The Keypad

The keypad is nice to use. It has a tactile feeling to it and it's very responsive. The keypad lights up with a blue light whenever it is activated. However, it is not evenly illuminated. The center seems to be brighter than the keypad's periphery. But this is not really that big an issue.

In addition to the keypad, the Xphone comes with a large button with a green phone icon for you to accept calls or bring up your Recently Called list. There is also a red phone icon for you to end calls. This button also locks the phone when you press it continuously for two seconds.

Incidentally, the two large buttons have started to make some clicking sounds when I press them. The feeling is similar to that of my Nokia 3310's broken keypad. It still works but the clicks gives me the impression that something is not quite right with it. This problem occured several weeks ago and it is still here!

I guess I will drop by the service centre soon and see what they can do about it.

Please note that there are no exchangable face plate or keypads for the Xphone! So, if you accidentally scratch some part of the phone, the screen or the keypad; you will have to live with the damage!

There are two special buttons that allow you to access the Windows menu. They are located just below the display and they are covered with a layer of chrome. Attractive, of course, but the chrome layer on my Xphone has started to peel off very quickly. This is very bad if you use your phone very often. Soon enough, the chrome layer will peel off completely, leaving two ugly, bare plastic in its wake.

Fortunately, I read somewhere in MyPDACafe's forum that you can actually send your Xphone to the service centre to get the housing and keypad replaced. Unfortunately, this comes at a premium price of about RM200 (USD 53)! So, I wouldn't drop the Xphone that often if I were you!