i sold a nokia n95 8gb smart phone to buy the sharp gx30 the reason i did this simple the gx30 is by far better and more user friendly and dosent freeze up on you the key pad has good size buttons i fine big screen ok no frills but solid and can take all the knocks no probs so if you want a solid reliable phone with out the huge price tag of hundreds get one of these i bought this on 1-6-2010

I got a Sharp GX30i nearly 2 years ago on upgrade from a GX10. It was cutting edge at the time with a 262,000-colour LCD display, 1 mega pixel Camera, along with enhanced bluetooth, MP3 and wireless support, setting it apart from the standard GX30.

On receiving the phone I was initially very pleased. The quality of the plastic appeared good and it had a substantial premium feel. It is by no means a small phone, and even folded it will occupy most of the palm of your hand and at around 1" thick, (folded) is no Razr V3.

Nonetheless, on switching the phone on you will be impressed by the screen quality. It boasts an ultra high-res QVGA 262,000 colour screen, which gives crystal clarity on menus and quality downloaded images.

Even bang up-to-date phones, such as the Sony Ericsson K750i do no better, despite higher camera mega pixel values. In fact, having seen pictures on top spec modern phones such as the 750i, there is little to tell between them.

The GX30i also has expandable memory via an SD card slot. The phone will come with a 8Mb SD card, which is pretty much a token gesture. I've got a 128Mb SD card in mine, and it is more than enough to hold 50 - 60 songs.

Many forums suggested that other owners had suffered with problems getting MP3's onto the GX30i. I suggest buying a USB card reader and just dragging the MP3's into the card via your PC desktop. This works fine. If you've burned CD's to your computer via Windows they may be saved as Windows media files. Download an MP3 converter from the net and you're sorted. Once they're converted, drag the new MP3 version onto the card and it will play fine on the GX30i.

The MP3 player has two notable weaknesses. Firstly, it does not allow any kind of shuffle or playlist selection; you just select one song, which will then repeat over and over. Secondly, the phone will not allow you to use any downloaded MP3's as ringtones. I'm not sure why, but it's a bit of a shame nonetheless.

There is also a video recorder which allows 400kb of playback with sound. It's pretty basic, and the reproduction is nowhere near as good as the photo quality. You will get smearing and sound distortion, so don't rely on it for any kind of significant event.

The phone was initially offered only with Vodafone, so it comes with GPRS access to Vodafone live. This is really useful for downloading games, tones, and also for traffic info and directions. Java games really flourish on the quality screen, and they are clear and sharp.

There are the standard array of useful features such as calendar/calculator etc. There is also a voice memo feature which saves 10 seconds of voice info. It does lack some standard kit, such as stopwatch, radio and loudspeaker. The latter is not overly serious, as the phone boasts bluetooth wireless support.

In summary. Despite being an aging unit, this phone still delivers a great deal of features. Some of which rival or exceed current models. It is well put together, and despite not being able to compete on looks, will still satisfy all but the most demanding techno junkies out there.

Despite all the above, I really like the Sharp GX30i mobile phone, and having looked at what else is out there currently, I am considering getting it repaired and running with it a bit longer, although I will need to get a new battery as it has not lasted well.

I really like the Sharp GX30i it has a majority of good points but a couple of features let it down

GOOD!!

In some ways the Sharp GX30i is not very good (see bad points). Reception is good if you hold phone low down when open, but if you put your hand too close to aerial (natural position) it drops significantly. Don't buy for business. Cannot link to PDAs, and alarm clock means you have to leave it on.

But in some ways it's fantastic. That screen is gorgeous and as it takes SD memory cards can upload all pictures to/from PC taken with main camera (if you download an image compressor).

Camera is good too, outstanding in good conditions, passable inside.

And it works as an MP3 player really well, sound quality not the best (limited choice of headsets) but faultlessly and 60 songs can be put on (256MB card added for 15 quid).

It's a good phone for texting and making calls, sound quality good and T9 although slow is effective.

It's flawed but for 100 on ebay this is as good as you'll get for the price!

I would not recommend the Sharp GX30i to anyone due to all of it's restrictions and lack of knowledge available over the internet or anywhere else for that matter. What you see is what you get.

I purchased the Sharp GX30 mid March and was not pleased with the lack of bluetooth connectivity. I complianed to the vodafone store and had a free upgrade to the Sharp GX30i.
This phone looks amazing and is very tactile to touch and hold, it may seem a large phone but when you think of all the technology within the phone it is no larger than you would expect.
I am amazed by the quality of images taken with the 1 Meg camera and of course they are displayed on a large 262k screen most phones are only 65k (hugh difference in depth of colour).
I have had no problem setting up and using the phone and it performs far better than any phone I have ever purchased (I have had over 20 phones in the last 6 years).
I have previously owned several camera phones but never one as good as this, it simply amazes all my friends and I think they are a little jealous of the quality of the pictures and all the other features it has to offer.
If you like flashing things then you will love the disco light call and text indicator, they have even allowed you at Sharp to choose the colour of indicator you would like if you don't fancy have a disco light on your phone.
The best feature that Sharp have improved on the GX30i from the older GX30 apart from the full bluetooth is that the calendar is now a schedular with alarm features as well (no more missing your important appointments).
So in summary or I will be here all day. The phone is simply a must have for anyone who wishes to take great pics on a night out and wishes to have a phone just that Little bit (well huge bit) better than the average camera phone on the market.
One last fun feature you can set the phone vibrate to link with the ringtone so the phone can vibrate around the table in time to with the ringtone.
This is a serious phone to check out on the Sharp website, I simply can not praise it highly enough. WELL DONE SHARP.

The Sharp GX30i is a great phone with severe restrictions. What is the point of having a phone which can accept a 1 Gb memory card in it but can only take videos up to 400 kb (about 1 minute). Also if you have a large memory card you can only download up to 100 kb onto the phone memory via bluetooth, bluetooth cannot access the memory card. That means you cannot exchange MP3 files with other phones and you need to buy a SD card reader/writer to download MP3 files to the memory card from the computer. My friends can all exchange MP3 files, pictures, soundfiles and themes which are larger than 100 kb 'cause their phones allow them to, but me and my GX30i cannot participate. I have to admit the camera is great and the picture quality is the best I've seen.

WOW! I got the Sharp GX30i for £30 on an upgrade, it is SIMPLY THE BEST! I am a big sharp mobile fan, this is clearly the best.

So of course, you will be asking, "Why should I buy the GX30i rather than the slightly cheaper GX30?" Well that is what I asked, but in the end I chose the GX30i, there had to be something better, right? Yes, there sure was, after reading up I have found out that the gGX30 only had bluetooth communications between a headset. The GX30i's bluetooth has full communications between, headset, computer (handset manager program - very useful), other phones and practically every other device! I have also heard that the battery life is improved (but I am not sure).

The video function is marvellous, you can record 1 minute video clips, and 15 second ones (if you wish to be sending them over MMS) the photos are great quality as well, 1 megapixels!

MP3! Yes, this phone is also an iPod! it supports MP3 files, which can be stored on the SD card, which you simply slot in (maximum SD card size is 512mb), you cannot send mp3s in mms, if you wish to send sounds, then just record them using the voice recorder!

Games, they are good, for phone games, it comes with one game (bomblink), but you can download java games off Vodafone live.

For those of you (like me) who have owned a previous Sharp phone, you will know, battery life is a problem, but the GX30i's battery life is great!

It is clear that the GX30i/iPod/Digicam/Camcorder/Gameboy is a marvellous phone, and it is worth that extra cash to get the GX30i instead of the GX30.

There is nothing bad to say!