14 DAY TRIAL // Sega, the company that proved over the years being a leading games producer, stepped into cell phones arena.
With NTT DoCoMo, the world's leading mobile communications company, Sega designed SA800i. The phone may seem a little childish, but, after all, it is mainly aimed at this segment of consumers, so its appearance comes natural. However, it has some nice features, like a camera, speakerphone and a screen designed for gaming.
Looking over its specifications, the phone features continuous stand-by longer than 350 hours, talk time of 140 min, a main QVGA TFT LCD display of 2.2 inch (240 x 320) with 260k colors, and about 90 min of continuous video play. These features manage to define very well the child-friendly concept of the handset.
The clamshell design was improved with vibrant colors to make the phone extremely attractive. The lack of an external display is a little bit weird but for a child it shouldn't be an issue. The 100 decibels alarm can be switched ON in case of an emergency. If the alarm is turned ON, the handset will call up to three registered numbers with a voice message alert at regular intervals until all registered numbers pick up, or until a password is entered into the child's handset.
The parents subscribed for 'imadoco search' can set their phones to receive an e-mail with the child's location if the handset is turned OFF. The e-mails can be sent at 15, 30, or 60 minute intervals and these will stop when a password is entered into the parent's or child's cell phone. A special screw can protect the battery so any attempt to remove it will fail. This screw can be removed only with a special tool.