Not another Clamshell design I hear you shout!! This may be a Clamshell design, but it is a nice compact phone, which offers all of the services and functionality that you would expect.

The Sagem myC5-2v mobile phone is basically an upgrade of the Sagem myC5-2 mobile phone, but Sagem have taken into account feedback and new ideas, which are reflected in the new model. The dimension of the phone are 82.2 mm x 42.7 mm x 23 mm, and weighing in at just 85 grams, it is very easy to store and carry.  Those of you who have come across the Sagem myC5-2 mobile phone will notice that the external antenna has been removed on the Sagem myC5-2v.  The case of the mobile phone is made out of a toughened plastic, which is a lot tougher than it looks.  Available in two colour variations of Blue with Silver and Black with Silver, the phone looks fashionable and stylish.

The front of the mobile phone is dominated by a useful external display, which although not massive, is more than sufficient and well defined.  The display has dimension of 21 mm x 13 mm offering 96 x 64 pixel resolution, set against a white background light.  A unique function of the phone allows you to modify the colour display for a number of the indicators, including signal strength, battery levels, etc.  There is a slight problem with some of the fonts on the external display, as the incoming call indicator seems to default to a smaller font than normal.  The backlight can be activated at any moment by pressing the volume button.  Neatly hidden away on the bottom of the case you will see the interface connector for the battery recharger.

Unlike some of the cheaper Clamshell mobile phone designs, the flip to open the clam while firmly designed, can be opened with just a flick of one finger - useful when you need to answer the phone quickly.  Upon opening the Clam you will notice the internal screen which although a fair size, has a disappointing 128 x 160 pixel resolution (with 65,000 colour combinations) making it difficult to read from a reasonable distance.   The keyboard is made of plastic and there is little gap between the buttons, making it sometimes difficult to type “blind”.  Quick navigational arrow and confirmation buttons are located just below the internal display, and these are very easy to use - usefully lit up in darkness with blue back light.  The 700 mAh battery offers 240 hours standby or 3 hours talk time, and only takes 1 hour 20 minutes to fully recharge from empty.

Unlike most phones where the contact book is pre-set, the Sagem myC5-2v allows the phone to use free memory to retain contact records, which can vary the capacity quite a lot.  Message facilities include SMS, MMS and EMS, with a useful function letting you send calendar and contacts information to third parties in a message.  The WAP facility is very useful in today’s mobile environment, and offers access to the internet 24 hours a day.  The traditional clock, alarm, calendar, calculator, etc are all pre-installed and again useful if you are constantly on the move, together with the music multi-media facility offering access to MIDI, WAV, AMR, MP3 and AAC formats - which covers the vast majority of music files available.

The inbuilt camera offers your standard still photography and video facilities, and is a useful 640 x 480 pixel resolution.  All camera files can be stored on the mobile phone for replay at any date, or even direct MMS to a third party.  There is also a shutter and delayed timer option which can be very useful.

While some of the display facilities are a little dissapointing, the Sagem myC5-2v mobile phone is a well designed compact phone, which will appeal to the mass market.  It has the look of a more expensive phone, but at an affordable price.  While the phone does not offer quite enough for the business person out of the office 24/7, it offers more than enough functionality for personal use.

A useful offering from Sagem and nice to see that the manufacturers are taking feedback from earlier models, and using these to improve there products.