After reviewing Sagem's my721X 'So Ice' handset, I didn't have any surprises with the latest phone for girls - Sagem my411C. Except for the design, everything seems to be the same and no improvements are noticeable. my411C is definitely a low-end phone and targets women that are looking for an adorable mobile phone, but don't care about performance. Furthermore, Sagem partnered with the French company Lulu Castagnette, a fashion brand that features a teddy bear as main icon, to develop the Sagem my411C clamshell. Thus, the phone bears the teddy bear trademark and has been tagged with the clothing producer's name - Lulu Castagnette. Hmm, there's no wonder most of the girls will want one the moment they see it.
Announced in January 2008, Sagem my411C Lulu Castagnette was made available on the market a month later for about 85 Euros (135 USD).
Design
While the clamshell doesn't come with anything innovative in terms of design, the teddy bear pictured on both front and back cover of the phone will definitely catch young women's eyes. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't tested it - three out of four women showed interest in owning such a device, regardless of the fact that it offers only basic features. I'll try to be as objective as I can and see what's good and what's bad about the device. Still, I would've preferred to have a woman colleague review this clamshell for a better perspective. Now, back to the design of the phone, I believe Sagem did a good job. Without introducing anything new and keeping the same old school clamshell form factor, the shiny plastic, the colors and the small teddy bear sketched on the surface of the phone suddenly became the truly main attractions of the device. As a side note, I haven't been impressed at all by the little teddy bear, but that's acceptable since I'm a man and not a woman.
Sagem my411C measures 91 x 46 x 16mm, which makes it rather 'dull' for those expecting a slim, small clamshell. When closed, users will be able to notice a microSD memory slot card, covered by a rubber stripe, on the left side of the phone. The right side features two volume keys, which are flanking the key that opens the music player, but also a proprietary Sagem port that can be used to attach the wired headset that comes with the phone or the charger. At the bottom of the clamshell, there's a small gap where users can insert a short string that has a miniaturized teddy bear attached to it. The latter can be found in the sales package and looks girlish enough so I cannot talk about it. The VGA camera has been placed on the front cover of the phone, right above the small secondary display. Below, it's the Lulu Castagnette logo, written with silver letters. The back of the phone features the teddy bear icon and Sagem's logo.
When open, the clamshell reveals a large keypad that strongly resembles Motorola's SLVR handset. This happened for the second time, Sagem my721X featuring the same type of keypad. Fortunately, my411C's keys are easier to press, its only drawback being the fact that is a fingerprint magnet. The plastic used for manufacture seems exquisite and shiny, which impresses. Even if it's a low-end device, the clamshell won't look cheap or affordable. Right above the main display, again, there's a small teddy bear, while below the keypad Sagem strategically placed two rubber dots that will prevent your display from touching the keys.
I have counted a total of three teddy bears printed on the various parts of the phone; in fact, there are four if you include the one attached by the string found in the sales package. Definitely a girl's thing, Sagem my411C Lulu Castagnette attracts through its imprinted teddy bears, rather for its clamshell form or features. Men will surely stay away from this handset, but I suggest you guys try keeping your girls away from the device too as it only offers basic features.
Display and Camera
Oh, well I'm thinking that there are worse phones than Sagem's my411C when testing its display and camera. On the other hand, both are sub-mediocre. The main CSTN display supports 65k colors and 128x160 pixels resolution, but quality is way under today's standards. The secondary monochrome display is there to show you the time when you press any external key (volume or MP3 player). The only positive thing I found about the main display is the fact that it is visible under strong sunlight. Otherwise, as you can see from the benchmarks, this is a low-end display, which means that talking about quality is out of the question.
The VGA camera can take pictures using a maximum resolution of 640x480 pixels and features only 4x digital zoom. Lack of a bigger number of megapixels, flash and autofocus make this camera almost useless. The interface is very simple and features few settings such as: Effects (Sepia, Grey Scale, Negative), Exposure (Night, Back light, Sunny, Cloudy, Tungsten), Timer and Click sound. Videos can be recorded and are limited only by the amount of memory available. Again, we cannot talk about quality.
Menu and Software
Sagem's UI, while not the most user-friendly interface, is pretty straightforward and offers a pleasant user experience. Because of the low resolution, the phone is pretty fast when browsing through the menus. The latter has been divided into more sections, pretty easy to guess what they are used for. The first on the left is the Music player; then, there is the WAP browser, Games area (Air Strike and Brain Challenge).
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