Ebony smartphone review

I’ve had the Ebony large screen QWERTY Android phone now for a few days and getting used to it and finding out much more about it abilities.  For the money it is certainly a powerful smartphone.

Android QWERTY with GPS.

While the manufacturers specifications do not mention the GPS abilities of the phone it does come equipped with a-GPS and some mapping apps. The Ebony has Google Navigator software inbuilt with the phone which is a beta version of a sat nav function built for androids and based around Google maps. The Navigator has the benefit of being able to view at street view level and this allows you to confirm your position – it’s a useful function.

While the Ebony smartphone does have full GPS features including geotagging of photographs it is a little slow at picking up satelitte signals but this could be because we’re based in them ountains and even fully fledged sat-navs can take a bit of time in getting enough signal strength.

Ebony is a smart looking Android with keypad.

The mobile itself is a nice looking smartphone with a good well built feel about it. The back has a nice rubberised feel about it which allows it to sit comfortably in the hand. Surprisingly the smaller keyboard is not much of a problem once you’ve had a few days to get used to it. I’ve not encountered to many problems with hitting the right key and the larger screen certainly makes up for any small inconvenience caused.

QWERTY smartphone with 2 SIMs.

The Ebony has dual SIM functions and they operate simultaneously so you’ve effectively got two phones in one. I’ve tested it with both Vodaphone and Tesco pay as you go SIMs and both work without any problem.  Internet access is through the 2G networks is reasonable quick and the wifi feature offers fast broadband access through hotspots.

It’s very easy to sync the phone with your Google accounts – it is Android 2.2 after-all - and it’s one click access to your Google Calendar etc. Logging into the Android Marketplace and downloading  was very easy to do.

Smartphone with 2 megapixel camera.

The Ebony has a dual camera on it. The main camera is the rear facing 2 megapixel sensor which give very good quality pictures and video. All the controls for the camera is through a touchscreen menu. The secondary camera is a front facing camera which is stated to be 0.3 megapixels. I have my doubts over that claim because if it’s true then it’s one of the best quality 0.3 megapixel cameras I’ve seen to date. 

This is no iPhone or Galaxy Nexus but it is still fast enough to deal with most of the popular smartphone games such as Angry Birds and Sushi Slash.

Ebony smartphone gives quick access to social apps.

It also has fast single touch access to all your main social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  The most disappointing social app that does not work is the Skype. But that’s more to do with Skype targeting branded smartphones rather than any shortfall in the abilities of the Ebony. there’s lots of instant messaging apps that do work on this including Google Talk, Yahoo and MSN.

Ebony Android phone comes with 2 batteries.

Battery life does seem to be quite short but I have been hammering the phone with lots of apps, games, wifi, gps and bluetooth all running at the same time. With all these power drainers in operation the charge should last you 24 hours – obviously much longer if you switch these off and on as you need them. The short battery life is not too much of a problem as it comes with two batteries so you can always keep a fully charged up on in your pocket or bag for emergencies.

I think the phone is exceptional value and is well worth considering if you want to have an android smartphone but still want the convenience of a qwerty keyboard.