Short review of Gigabyte GSmart S1200 – a familiar VGA in a super miniature package.

Short review of Gigabyte GSmart S1200 – a familiar VGA in a super miniature package.

Gigabyte is well known to those who like to assemble computers on their own using high-quality motherboards and video cards. In addition, the company owns the GSmart brand; at one time many interesting and productive communicators based on Windows Mobile were released under it. Let’s not twist our hearts if we say that mostly they did not belong to the masterpieces of design thought, although most were quite remarkable in terms of functionality.

The first communicators under the GSmart trademark appeared in Russia in 2006. Since 2006, GSmart has released 11 communicator models (10 were officially presented in Russia). GSmart constantly monitors the current technological trends of the market, striving to be among the first to embed actual and modern “chips” into its devices.

The first GSmart models officially presented in Russia – GSmart i120 and GSmart i128 – were the first communicators on the Russian market with a built-in function of receiving terrestrial TV.

In 2007, the company was one of the first on the market to release a non-keyboard communicator with a high-resolution screen (VGA, 480 x 640) – the GSmart i350 model, which became one of the best-selling communicators in 2007.

Since 2007, GSmart has steadily entered the top ten leaders in the Russian communicator market. In the first half of 2009, during the crisis, the company made a real breakthrough. Thanks to competent “anti-crisis” pricing, balanced product line and well-functioning sales channels, GSmart began to dramatically increase its market share.

For the first time in the Russian market, GIGA-BYTE Communications was able to offer a communicator with support for third generation (3G) networks – the GSmart MS 800 and MW702 models – at a price of less than 7,000 rubles, and for the first time – a communicator with a high-resolution display (VGA) – model GSmart MW998 at a price below 10,000 rubles.

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In autumn 2009, the company introduced a new model to the market – GSmart S1200, a powerful VGA communicator with minimal dimensions and thickness in a stylish case.

The focus on design, which the developers have made, is quite consistent with the current trends on the mobile device market. But design isn’t the only thing that sets the model apart. The most important thing is the compactness and thickness of the case.

At the moment GSmart S1200 is the smallest all-in-one communicator with a VGA-screen. The case of a record (11 mm) thickness (more precisely, “thinness”) accommodates a 528 MHz processor, Wi-Fi, 3G modules and a GPS receiver. The bright and display in WVGA format (high resolution – 480×800 pixels) with extremely vivid colors has quite a comfortable diagonal (3.1 “).

The desire to make the novelty beautiful led to a radical intervention in the software “stuffing” of the device. The GSmart S1200 is equipped with a graphical interface developed by the company – Smart Pack, which makes it easy to control the device with your fingers. You are free to choose four ways to organize your desktop and, accordingly, four themes using widgets (G-Widgets). However, all this beauty can be turned off, since the native interface of Windows Mobile 6.5 is no less convenient.

Moreover, we recommend that you do this, since some of the system’s performance is wasted on graphical bells and whistles.

Particularly encouraging is the fact that the S1200 manufacturers have not forgotten to add an excellent modern design to the powerful hardware. In terms of design, the GSmart S1200 strikingly differs from all the earlier models of the Gigabyte product line, which were mainly made in a somewhat “brick” style (although, of course, design is a subjective thing!). The design of the S1200 is a rounded shape of a miniature case, the front panel is made in the fashionable nowadays mirror-glazed style, and the back cover is made of black non-shiny plastic. The body is edged with a silver frame “like metal”.

Well, just like the iPhone! J The design is really stylish and pleasing to the eye.

It remains to add that devices of this class and quality from competing brands are not cheap today. Against this background, the current price of GSmart S1200 – 14,999 rubles does not look prohibitive. This is quite consistent with the positioning of the device: marketers from Gigabyte talk about a kind of “golden mean” between functionality, performance and price.