Windows Phone 8X by HTC review
2012-11-22 14:03
Cape Town – The Windows Phone 8X by HTC, which was launched earlier in November, immediately grabs your attention with its unique design, look and feel.
The phone also fits easily into the palm of your hand and feels very light as it only weighs 130g.
The start menu of the phone, which contains various colourful Live Tiles, can be personalised by moving it around so that it suits your needs.
The tiles can also be resized to give you optimal use of certain apps that you might use more frequently than other. You can also add special pictures to your favourites and it can be used to personalise your phone.
The phone has an S-LCD2 capacitive touch screen, 16M colours and is 720 x 1280 pixels. The phone makes use of a micro-SIM.
Impressive feature
The camera is 8 megapixels with a LED flash. It also comes with a standard battery, Li-Ion 1800 mAh. The phone also has GPRS, Bluetooth and a built-in Beats Audio. The phone is also scratch resistant and has a Gorilla Glass 2 display. It also has Xbox Live integration and Xbox management.
I think the most impressive feature the phone offers is the Kid's Corner where you can share apps, videos, games and music with your child.
Because the younger generation is so clued up with the latest technology these days, this is a cool feature the Windows Phone 8X provide its users.
With the Kid's Corner your child will have a start screen of their own as well as easy access to the items you added. Once you've created the Kid's Corner you can set a password to help protect your phone and keep your child from accessing your start screen.
There is also a function for sample travel plans, which allows you to plan ahead for that trip you cannot wait to embark on as well as a shopping list you can create on the phone which will remind you not to forget to buy bread and milk.
The phone also has a built in wallet where you can store your slips, coupons and memberships all in one place. There is also a family room where you can invite people to your room and privately share calendars, photos, group chats and notes.
Some of the disadvantages of the phone are there are no lock screen shortcuts. It also doesn't have FM radio and a non user-replaceable battery.
I think the Nokia Lumia 820 might be a strong competitor with the Windows Phone 8X, though they are similar.
The Windows Phone 8X is available at Vodacom on a Smart Standard 229 contract for R369 per month over 24 months.
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