Introducing the A200: Panasonic's Feature Phone Released in 2004
Panasonic, a leading electronics company, released its feature phone, the A200, in the fourth quarter of 2004. Despite being discontinued now, this device was quite popular back in its time due to its sleek design and unique features. Let's dive into the details of this device and see what made it stand out.
Design and Dimensions
The A200 weighed just 77g and had a thickness of 18mm, making it extremely lightweight and easy to carry around. Its dimensions were 90 x 44 x 18 mm with a capacity of 67cc, giving it a compact size that could easily fit in your pocket or bag. The device also came with a mini-SIM card slot and a TFT display with 65K colors, allowing users to personalize their phone with wallpapers and themes.
Storage and Memory
With 512 KB of internal storage and no card slot, the A200 may seem limited in terms of storage capacity. However, for a feature phone released in 2004, this amount of storage was more than enough to store important information such as contacts and call records. The phonebook could hold up to 200 contacts with 10 fields and also had a picture call feature. It also had space for 50 dialed, 50 received, and 20 missed calls in the call records section.
Network and Features
The A200 operated on a GSM 2G network with bands on 900 and 1800 frequencies. It also had GPRS Class 4 technology for internet connectivity and supported basic messaging services like SMS, EMS, and MMS. The phone also had a WAP 2.0/xHTML browser, allowing users to browse the internet on their phone. The A200 also came with two games, Wall Breaker and Move Box, to keep users entertained.
Battery Life
The A200 was powered by a removable Li-Ion 730 mAh battery that provided impressive stand-by time of up to 300 hours and talk time of up to 9 hours. This meant that users could stay connected for extended periods without worrying about charging their phone.
Other Features
The A200 had a few other notable features, such as predictive text input for easier messaging, a voice memo option for recording important notes, and different alert types including vibration and downloadable polyphonic ringtones. However, it did not have a loudspeaker, a 3.5mm jack, or any kind of wireless connectivity like WLAN, Bluetooth, or GPS.
In Conclusion
In summary, the Panasonic A200 was a feature phone that had all the necessary functionalities of a basic phone in 2004. It may not have had the advanced features of today's smartphones, but for its time, it was a popular device due to its compact and lightweight design, decent storage and memory options, and reliable battery life. Though discontinued now, it will always remain a classic in the history of mobile phones.
