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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

A968 TV Phone - Features Dual Sim Slots, a 3 Inch QVGA Touch Screen and a 3.0 Mega Pixel Camera

By Rae Edwards

It wasn't very long ago that the clones (iPhone or otherwise) which featured real time analog television were considered quite a novelty. For a while, it wasn't clear if the TV feature was one that was a passing fancy or one that was actually here to stay.  It turns out that consumers have dictated that television is something that they actually use and want in a phone. With best selling models like the N99i and PT400, the market seems to have spoken.  This article will discuss one of the newer models - the A968.

The A968 is a Chinese import.  It has dual sim slots which means that you can have two phone numbers or two networks going at once.  This is very popular with business people or folks who take a lot of calls that they don't want to miss when they are also on-line.

Additionally, this one is quad band (many of the TV phones are tri band). It supports 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz.  This covers most all GSM carriers  worldwide, including networks in the U.S. and in Canada, (North America), as well as South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.  You don't need drivers and software. Once you insert your sim card, the phone will read it and you're good to go. And, if you have no need for both sims, the phone will work fine only using one.

The A968 has all of the loaded add - ons that have become so popular with the clones, like: web browsing and messaging (email, text, voice and email - SMS, MMS, GPRS WAP); Bluetooth; FM radio; MP3 / MP4; a 2.0 MP digital camera /  web cam; and handwriting recognition.

The A 968 can also hold up to 4GB of memory and is expandable. This phone is not considered a "mini" as it weighs approximately 125 grams with the dimensions of around 109 X 51 X 18 mm.

Perhaps the two features which make this phone so popular is the real time, free TV and the full key board and scroll bar. 

Don't confuse the TV feature on this phone with the "TV out" feature of the CECT A988.  The two are different - as are both phones.  TV out means that you can hook the phone up to a television so that you can watch video that is on the phone on a larger screen. 

In contrast, this phone allows you to watch real time local TV via antennae (reception is pretty good, even inside) for free. You don't need to buy any packages or programs to use this.

There is also a pretty decent sized subset of people who really like that this phone has a full keyboard and scroll bar.  Not everyone enjoys texting / messaging on a flat, touch screen.  Many die hard texters or folks who enter in a lot of data really strongly prefer real, raised keys for their speed and ease of use.  Yes, handwriting recognition is included on this phone, but I don't use it. I prefer to use the keyboard instead.

Price wise, this phone is very competitive, often in the very low $100 price range, depending on how much memory it has.

To view video close up photos, full specifications and real time rock bottom pricing on the A968 TV phone click here or visit http://a968-quadband-review.blogspot.com/

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