I have had quite some time to play with the Mi-Fone Mi 400, one of the phones recently released by Mi-Fone. Mi 400 is a java phone and I know it’s been long since I reviewed a Java phone. Must confess that I didn’t use it all through the time, since I would need my smartphone, prolly one of the reasons this review took long to come out. I am not good at keeping many sim cards. Let me run you through a quick specs sheet.
The phone has these:
- Dual / Single SIM
- 2.5 G
- Bluetooth
- VGA Camera
- JAVA
- Pre-installed Facebook, Opera Mini & Yahoo
- FM Radio
- Torch by camera flashlight
- Micro SD Card slot (up to 5GB)
- MP3/Mp4 Player
What does Mi 400 offer?
Like I noted, this is barely a feature phone, it’s down the food chain, with a price point of Kshs. 4,000 ($47). Mi 400 is a dual dim phone, dual standby that is quite an upgrade to the usual Chinaphone sold in the grey market. Mi 400 boasts a very nice design as you can see on the images, the one I got is a white one. If you like curves in a phone, this one has them on the edges, they fit quite well in the hands.
The phone has a longish thin look, with plastic buttons and is not a touch device, before you ask. It dons a wide speaker at the top that blends quite well with the phone.
The browsing experience is wap, doesnt promise much, but delivers what it says in the box.
The good
The phone buttons are well spaced out and you can have an easy time typing even in the dark, the battery life is also quite remarkable, but coming from a smartphone user I am bound to be impressed. It’s long since I used a phone that goes days. 
The dedicated facebook button launches facebook, and if you have signed in it takes you right to the notifications, you dont get push notifications, but they are quite within reach.
There are two dial buttons for each sim card and one disconnect button, it’s quite easy to find what you need, the 3 by 4 menu placement doesnt require you to scroll down for applications, they are well placed in folders.
Mi-Fone has a Java app store called MiApps so you wont go through much hustle looking for Java apps to install, plus the shortcut to the app store is on the menu.
USB charger and connection, bluetooth, VGA camera are also some things to look forward to. The camera has good clear images, ofcourse taken where there is good lighting.
You get to switch internet settings between the sim cards, whichever you fancy. Something I need to add before I cross over to the bad is that the colours are quite impressive for a Java phone (they call them dumb phones over in the blogosphere).
The bad
The sound in the speaker is quite sharp and loud, I know you can reduce the volume, but for you to get something audible during a phone call, you will risk getting your eardrums raptured. Yes, it’s that loud.
Bottomline
I didnt notice more negatives, for a phone on this price point, it’s quite impressive, if you live beyond this price you can consider it as extra phone for backup, you know those times when you need a phone that can take you through the trials and temptations of the electricity provider.
Mi-400 is currently available in Kenya and soon to be released in Angola , South Africa , Nigeria, Ghana , Rwanda & Tanzania.
That centrally located dedicated Facebook button just won over a friend who was an addict of her HTC ChaCha that was unfortunately plucked by Mombasa pickpockets and wanted a cheap alternative with Facebook in mind like the ChaCha while she waits to get another and this was it!
Infact i liked the fact that the facebook application on the phone,which is facebook lite, actually works for this phone, doesnt demand alot of data, so the fact that it’s a 2G phone is not really bad for it.
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