The OLIVE Msgr V-G8000 � a QWERTY SMS phone for Rs 1,999 (price correction)

UPDATE: There has been a price correction with this product. It was originally listed as Rs 2,299 but is now selling for Rs 1,999.
 

The Olive Msgr V-G8000 is a GSM device which is officially tipped as the SMS Baadshah or the “King of SMS”. Of course it only offer a paltry SMS storage memory of 250 messages but we will get to that in a bit. As a messaging device, the Olive Msgr V-G8000 comes with a QWERTY keypad with the keys arranged to support a dual-thumb operation. The phone is also equipped with a 2.2” widescreen TFT LCD and offers a wider view of screen elements than a phone in this price range typically does. The Olive Msgr V-G8000 is bundled with a Lithium-Ion battery that is rated to run for 400 hours on standby mode and offers 10 hours of talk time. The phone weighs 265 grams. Bundled accessories also include a stereo headset, and a 3.7V travel charger. The phone comes with a limited 100 days replacement warranty excluding accidental damages; as part of its one year product warranty.

The build quality of the Olive Msgr V-G8000 is sturdy, with a smooth and glossy fiber finish. The battery compartment is compact and secure with a dual-sliding door mechanism. The body shell is made up of hard plastic to provide basic protection from minor damages such as scratches, wear and tear during transit, while carrying the mobile in your trouser pocket, or during the odd-casual toss of the phone on your work table or bed.

The Olive Msgr V-G8000 includes a built-in FM radio. It ships with a good quality speaker that offers a clear playback of your music and also makes for distinctively loud ringtones to grab your attention amidst (even in the hustle of daily traffic).

For those living at the edge of technology, the Olive Msgr V-G8000 has nothing special to offer in terms of innovative features, and ships with an ordinary alarm clock and a calendar. The lack of an event reminder and scheduler is a huge drawback, especially. However, the phone does come with a built-in calculator.

 

HOW WE TESTED

1.Call clarity:

We tested the call clarity for Olive msgr V-G8000 both indoors and outdoors. To our surprise, the signal strength held its own, producing good sound clarity in both the cases. However, long-distance call quality was a little unreliable and on occasion led to broken transmission of words: the word “prove”, for example, dropped at “pr…” and the voice had a rough quality to it. Note that there was no drop in conversation (the “can you hear me now?” scenario), or a drop in call, and the signal reception was quite consistent on both sides of the call. We also tested the phone across several test zones to judge it on the signal reception quality and sound clarity. The Olive Msgr V-G8000 passed this call clarity test with consistent results – making it a good choice for the entry-level category.

2. Messaging and keypad test:

Our first impression about the Olive Msgr – the self-proclaimed “SMS baadshah” was ordinary; mostly for offering a meager 250 message storage capacity. The presence of the QWERTY keypad to support faster messaging was promising. However, the keypad fails to offer the qualities needed to write lengthy text messages. Particularly, one tends to invariably hit the num-lock key while wanting to hit the caps-lock key, and vice-versa. Generally, the keys feel stiff and hard – unyielding and offering resistance to the fingers; with minimal spacing between individual keys you also tend to hit the keys next to the one you actually wanted to. As with all things though, you do get used to the keypad after a while, and contrary to our initial apprehensions, we managed to type-out lengthy messages with moderate effort, after some practice.

Four shortcut keys on top of the keypad are conveniently placed for quick access to the main screen, messages, the phonebook and the FM-radio in the order from left to right.

3. FM-Radio Test:

The Olive Msgr V-G8000 offers two means to tune an FM channel:

 

1. Manual: Through the manual search method, we could fine tune all the FM channels one by one and then store them permanently by specifying names for the same. We did not encounter any issues during this test, except for the laborious process of moving the slider to search for channels using the central navigation key: the pointer only only by 0.1 increment per key-press!

    

2. Automatic: In the automatic search method, the built-in search system could only fine-tune one or two channels at a time, and save them. The second time we tried to tune and add more channels with auto search; the previous channels were erased and replaced with new ones. As a result, there was no way of auto-scanning and saving all the channels at one go.

    

The auto-search feature was the major drawback in the FM-radio test. Although, we observed certain minor issues with signal quality of some FM stations; the sound amplification and clarity remained consistent throughout our test. Clear sound quality remained a plus point for the Olive Msgr V-G8000 in the FM-radio test.

4. Alarm, calculator, calendar:

There was nothing we could test here, except for the functionality of these features. The alarm feature includes three factory shipped alarm tones which can be set in one of the three modes: once, everyday, and Monday to Friday. All three alarm tones were melodious and soothing to the ears.

5. Sound volume test:

The Olive Msgr V-G8000 delivers soothing music and distinctively loud ringtones, with clear voice transmissions during calls at low to medium-high volumes. But, the audio sounds a bit rough and broken at high or the maximum setting. The speaker performs similarly – delivering ambient and pleasant sound outputs at low to medium-high volumes; getting a bit rough at maximum volume settings.

6. Battery life:

In our tests, on a single charge, the Olive Msgr V-G8000 delivered 154 hours (roughly six days and 10 hours) of battery life including standby time and usage time. We tested battery life under normal usage conditions, including about 10 hours of talk-time, and an hour of soothing music via the phone’s FM radio. The phone yielded very satisfactory results in the overall battery test, making it an ideal candidate for an entry-level mobile with a long battery life (both standby and talk-time).

The verdict:

The Olive Msgr V-G8000 holds its own when evaluated on price-to-performance or price-to-feature ratio. In both these aspects, the phone emerges as a good contender for honours in the wallet-friendly, entry-level segment for mobile phones in the Indian market. While its keyboard offers some eccentricities, it is not impossible to get used to. The keypad makes for a competent messaging device, while the FM radio brings in an element of entertainment. On the whole, the phone’s price seals the deal: at Rs. 2,299 1,999, you will be hard-pressed to find a better messaging device.

Check out features and specifications of Olive Msgr V-G8000 and other latest and popular Olive Handset Models on Consumermate.com.
 

Suggested Reading: For a comprehensive look at all available budget phones in the Indian market, pick up the latest issue of Digit from the newstands on the 1st of April, or pre-order/order the issue from our online store