14 DAY TRIAL // Philips cell phones have disappeared from the European market lately, and this is because the mobile division of the Dutch electronics manufacturer was sold to China Electronics Corp., which began releasing Philips handsets only in Asia. Sales in China are going great (and no wonder, since it's the world's largest mobile market), so the company that now makes Philips phones thought Europe might need them too. Therefore, it will bring us a new handset, Philips 192 and, since Philips is first of all an European brand, I guess "Welcome home" is not an out of place thing to say.
Unfortunately for those who expect great things from Philips, the 192 model is an entry-level dual-band GSM device that will appeal only to customers who don't need too much from their phones. The new 192 comes in a candybar form and packs a 65K color display (with a 128 ? 128 pixel resolution) and a 650 mAh battery that should keep it running for 10 days on stand-by. Its built-in camera has 0 Megapixels - which is another way of saying the phone lacks one.
Probably the best things about this Philips is that it's quite slim and lightweight, measuring 104.5 x 45 x 12.8 millimeters and weighing only 60 grams. Another positive feature is the multi-person SMS one, which allows you to send a SMS to several numbers at the same time with the push of one button.
Overall, the handset doesn't look bad, except for its keypad which appears like "cheap plastic". Sure, the phone is a cheap one, but we've seen similar handsets that look better. However, for its retail price of 40 Euro (about 60 USD), it might prove to be a good phone.
Apparently, Philips 192 will be first available in Portugal, which is a bit surprising, since entry-level handsets are mainly targeted for Eastern Europe. The phone should be released on other markets too, during 2008, but there are no details about where and when exactly. Anyway, we hope more Philips handsets will make it to Europe from now on, especially those who pack evolved features.