What I Like:

The price, first of all. P10,999 for a 4" Android Phone is terrific. I've always believed that technology should be affordable to all in order to be effective. I also think it's stupid to get into debt just to buy a phone, which is what I'd have to do if I were to buy anything above P20,000. I think making a phone that costs more than several months' salary for an average Pinoy means it's more of a status symbol than anything. Technology takes a step back when that happens and so I lose interest, so when this phone coincided with my older phone starting to die on me, I didn't think twice and bought it asap.

The 2nd thing I like would be the build quality, which I've unfortunately tested unplanned when it fell from the top of our 5 foot drawer straight to the floor. The only thing that happened is that that rear cover was raised slightly, which I fixed by just snapping it back in its place. Obviously I'm not gonna try that again, but I think that's about at least 3 months worth of normal abuse right there.

Another thing I like is the minimal input Lenovo did to this phone, which means my Android experience is more 'pure' if there is such a thing. There's a 'Lenovo Note' app and a few other things all of which I haven't really paid attention to, and I don't plan to unless I really have to. And that's the way I like it.

It was important to me to get a phone with a good camera because my previous phone, a Sony Ericsson Elm, had a great cam for its tiny size and I was spoiled by that. The P700's cam is fairly good. The following 2 images are sample images. It's of its box and free Belkin Power Pack 1000 and Smart Sim that came with it (which was useless to me because I was already on Smart).

A pic of my dinner last night taken with the cam. The orig jpg image dimensions were 2150x1920 and 587kb. in size.

The best thing that I like about it doesn't really have to do with Lenovo but with being an Android device. Using FTPServer (the first app that came up in Google Play when I searched for 'ftp'), I can easily download images I took with it directly to my laptop. The convenience is so amazing I don't understand why cameras don't adopt this rather old technology to make it easier for everyone. Pic below shows the P700 ftping with my desktop using FileZilla. It's even smart enough to connect only with other devices in the LAN only, removing chances of intrusion from the 'net.

In a tie with FTP, I also very much like the fact that in the 3 weeks I've owned it it has yet to hang or show any error or even slowness or hesitation of any kind. Everything runs completely smooth even if I have multiple applications running. Keep in mind I'm only running a single sim (this can do 2 sims), but I'm impressed nonetheless.

What I Don't Like

For some odd reason, the 3.5mm earphones it came with do not work. I tried using my wife's Nokia's earphones and those work, so the phone is ok. It's such a minor issue because I have lots of other earphones lying around that it's almost not worth returning it just for that.

Other than that, if I have other quibbles it'll have to be due to Android per se, such as it's tiny keyboard.

I have pretty big hands and typing on this tiny querty keyboard is a pain. To give you an example of my hand size, I am able to grip a basketball mid - dribble, and I have a very difficult time pulling jackets off because they get stuck at my wrists. Typing long text messages has become a full concentration required, two thumb affair to me. I actually dread texting now, and the built in T9 doesn't help at all, substituting thoroughly unrelated words. I admit I miss my old Java phones when it comes to the simple act of texting.

About the worst thing I do not like about Android (mind you, not the P700 per se) is its overall difficulty of use and lack of intuitive design. I understand in order to make a gadget so powerful such as this some complexity is necessary, but I'm 100% convinced now that these Smart Phones are made for a very specific 'geek' niche, the type willing to take the time to learn it up. Otherwise the average Joe who wants to get started using it immediately will want to throw it out the window when, for example, trying to figure out where the SMS messages are, and how to do basic things like multiple recipient send, forward, etc.

There is no way for example that someone uninitiated would have been able to figure out what happened when, after I reloaded my empty prepaid account, I had to 're-register' with the Smart 3G network before I could use it again, otherwise I couldn't even send text.

Even I was stumped for a few minutes trying to figure it out. And what's worse is that that'll happen when you most need it, because I had text messages sitting in my outbox that needed to be sent right away.

The P700's 2500mAh battery is highly touted, but I find nothing special with it. This is of course my first 4" genuine Smart Phone, so the fact a charge lasts 3 days more or less might already be spectacular, I really wouldn't know. The key really is to avoid keeping apps running in the background and disable connections like Wifi or 3g if they're not needed, which is easy to do as long as, again, you know what you're doing.

Conclusion

If you ARE part of that geek niche however, then this phone is ABSOLUTELY for you. Affordable, sturdy and a steady operator, it's a perfect delivery device for Ice Cream Sandwich and I am very very happy with it.

After three weeks from new I began to realize what a steal this phone really is. I have managed to finish two books via Amazon Kindle app, reading them on a plane and during a long car ride to Dumaguete, and like I said it has yet to choke on me or needed a reboot at any time. The issues I have with it are Android related and really nitpicking if you think about it.

Website is here but be warned it has incredibly loud and irritating website music that loads at every page so maybe you're better off with the FB page here. They've been running a lot of mall promotions recently so you might even get it at a lower price if you hurry.

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