Philips 755 mobile phone review

26 October 2004 8:16 GMT / By Stuart Miles

With so many manufacturers making mobile phones, companies have to come up with more and more inventive ways for you to want to choose its model over a competitor. To that end, we've seen a whole host of technology that even five years ago, you would have judged to be preposterous.

Philips' gambit on this is the inclusion of a touch screen so you can “Tag” your pictures you've taken with the build in digital camera. Using words like “Tag it!” written in graffiti on the phone to us smacks of marketing hype and unfortunately for Philips it seems to be nothing more.

The first problem is the design of the phone, Square and flat, the phone neither looks pretty or easy to use. For a phone that's got graffiti writing on it, it looks very staid and business like. Rather than expect you to use your mitts to touch the screen, Philips in a similar vien to Sony Ericsson with the P900 series has included a flat stylus that bolts on to the side of the phone. Whether it's because we are use to the P900 series, but to us as a right-handed user the stylus was on the wrong side. What's more the stylus is almost impossible to get out of the cradle, yet still Philips wary that you might lose them throw a couple more in the box for good measure.

Keys are flat and almost impossible to use without selecting other keys and attempting to avoid the usual joystick issues (ie getting caught on your pocket) Philips has made it so flat that likewise it's hard to use.

It's not all bad with the style and a nice touch is a camera lens cover on the rear of the phone that slides up and down shutter style. Additionally the 755 does have a large colour screen for seeing what you are taking a picture of and of course doubling as a table for the “Tag it!” element.

“Tag it!” is the idea that you'll take a picture and then want to write over it before you send it to your business colleague or friend. Pressing the “Tag it!” button when not in camera mode will bring up a rudimentary drawing package that gives you basic options like line thickness, colour and text. The interface looks like something I wrote in BBC Basic at school 20 years ago and for some reason you have to select everything twice to get it to work, once to select it and another to use it.

Verdict

With no Bluetooth, a VGA camera, a poor menu system and a USP that isn't really that exciting when you come to use it, there is unfortunately little to like about this model.

What we do like, although find highly impractical, is the TV link that comes in the box allowing you to share your photos on a television. We like it, because it's a nice idea, and save you messing around with Bluetooth dongles. However it's impractical because it's large and cumbersome and will really only be used when you've got a bag to carry it.

It's a small gripe, but maybe if we were left-handed we could get used to the stylus being where it is and maybe if we really felt the need to write over our images before we send them to people then this might find a home. As it is, competing against models such as the P900, it hasn't got a hope in hell.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Philips
Price as reviewed: £price dependent on contract
The good: Able to write on your images before you send them
The bad: Bad design, poor software, awkward to use
Quick verdict: Phones try to hard to be different, and this is an example of how it can all go horrible
Score