This is designed to be an informative unbiased review from my own personal experience with the xcute DV2. For reference purposes I’ve had quite an extensive list of previous phones most recently including SE k750i, Nokia 6630 and Moto V3 Razor which gives me a fair idea of how the various features of this phone compare to current models from other manufacturers. Also in previous threads there’s been discussion about pre-release versions some people have of this phone with ture colour written on the inside screen and stability issues. My DV2 being used for this review is a ‘final’ release model with True Colour TFT on the inside screen and xcute on the outer.
If camera is used for anywhere over an hour the phone will need to be recharged after around 24hours.
In general the standby time is acceptable, not up there with the best but can be attributed to the phone having a large colour screen and high resolution camera.
RF performance has been fine, very similar to that of my old 6630. I do live in Western Australia though so its reception may differ in areas of the world that use different network bands. Phone calls come through with clarity very similar to that of a 6630 and I am yet to have a phone call dropout.
Display
Xcute quote that the display is 640 x 240 showing 16 million colours. When viewing videos or pictures the display is nothing short of amazing, being very crisp with nice vivid colours. The only downfall of the resolution is that the screen has an aspect ratio of 4:3 meaning the pixels are not square in shape. This can cause some text to look slightly jagged when inspected closely. Overall the DV2 display is better than both the 6630 and k750i.
User Interface
When at the standby screen the left soft key takes you to the main menu, and the right soft key takes you to your phonebook, pretty standard stuff. The 4 directions on the navigational key can be set as shortcuts to whatever functions you wish, for example mine is set to write an sms when I push left, this function can be found in both SE and Nokia phones and I’m glad it was included in the DV2 because its great to be able to jump straight to your most used features.
When you enter the main menu, you can choose to be presented with either a matrix, page or list view. I believe most people will use the matrix view which is similar to that found in the k750i. Straight away you will notice that the speed of the main menu is quite sluggish, although luckily as you enter any of the categories the speed becomes fine which is lucky because is the whole menu system was at the same speed as the main menu it would have hurt the phone a lot more. In general the menu is simple and logical, nothing ground breaking but definitely user friendly.
where the DV2 becomes unique is its 6 different function modes which are phone, camera, gallery, video camera, voice recorder and mp3. There is a round dial on the opposite side of the phone to the camera which has six different symbols, one for each mode. Depending on which mode the DV2 is in a blue backlight illuminates the corresponding symbol. In the center of the dial there is a slightly raised round button used for taking pictures, start / stopping video clips. Below the dial is a long skinny button mostly used to change volume and then below that is a shorter skinny button which is known as the ‘shift’ key.
The ‘shift’ key is used to cycle the phone through its different functions, each time it is pressed it moves clockwise to the next mode. This makes accessing each different mode very quick and simple. By pressing the red hang up button you can instantly return from any mode back to the standby screen which is great because it saves you cycling through each function. What is also nice is you can press the ‘shift’ key how ever many times you wish and the phone will wait to see where you stop before it swaps into that mode. This is smart because it stops you from having to wait for every mode to load as you move around the dial through each function.
This may all sound a bit confusing but I have found that after a little practice you will be able to make your way around the DV2 very efficiently.
Messaging
Messaging on the DV2 is let down by one main problem, the lack of T9 predictive input. It does however offer an alternative called SmartABC which works similar to T9 but instead of inserting the word as you type, it displays a list of possible matching words at the bottom of the screen which u must then press enter on the one you wish to use. This input method is definitely slower than T9. Although it may seem strange to some, I have never on any of my previous phones ever used predictive input. I personally prefer the trusty old multi tap method which I mastered a long time ago on my Nokia 3310. The DV2 offers multi tap which meant messaging for me was at similar speed to any of my previous phones. Those who are accustomed to T9 though will not be sending out sms at the same speed though due to the SmartABC input system.
MMS is available on the DV2 but you must find the settings for your carrier and configure it manually. After about 10mins of searching the net, then quickly inputting the settings I had mine up and running. The MMS editor is fairly basic but does make composition very easy. I must say that received MMS look great on the large colour display.
There is no email support, which will disappoint those that use it.
Camera
Xcute promote the DV2 as being the first commercially available 6 Mega Pixel camera phone. This however is quite misleading as the DV2 has a 3mp sensor which it can then interpolate to 6. Even so 3 Mega Pixels is close to the highest currently available, only just beaten by the 3.2MP offered by the Sharp 903SH. On the reverse side of the camera bulb there is a slider button which controls the camera’s manual focus.
When you change to the camera mode the phone is designed to be opened 90 degrees and then have the screen rotated 90 degrees so that it faces away from the camera. The user then holds the phone in a gun like fashion using the thumb to press the record button and index finger to adjust the manual focus button. This is without a doubt the best shape I have felt for taking photos or videos and may become more common in the future with it already being the position for Nokia’s flagship camera phone the N90.
When in camera mode you can edit pretty much any setting you could want, with the customization being closer to that of a fully fledged digital camera. The settings you can adjust include exposure time, image size, image quality, white balance, flash and more.
The LED flash which is located under the camera sensor is only effective at a range of 2m or less which is a bit less than that of the powerful LED’s found on the k750i.
The images taken by the DV2 are the best I have ever seen from a camera phone, they are crisp, there is no barrel distortion and no focus problems in the corners of the photos. I will let the photos do the talking, but I will say that they are definitely better than those taken by the SE k750i. I have owned and used them both extensively but the extra Mega Pixel and manual focus gives DV2 the edge.
When in video mode there is again a plethora of options available including resolution, fps and audio quality. The xcute can record video at 640 x 480, 30Fps this is nothing short of amazing and miles ahead of any competition. Even the Sharp903SH which has a 3.2MP sensor can ‘only’ record at 320 x 240, 15FPS. This high quality comes at a cost though because a 1 GB card can fit only 35mins of full quality footage.
Here are samples of both still pictures and video taken by the DV2:
My little pocket rocket bike, so much fun. Goes over 50km/h.
A poster im my room.
A couple of mates finishing drinks before we go into casino.
The patio / deck im helping my dad build at our house.
Here are two sample videos, the video is taken whilst moving.
So its very impressive indeed.
Video One Click here to download Kyle - Belmot Rollin Gap 1.mov
Video Two Click here to download Dave - Run atCarine.mov
Multimedia
Videos played back on the phone screen look great, being full screen in landscape mode it allows for a large image to be displayed. You can choose to scroll through the images one by one full screen of have a 2 x 2 or 3 x 3 thumbnail view which works well if you have a lot of images you want to scroll past.
The mp3 player function of the phone leaves a lot to be desired. The player itself it quite good allowing for play lists and different skins, but where the DV2 struggles is sound quality. The sound lacks almost any bass and is generally of poor quality through both the loudspeaker and the included headphones. Although if you plan to just use mp3 as a ring tone like myself because you already have a dedicated mp3 player like my beautiful iPod Nano (sorry had to put that in there then the volume is loud enough to be heard when in the pocket of your jeans. If you want an indication of what the mp3 player sounds like through the loud speaker think Nokia 6230.
The phone comes with a MiniSD expansion slot which is very handy indeed because the images and video will take up quite a lot of room quicker than you may exepect.
Final Thoughts
To some up the DV2 I would call it more of a phone camera, than a camera phone. It is evident that xcute have designed the phone around the camera. Would I recommend the DV2 to other people? That all depends one what you’re after.
I have always loved camera phones ever since I first got my Nokia 7250 and if the camera is your main priority then yes I cant recommend the DV2 more. If your priorities are music or PDA functions you may wish to look else where, perhaps a SE w800 of N70 because the other functions of the DV2 cant compete with these other phones.
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