Philips 350

Not long ago Philips presented the 530 model, and now we are already reviewing the middle-segment phone – the Philips 350. Most of our readers probably think of the Motorola C350 when reading the model's title, and that's not just an innocent coincidence. Philips presents a new model in the same segment where Motorola was presenting its C350 earlier on. This means that the new model is targeted for middle-class phones with very big emphasis on teenagers. This model is based on the Philips 530 and is almost the same phone with FM-radio and some additional features removed. Once again Philips decided to show us their views on modern design - the 350 looks rather unusual and stands out from other phones extremely well.

First thing you'd probably notice is the keyboard. The keys are borderline cell-shaped, which is a very original decision. Well hey, after all it's a CELL phone. The keys are big enough, so it's rather hard to mistype. Before a commercial version of the phone will be released Philips promised to improve the keyboard by increasing key-travel length, which will in turn result in improved comfort while using the phone. In my opinion, the way the designers work right now is absolutely correct, I only wish they’ll manage to fulfill their plans.

The numbers on the keys are written in an elegant font. When the phone faces direct sunlight it's impossible to see the backlight, but the numbers on the keyboard are clearly seen. In the dark, the backlight becomes very nicely visible in orange.

A five-directional joystick is used for navigating the menu. The soft-keys are rather small, there is a special button for MMS-messages access or the camera (which is not shipped with the phone).

This model will be shipping in various colours (Red, Silver, Black and Blue), but the phone's both sides will remain unchanged in silver with the addition of some color; the phone which we had featured orange. The front of the phone is glossy, which makes it look like jewelry.

When in stand-by mode the screen easily blurs with the case and it's hard to see a picture at all, which all changes when you get the backlight (and with that the clarity) back on. This problem is typical for the type of the screen used. The owner can modify the contrast level, and with maximum contrast the screen will be the brightest. The screen resolution is 112x112 pixels (28x28mm) STN-type, and the screen looks pale in broad daylight, but it's still readable, which is a parameter of the phone that is a lot weaker than that of Samsung's phones. Up to 4096 colors can be shown at once, but with a not very saturated picture. Five text lines can be shown, plus two for service needs.

No soft buttons are located on the phone's sides. Locations for phone-strap are located on both sides of the phone, which means that it will cover the whole phone, not just one side of it.

You can connect a handsfree device to the bottom of handset, where a special port is located together with the charger port. This group of ports is covered by a rubber cap, which is connected to the handset's casing to prevent you from accidently losing it.

The back panel of the phone is of the same colour as the front. The plastic gives a velvet-like sensation (similar to that of the Motorola V300 and the Sony Ericsson Z200). The back panel leaves a good tactual feeling.

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