Don’t be fooled by the photos: this is not a Sidekick 4G ($99.99, 4 stars). Even if the Astute FX Plus (Free with 2-year contract, $349.99 lacking), certainly looks like T-Mobile’s classysmartphone, it’s a less ambitious device. Unfilled exclusively through Walmart, the FX Plus is a excellent extent for AT&T texters looking to save a few bucks, and it’s the best keyboarded Machine phone unfilled on AT&T, so it makes the cut for our list of The Best Phones on AT&T. Just keep in mind that it isn’t a do-everything, high-end super-smartphone.
Design, Cover, and Keyboard
The FX Plus events 4.7 by 2.4 by .6 inches (HWD) and weighs 5.3 ounces. Made entirely of black fake, it feels levelheaded, even if it looks somewhat generic. The 3.2-inch spectacle is a ordinary 320-by-480 pixel resolution. The glass capacitive upset cover is bright and correctly responsive. There are four physical gathering keys not more than the cover which are backlit and simple to push.
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FX Plus Specifications
- Benefit Provider
- AT&T
- In commission Logic
- Machine OS
- Cover Size
- 3.2 inches
- Cover Details
- 320-by-480-pixel, 262K-color TFT LCD capacitive upset cover
- Camera
- Yes
- Network
- GSM, UMTS
- Bands
- 850, 900, 1800, 1900, 2100
- High-Speed Data
- GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA
- Processor Speed
- 600 MHz
Call Feature, OS, and Apps
The FX Plus is a quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and tri-band HSPA 7.2 (850/1900/2100 MHz) device with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. It requires AT&T’s $15-per-month data plot just like the carrier’s additional smartphones.
Greeting is average, and voice feature is just OK. Voices signal full and relatively clear in the phone’s earpiece, even if I may possibly detect a faint shared class hiss when introduction calls in a silent room. The speakerphone doesn’t go loud enough to use out-of-doors. On the additional end, calls placed with the Plus were full of static and fuzz; voices were still understandable, but not particularly pleasant. Calls sounded clad through anAliph Jawbone Icon Bluetooth headset ($99, 4 stars), but again, voices were somewhat scratchy. Array life was quite excellent, at 7 hours and 16 summary of talk time. But I’m going to call this a phone for typing, not discussion on.
The FX Plus is powered by a 600MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 CPU and runs Machine 2.2.2 (Froyo). The OS is a step behind the current generation (Gingerbread) and there’s no word from Astute on whether or not it will be updated. The grown-up CPU is ordinary for an entry-level Machine phone, and benchmark results were akin to the LG Phoenix (Free, 3.5 stars), but performance was way behind privileged-end Machine diplomacy. This will be adequate for basic apps like e-mail and texting, but gamers should look somewhere else.
Even if it isn’t running have a give of Machine, Astute hasn’t bespoke equipment too heavily, and performance was pretty smooth across the board. Sorry to say, Astute’s extent of icons gives the UI a somewhat cheap look and feel. Still, there are seven customizable home screens you can swipe between, and Astute has preloaded a digit of helpful widgets on them, counting a calendar, messaging hub, ride out intelligence, Facebook and Chirrup. There’s some undeletable bloatware, even if luckily Astute has kept it to a minimum.
Like most additional Machine phones, the FX Plus has a fantastic browser, along with wide-ranging e-mail, Chat, and Outlook integration. Google Maps Steering, which facial appearance voice-enabled GPS directions, is free, and you have door to over 200,000 apps in Machine Promote, most of which should run just fine. You can also bed in apps from further than the Promote, which you couldn’t do on grown-up AT&T phones.
FX Plus CD, Camera, and Conclusions
The FX Plus is a clad media phone. There’s 138MB of free domestic reminiscence, and Astute includes a 2GB microSD card in a slot under the array take in. My 32GB SanDisk card worked fine as well. The music player is have a give of Machine, and was able to play each major music plot I tried. There’s a ordinary 3.5mm earphone jack on top of the phone, and music sounded pretty excellent, even if bass response was oddly lacking. This wasn’t the case over Altec Lansing Backbeat Bluetooth headset ($99.99, 3.5 stars); tracks sounded clear and bracing, with bounty of bass.
Standalone videos looked somewhat dim and lackluster on the phone’s 3.2-inch cover. On the additional hand, most ordinary record codecs are supported and played back just fine, as long as they were formatted for the phone’s cover. The phone tried to play 720p and 1080p high-def videos, but they were so choppy they were unwatchable.
The 3-megapixel auto-focus camera has no sparkle and an inappropriately slow 1.8-second shutter falter, but test photos looked clad. They were somewhat blown out and lacking in top, but excellent enough to post on shared networking sites. The record camera, on the additional hand, was terrible. It only records VGA videos, which played back at nearly 15 frames per second, but looked like a clippy, pixelated mess.
AT&T has a bunch of fantastic Machine phones, but it doesn’t have any one fantastic Machine phone with a physical keyboard. The BlackBerry Torch 9800 ($49.99, 4 stars) has a excellent keyboard and a nice upset cover, but it can’t upset the FX Plus when it comes to media or sports meeting. The LG Phoenix is free and trades a physical keyboard for a vaguely best record camera. If you’re keen to dissipate some superfluous money, the HTC Inspire 4G ($99.99, 4 stars) facial appearance best voice feature and a killer 4.3-inch LCD, along with HTC’s slick Sense UI house on top, even if it too lacks a keyboard. So if you’re a diehard texter looking for a keyboarded Machine phone on AT&T, the Astute FX Plus is your best choice right now.
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