Philips 755 mobile phone

Philips 755 is a tri-band cameraphone, and that makes it a suitable model for use in the USA. This candy bar styled mobile phone is a relatively inexpensive handset, considering the features that it offers, and it will suit somebody who does not wish to pay for a top-priced model, but who still wants a good selection of useful features. The silver and grey finish of this phone’s casing also give it an elegant and more expensive look.

Philips 755Although the Philips 755 has no Bluetooth™, video recorder or MP3 player - a reflection on its low sales price - there are still some important facilities on board. This model includes GPRS and WAP technology, MMS multimedia messaging, voice memo recorder, speakerphone for hands-free conversations, Java™ enabled, voice control (up to 15 tags for voice dial or voice command), and an e-mail client.

A significant bonus of this phone is that it has a touchscreen (touch-sensitive screen). This is possibly the first touchscreen to be fitted to a standard phone, as this type of display is usually to be found only on the more expensive smartphones. The screen is an active matrix TFT type of LCD, and it offers a reasonably good resolution of 128 x 160 pixels, with the ability to reproduce up to 65,536 different colours. A stylus is supplied, which is the tool to be used for writing on the screen, and despite the fact that the stylus seems a little flimsy it can still adequately perform the tasks required of it. When not in use the stylus clips onto the side of the case.

The 755 has an integrated VGA camera, with the camera lens being conveniently protected by a sliding cover. It seems that the VGA grade of camera is a fairly standard quality to expect on any budget cameraphone these days. Three picture resolutions are provided from the camera: VGA (640 x 480 pixels), Wallpaper (128 x 160 pixels), and Fotocall (96 x 64 pixels). A 4x digital zoom is available when you want to enlarge portions of your photos, and a night mode helps a little when you wish to take pictures in poor light conditions. To assist when taking self-portraits, a timer and a small mirror are also provided.

Some interesting photo editing is possible, which allows you to add details in various colours to your pictures, such as drawing a moustache on a face or writing a message under a scene. The editor is accessed by pressing the “Tag It” key on the keypad, and the idea according to Philips is that you can ‘snap, tag and send’, but in practice it is not so straightforward. In order to do some artwork on your photo you must first take the shot, then you have to close the camera application and open the photo editor application to carry out your alterations. It is possible to add a variety of frames to a picture, or create your own frame design, and a number of special effects can also be applied: Normal, Black and white, Sepia, Digital, Embossed, Negative colour, or Edge.

As the Philips 755 has MMS capability, you can send and receive multimedia messages containing a combination of texts, pictures and sounds. You can also send your photos by e-mail if you wish. One common issue when using a camera, voice memo recorder or Java™ application is that they tend to use up a phone’s memory faster than other phone functions, and so it is good to see that there is a useful 7 MB of internal memory capacity to store photos, sounds, ringtones, and downloads. However, there is no option to expand the memory.

For the users who enjoy personalising their mobile phone, there is no problem to change the phone’s content by trying out new wallpapers, animated screensavers, or a different ringtone. These fun elements can be easily downloaded over-the-air, and when you wish to create new alert sounds there is a BeDJ ringtone composer provided, to make up your own multi-track melodies. To help with caller ID you can select a picture and ringtone to assign to particular caller groups, and recordings made with the voice memo recorder can also be set for use as alert tones. There are 6 profiles available to alter the phone’s settings for different environments, and these may be further customised depending on your own preferences.

Being Java™ enabled this phone offers you the opportunity to download new games and applications when you wish to use something different. On the entertainment side, there are 4 games embedded in the phone: Pool (a game of skill to pocket the ball), Solitaire (the classic card game), Race (a car racing game), and Battlefield (a puzzle type of game). These games make use of the stylus pen to interact with the touchscreen when playing each game.

With its integrated GPRS technology the 755 gives you fast data rates, which helps when using the WAP browser to access the mobile Internet. You can use this phone to find information and services when you want news, entertainment, or access to online services such as shopping or banking. An important feature that gives this phone extra communication options is its e-mail client, which supports the POP3 and SMTP protocols, and enables users to keep up with their normal correspondence while on the move. For business use there is also support for vCard business card exchange.

Although there is no Bluetooth™ in this phone, it can connect wirelessly using its infrared port to exchange data with other IrDA compatible devices. A second type of connection is possible using a USB data cable. With the help of the software supplied with the phone users can synchronise their phonebook or calendar with their PC, and there is support for Lotus Notes™, Lotus Organizer™ and Microsoft Outlook™. Another connection possibility is to purchase an optional TV Link accessory, which allows you to display your photographs on a TV, or send them to a VCR, and this will offer a better way to view the results of your photographic efforts with the camera.

The Philips 755 contains the usual types of organiser features, including a calendar, clock, alarms, calculator, and a Euro converter. The phonebook can hold up to 499 contacts, each with up to 5 numbers, an e-mail address and a text note. To help with e-mails and text messages the phone contains T9™ predictive text input, although text can also be input via the touchscreen and stylus, so you can write your SMS messages rather than enter them with the phone’s keypad. However, this phone includes the feature of being able to input text using a virtual on-screen QWERTY keyboard, something usually found only on the more expensive smartphones, and this will come in very useful when composing SMS and e-mail messages. As you would expect, a vibration alert is also available when you do not want to disturb those near you.

Philips 755 cameraphone specification

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Last updated 10th September 2009, 08:33 BST