Screen

The CG225's 96 x 64 px monochrome external display is unimpressive but effective. Revealing the time, date, day, signal strength, battery charge, caller ID, and sound and vibrate settings, a static cloud image lights up behind it when one of the volume buttons is pushed to improve its visibility in the dark. The screen's small size and lack of color pays dividends in that it is able to remain active with little battery drain.

Close in size to many external displays, the 65K-color internal LCD display is undersized at 128 x 128 px. The Super Twisted Nematic (STN) display is bright but the colors are a bit washed out, making the menu less sharp and the overall look less appealing. STN displays have limited color range and a smaller viewing angle than TFT (Thin Film Transistor) screens, however offer prolonged battery life.

Both internal and external LCD screens lag well behind the current phones on the market. Their undersized STN displays lack the clarity and vibrancy of high-end devices. However, these same phones usually suffer from increased power usage and shorter battery life. While the CG225's dual screens may not amaze consumers, its outstanding battery life will.

Audio

The CG225 offers very limited audio capabilities, lacking an MP3 player and a voice recorder. It does come with eight ringtones and offers vibrate and silent modes, but with limited memory and no expansion slot, only a few ringtones can be added.

While space is limited, users can download MP3 ringtones through Cingular's MEdia Net service, for a nominal fee. Integrated into the phone's menu, downloads are convenient but starting at $1.99 each, users may prefer to use the optional data cable to transfer them from their PC.

Conversations were clear on the CG225 but the earpiece volume was low which made it difficult to use in loud environments. The headset has a full-duplex speakerphone but it relies on the earpiece speaker so it provided similar performance, clear calls but low volume.

Messaging

While the CG225 lacks capabilities in some areas, it has the full compliment of messaging features offering SMS (Short Messaging Service), EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service), and MMS (Multimedia Message Service). These messaging options allow the users to do more than just send simple text messages up to 918 characters - they can also include photos, animations, and sounds. Unfortunately the CG225 doesn't offer email access either through traditional services or 3rd party email accounts.

However, for users that want to stay in contact through instant messaging even when they are away from their computers, the CG225 provides an excellent choice of the most popular chat clients. AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, and MSN Messenger and can handle up to 10 open IM conversations at one time.

T9 predictive text helps the user keep up in IM conversations and text messages as it anticipates what the user is typing to save keystrokes. The keypad on the CG225 provides relative ease of use as its buttons offer adequate size and backlighting.

With messaging becoming essential to mobile technology users, the CG225 delivers in this area by allowing a full range of messaging options. While the handset does not provide email access, its traditional keypad is best suited for IMs rather than lengthy emails.

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