Panasonic VS3 review: Millions of colors

Nobody is perfect

Panasonic VS3 works in the GSM network at 900/1800/1900 MHz. Well, at least if you have a good signal. Most phones I have had the chance to test would usually display an average of 50 % net cover and thus would allow for relatively successful phone calls, no matter who I called. Panasonic VS3, however, did not do very good - the connection it managed to establish while in the middle of a phone call was often broken off.

The sound that comes out from the ear-phones is clear, but still a little bit weak. I ran into a similar problem when I activated the loud handsfree - the sound it performed was also very clear, without any signs of resonance, but the maximum volume levels seemed somewhat insufficient to me. What you will not miss to hear for sure, though, is the ringing. Polyphonic melodies as well as real music pieces in various formats (incl. MP3) can all be used as ringing tones. The quality of the sound is generally good. It gets even better if the device is laid on a table. The reason is that the bass elements get more accentuated in the space below the phone and the sound feels like being distributed in a better way.

If you like to mute the ringing tone, just press one of the volume buttons on one of the phone's sides. To deny a call, you need to open the phone and quickly press the key wit the red receiver symbol.

Ringing can be modified according to profiles • the standard sound menu is not very rich • setup option for assigning a special color of the diode light to a ringing melody

The phonebook takes in 500 contacts, each of them consist of 17 different fields. Here are some of them: 3 phone numbers, 3 email addresses, a birth date, an entire street address, a text note or a picture. For each contact you can even set a particular ringing melody as well as a specific message alert sound. Let me also remind you that Panasonic VS3 offers you the non-standard option to set your favorite color, with which the diode will alert you about an incoming call. The option for sorting all contacts from the phone book into groups is a matter of course.

Phone book • context menu of the phonebook • contact detail • picture is displayed when a call is coming in

The most frequently dialed numbers can be attached to individual keys of the numeric keypad. The others are accessed through the phonebook only. The latter is easy to search thanks to the big size of the display. Contact details get opened in six lines. In addition, visible in the top part of the display is a mini version of the picture attached to the contact. Unfortunately, any direct search in the phone book is based on the first character of the contact only. To enter a whole name or a part of a name you need to select the Search function in the context menu. A praiseworthy feature of the phonebook is the option to sort contacts by first name or last name as well as the function that allows for message creating directly from the context menu.

Texting

When I was writing SMS I could not help but praising the big size of he display once again. My satisfaction was caused by the fact that the display offers no less than 7 lines. At the same time the font of the letters is big enough and very comfortable to read. The countdown of the characters is displayed in the top line. To find out how many sub messages you have written you need to get into the context menu or wait until you start to send them. If you use the T9 dictionary to speed up the writing process, be prepared for three displayed lines only, because the rest of the space is reserved for the list with offered words viewed in a smaller font. To choose from those words, use the horizontal arrows.

Message menu • writing messages with the help of the T9 dictionary • info about the number of written messages

The MMS editor is so well-organized that even an inexperienced user will quickly find their way in it. There is a line for each of the four possible entries that can be gradually attached. In the last line you will find an option for creating a new page. This means that you do not see the message in the format, in which the addressee sees it. To see the final version of a MMS you need to access the context menu.

Creating MMS

Even though the phone lacks email client, you are free to additionally download one as a Java application. It is a pity, however, that the email addresses from the phone book remain unused.

Meant for work, but even more for fun

A new event can be entered as fast as an eye wink. Besides the text description and the time you can also set the stop time, the repeating interval or the advance time of the alarm. Additionally, there is an option for setting the type of event, the sorting destination (work, private...) and even the melody and the loudness of the alarm. Of course, if you go for the fast-use mode, the setting process is limited to the first two entries only with the rest being set up implicitly. The phone allows for a maximum of 100 events, which is however a detail of minor importance.

Another good backer is the alarm clock. You can set up to 6 alarm clocks at a time, each of which can be assigned a different melody, loudness or repeating interval. You could also make use of the built-in calculator or the voice mailbox. The latter is functional even when a phone call is in progress.

List of alarm clocks • alarm clock setup • voice mailbox • calculator

Entertainment has also been taken good care of. The phone has one game only, which is, however, of an exceptional quality. Even though Sonic from Sega Company has already enjoyed a number of years of market popularity, it is simply immortal. The legendary game has been elaborated to the very last detail and puts to use the potential strengths of the display in the best possible way. Sonic is not only as fast as it has always been, but it is also perfectly fluent. And it is no surprise since the speed tests of Panasonic VS3, made in the JBenchmark 1 and 2 java applications measured the extraordinary score of 2571 and 127 points.

Sonic guarantees a lot of fun