSD up to 8 gigabytes. Checked - really eats. MP3 - theoretically - can be uploaded with any bitrate, but at 320 Kbps the player is no, no, but it stutters. Therefore, it is better to limit yourself to 256, especially since on such a ... ahem ... a headset that is 128, that is 320 - you will not feel the difference.
Talking on the A100 is normal - and you hear everything, and they hear you. It is almost impossible to miss an incoming call: firstly, it vibrates surprisingly strongly, and secondly, it screams VERY loudly. There are twenty built-in ringtones. You can pick up pretty nice ones.
Very pleased with the battery. It seems that the capacity is small, 670 mAh, but failed to find its “bottom" in a week. I listened to music, checked games (I note that there are only two of them and both are terribly primitive), I tuned the radio, talked on the phone for an hour and a half, and only halfway managed to discharge the battery. This, I note, after the first charge.
I did not like two things. The first is a very mediocre screen, a cheap CSTN matrix in all its dubious glory. Honestly, I would have been more pleased with the black and white image than with such a disgrace. But, probably, there are few such lovers of antiquity, and the Beeline signature colors look quite authentic on the matrix. Screen resolution is not disclosed, but, by eye, it is extremely low. At least for Internet surfing on GPRS, which the phone seems to support, the screen is categorically unsuitable. Java, by the way, is not supported, so give up hope to put ICQ on it. I don’t need it, but many, I know, love such small tricks.
The second is a strange keyboard. It’s exactly strange: it seems that the keys are not small, and are located standardly, but dialing a number and, especially, SMS is inconvenient. The last, I note, must be done very briskly, because the time after which the phone considers the letter selected is extremely short. You can get used to it. But still it feels that this is not Nokia, and not even a “Sonerik”.
And the phone’s last surprise was the last surprise. The guys told me that it is locked on the Beeline, and will not work with other SIM cards. I decided to check this statement and did not lose: there is no SIM-lock there at all, all the SIM cards are cheering. And this is a completely different calico: it turns out that the device can be used in those parts where there is no Beeline yet. For example, in Europe, in Turkey or Egypt.
Total The fact of the presence of the Beeline logo on the cover did not inspire me to buy, because, despite all the sympathy for this operator, I have been using the services of another for many years :) :) But for my price, 850 rubles and even cheaper, the offer is nice . Moreover, there is also a SIM card with the “World Beeline” tariff, which makes it good to call long-distance and even to some international destinations. Just don’t peck at the “300 minutes and 300 SMS” promised on the box as a gift. They are allocated in portions of 3 minutes and 3 SMS per day, and if for some reason you did not immediately use this generous gift, it burns out the next day. However, a gift horse ...
I am still in the process of choosing, and if any of the readers have already bought something like this, I will be grateful for the advice. I just ask you not to offer grandmother phones Just 5: I'm not so cool as to buy Chinese thirty-dollar fun for such a lot of money :) In fact, they are from Beeline A100 of the same field of berries, but the price tags, to put it mildly, are different.
PS In the photo, the screen looks almost black and white, but in life it is noticeably more color. And do not be surprised at the date: to be honest, it was just too lazy to expose it.
I have to travel quite a lot, and finding myself there, I put the iPhone deeper into my inner pocket, and I use the Nokia N70, who has been living in the household and is scared to remember how many years. In principle, there are no special complaints against him, and after changing the battery a year and a half ago, he seems to have gained a second wind. But recently, I began to somehow squeak strange strange when I received SMS on and off. Is it weird? Yes, not the right word ... In the service I was advised not to suffer and buy something new, since the same functionality is now inexpensive. And I thought that on trips, in fact, I did not need anything except voice, SMS and a capacious battery. Therefore, I decided to look at very, very unpretentious models. I went to the guys I knew at Savelovsky Market and saw a phone with the Beeline sign on the back cover. “What,” I ask, - “It is the Chinese who instead of the Knock began to rivet? Do you have such ones with MTS or Megafon? ”
“No,” the guys answer, “It’s quite an official phone, Beeline branded some Chinese for itself, it costs 850 rubles in stores. If you want, take it for 800. " Of course, I did not immediately buy anything, but I asked for a weekly telephone for experiments. And, having understood it better, he was pretty surprised.
First of all, this is, of course, not Beeline, but ZTE itself. I could not calculate the exact name of the model, because under the A100 code on the Internet there is some ancient ZTE clamshell, and on the official website there is nothing like a bee phone. At the same time, ZTE is better than complete namelessness.
Secondly, the functionality of the beast (of course, taking into account the price) is quite wide. Vibrating alert, speakerphone, radio, favorite by many flashlight - all this is there, and the radio works even without connecting a headset. The latter is included and, unfortunately, is connected via a non-standard connector. Unfortunately - because the sound in it leaves much to be desired, and if it is quite suitable for conversations, then it is not very good for listening to music. Meanwhile, the desire to listen to something vigorous may arise, because Beeline A100 supports ... microSD up to 8 gigabytes. Checked - really eats. MP3 - theoretically - can be uploaded with any bitrate, but at 320 Kbps the player is no, no, but it stutters. Therefore, it is better to limit yourself to 256, especially since on such a ... ahem ... a headset that is 128, that is 320 - you will not feel the difference.
Talking on the A100 is normal - and you hear everything, and they hear you. It is almost impossible to miss an incoming call: firstly, it vibrates surprisingly strongly, and secondly, it screams VERY loudly. There are twenty built-in ringtones. You can pick up pretty nice ones.
Very pleased with the battery. It seems that the capacity is small, 670 mAh, but failed to find its “bottom" in a week. I listened to music, checked games (I note that there are only two of them and both are terribly primitive), I tuned the radio, talked on the phone for an hour and a half, and only halfway managed to discharge the battery. This, I note, after the first charge.
I did not like two things. The first is a very mediocre screen, a cheap CSTN matrix in all its dubious glory. Honestly, I would have been more pleased with the black and white image than with such a disgrace. But, probably, there are few such lovers of antiquity, and the Beeline signature colors look quite authentic on the matrix. Screen resolution is not disclosed, but, by eye, it is extremely low. At least for Internet surfing on GPRS, which the phone seems to support, the screen is categorically unsuitable. Java, by the way, is not supported, so give up hope to put ICQ on it. I don’t need it, but many, I know, love such small tricks.
The second is a strange keyboard. It’s exactly strange: it seems that the keys are not small, and are located standardly, but dialing a number and, especially, SMS is inconvenient. The last, I note, must be done very briskly, because the time after which the phone considers the letter selected is extremely short. You can get used to it. But still it feels that this is not Nokia, and not even a “Sonerik”.
And the phone’s last surprise was the last surprise. The guys told me that it is locked on the Beeline, and will not work with other SIM cards. I decided to check this statement and did not lose: there is no SIM-lock there at all, all the SIM cards are cheering. And this is a completely different calico: it turns out that the device can be used in those parts where there is no Beeline yet. For example, in Europe, in Turkey or Egypt.
Total The fact of the presence of the Beeline logo on the cover did not inspire me to buy, because, despite all the sympathy for this operator, I have been using the services of another for many years :) :) But for my price, 850 rubles and even cheaper, the offer is nice . Moreover, there is also a SIM card with the “World Beeline” tariff, which makes it good to call long-distance and even to some international destinations. Just don’t peck at the “300 minutes and 300 SMS” promised on the box as a gift. They are allocated in portions of 3 minutes and 3 SMS per day, and if for some reason you did not immediately use this generous gift, it burns out the next day. However, a gift horse ...
I am still in the process of choosing, and if any of the readers have already bought something like this, I will be grateful for the advice. I just ask you not to offer grandmother phones Just 5: I'm not so cool as to buy Chinese thirty-dollar fun for such a lot of money :) In fact, they are from Beeline A100 of the same field of berries, but the price tags, to put it mildly, are different.
PS In the photo, the screen looks almost black and white, but in life it is noticeably more color. And do not be surprised at the date: to be honest, it was just too lazy to expose it.