Apple must show patents valid in Samsung case - U.S. judge

A U.S. judge said that Samsung Electronic's Galaxy tablets infringe Apple Inc.'s iPad patents, but added that Apple has a problem establishing the validity of its patents in the latest courtroom face-off between the technology giants. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh made the comments in a court hearing on Thursday, but has yet to rule on Apple's request to bar some Galaxy products from being sold in the United States.

Apple has to prove the validity of its patents now 

Apple and Samsung are engaged in a bruising legal battle that includes more than 20 cases in 10 countries as the two jostle for the top spot in the smartphone and tablet markets. Earlier on Thursday, an Australian court slapped a temporary ban on the sale of Samsung's latest computer tablet in that country. Apple sued Samsung in the United States in April, saying the South Korean company's Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets 'slavishly' copies the iPhone and iPad. Apple then filed a request in July to bar some Samsung products from U.S. sale, including the Galaxy S 4G smartphone and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.

Mobile providers Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA have opposed Apple's request, arguing that a ban on Galaxy products would cut into holiday sales. Apple must show both that Samsung infringed its patents and that its patents are valid under the law. Samsung attorney Kathleen Sullivan argued that in order to defeat an injunction bid, Samsung need only show that it has raised strong enough questions about the validity of Apple's patents. "We think we've clearly raised substantial questions," Sullivan said at the hearing on Thursday in a San Jose, California federal court. Apple attorney Harold McElhinny said Apple's product design is far superior to previous tablets, so Apple's patents should not be invalidated by designs that came before. "It was the design that made the difference," McElhinny said.

Koh frequently remarked on the similarity between each company's tablets. At one point during the hearing, she held one black glass tablet in each hand above her head, and asked Sullivan if she could identify which company produced which. "Not at this distance your honor," said Sullivan, who stood at a podium roughly ten feet away. "Can any of Samsung's lawyers tell me which one is Samsung and which one is Apple?" Koh asked. A moment later, one of the lawyers supplied the right answer. Additionally, at the hearing Koh said she would deny Apple's request for an injunction based on one of Apple's so-called 'utility' patents. She did not say whether she would grant the injunction based on three other Apple 'design' patents. Koh characterized her thoughts on the utility patent as 'tentative', but said she would issue a formal order 'fairly promptly'. "It took a long time to make that distinction," Koh said. After the hearing, Samsung spokesman Kim Titus said Apple's injunction request is 'groundless'. Apple spokeswoman Kristen Huguet said, "It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad ... This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas." 

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 11-1846. 

Samsung Galaxy tab 7.7 tablet and Galaxy Note announced at IFA

Samsung has announced an update to its existing 7-inch Galaxy tab as well as an entirely new device called the Galaxy Note at IFA last week.

The galaxy Tab 7.7 comes with 7.7-inch SuperAMOLED display with a resolution of  1280 x 800 pixels. The tablet run Android 3.2 on a dual core 1.4Ghz processor, 1GB RAM and will come in 16/32/64GB storage (expandable via MicroSD slot). The device is just 8mm thin and weighs around 335g. It has a 3.2MP camera on the back and a front 2MP camera. The specs are almost exactly the same as we reported earlier

The galaxy Note on the other hand has a 5-inch super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and comes with an S-pen – a stylus, for input. Hardware specifications are the same as Galaxy Tab 7.7, though the Note  runs Android 2.3 and sports a 8MP camera on the rear that records videos in 1080p resolution. It also comes with a barometer, optional NFC support, TV-out, can be used as phone and will be the first device to come preloaded with Samsung’s own chat client called Samsung ChatON.

Both devices are expected to be available in the beginning of next year.

 

Samsung Omnia 7

Samsung is no stranger to Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS, with the Windows Mobile 6.1-operating Samsung SGH-i900 (Omnia I) and the Windows Mobile 6.5-running Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 forming part of its Redmond-powered Omnia range.

The Omnia 7, however, is the Korean tech giant’s first Windows Phone 7 OS-powered device (hence the 7 in the name), making it a lot less complicated and fussy to use than its predecessors.     

Sports a business suit

Complimenting the new smartphone OS running on the Omnia 7, is a more business-focused design. Measuring in at 118 x 59.6 x 12.3 mm and weighing 123 g, the smartphone feels very comfortable both in hand and pocket.

This smartphone’s solidly constructed, all-black plastic design will appeal to users from the corporate field, who craves a capable and easy-to-use mobile device. Although its must be noted that this business-minded look isn’t as stylish as that of the iPhone 4 or Sony Ericsson Xperia arc.      

Samsung’s Windows-running baby keeps things fast with Qualcomm’s QSD8250 1 GHz application processor. It enabled the OS to run without any hint of lag, while we also easily browsed through music, pictures and movies without any hassles. It must be noted that even though the single-core Qualcomm processor performed very competently, dual-core processors have become in-vogue of late for high -end smartphones, including Samsung’s own Galaxy SII.     

The Omnia 7 features a decent amount (8 GB) of internal storage, but unfortunately you cannot expand on this as the smartphone doesn’t have a microSD card slot. While also onboard is a 5 MP camera capable of snapping some really good-looking stills as well as recording HD-ready (720p) videos.

Good screen

The most prominent feature of the design of the smartphone however is its 4" Super AMOLED capacitive touch-screen. Although its resolution of 480 x 800 is in-line with what other phones in its price range offers, we still liked the clear, vibrant colours with some very good viewing angles.

If you put the Omnia 7 next to the iPhone 4’s Retina Display, the Omnia’s screen displays colours more vividly and brighter, but the iPhone 4 trounces it when it comes to detail, especially when you zoom in, thanks to its superior resolution of 640 x 960 pixels. The iPhone 4’s display also enables better outdoor visibility, being less prone to displaying reflections than the Omnia 7’s touch-screen.  

Runs on Redmond software power

As snazzy as the gorgeous display of the Omnia 7 is its Windows Phone 7 OS, which boasts a much cooler, design-conscious look and feel compared to previous versions. What we really like about this OS is that it sports a different manner of operation to both iOS as well as Android.

The epicentre of Windows Phone 7 is the Start screen that is populated by movable “tiles”. These tiles can represent anything from links to a user’s SMSs and Internet Explorer, through to quick launch tiles for your favourite apps or music videos.

If you swipe right (or click on the right arrow on the Start screen), you’ll be taken to the main menu, which is basically a list of shortcuts to applications, games, settings and “hubs”. The latter incorporating a wealth of information as well as a well-designed interface once pressed. The “People” hub, for example, opens up to your phonebook and also allows you to slide the screen right to recent contacts and your Facebook feed.

As can be expected there’s also a Microsoft Office hub, one of the strongest documentation creation and editing packages currently on offer on any mobile OS. It features the mobile version of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint as well as SharePoint, and if you are inclined to do some work on your mobile, this is what you need.

Critique

Overall the OS is really easy and even intuitive to use, leaving us with only two real criticisms to level at it. The first being the fact that you can pin a lot of shortcuts (in the form of tiles) to the Start screen, means that you’ll eventually have to scroll down a lot to get to specific ones.

This is because the Start screen works almost like the multiple home-screens of a Symbian- or Android running smartphone, except rather than displaying all your apps and shortcuts horizontally across three to seven home-screens, you’re left with a single home-screen to display these vertically on.

The other criticism is the number of apps available via Microsoft’s Windows Phone Apps Marketplace, currently numbering around 25 000. It compares unfavourably to the Android Market’s 200 000+ apps and Apple’s iOS App Store with its 425 000+ apps. There isn’t a WhatsApp messenger app for instance or even an MXit app (although there’s a version for Windows Mobile 6.5).

Samsung has tried to address this app shortage with the inclusion of its own-developed apps in the Samsung Zone, but even that is sparsely populated. Twitter integration is only part and partial of the forthcoming Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) update, but luckily you can download the Twitter app from the Microsoft’s Marketplace.

All apps were downloaded from the UK Marketplace, as the local regional one will only be activated with the release of the Mango update in September.  

Synching media via Zune and Windows Live!

Last but not the least of our criticism, is the fact that Windows Phone 7 OS doesn’t allow for the dragging and dropping of any files onto the device when connected to a PC. Like Apple’s iOS-powered smartphones which sync media content via iTunes, you have to sync your media content using Microsoft’s Zune package.  

Music and videos from your PC can only be transferred to your smartphone via Microsoft’s Zune media package, and firmware updates for the smartphone is also downloaded and installed by way of Zune (which is not bad per se). Even more annoying is the fact that, like Apple’s iTunes, you have to download (119 MB) Zune yourself, as it doesn’t come on a CD in the box.   

As is the case with Android devices for which you require a Google account to use, and Nokia smartphones that need an Ovi account, Windows Phone 7 needs a Windows Live ID to get the full experience. If you use a lot of the Microsoft services already, such as Xbox LIVE or Hotmail you will like the added integration for these.

Final word

Samsung’s Omnia 7 is a solidly built, simple to use device offering some impressive specs, such as its 4" Super AMOLED display and 8 GB of storage. Now Microsoft just needs to bolster the number of available apps for its Windows Phone 7 OS-running smartphones and it will be game-on with Google and Apple (especially with Microsoft’s new relationship with Nokia).

The Omnia 7 comes with an RRP of R5299, making it cheaper than the WP7 powered HTC Mozart (R5700), as well as a number of recently released Android-operating smartphones. The latter includes the Samsung Galaxy SII (between R6699 and R6999), the Samsung-built Google Nexus S (R6299) and the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc (R6599).      

Pro

Easy to use OS, fast processor, lots of internal storage, excellent display.  

Con

Design not the most stylish, synching via Zune, downloading Zune software, no microSD support and very few apps.

List of Samsung Galaxy Tab Best Competitors – Galaxy Tab Opponents

Since its unveiling last year, the Samsung Galaxy Tab effortlessly attains popularity among Tablet PC fans.

The Galaxy Tab boasts attractive features that make it one of the popular choices in the tablet PC market. Such features include:

• Android OS – avail the advantages of the Android OS and access to great number of of apps in the Android Market.

• Cameras – equipped with high resolution rear camera and a front camera that is perfect for video chat

• 3G and WiFi – utilize of available connection of either 3G or WiFi

• SMS and Voice – can be turned into a mobile phone

• Form Factor – compact and portable.

Here is a list of Samsung Galaxy Tab competitors.

iPad
iPad is undeniably still the most popular Tablet PC these days (See Ipad Competitors List 2011 | iPad Alternatives). Its success made other manufacturers ride in the competition. When it comes to competition against the Samsung Galaxy Tab, iPad takes a big lead when it comes to market share. Although the Samsung Galaxy Tab has access to the Android Market, the Apple App Store offers array of great apps that Samsung Galaxy Tab owners can’t avail.

On the other hand, the Galaxy Tab is a popular choice over the iPad among others as it addresses iPad’s lack of cameras. Other iPad disadvantages include no tethering support, doesn’t support the Flash format and no SMS and voice call capabilities to name some.
IPad might address some of these lapses though on their next iPad version – the iPad 2.

Motorola Xoom
Motorola Xoom was unveiled during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show and won the Best Gadget Award during this event. The Xoom seem one of the promising Tablet PCs available.

The Xoom is a good choice among Android OS fans. It is the first device equipped with the latest Android version – the Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Users can enjoy the latest features Android 3.0 offers.
The Xoom not just comes with the latest operating system but also boasts hardware features. It is equipped with dual core processor that promises a vast of computing power. It has a large 10.1 inch touch screen display.
The Xoom offers support to 4G upgrade from its default 3G connectivity should the user see fit. Additionally, it comes with the latest version of Adobe Flash – Flash 10.1

Posted February 18, 2011 at 3:03 pm
 

New Samsung Mobile Phones with 4G- Verizon AT&T T-Mobile Sprint US Cellular

Here is the list of smartphones from Samsung equipped with the fastest connectivity for mobile phones, 4G, and their availability among major carriers.

Samsung Galaxy S 4G
The Samsung Galaxy S 4G is an Android 2.2 Froyo smartphone. It has 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, 512 MB RAM and storage capacity of 8 or 16 GB, which expandable up to 32GB through microSD.

The Galaxy S 4G features a 4-inch capacitive touch screen display with AMOLED technology – for less power consumption. The screen resolution is at 480 x 800 pixels. The unit’s dimensions are (4.82) x (2.54) x (0.389) inches and weight is 118 grams.

This model features two cameras: a 5MP rear camera with auto focus and capable of shooting videos at 720p HD, and a front VGA camera. The Galaxy S also, features, WiFi, Bluetooth and USB 2.0 for connectivity.

The unit is available on major carriers – T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T and US Cellular.

Samsung Epic 4G
The Samsung Epic 4G is a full touch screen smartphone that features an external qwerty keyboard (slide-out). This Samsung phone originally comes with Android 2.1 and later added upgrade support for Android 2.2 Froyo. The unit has 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, 512 RAM and 512 bult-in internal memory, which is upgradable to 32GB through microSD card.

The display measures 4 inches diagonally and features capacitive touch screen with AMOLED technology. Dimensions are (4.88) x (2.56) x (.55) inches and weight is 155 grams.

The Samsung Epic 4G has 5MP camera with LED flash and geo-tagging feature, and a secondary front VGA camera.

The unit is available on Sprint.

Samsung 4G LTE
The Samsung 4G LTE has been announced early this year and is expected to be available on market on the same quarter. This smartphone runs on Android 2.2 Froyo. It has 1GHz CPU, and storage is expandable up to 32GB.

The Samsung 4G LTE has 4.3-inch capacitive AMOLED touch screen. The screen resolution is at 480 x 800 pixels.

This Samsung phone boasts an 8MP camera and a 1.3MP secondary camera. For connectivity, it also has WiFI, 3G, bluetooth, and USB 2.0 (micro USB).
The unit is available on Verizon.

Samsung i997 Infuse 4G
The i997 Infuse 4G is another smartphone from Samsung that is set to release on Q1 of 2011. This Android smartphone boasts a large viewing screen at 4.5 inches, measured diagonally.

This phone has 1.2GHz processor and storage capacity expandable up to 32GB. Its Super AMOLED capacitive touch screen has 480×800 pixels resolution. It has 8MP camera and another 1.3MP secondary camera. Also, it has WiFI, Bluetooth and USB 2.0 (micro USB) for connectivity.

The unit is available on AT&T.

Samsung Galaxy SII

Publish date: 15 June 2011 by Michael JoubertTweet

Give the Galaxy SII, Samsung’s latest Android flagship, to anyone to play with and they’ll come back with one of two responses – either “My, it’s thin!” or “My, the screen’s big!” These two design concepts are part and parcel to the SII smartphone’s appeal, but importantly it's backed up by some very solid performance. 

Huge screen

4.27” is really a lot of screen real-estate, so much so that it makes the original Galaxy S’ 4” look rather ordinary. Just like its fore-runner, this Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touch-screen is also made of Gorilla Glass, with Samsung unfortunately deciding not to up the pixel count – it remains 480 x 800, a standard kept by many of today’s mid-to high range smartphones.

This massive screen will find love from users who do a lot of web surfing, offering one of the best browsing experiences this side of switching over to a tablet, while also remaining king for capturing and playback of photos and video. 4.3” is big but not unique to the smartphone market, with HTC crossing the barrier a few years back with the HD2, while its new Sensation also rocks 4.3”, but with a better resolution of 540 x 960 pixels. 

Thin body

At 8.5 mm the SII is also one of the thinnest devices currently on market, although marginally so. Sony Ericsson’s excellent Xperia arc runs it close with 8.7 mm, and while the iPhone 4’s 9.3 mm is not far off, when lining up the two devices next to each other the differences are minute.

But while the iPhone 4 feels like a solid device, we were under the impression that if one does not handle the SII with care it might just snap in two. A touch of more metal, especially on the back cover, could have done a lot to not only spruce up the design but also toughen it up a bit. Fact is though, even if you carry a lot of junk in your trunk, the SII might still be able to slip in the back of your favourite pair of jeans.

Speedy processor

The Galaxy SII’s looks are backed up by very solid performance emanating from the dual-core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, helped along with a full scoop of 1 GB of RAM. This allows video-playback that is smooth, while also making scrolling through images a breeze. A side to side comparison with the original Galaxy S, running through the same set of photos, proved the SII superior, swiping through photos without hitting a glitch.

Running the Smartbench 2011 benchmark application the SII scored a very good 3990 on the Productivity Index and 2210 on the Gaming Index. In comparison the Galaxy S scored 797 and 1852 respectively, while LG’s 1 GHz Optimus Black notched up 788 and 1771.

Also onboard

Samsung provides 16 GB of onboard storage while also including a microSD slot to expand on this (unlike the iPhone 4 and Google Nexus S). Although the SII ticks all the boxes to what a modern smartphone should provide, including Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11n, GPS and DLNA, it does not include a mini HDMI out to view your pictures or videos on HD televisions as the arc or Nokia N8.

Speaking of which, the SII does not let the side down on the multimedia front, taking decent quality eight megapixel pictures and even upping the ante on the HD video front thanks to full HD 1080p video recording instead of the more common 720p. Viewing images and video on the 4.27” screen is very satisfying, while sharing images are also made easier thanks to the “send via” option replacing the “slideshow” link when viewing images.

Zooming in and out of both pictures and webpages are also made easier with Samsung not just employing the regular, but somewhat haphazard, pinch-to-zoom, but now also a tilt-to-zoom feature. It’s fairly simple - put your thumbs on the screen and simply tilt the screen backwards or forwards. While not a game-changer, it’s definitely a nice to have.Bigger than yours - the Samsung Galaxy SII next to the original S on the right 
Android and TouchWiz

Running Android Gingerbread 2.3.2 the SII is definitely one of the more up-to-date Android devices in SA (the Nexus S is one step better with 2.3.4), offering a better typing experience (yes Swipe is still there), easier cutting and pasting as well as better battery management.

Where Samsung drops the ball though is with their TouchWiz interface. Although the SII runs the latest incarnation (TouchWiz 4.0) we simply did not receive that much of an improved experience from it. While HTC’s new Sense UI at least organises your apps nicely, allowing for a favourites and downloaded tab, Samsung still lobs all your apps together under one menu. And why they opt to have the far left screen as your main home screen, instead of for example the third screen where you have the option to quickly move left or right to other screens, only they will know. This was the reason why we discovered the very handy LauncherPro app, since the Galaxy S did the same.

While we’re not altogether the biggest fans of proprietary UI (partly the reason why the skin free Google Nexus S is so appealing), they can add to the Android experience, but unfortunately TouchWiz 4.0 does not bring much to the party.

Maybe Samsung’s software engineers were kept busy developing Kies Air, Samsung’s content management system that now allows you to upload or download music, photos and videos via a browser without the phone having to be connected to your PC (only on the same router). It’s a long way off from Apple’s amazing iCloud service scheduled for release with iOS 5, but a step in the right direction nonetheless.

We also enjoyed a smart little scheduling feature we noticed. We received an SMS along the line of “See you later today”. “Today” was hyperlinked and when clicking it, it opened a calendar to immediately schedule the appointment.

Conclusion

The three million customers who placed pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy SII certainly won’t be disappointed. It is one of the best smartphones currently available thanks to not only a wafer-thin design (8.5 mm), but also a 4.27” touch-screen that can easily be mistaken for a serving platter, all supported by one of the fastest dual-core processors in circulation.

While the TouchWiz user interface might lag behind the hardware, it’s far from a reason to dismiss the SII. This phone will be a top-seller and already booked a place under 2011’s top 10 smartphones.

It will retail for between R6699 and R6999 when it hits the South African shelves in July. 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 4.27" screen, 8.5 mm body - enough said.TouchWiz 4.0 does not bring too much to the table, no mini HDMI out, speakerphone a bit soft. Posted by Saajid S on 18-06-2011 @ 10:30 PM

Technically, you are incorrect about the lack of HDMI Out on this phone. The phone comes equipped with an MHL (Mobile High Definition video Link) Port.
"The MHL standard specifies a 5pin port that can output HD video up to 1080p/60 and 192 kHz 7.1 channel audio to HDTVs. And that’s only one of its fancy features."

you can go to this link for more information:
www.blog.gsmarena.com/the-mhl-port-explained-it-makes-the-galaxy-s-ii-even-cooler-and-more-high-tech/

should reduce cons

Samsung Soul

Publish date: 03 September 2008 by Thomas MckinnonTweet

It adorns every square foot of billboard in Gauteng and it is never off the telly.

Accordingly, the Samsung Soul must have something to it. It doesn’t have a touch screen, it isn’t a smart phone, and it doesn’t offer GPS support. All of which, coincidently, people seem to be looking for in a phone these days. So what does it have?

The Samsung Soul is jam packed with everything you could want from a multi­media experience. With a 5 megapixel camera including all the nifties such as face ­detection and image stabiliser, the phone is an amateur photographer’s delight. It boasts great access speeds with 3G HSDPA and has a decent multimedia library.

The phone has a very sexy slide form factor and is fairly slender. Despite this, it feels more solid than you would expect. That’s because of its chocolaty coloured metal casing.  It may not have a touch screen but it does have an OLED touch pad which replaces the usual hardware d-pad. The touch pad is intuitive, offering functions relevant to the application you are using, and customisable, allowing you to personalise its appearance.

So it’s got quite a bit, really.

Samsung Omnia SGH i900 8GB

A bit like the Korean Gymnastics team the Omnia looks fantastic on paper. It has all the bells and whistles needed to be competitive in a very aggressive smart phone market. It’s got a full touch screen interface, Windows Mobile 6.1, 7.2Mbps HSDPA 2100, and quadband EDGE. 

Above and beyond that it features a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, 3.2-inch wide-QVGA screen, Garmin powered GPS, WiFi, 8 or 16GB in-built memory with the bonus of a microSD expansion and a 624MHz processor with 128MB RAM. All this is crammed into a very sleek 122.5g brushed carbon looking plastic case with a chrome facade.

There is little doubt that the Omnia will give you plenty of bang for your buck. It matches and often exceeds the features and specs of many competitors such as the HTC Touch Diamond and the iPhone. So where are we going with this?

Well there are a few niggles that just won’t go away. The phone comes standard with a stylus, but has no slot in which to store said stylus. The device’s messaging interface proves very trying if your fingers are larger than that of a four-year old’s, unless you are in landscape mode – the accelerometer being deactivated by default. The phone’s interface lacks the polish of the Diamond’s TouchFlo 3D – it has a TouchWiz interface which works well in some applications but falls hopelessly short in others.

In saying this, the Omnia also shines on a number of fronts. Samsung’s use of a Widget bar on the device’s home screen is very cool. It allows you drag & drop a number of applications onto your “Today Screen”. This type of customisation really allows users to personalise their device. 

The device’s 5 megapixel camera is also impressive – possibly other smart phone manufacturers should take a leaf out of Samsung's book here. Haptic feedback is a nice addition to the device’s touch functionality as it offers a vibration feedback which avoids the guess work of wondering if you’ve touched a button or not.

Lastly, the handset’s multimedia features are fantastic especially the fact that Samsung have included a DivX codec out-of-the-box which means you can watch DivX videos without having to convert them first. So, a bit like the Korean Gymnastics team the Omnia looks fantastic in action, with the exception of a few unsightly moments.

Samsung B2100

More than five years ago Nokia released the amazing 5140. It was rugged, had a small flashlight and was built to handle the hard knocks. Even today people swear by it.

Leap forward to 2009 and the outdoor phone market is more than ready for an upgrade. Well there is a new player on the scene, but be prepared to be disappointed.

Samsung’s B2100 is both dust and shock resistant, contains a flashlight, has good noise cancellation, and is submersible up to 1 m for 30 minutes. So it ticks all the correct boxes for outdoor usage, but what else?

Well not much unfortunately, not even GPS. At least the old Nokia had a digital compass, a small spirit level, thermometer and a sound meter, and that was 5 years ago. The Samsung contains none of these nifty little features. In its defence it does have an excellent battery life, an MP3 player with good external speakers (although no 3.5mm jack for your own earphones), a microSD card expansion slot, and voice recorder. The 1.3 megapixel camera is nothing to write home about, and that doubles for the small, pixelated TFT screen.

If we were given a choice between the five year old Nokia 5140 and the new Samsung B2100, we might just stick with the Nokia. That said the B2100 does exactly what is was designed to do. 

Samsung Omnia Pro B7330

Samsung’s Omnia Pro B7330 is a business savvy Windows Mobile (WinMo) 6.5 device that delivers some useful features from the Microsoft stable. It includes Office Mobile to edit and view documents, a PDF document viewer, RSS reader, a Facebook app and an easy to use Wi-Fi manager. It also sports a customised WizPro homescreen layout that is easy to use and at least take some of the hassle out of dealing with WinMo. 

WizPro

WizPro is not a complete User Interface, rather just a customised Windows layout, but it does a lot to avoid the usual terrible Windows back-end. 

If you press the Home button you are taken to the main screen which provides you with notifications of new messages (SMS, MMS and emails), calender events as well as missed calls. Scrolling either left or right takes you to screens such as the CNN, Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Finance, AccuWeather and Communities, which includes links to various social networking sites and the Facebook app. Although the interface is easy to navigate, it isn't as customisable as Android for example, since you can't change it to suite your preferences, such as swapping Yahoo! Search for Google. Screens you don't use can't be deleted either, and, except for the Shortcut screen, screens can't be populated with apps. 

It's not the first time we've seen Samsung employ this type of layout, since something similar was used a few years back on their rather good Blackjack. This time it just feels a bit more rounded, although WizPro is not nearly as efficient as HTC's Sense UI on the WinMo HD2.
QWERTY and navigation 
The pocket friendly (114.9 x 59 x 10.8 mm) Omnia sports a compact QWERTY keyboard that is really easy to type on, although the gaps between the keys of the BlackBerry Curve 8520 make its keyboard slightly more finger friendly. The B7330's 5-way directional D-pad is also a little old school compared to the BlackBerry’s fast and responsive trackpad.

Hardware 

Under the hood of the B7330, you’ll find Qualcomm’s MSM7225 processor running at a speed of 528 MHz, which, coupled with its 256 MB of RAM and 512 MB of ROM, should in theory make for a decent operating speed. But in practice you'll have to deal with frequent lags, especially when you are multi-tasking like when typing a document in Word Mobile, while listening to your favourite radio station.

The phone sports 270 MB of onboard storage and has a MicroSD slot, supporting cards offering up to 32 GB. There is also GPS with aGPS support but no navigation software is included in the package.  

Multimedia

Images are crisp and clear on the B7330’s 2.62" TFT LCD screen (320 x 320 resolution), which is virtually the same size as the Curve 8520's display, but features a slightly higher resolution.

Pics taken with the B7330's  3.2 MP snapper with autofocus, are clear and of a good quality, but the absence of a flash does however mean that you are limited to taking photos in well lit areas. There is also an additional camera at the front of the phone for making video calls.

Music and videos also sound and look good on the phone and the device boasts support for a plethora of media file types thanks to the onboard Windows Media Player 10. There isn’t a 3.5 mm audio jack though, a big drawback in our eyes, so you have to make do with Samsung’s rather average proprietary earphones.

Browsing

The device's default browser is Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6, which doesn't offer tabbed browsing, but with the inclusion of Adobe Flash Lite does offer support for Flash animation. The problem is that the display is too small to comfortably fit most pages in, resulting in having to constantly zoom in and scroll your way through webpages. Browsing is fast though since the phone features 3G with HSDPA and HSUPA, while Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) is also supported.  
Final Thoughts
The Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 makes the most of the difficult Windows 6.5, with the WizPro home screen layout keeping things, at least on the front end, a bit more user friendly. The QWERTY keyboard is also very good, helping to make the included Microsoft Office Mobile so much more relevant.

The UI's lack of real personalisation, the phone's lag and the absence of 3.5 mm jack are some valid concerns though. Currently the amount of apps Microsoft has available is also way behind to most of the other players. Although the Samsung B7330 comes at a good price (R3 680), the BlackBerry Curve 8520 is still our entry-level smartphone of choice.  

Samsung Tocco S8300

Samsung are renowned for pushing the envelope with their 8 megapixel camera phones. Something it looks set to do again in the near future with the promise of a 12 megapixel range in late 2009.

The Innov8 and Pixon are top of mind in this regard. Their new 8 megapixel, the Tocco S8300, has consequently got quite a bit to live up to.

Design

The Tocco is a fairly slim slider at just 12.7 mm thick. It looks rather sophisticated with a two-tone grey, brushed steel case and metallic red trim colour scheme and angular design. Its slide-out keypad is also well proportioned and easy to use. On the whole we were impressed with its design and build quality, but there was something else which really impressed us; its display.

Display

The S8300 is not dissimilar to the Innov8 with its slide form factor and 2.8" touch-screen display. It does however have a few tricks up its sleeve. It has an Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) display. The display is consequently one of the best we’ve ever seen.

The fact that the device supports DivX/XviD out the box makes it quite obvious that this is the ideal mobile video viewing handset. 

User Interface

The S8300 provides both a full touch-screen experience, complete with on-screen keyboard, and a hardware alpha-numeric keypad

The device also features a capacitive touch-screen, as opposed to the non- capacitive screens that were utilised on the Omnia, Innov8 and Pixon. What this means is that the device is responsive to the heat in your finger tips rather than pressure. Capacitive screens generally offer a more fluid and responsive touch experience and are often associated with multi-touch devices like the iPhone.

It, however, does not feature multi-touch technology. Neither is the touch experience it offers as fluid and responsive as it should be. It suffers from interface lag at times, especially when using the widget bar, which is very frustrating. You often find yourself pressing the screen twice or three times to open an application.

The other interface problems we encountered include the lack of a directional (D-pad) and the lack of a hardware Backspace key. Instead of a directional keypad the S8300 sports a single Return key. This sounds rather innocuous, but what it does mean is that there is a learning curve involved in using the keypad- if you’ve ever used a phone with a directional keypad you’ll find yourself inadvertently exiting applications on the S8300 until you get used to it.

Further, the lack of a physical Backspace key seems counter-intuitive. When messaging you can either use the hardware keypad or onscreen keypad to type a message. But, if you want to erase a letter or word then you’re left with the on-screen keypad alone. This is immensely irritating if you prefer to type using the hardware keypad and often makes the hardware keypad seem pointless.

Features

The S8300’s 8 megapixel camera is a showstopper. The camera features an effective LED flash, four focus modes, a number of white balance presets and anti-shake technology. It is a very capable camera and will meet the needs of anyone who places a priority on taking good pics on the go.

The phone also features a full compliment of document viewers (PDF, Excel and Word). This gives the phone a bit of a business edge, but this is a bit of false hope, as the Samsung proprietary OS lacks exchange support.

While the S8300 does support HSDPA, which really makes a difference to internet browsing, it does lack Wi-Fi connectivity and its preinstalled browser is not the friendliest or most powerful we’ve come across. You’re far better off downloading Opera Mini if browsing is a priority.

As mentioned earlier the S8300 really is a video viewing powerhouse, something it reinforces with a decent suite of multimedia players. Its video player is top-notch when it comes to ease of use and its picture viewer and music player are equally good. What lets it multimedia capabilities down a bit is the lack of a 3.5 mm jack- a feature that would really have made this one of the most appealing multimedia devices around.

Another of its draw-cards is the use of a microUSB port to charge the device, rather than Samsung’s proprietary port. This is inline with agreements signed by phone manufactures at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona this year to use a standard charging platform.

Conclusion

We were surprisingly taken with the S8300, especially with its multimedia offerings and camera quality. The device’s shortcomings are fairly obvious though. Its interface lag, weird hardware-software compatibility issues and lack of business capabilities lets it down. The fact that the device will cost you in excess of R6000 only serves to highlight these shortcomings, for that kind of money you really do expect a business savvy smartphone.

Hottest Samsung Mobile Phones for 2011 – Latest Models 2011

Nexus S

The Nexus S the first mobile phone running on the latest Android version – Gingerbread 2.3. This is manufactured by Samsung and was designed by Google, which is also the developer of the Android OS.
The Nexus S has 1GHz processor. It is equipped with 512 RAM and 16 GB internal storage. Its 4-inch display is a touch screen with 800×480 pixels resolution.

Samsung Focus

The Samsung Focus is also known with other names: SGH-i917 and Cetus. This is the latest Samsung phone running on Windows Phone 7 OS. This model has multi touch display that is 4 inches in length (diagonal). The phone is powered by 1 GHz Qualcomm processor. Its internal storage amounts to 8GB and expandable up to 40 GB through microSD.
The SGH-i917 has 5Megapixel camera with auto focus and LED Flash.

Samsung Continuum

The Continuum belongs to the Galaxy S family. It runs on Android 2.1 OS. This model features 2 screen: its main screen which is 3.4 inches diagonally and a small ticker screen below the main screen that shows instant alerts. Its large screen has 800×480 pixels resolution while its ticker screen is 480×96 pixels.
This phone is powered by 1GHz processor and has 512MB internal storage. Its sole rear camera is 5Megapixel unit with LED flash.

Samsung Mesmerize

The Mesmerize is another Samsung Galaxy S variant and also known as Mesmerize i500 Touch Screen. It runs on Android 2.1 version and upgradable to higher Android 2.2 Froyo. It features 4 –inch touch screen display. This models looks slim with dimensions of (4.92) x (2.53) x (.39) inches. It can utilize fast internet connection through its WiFi capability. Additionally, this phone is equipped with a 5 Megapixel camera.

Posted February 2, 2011 at 6:02 pm
 

Samsung S7350

Sporting a brushed metal casing, Samsung's stylish, if somewhat conservative and generic, S7350 slider features a stunning 2.6" LCD screen and one of the best 5-megapixel cameras around. But, unlike some of their other phones, the conventional S7350's screen isn't touch sensitive.

Features

The quality of sound during calls is good with excellent clarity and the same applies when the phone is in speaker mode. Utilising the phone for messaging and to surf the web is simple, though the menu button is a little oversensitive to the touch which will have you accidentially confirming or accepting actions. The phone works well when viewing webpages, allowing you to switch between landscape and portrait, but is a little fussy when viewing pics as it keeps flipping the pic around at the slightest movement of your hand. On the video front Samsung includes DivX video playback, which is especially useful as it enables the phone to play MP4, H.264 and WMV video files allowing for a wide range of media file support.

Ladies will find the fake calls feature very useful for escaping a bad conversation or unwanted come-ons from a guy. You activate it by inconspicuously pressing the navigation button and a few seconds later your phone rings as if you were receiving a real call and you can even play a pre-recorded conversation (so its sounds like you are speaking to someone on the other end) for further realism.

The phone is GPS enabled and comes with Google Maps pre-installed. No voice-guided navigation is offered, but Google Maps is pretty straightforward to use, giving you step-by-step directions between your starting point and your ultimate destination.

Camera

The 5 megapixel camera takes really decent photos in both sunlit or overcast and low-light conditions, and features both smile- and blink detection capabilities. The LED flash adds nice assistance in low-light situations.

Music is the soundtrack of your life

The sound quality is good whether you’re listening to music using either the onboard speaker or the provided earphones (the new standard earphones are much better thanks to rubber covers that help them stay in your ears). The S7350 uses a propriety slot for the earphones and doesn’t have a 3.5 mm headphone socket. It does however come with a 3.5mm headphone adapter, so you’ll still be able to invest in some high quality earphones to go with the stylish phone. The phone supports MP3, AAC and WMA audio files.

In conclusion

Samsung’s S7350 is a little old hat compared to other touch-screen phones, but it is perfect for people who don’t want to venture down that route yet, but still want modern features on a stylish slider.

Mobile Phones with Android 2.3 Gingerbread List –Samsung, Sony Ericsson

The newest Android 3.0 Honeycomb is specialized for devices with large screen, particularly tablet PCs. For mobile phones, the Android 2.3 Gingerbread is the latest among Android OS versions that best suits for mobile phones.

Here is a list of Samsung Mobile phones with Android 2.3 Gingerbread as their Operating System.

Nexus S
The first mobile phone to run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread is the Nexus S. The same developer of the Android OS, Google Inc., designed the Nexus S. Meanwhile, Samsung – one of the well-acclaimed mobile phone brands, manufactures the mobile phone units.

Nexus S has a 4-inch superb display. It is slightly contoured to fit comfortably on user’s palm and conform to user’s facial curve when using it on calls.
It has pre-installed Google Earth and Google Maps in 3D.
The mobile phone is unlocked by default so you can choose your favorite network provider.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo
Sneak previews of the Xperia Neo ahead of its official unveiling reveals that this phone from Sony Ericson runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Other details shows it is equipped with 1GHz and 512MB of RAM. The Xperia Neo’s touch screen has a resolution of 854×480 pixels. This screen has length of 4 inches diagonally.
The Xperia Neo comes with a 8.1-Megapixel rear camera and a 2-Megapixel front camera that is perfect for video chat.

Samsung Galaxy S2
The Galaxy S phone line from Samsung achieved huge success during 2010. On their latest teaser video revealed yet another model from this family of phones , the Samsung Galaxy S2 – an Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone.
The Galaxy S2 is expected to be officially unveiled on this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

The Galaxy S2 is expected to have the following specs and features: 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 4.3inch AMOLED display, 8 Megapixel camera, 4G support and other features yet to be revealed.

Posted February 11, 2011 at 9:15 pm
 

Samsung F480

Publish date: 03 September 2008 by Andrew GouldTweet

Can you say “iPhone”? Well that was exactly what we thought when the F480 arrived at TechSmart’s offices. The iPhone mark II is due for launch later this year in South Africa and competitors are desperate to take a slice out of the Apple pie.

For starters the F480 could not look more like the iPhone if it tried. It is entirely devoid of buttons, except for the dial and menu buttons. But the chance of you ­noticing these buttons is slim as the first button your index finger goes for is, in fact, a speaker. Sneaky, Samsung, very sneaky.

First rate build-quality is accompanied by a beautiful touch screen that really ­impressed us. On the reverse it’s an all aluminum ­compound cover with an inset 5 megapixel camera and LED flash that takes good quality photos.

To compete against the iPhone the F480 has to have a good touch-screen, and it does. The F480 uses a ­shortcut menu, where you can drag and drop all your most often used applications. It’s like the desktop of your computer, but hopefully less cluttered.

The vibration feedback from the touch interface gives you the illusion of actually pressing buttons when using the F480, but the debate will rage for some time whether having actual buttons is ­better. The problem we had with the F480 is that the screen tends to respond a bit slowly to touch and scrolling can be a pain when viewing web-pages, it’s just a bit on the slow side.

The F480 has many good features that you’d expect from the top of the range types, including 3G, Video playback and an FM radio. But on the down side text input is not what it could have been. iPhone resemblances apart, the F480 is a beautiful piece of engineering.

Samsung M8800 Pixon

Publish date: 25 May 2009 by Michael JoubertTweet

It was not long ago that Samsung released the Innov8, one of the first 8 megapixel camera cellphones to hit the market. Hot on its tail is the M8800 Pixon, also with touch screen and an 8 megapixel camera.

The Pixon has 3.2” worth of touch-screen, which works well. All icons and touchable menus are large enough to press easily, and both the portrait and QWERTY keyboard are easy to type with. The touch screen also makes taking pictures a breeze since all your options are situated on screen. Picture quality is generally very acceptable, no thanks to a good auto-focus, and generally produced better images than Sony Ericsson’s 8 megapixel snapper, the C905. The camera has a number of nice extras including face detection, geo tagging of pictures, and smile shot, but we would sacrifice them all for a proper xenon flash instead of the horrible LED one. As with most cellphone cameras the M8800 deals with low light about as well as the SABC does with a budget. You can browse through your pictures using the novel picture viewer,  and we enjoyed the onboard DivX movie player, although a slow frame rate does not do it any favours.

Although it sure looks the part with its nice touch screen and slim design, we just didn’t feel as comfortable with the M8800 as with one of its obvious competitors- the Nokia XpressMusic 5800. Maybe it was the buttons on the side we kept pressing by mistake, maybe it was its lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack or lack of Wi-Fi, but the M8800 never got us quite excited. It’s a very good phone don’t get us wrong, it is just that step or two behind the leaders of the pack.

Samsung BeatBox M3200

Not only do you get a built-in Bang & Olufsen ICE power amplifier in this stylish slider, but you also receive two mini Bang and Olufsen speakers - but don’t let their size fool you. The quality of sound is excellent and they’ll blow you away. The built-in speakers are also top notch and won’t disappoint. One slight disadvantage of the external speakers is that they draw their power from the phone’s battery so it will drain your battery pretty fast.

Other features of the M3200 that music lovers will enjoy are the motion play where you can control playback using the motion recognition feature, as well the built-in FM radio which features RDS technology allowing users to record part of a song and connect to an online database to find out the name of the artist and song. We recorded a few tracks and the FM recording and music recognition worked a treat. We were under the impression that you could only record a few seconds of each song, but were pleasantly surprised to find that we could record an entire track from beginning to end. We’re not sure what this will do to digital rights management, but we’re certainly not complaining.

The screen is a bit small at only 2”, but it has a resolution of 240 x 320 and it is vibrant and clear, which makes browsing the web a bit tiring. Although a redeeming feature is that it is 3G enabled. The M3200 comes fully equipped with the XHTML and WAP 2.0 web browser technologies that also make for a decent browsing experience. Other connectivity options offered include EDGE, GPRS and HSCSD technologies.

The M3200 offers plenty of options to customise it suit your own unique style. You can choose between three themes which compliment the overall design of the phone and change the dialing animations. Users can also select a menu transition effect as well as design the appearance of their home screen. The user interface is not bad and allows for easy navigation and organisation.

The camera is 2megapixels and is a bit of a let down. It doesn’t have autofocus or a flash. Another thing that really irked us was the button layout – there are three dedicated music buttons directly under the screen which might be convenient for music play, but mostly you find yourself pushing them instead of the softkeys. We did however really enjoy the image editor feature which gives the user a whole range of options such as effects (which includes filter; style; warp and partial blur), adjust (which allows you to alter the brightness, contrast and colour), transform (where you can resize, rotate or flip an image) and insert (which allows you to insert frames, images, clip art, emoticons and text). We also really liked the voice recorder application which enables you to record a voice clip and then use it as a ringtone or alarm tone which means you can wake up every morning to the sound of your own voice screaming at you to get out of bed.

We really enjoyed the Samsung M3200 BeatBox edition and believe it will set the benchmark in terms of audio output against which other music phones will be compared.

Samsung Wave

Publish date: 06 July 2010 by Michael JoubertTweet

When Samsung announced that they would drop the Symbian platform last year, opting instead to create their own called bada, it was met with a lot of skepticism on the ability of this new OS. 

Now at last the Wave, the Korean manufacturer's first bada driven smartphone, has arrived on our shores. And although it lacks in the apps department, the Wave looks very comfortable in its skin. 

As far as looks are concerned the Wave can take on any of its smartphone competitors. It’s just the right size to sit pretty both in hand and pockets, measuring in at 10.9 mm thick and 116 g in weight (Sony Ericsson’s X10i weights 135 g). 
It's also damn fast, being one of the first phones in the SA market stocked with the ARM Cortex A8 1 GHz processor (a competitor to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon), which allows for some serious multitasking.The big talking point about the Wave, besides the bada OS, is its 3.3” Super AMOLED (Super Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) capacitive display. AMOLED integrates the touch-panel into the screen and not on top such as others, plus also displays better in daylight than regular LED displays.
It looks truly spectacular and the 480 x 800 screen resolution does a great job of rendering webpages and displaying wallpaper and pictures. 

Compared to others in the market (the iPhone 3GS has a 480 x 320 resolution on a 3.5” screen, the Motorola Milestone does 480 x 854 on a 3.7” screen) it’s in a class of its own, with the nearest competitor most probably being the upcoming iPhone 4.

The Wave also comes with physical keys to both answer and end calls, which for us puts it in a class above its keyless Android brethren (we’re looking at you Sony Ericsson X10i and Motorola Milestone), at least where general usability is concerned.Battery life was so-so with a day and a half managed with average usage.It goes without saying that the Wave includes everything you want from a smartphone, including 3G, aGPS and Wi-Fi. You can also email but one of the hindrances is that it does not download the full message from the start, resulting in you having to open the message and retrieve the rest of the mail. 
There is a document and PDF viewer, but we're still a bit reluctant to recommend the Wave for business due to the email issue.For entertainment purposes though the device is top notch, thanks to an excellent camera and MP3 player.
The 5 megapixel snapper is one of the better phone cameras we’ve come across and contains a wide range of nice functionality include face tracking, smile shutter and a great panorama function amongst other scene modes.
The video camera is also not too dodgy either and is capable of recording in HD ready 1280 x 720 resolution. 
When it comes to music the Wave surprised us with excellent sound quality, at least when you activate the 5.1 channel boost on the music player. There's about 600 MB of space available on the phone to save multimedia data, with the Wave also packaged with a 1 GB microSD card.
Thanks to the speedy 1 GHz processor games such as the pre-installed Asphalt 5 and downloaded NFS: Shift looked excellent and played without a glitch or screen stutter.As far as interface is concerned, Samsung seemed to have taken the best from the iPhone's menu interface and combined it with Android's use of home screens. 
They still refer to the interface as TouchWiz, as found on their other phones, but it seems much more refined on the Wave, with the new TouchWiz 3.0 present. 
You have a number of home screens to populate with widgets, and by pressing the menu button you're taken to the screens containing different programs such as internet, your settings, your files, media browser and the different apps you might have downloaded.
A big problem however is the inability to move these different programs directly to your homescreens for quick access. Instead you're only allowed to move Samsung's preinstalled widgets to these screens. 

These widgets are relics of Samsung's older TouchWiz interface found on phones such as the Genoa and frankly don't belong near the Wave (widgets and apps is to be honest one and the same thing and should be integrated). 

Why Samsung only allows you to populate your screen with these widgets instead of apps, or at least your most used functions, is beyond us (three of them though can be moved to the ever present task bar at the bottom of the screen).
In spite of this Samsung has managed to create a very user-friendly interface. Little things like simply moving your finger left or right across a contact to SMS or call makes life with the Samsung Wave a pleasure. 

That said we would have loved better integration with Facebook and Twitter, since your phonebook contacts cannot sync with your Facebook contacts (Sony Ericsson's Timescape functionality does a much better job).

Critics of bada said that the development of apps for this platform will take time, and it seems they were right, since its in the apps department where Samsung falls drastically short. 

Their apps home, Samsung Apps, is not well populated, with Samsung even bungling non-English apps in there. The quality of available apps is also a hit-or-miss affair, similiar to the first apps available for Android and BlackBerry. At least the market was easy to navigate and looked good.

We seriously doubt if Samsung will catch up with the amount of apps available on the Android Market, never mind even coming close to Apple's App Store.

Some of the Wave's functionality needs a few more mentions, with one of it’s most valuable additions Mobile AP that allows you to connect up to three PCs wirelessly to the phone and connect to the internet. It works like a charm and is a big bonus to connect on the go. AllShare allows you to play files from your phone on your PC or on your phone from a server if you’re in Wi-Fi reception range, which is good if you don’t want to bother download tracks from one to the other.The phone's Dolphin browser was decent with the ability to do tabbed browsing and pinch-to-zoom, except that you have to poke around a bit to find aspects like your browsing history.When connecting the Wave to a PC you must kill all open apps, which is a bit of a hassle, but at least it's easy to do this – you just hold in the menu button to access all your open apps which you than can then kill per app or all at once.One of the options to chose from once connected is Samsung's Kies PC synching platform, but this is cannot be installed directly from the phone, only from Samsung's webpage. 

Even after downloading Kies we just couldn't manage to install it. Nokia’s solution, where their PC Suite is installed directly off the phone, works a lot better.

The Wave is a solid piece of hardware and a true competitor to what is currently out there. Samsung managed to impress with their new bada OS and the new TouchWiz interface is easy to master, although Samsung do need to work on the ability to populate your homescreens with programs other than their stupid widgets, with Facebook integration also lacking. bada was incredibly stable, with the phone not crashing once during our test period. We did have one memory issue when one of the games did not want to load thanks to too many apps open at the same time, but apart from that we did not have any hassles.With its very decent AMOLED screen and speedy processor just a few of the Wave's many drawing cards, Samsung has managed to create one of their most impressive phones yet.Whether bada can become a threat to iOS4 and Android on the apps side remains to be seen, but with an asking price of R4200 we think this Wave might just become a Tsunami. Posted by Tshidi on 28-05-2011 @ 01:27 PM

I have deleted facebook under Games and more, how do i bring it back under Games and more on my samsung wave?

Samsung Star

Publish date: 09 October 2009 by Hanleigh DanielsTweet

If you are in the market for a compact, palm-friendly phone that will ease your transition into the touch-screen scene and at the same time fit your budget as well as it does your pocket, then the Samsung Star is worth considering.     

The Star with its neat and stylish, if somewhat boring, design fits snugly in the hand. The focus is on the 3" touch-screen, which not only looks good, but also performed really well. It’s lined underneath by the call accept, call reject, and back buttons. While not particularly big, they worked well in conjunction with the touch-screen operation. Rather than offering only one home screen, the Star has three different screens that can be customised with different widgets. As an example you can adapt one of the screens to display your MP3 player and radio icons. If you’re in the mood for music you simply use your finger to slide to this screen and it will remain as your “home” screen. We’ve seen this on the HTC Android phones and the concept works well. The anti-slip surfacing on the back cover adds a nice practical touch as well.  Its 3.2 megapixel camera takes good quality pictures and is easy to operate, but it doesn’t come with a flash. This means that if you’re up for some photos during an evening out with your mates or during overcast and bad-light conditions, your pics will come out a bit blurry.  When playing music the sound quality is good and the standard headset is okay, but there’s no 3.5 mm jack if you want to use your own headphones. 
Storage space is also limited with an internal memory capacity of 50 MB, but the external memory card slot can support up to 8 GB. You can’t hotswop the microSD card though, the implication of this being, you have to remove the battery and hence, turn the phone off, which is another minor inconvenience. While the phone contains an accelerometer that switches from portrait and landscape while texting, it doesn’t do so automatically when browsing the web.  Surfing was generally pain free, with useful assistance from the volume side buttons, since they can be used to zoom in and out of a webpage. As an all-round package though, the Samsung Star does impress and would be ideal anyone looking to make the switch from a traditional phone to an affordable touch-screen phone. The Star retails at a recommended R2199, but is currently available for R1999 from Vodacom.

Samsung Genoa GT-C3510

It would appear that Samsung is making a serious move for the entry-level touch-screen mobile market, as they have a variety of phones to choose from, including the Samsung Star, Corby and Genoa. The Genoa we think is a bit more stylish than the Star, thanks to its sculpted and more rounded shape. It is compact (103.9 x 55.4 x 12.9 mm) and should be adored by the Justin Bieber-loving generation. 

Features

This easy-to-use TouchWiz User Interface (UI) is displayed on the Genoa's 2.8" resistive touch-screen (240 x 320 pixels). The phone also boasts FM Radio, social networking connectivity including Facebook (no MXit pre-installed though) and a dismal 1.3 megapixel camera. The camera lacks a flash and is only really good for taking pics you can view on your phone or send in an MMS. It does however have a 3.5 mm audio jack for when you want to make use of better quality headphones.

Browsing on the Genoa could have been better. The onboard browser doesn't really cut it, with pages to big for the screen, resulting in a lot of scrolling, plus the resistive touch-screen can sometimes be a little too resistive to one's touch, and this can be hindrance if you find yourself typing on MXit. The phone lacks 3G though, but loading times aren't too bad while you are connected through Edge. Battery life stands at almost three days with moderate usage.

Samsung adds and interesting function with fake calling. We first encountered this on the S7350 and is best employed  for dodging unwanted come-ons or avoiding awkward conversations. You activate it by inconspicuously pressing the volume key on the side of the phone and a few seconds later your phone rings as if you were receiving a real call. You can even pre-record a conversation that will be played back during the fake call for added realism.

Youthful focus

As the device is targeted at teens, the TouchWiz user interface (UI) that you’ll find on most other Samsung touch-screen phones, has been adapted a little. It is still widget-driven and there are still three home-screens which you can populate with your chosen selection of widgets. The difference is that when you press the menu button, you are taken to a large selection of apps and phone functions. This is simpler to use than the Star’s for example, which takes you to a main menu sporting the phones functions, with another tab for apps (which are grouped under Communication, Tools and Multimedia).   

Final Thoughts

This affordable device brings together all the features that younger users can demand from their mobile in an affordable package. The measly 1.3 megapixel camera is a bit of a concern, and the finicky resistive touch experience should have been more responsive. Still, the Genoa retails for a good R1499, which for an entry-level touch-screen isn't to bad.