Panasonic X700

The Panasonic X700 is a good phone and a bad phone in many respects but I have had much use out of mine. For the price I got it for at the time it quickly became apparent how much more advanced it was than all my friends' phones who'd paid considerably more for Motorola and Eriksson handsets. Only buy if it's what you really want and don't mind the problems I mentioned and at a good price, although they are harder to find now.

I opted for the Panasonic X700 several months ago, as I perceived it would be a good handset to upgrade to, from my Nokia 6600. I was wrong! I've had continual issues because Vodafone does not support the handset (a supervisor at Vodafone told me this is because Vodafone do not sell this handset). As a result, I cannot download content such as ringtones or games from Vodafone Live! and content from Vodafone Live! which is visible on my Nokia 6600 is missing from the X700). I've also been unable to download content from the Panasonic box website using my PC, because the site requires Macromedia Flash installed but Flash detection is defective (I know this because other sites including Panasonic Global, detect Flash on my PC fine, I have even tested the tool and emailed results to Panasonic for help). Panasonic have been unable / unwilling to help, so I can do little I can do with the phone, other than make or receive calls and take a few photo's. Not recommended for anyone who wants to download stuff, use internet or WAP.

I'm disapointed, was sold the Panasonic X700 saying is was a £300 phone which could be had on contract for a total over 12 months of £105.

First impressions were amazing, sleek stylish, best keypad of any phone I used. Reception was always full. Plus you could even type documents on it But then I realised that it had to be charged daily and more often than that if you use internet or call for longer than 30mins!! I then took it to a friends and you could barely recognise who the picture was of, the video was awful, and worst off all the silly bleep warning tones cannot be switched off even though I've put them to off in all profiles!

Oh dear, I've since swapped it for a Sony S700i. Now thats more like it... Don't bother. Panasonic is a big name but it needs to try harder with its phones.. They take a Nokia, add style and remove the reliability.

The Panasonic X700 is one of my 4 phones so I've got a lot to compare it with! I've had this phone for a month now and overall I'm very happy with it. It's not as good as a Nokia but they're cheap so they work out good value for money.

I have a Nokia 7610 so using this phone with the same symbian menu system was really easy and very customisable unlike my Samsung E720.

Having two 1 megapixel phones makes the camera on this phone seem a bit of a disappointment but if you haven't had a megapixel camera phone before then it will seem fine to you. The video is a bit jerky if you move whilst filming and the quality isn't the best but adequate.

I was a bit disappointed that you can't put wallpaper on the external screen and the fact that you can't play MP3 ringtones. Finally the battery life is so shocking that I've had to buy a spare battery and desktop charger for it! But still a good phone for what you pay.

I like the Panasonic X700... but sometimes I regret buying it too because now I need a 3G phone...