Smart Netphone 101

I’ve had my Smart Netphone for a couple of weeks and more or less I know its features and how to operate and utilize the unit.

Pricing

Smart Netphone retails for only P9,900 for Prepaid Kits. That comes with a SIM card with consumable load. Smart Netphone is also available for Postpaid. P4,800 at Plan 500, P2,800 for Plan 800, FREE for Plan 1200 and Plan 3500.

System

Smart Netphone runs on Android Froyo 2.2. There might be updates in the future. Or so I hope.

My cat loves Smart Netphone too!

Ease of Use

Well honestly using Smart Netphone is a bit of a challenge but since I like challenges. The ultimate challenge for me is the location of my home. My house is behind a tall cliff and signals of any telcos inside my home are weak because of the natural block (cliff). I am appealing to Smart to install a signal booster since almost all in my household are Smart Postpaid and prepaid subscribers.

When I tried registering to SmartNet using the Netphone, I wasn’t able to make it work. Jayvee Fernandez advised me to register online at SmartNet and that’s what I did. I linked my Facebook and Twitter accounts on the SmartNet website as well. When I tried logging in on my Netphone, I still couldn’t so I just decided to let the phone rest and try again the next day. When I work up the next day and tried to log in, I was finally able to make the thing work so maybe there is 1 day delay for SmartNet registrations to reflect on handsets.

Register on SmartNet.ph first

I didn’t know about the settings. I thought I can surf all I want after registration. WRONG! I couldn’t log-in after a few days. I found out through Azrael that the same happened to him and his load was empty. So I went to 7-11 and loaded my account with P30. I logged in and played around but when I checked my balance, my account was down to P10. I messaged @smartcares on Twitter and told them about what happened. I didn’t even send any SMS but P20 was deducted in a matter of 2 to 3 hours. @smartcares asked me if the 2nd panel of my Netphone says “Internet” or “SmartNet”. I didn’t even know there was a SmartNet settings. I finally figured it out that beside Net Setting, SmartNet should be chosen. See below.

Remember to put your net setting to "SmartNet"

How To Update Your Status

After figuring SmartNet out,  I played around with live feed. Updating your status on Facebook and Twitter is easy. When you are already logged in, click on your name on the screen. It should bring you to Profile and under it is a box which says “What do you want to say?” Click on that and a screen will appear. See below.

Enter your text, press "Share" then you will see a message informing if it has been sent or not.

If it has been sent, press Cancel then the Back Arrow.

Your status message is displayed on the home panel

Smart Netphone Social updates your SmartNet contacts, Facebook Wall, and Twitter. If you want a private update which will only be seen by your SmartNet friends, click on the Facebook and Twitter icons until they become dim then type and send your message. The same goes for updating Facebook or Twitter only, you only have to click on the icons in the Status Update panel.

How To Check Live Feed

On your home screen, click on Social. This will bring you to live feed but you need to refresh to see the latest updates from your friends.

You will see updates from Facebook, Twitter, and SmartNet

Click on refresh to be always up to date

How To Add SmartNet Friends to Your Contact List

On your home screen, click on Phonebook, if your friend isn’t in your contacts yet, type in the name then click on the Magnifying Glass. It will search the Global Directory of Smart Netphone users.

How To Send FX and/or text to Your Contacts

FX is one of the unique features of Smart Netphone. These are moving images you can send to your contacts for free. Here are some examples of FX found in the Netphone.

To send messages to your SmartNet contacts, click on the Chat icon found on your home screen which will then load your contacts. Scroll to the person you want to send a message to then click on the name. A chat screen will appear. If you want to send an FX, click on FX, choose an animation, add a message, then press “send.”

FX available on your Smart Netphone

How To Change The Wallpaper

Watch this short video.

Having a live (animated) wallpaper is awesome but it might drain your Netphone’s battery faster. I’m not sure though. I just think it eats up the phone’s resources more.

How To Check Balance On Your Netphone

On your homescreen, press the right arrow beside your status. If pressed correctly, it will take you to another screen which will check your current balance.

Remember that you can use the following for free as long as you have at least P1.00 in your balance:

• Chat
• Update your status
• Check Facebook and Twitter streams
• browse Smart websites
• use Uzzap
• use Smart applications
• use Locate and Azkals

To know more about the features of Smart Netphone, go to http://smart.com.ph/netphone/ and I recommend that you download the quick reference guide (PDF) under Support.

My Verdict

Smart Netphone is a great phone for heavy Facebook and/or Twitter users since you its Social Stream feature is free. The Netphone is more beneficial to a user if he/she has friends who have one too because chatting with them is free. Still, using SMS to message those without a Netphone or those in another network isn’t too expensive anyway.

Smart Netphone still has a lot of bugs and the developers need to improve on their services fast since Globe recently released the cheaper CloudFone to compete with Smart’s. I’m not a Twitter nor Facebook addict but I enjoy FX and the Global Directory. Uzzap is pretty cool too. Since using those is free, I’m a happy camper.