Sagem My X6-2 mobile phone review

1 September 2005 11:53 GMT / By Stuart Miles

It must be tough for any competitor trying to break into a mobile phone market dominated so heavily by the big boys. People hate change and trying to convince them that the phone they currently use isn’t the one for them is tough.

Sagem is just one of the companies that has this task ahead of it, but will its latest model the Sagem My X6-2 be the one to break the Nokia/Sony Ericsson mould? We get dialling to find out.

Out of the box, the first thing you’ll notice is the large 2in 262k colour display that overshadows the rest of the phone. It’s bright, clear and lets you see everything going on at a glance.

Below that is a keyboard, which in use comes across as rather flimsy. Depending on whether you’ve opted for the Vodafone exclusive or not, will depend on your phone’s key colours - non-branded models have black keys with an under light that doesn’t quite shine through while Vodafone customers will get a bright white set to punch. Either way, we weren’t impressed.

Get past the somewhat plasticky feeling to the whole affair and the menu system is straightforward enough, but for some reason incredibly slow to respond. This, coupled without a progress icon (not even a tumbling hour glass or beach ball of death) and you are left wondering on more than one occasion as to what’s going on.

Get past the menu issues and Sagem have thrown in a 1.3megapixel camera for you to take snaps with. The camera’s performance is average and nothing out of the ordinary. Storage-wise you are have to fend for yourself with Transflash and a rather poor 8Mb on board to share for pictures, messages, contacts and applications and this only makes you conscious of the images you take.

Verdict

It would be fair to say that this phone is an underachiever, that will no doubt be the free contract offering from Vodafone and other operators from the start.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just for us, the phone has no wow factor, and certainly no excitement.

The trouble is, if you're looking for a safe bet you aren't going to opt for a phone that's not a Nokia or an Ericsson and for that reason, that dominance of the big boys will just carry on.

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Review Recap

Made by: Sagem
Price as reviewed: £Price dependant on contract
The good: Large bright screen, 1.3megapixel camera
The bad: Menu system slow, keypad a tad flimsy
Quick verdict: There is nothing really wrong with the Sagem My X6-2 it just doesn’t have that wow factor
Score