Features:
- Color display, visible when phone is closed for easy caller id
- Custom ringers and images available via download
- Built-in speakerphone
- Phone book stores 250 entries
- Includes battery and user documentation
Description:
Similar to Samsung’s much-hyped A500, the N400 has an amazing 128-by-128 color screen, an easy-to-view menu, and all the multimedia features that come with the Sprint PCS Vision network—wireless Internet and e-mail access and downloadable Java games and apps, ringers, and screen savers. All that, and it has a speakerphone function, too. The N400 fully charged in about 4 to 5 hours and powered up quickly. Unlike its cousin, the A500, this phone does not have an external LCD screen; however, we didn’t miss it. When the earpiece to this flip phone is closed, it frames the main screen so your display is still exposed for screening your calls. We also loved the elegant placement of the navigational buttons, which we found much improved from the A500’s tightly clustered button layout. With the flip phone closed on the N400, you can still access the Menu button on the left and the Back button on the right so you can do everything but use the phone features while the top is closed. A joystick between these two buttons makes scrolling up and down through menus or left to right during messaging fast and easy. Opening the flip top gets you to the phone keypad and Talk and End buttons, so there is no danger of accidentally hitting a button and calling someone with the top closed. Cool blue backlighting on the keypad buttons made dialing from a dark office a piece of cake. As a Sprint PCS phone, the N400 supports all the multimedia extras and we tested them out. We used the standard aquarium screensaver, which looked amazingly crisp and bright on the full-color screen. The standard polyphonic ring tone--a maniacal clucking chicken sound—was far too realistic. As for games, the N400 is loaded with Space Invaders and demos of Cybiko’s CyRace and Sega’s Monkey Ball, which all look great on the color screen and are easy to maneuver through with the joystick controls. Other fun screen savers, ringers, games, and applications are downloadable through PCS Vision, but you should expect to pay a buck or two for each one. The N400 also joins the picture-taking craze by offering the ability to download photos from a Sprint PCS camera and e-mail them to friends. This is more of a frivolous feature, but can be valuable for e-mailing photos immediately when vacationing or house hunting We expected an amazing Internet experience on the N400 with its color screen. While the experience was good, we were surprised that Internet surfing on this phone mainly uses a text-based menu so the great graphics aren’t always utilized. In addition, we found connection and page loading times to be fairly slow (about 1 minute average). Still, the superior contrast and 10-line screen made reading a CNN article much more pleasant than on most competing cell phones, and we think that the interface would entice most consumers to access news, weather, and sports scores pretty regularly via the Internet connection. E-mail and text messaging (among other Sprint PCS-enabled phones only) were also slow in terms of load and send time. Text input was a bit tedious but you have the choice of T9 input, which speeds typing up a bit. We did find the character count of 128 characters per message to be limiting for anything more than the simplest correspondence. And what about the standard phone features? They may seem almost secondary on this phone with all the other awesome facets attracting your attention, but they are actually quite good. The phone book only holds 250 entries but features multiple phone numbers and the option to set speed, voice, and/or group dialing and a special ringer or image for each of your contacts. Unfortunately, the name field only allows 12 characters and can’t fit a first and last name for most contacts, which is a real drawback for business use. Another disadvantage to the N400 is that it doesn’t let you assign the same number to two contacts (i.e., roommates or co-workers with the same work number). The N400’s voice quality was adequate and the speakerphone was loud and crystal clear. We found it convenient to shift into speakerphone while on a call by pressing the small button on the upper left side of the phone and liked that we didn’t have to be using an earpiece to activate it. The ringer on the phone is also on the loud side. If you like to have the alert sound for tasks or meetings scheduled in the N400’s planner, we recommend you turn the sound way down during quiet meetings so you don’t startle everyone around you. Our tests of voice dialing on the N400 found that voice recognition worked perfectly. One final and unusual bonus on the N400 is its airplane mode, which allows you to access some of the phone’s features, such as games or the planner, during air travel without interfering with the aircraft’s electronics. The phone fell just short of its rated standby time, making it through 5 rather than 7 days. Overall, this phone is on our list of favorites, and we would recommend springing for the N400 if upgrading from a basic phone to one with a high-quality color screen. We think the flashy aspects of this phone will appeal to techno-geeks who want to wow their friends with the latest and the greatest. The multimedia features are more focused on fun than productivity so the N400 is probably best for light business users. --Cristina Vaamonde Pros: - Amazingly crisp graphics on color screen
- Great button layout
- Supports PCS Vision multimedia features and downloads
- Optional digital camera attachment
- Speakerphone for safer phone use while driving
- Airplane mode
Cons: - Slow Internet connection/loading
- Limited character count in text messaging and phone book
- Can’t assign same number twice in phone book
How We Tested Battery Talk/Standby Time When reading our reviews, you should view the test results of mobile-phone battery talk time and standby time as relative information only. Many variables, including carrier signal strength at your location, signal consistency (including incoming and outgoing calls), display and ringer settings, and battery charging methods and history, will affect performance. When handset manufacturers and mobile phone carriers list talk-time and standby-time ratings, they usually include disclaimers about variable performance and often refer to the times they publish as maximum times. Some quote expected battery life ranges, and in this case you're probably safe to assume you'll experience at least the minimum rated range. Note that manufacturers of dual-mode digital and analog handsets publish battery-life rates for both digital and analog modes, as analog mode consumes much more power than digital mode. Our Tests: We tested digital-mode talk and standby times with each phone. Prior to each test, we fully charged the phone's battery according to the manufacturer's directions. To test digital-phone talk time, we turned the phone on, established a digital carrier signal, dialed a number in our test lab, and, when the call rang through, took the receiving phone's handset off the hook. When all went well, we didn't do anything else except record the time when the phone died. In a couple of cases, the phones lost the signal and dropped the calls. If we were right there and could redial, we did so immediately and continued running the test. Otherwise, we halted the test, recharged the battery, and started the test over. Assuming consistent carrier-signal strength, this test should represent best-case talk time. And it's worth noting that several phones' talk-time performance significantly exceeded the manufacturers' ratings. To test digital-phone standby time, we turned the phone on, established a carrier signal, and left the phone in standby mode. We checked the phone every few hours (for what was often days on end) until the phone finally cut out. Since no outgoing or incoming calls occurred during testing and because the phone was not moved, this method should represent best-case standby time, again assuming consistent carrier signal strength.
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