Spice QT-55

Overview

Simple QWERTY Phone

Overview of Spice QT55

Spice QT-55 is a QWERTY mobile phone manufactured by India’s Spice Telecom. The phone is twin-SIM and bears considerable improvements in both functional features and overall style over its Spice QT twin-SIM predecessors. It also looks flashier than older Spice QWERTY phones.

Spice QT55 Design and Build Quality

The face design of Spice QT-55 bears a smartphone-like look and makes it stand out from earlier QWERTY phones. The corners are smoothly rounded and the phone has a dashing black color. The phone is quite lightweight despite its rather large size, thanks to the Candy Bar design. The QWERTY keypad and the high-resolution bright TFT display screen are located on the front face. The 2.2 inch TFT display screen accommodates 176 x 220 pixels and is capable of displaying 262 K colors. The handset is sturdy and can be easily grasped in the hands. A flash torch is provided. The phone has a vibrator feature that can be activated and used for both messages and calls alerts. The user can choose among 64 polyphonic Mp3, MIDI and WAV ringtones for use in the messaging and call alerts. Spice QT-55 comes with a standard Li-ion battery that is rated at 1800mAh when fully charged and can support 5 hours of talk-time and remain charged for up to 500 hours when in standby mode. The phone supports a dual GSM network for 900 MHz and 1800 MHz frequencies and carries an internal antenna. The user can manually switch between the two GSM network channels.

User Interface and Comfort to Use Spice QT55

Spice QT-55 uses a Java OS while its user interface uses the standard Icon Grid that is commonly used in bar phones. There is a Menu button at the right side of the phone located just above the End-Call button that one can use to access different Menu items.

Telephony and Phonebook

Spice QT-55 can accommodate up to 500 contacts as well as 200 SMSs, which is rather low since some phones in its value range can support up to 2000 entries. Many people, however, find 500 contacts quite adequate. There is call log for the 3 call categories namely dialled, received and missed calls. There is a speakerphone present that has good timbre and sound quality.

Messaging and Emails

Spice QT-55 supports only SMS and MMS messaging platforms and does not offer support for EMS. The phone can store up to 200 SMSs, which is quite low compared to similar phones in this range which can store up to 1000 SMSs. There is a predictive text feature available-also commonly known as T9. Features in the Messaging Menu include:

• SMS Templates
• MMS
• Concatenated Messages
• Send to Group
• Send to Many
• SMS Counter

Gallery, Photo Viewer and Video Player

The gallery consists of a Video Player, Video Recorder and Digital Camera. The phone storage for the Digital Camera is rated at 2.9 MB for the in-built T-Flash internal memory and this can further be extended by using an external memory card of up to 4GB.

Spice QT55 Music Player and FM Radio

The Spice QT-55 comes with an in-built MP3 Music Player and FM Radio. This allows the user to access scheduled FM recording. The sound quality for the FM Radio is good and one can enhance it even further by using a superior set of headphones.

Spice QT55 Camera and Image Quality

The phone comes with a single-touch high-quality Digital Camera equipped with CMOS facilities and a digital zoom that lets the user take classy pictures with high-resolution images-the camera has a high resolution of 640x480 pixels (0.3 Mega Pixels). The slight downside to this high-resolution camera is the lack of a secondary camera and the omission of a digital as well as an optical zoom. At 0.3 Mega Pixels, the Digital Camera is a considerable improvement over earlier Spice QT bar phones, most of which have just 0.3 Mega Pixels.

Video Camera and Video Quality

The phone has good video recording capabilities. Videos can be recorded in WAV or AMR formats. The picture capture rate is 8fps (frames per second) with video playback at 12 fps which can result in somewhat ‘‘jerky’’ images at times.

Spice QT55 Connectivity Options

The connectivity options for the Spice QT-55 include:

• WAP version 2.0/GPRS Class 12
• Bluetooth version 2.0
• USB Ports

This phone does not support Wi-Fi, WLAN or Infrared.

Organizer and Other Utility Tools

Spice QT-55 comes with all the standard organizer tools such as:

• Calendar
• To-Do List
• Voice Memo

There are also other utility features including:

• Games - There are many games that are pre-loaded although no support for Java is offered
• Calculator and Alarm
• 12-Hour and 24-Hour World Clock
• Currency Converter
• Incoming Call Guard
• Dual LED torch

Web Browser and Applications

The phone has a GPRS/WAP internet browser. The browser used is Opera Mini Browser. 3G is not available and therefore browsing speeds are low. A wide array of games is pre-loaded. Applications such as such as ibibo and Nimbuzz, two popular apps that enable the user to access instant mailing as well as chatting services, are available. One can download extra games and applications from the Internet to the phone.

Google Maps and GPS

Spice QT-55 does not have Google Maps and GPS

Distinctive Features of Spice QT55

Spice QT-55 comes with a Melody Composer and Motion Sensor, two features that are not standard in all Spice QWERTY phones.

Value for Money

The Spice QT-55 price starts from as low as Rs 1,799 (approx., may vary). The average retail price in shops around Kolkata and Mumbai, however, is around Rs 3,244 (approx., may vary). The price tends to vary from one location to the other and there are considerable variations even in stores within the same vicinity. The phone is a good buy and offers good value for money.

Verdict

While the Spice QT-55 is better than earlier Spice Telecom’s bar phones, it still lacks some features that many individuals nowadays consider standard in mobile phones such as 3G.The internal memory is also quite low and at just 400 Kb, poses some problems to video and photo storage. However, one can get round this problem by using a micro SD Memory Card for extra memory. The Spice QT 5 is therefore essentially still a beginner’s phone and might not be suited for the younger generation that needs 3G-enabled phones for internet access and access to social media sites. For people who just need a phone for basic call functions, it serves the purpose quite well. Spice QT-55 offers good value for money at its average retail price of Rs 3,244 (approx., may vary).