Full Review and Specification for the Neo Ellipse Review

The mobile phone market is notoriously difficult to break into. With the likes of Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson dominating proceedings, many wannabe manufacturers have tried but failed. However, the emergence of LG in recent years has shown that it can be done. Neo is another new kid on the block. Having already laid claim to producing the worlds smallest fully featured mobile, the Neo Ellipse is another concept yet intriguing mobile device.

Neo Ellipse - Look and feel

The word “ellipse” is a mathematical term that loosely translates to “plane curve” and aptly enough, this handset sports a wide arced curve. Similar to that of a PC mouse, the Ellipse’s contoured body is certainly striking, though where as the MOTO Z10’s banana shaped handset aimed to bring both the speaker and microphone closer to the ear and mouth, the Ellipse’s design appears purely for aesthetic purposes. Indeed with its mirrored back and moulded chrome centre spine, the Ellipse is really rather striking. Turn the phone over and the keypad is adorned with a similar mirrored design.

Unfortunately it’s with the keypad that our first gripe lies. The keys are both small and not very well raised, which leads to a truly fiddly experience. In fact we found for a really accurate key press, we needed to use our nail which was a pain, particularly when composing text messages. It’s a shame as it does look really good, particularly when active and the backing lights illuminate. The navigation keys can be modified as shortcut access to the various features on offer, with the preset controls being ‘up’ for the MP3 player and ‘right’ to activate the camera.

Neo Ellipse - Music player

Activate the MP3 player and the navigation keys then become your music controls. The Ellipse’s overall music experience is not bad. It’s basic in that tracks can merely be added to a list, as opposed to album, artist, playlist or genre categories. We lament the lack of 3.5mm headset port or adapter, but the music quality whether played through Neo’s own headphones or the phones loudspeaker should satisfy. The FM radio has a rather novel feature in that you can actually record it with the touch of a button. In truth the quality of recording is rather poor – it’s extremely quiet even when played on full volume – so record labels needn’t lose much sleep for fear of any piracy issues. In addition, we often encountered static when playing the radio through the loudspeaker – stick to the headphones for far better results.

Neo Ellipse - Two-megapixel camera

Camera enthusiasts will find that the Ellipse is lacking in both megapixels (two) and features. There’s no zoom, with the volume keys instead bringing up a variety of silly borders, while the lack of flash often left our shots somewhat on the dark side. A handful of the numeric keys do in fact pose as shortcuts to what settings there are on offer. However, as there is no indication of what these keys do, you will be forced to memorise what each one does. Of the features that do standout, Continuous Shot will take up to five consecutive pics, while Delay Timer will give you up to 15 seconds before the photo is taken.

Bizarrely there is no quick switch between the camera and the video recorder, meaning you’ll have to get there by opening up the multimedia folder. It’s disappointing that your view is limited to about two thirds of the screen though the video playback surprised us. Our phone came preloaded with two film trailers both of which played perfectly – press the * key to watch in full screen.

Neo Ellipse - The verdict

The Neo Ellipse is a concept phone. The design is quirky yet stylish and as a user you’re guaranteed that enquiring look each time you use it. However, the keypad is not easy to get to grips with, while the camera ultimately disappoints. The MP3 and video player are decent acquisitions, but there’s not enough here to suggest that Neo are real challengers to the thrown.