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 HTC Excalibur S620 - Design
Many people will think that the HTC Excalibur S620 is a bit strange the first time they see it. It is a flat, broad phone with a complete QWERTY keyboard and a large display. The back has a rubber layer, making the HTC S620 a pleasant phone to hold. Its construction gives it a well made air. If we look further, we can see that HTC has added small finishing touches like a silver stripe along the side of the phone and a metal surface around the keys, so that the design looks both playful and well-made. On the back of the phone, there is a camera lens and a mirror for making a self-portrait. The connection for a head phone and the charger are underneath the HTC S620, neatly covered by a rubber flap.
HTC Excalibur S620 - Keys
The first time people see the HTC S620, their first reaction is often "What a lot of keys"! This is not peculiar when you consider that HTC has fitted a complete QWERTY keyboard on a phone measuring 2.17 x 1.18 inches. With so many keys, you would think it would be difficult to find the number keys, but HTC has a solution for this: in contrast to the black letter keys, its number keys are silver. The function keys, selection keys, keys for internet navigation and answering and ending a call are all just above the QWERTY keyboard. To the right of the LCD display, there is a pressure sensitive scroll key and the return key, which can be used in the entire menu, but are particularly handy on Internet.
HTC Excalibur S620 - Camera
Like practically every other phone nowadays, the HTC S620 has a digital camera. The HTC Excalibur S620's camera has a resolution of 1.3 Megapixels, which is hardly the highest resolution around. Despite this, the camera takes reasonably high-quality pictures. You can activate the camera in two ways, either via the menu (if you use the camera often via the Top 10 in the start up display) or by a key combination on the keyboard. After the camera has been activated via the menu or the key combination, it takes a while before you can use it. This is either due to its rather limited buffer, slow image processor or the internal memory's slow processing speed. HTC Excalibur S620 - Delay
The confirmation key in the middle of the phone functions as a shutter release for the camera. The HTC's camera reacts almost immediately, but there was still found a slight interval of the shutter release. Fortunately the shutter lag wasn't long enough to be a nuisance, but you would be better off with a normal digital camera or the Sport setting if you want super speed pictures. If you go for the latter option, the HTC S620 can take 3 or 5 photos in succession very rapidly. HTC S620 - Quality setting
The camera has various quality settings that can be accessed via the settings menu. The highest camera resolution is 1280x1024 pixels. You can also choose a low resolution (640x480 pixels), medium resolution (320x240 pixels), or super low resolution (160x120 pixels). After you have chosen a resolution, you can still choose from a range of quality settings: normal, fine and superfine quality. In the menu where you can select the quality setting, there is an option for putting a date on the photo. HTC S620 - Record mode
The HTC S620 has various record modes. You can simply save the photos as photo, but you can also choose to make a video of MMS video if you go to the menu function record mode. If you want to show your contacts with a photo, you can select the function "depict contact," this function ensures that you can attach a photo directly to a contact person. There are also the image theme and sport functions. With the image theme function you can choose a nice frame and then take pictures. For example, you can also put three different people or objects in one frame, which is nice! change some settings directly. You can use the select key to zoom in and out by pressing it upwards or downwards. You can determine the brightness of the photos by pressing the same key to the left and right. Of course, this brightness function does not make up for the fact that HTC has not fitted a small flash on the HTC S620, but at least you have something to improve photographs taken in dark lighting conditions. If the object to be photographed has been selected, you will see a lot of pixels on the picture before the shutter is pressed in, but after the shutter key has been pressed, the picture is clear again and very good indeed for a 1.3 Megapixel camera. HTC Excalibur S620 - Editing
The HTC S620 enables you to edit photos in various ways after they have been taken. You can make a selection, cut it out and place it straight when your photos are still turned. It is also possible to adjust the brightness and colours of the photos. After all the selections have been made and photos are neatly turned up the right way and the colours and brightness have been adjusted, you can show them to everyone. The HTC S620 also gives you several possible ways to do this: you could, for example, make a slideshow or send the photos to your friends via MMS, MSN or E-mail. You could also choose to transfer the photos to a computer or laptop via USB cable or Bluetooth. Transferring 52.6MB took two and a half minutes using the USB cable that came with the phone. HTC Excalibur S620 - Wi-Fi connection
You can access the internet with the HTC Excalibur S620 via a Wi -Fi connection. What exactly is a Wi-Fi connection? Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity. It's a wireless network better known as W-LAN (Wireless Local Area Network). The signal is digital and is encoded according to the IEEE 802.11 protocol. To be able to internet via this connection, the HTC S620 needs an access point in public places where there is a WLAN connection, aka Hot Spots. The HTC S620's WLAN adapter will have a range of 100 meters depending on the circumstances.
HTS Excalibur S620 - Internet Explorer
The HTS S620 also has Internet Explorer. You can go on Internet via the wireless network connection, GPRS or via a phone connection. In the beginning you will really have to get used to scrolling all the time, and it is good that the scroll key is on the side of the HTC S620. It is a pity that you must always scroll horizontally. Obviously, using Internet with the HTC S620 is not the same as using it at home on your computer screen, but it is really handy for looking things up if you are on the move. The Internet connection via the WLAN adapter works quickly. HTC S620 - Office functions
If travelling with the HTC S620, you needn't be scared of not being able to look at your document. You can look at Word, Excel, PDF and even PowerPoint documents with the HTC S620. With the HTC S620 you can zoom in and out when reading a document, just the same as with Office products on a computer. This saves a lot of scrolling, but this is where the scroll key on the side comes in very handy. If you want to be sure that you have not forgotten anything, you can use the agenda. If you want to go over all the points of a conversation again, so that you don't forget anything, the HTC S620 has a voice recorder. HTC S620 - Media player
With so many functions it was inevitable that the HTC S620 would also have a media player. You can use this media player to play MP3 music and videos in the 3gp and the MPEG 4 format. The HTC S620 comes with headphones that can also be used as a Handsfree. Music sounds good over this headphone. You should buy a microSD memory card. These cards come in various formats and price classes. A 1GB card is not expensive and is good for a few hours of listening. The quality of the videos shown on the s creen is very good! HTC S620 - Battery
The HTC S620 has a 3.7 Volt 960 mAh battery. With this battery, you can phone for hours or leave the HTC S620 on stand-by for several days. If you connect the phone to the computer via USB, the HTC S620 uses the connection to recharge the battery.
HTC Excalibur S620 - Monitor
The HTC S620's monitor is a 2.4-inch QVGA, high quality widescreen. The pictures shown for every function is extremely sharp. The colours on the HTC S620's screen are lively and really work. They are also fine if watching a film on the HTC S620. The screen also reacts well. Reworking films with the HTC S620's processor can also be done quickly. If you look at text files zoomed in to 200%, the letters are still clear with no sign of distortion. HTC Excalibur S620 - Sound quality The HTC S620's sound quality is good. The HTC S620 is not really a compact smart phone. It is rather broad, but that is one of the only things that could be improved. European consumers don't really know this company, but hopefully, this is going to change. The phone feels well made and has every function you could wish for. The screen is clear, high quality, well ordered and very practical to use. The HTC S620 has been thought up for professional users, but will also go down well with texting, gadget and gizmo-freaks. Maybe it would be a good idea to equip the successor to the HTC S620 with a camera with a higher resolution and a flash. In short, the HTC S620 is not an everyday phone, but it is well worth having, though it has a few tiny disadvantages.
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