Camera

Seeing as the 3125's standout features lie elsewhere in its design, its VGA camera is nothing special. With video capabilities and a boatload of options, the camera is in no way deficient, but at 1.3-megapixels, it's hardly cutting-edge. Users will be pleased to find all the standard bells and whistles: a self-timer, zoom, white balance, color effects. However, serious digital photographers will have to look to a separate device for their photo-capturing needs.

The camera does feature an ample number of controls. In addition to white balance and color effects (grayscale, sepia, cool), users may adjust the saturation, gamma, and hue. Photos may be taken in the standard range of resolutions (160 x 120 px, 320 x 240 px, and 640 x 480 px) as well as an extra large 1280 x 1024 px size. Four quality options take pictures at Basic, Normal, Fine, or Super Fine settings. Users may choose to superimpose a time stamp, and photos may be stored either in the main memory or on a memory card.

Upon activating the camera, the user may choose from one of several capture modes: Photo, Video, MMS Video, Contacts Picture, Picture Theme, or Sports. The MMS Video option captures video of small enough file size to send via a media message. The Contacts Picture option cuts down the picture size to conveniently fit the external screen. The Picture Theme option adds fun frames to a photo. The phone comes preloaded with only one frame option; additional themes may be downloaded. "Sports" mode takes three rapid-fire shots to catch any sort of action, athletic or otherwise. Working in tandem with the regular Photo and Contacts Picture modes, the full-color external screen comes in handy in facilitating self-portraits.

The video recorder offers most of the same features as the still camera. Video resolution is available in Small (128 x 96 px) and Medium (176 x 144 px) sizes. Users have the option of recording video with or without audio. MMS Video clocks in at under twenty seconds in order to keep file size small enough to mail. Regular video records at a maximum of 45 minutes (Small) and 50 minutes (Medium).

With various capture modes, including two types of video files, in addition to a variety of controls and the standard phone-camera options, the 3125's camera should meet the needs of casual phone users looking for a fun bonus feature in their communication device. At only 1.3-megapixels, however, the camera will not satisfy more serious photographers, who will have to look to a separate device.

Basic Features

The 3125 functions first and foremost a phone, and it largely succeeds at this endeavor. With the standard call features and contacts storage, the 3125 should meet all calling needs.

The 3125 can do all sorts of things to calls: Call Barring, Forwarding, and Waiting as well as Caller ID are all available. Speakerphone caters to users wishing to hear incoming calls from a small distance or to share calls with other nearby parties. Speed dial allows users to avoid repetitive button-pushing through either a set key assignment or a voice command.

Calling the 3125 phone-number storing feature a "Contacts List" is somewhat insufficient to describe the full extent of the application. The "Contacts List" is more like a database, storing the following information under a given name: First Name, Last Name, Phone Numbers (Work, Mobile, Home), Custom Ring Tone, Picture, email (up to 3 addresses), IM (up to 3 screen names), additional Home and Work phone numbers, Company Phone, Category (Business, Holiday, Personal, Seasonal), Pager, Car Phone, Work Fax, Home Fax, Assistant Phone, Radio Phone, Web Page, Job Title, Department, Company, Office Address, Home Address, Additional Address, Nickname, Birthday, Anniversary, Government ID, Account Name, Customer ID, Spouse's, Children's, and Assistant's Names. While the average user will probably pick and choose from amongst these numerous options, super-spies and personal assistants should find such thoroughness useful for on-the-go data access. Users may also opt to file entries by first or last name.

With standard call features available, and a veritable contacts database, the 3125 should keep users in touch with friends, family, co-workers, clients, and just about anyone else they can think of.

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