Best Rated Phones - Mobile phone announcements, news and info » Samsung-mobile

Samsung Genio S3650. A play in one act

Martin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:23:57 +0000

Touchscreens for the youth… whatever will they think of next.

Oh, wait, they have already thought of that. Hmm. Multiple times, you say? So many times you’re sick of hearing about how this phone or that phone are being targeted at ’style conscious youth markets’. Right. And you want to stab the next person who mentions anything to do with ’style’ or ’social networking’ or ‘being at the centre of a media revolution’ in the same sentence as ‘an affordable option.’ Okay then. Can we introduce you to the gloriously name JK Shin, Executive Vice President of something and Head of something else we really couldn’t give a flying **** about at Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Communications Division.

Yo Jay-Kay, wasssup ma ni**a, what you got for us today bruvva, what you wanna tell us about the Samsung Genio Touch?

“We see strong growth opportunities in this sector and will continue to pioneer new markets with innovative technology. The Genio is consistent with Samsung’s legacy of developing new products and technologies designed for specific audiences and bringing new devices quickly to market,”

Fo shizzle?

“Samsung’s target audiences are at the heart of its business strategy and the design and functionality of Samsung Genio Touch meets the needs of a highly digitally connected and style conscious youth audience – as does the affordable price point.”

Fo real, is that how – oh, ****, someone just stabbed him. Someone just stuck a fork like right in Jay-Kay’s eye. Damn, dog, that gotta hurt.

Etc and so on and so forth.

Anyway, hopefully that pantomime was illuminating enough for you to want to find out more about the Samsung Genio Touch. No? It wasn’t?

God damn philistines, that’s all you are. Go read this Samsung Genio Touch review instead. Or feast your stupid little eyes on the official press release instead. Imbeciles.

Samsung S9110. Dance baby, dance!

Martin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:18:04 +0000

In much the same way as those idiots who wear Bluetooth headsets have been the objects of hatred / ridicule / casual violence for many years now, we think the Samsung S9110 is going to unleash a new wave of anger. Because, as lovely an idea as watchphones are, how in the hell are they going to work. We can picture only three possibilities, all of which are terrifying

1 – The user has to contort and twist their watchphone up to their ear / mouth region somehow, therefore making them look like either victims of horrific accidents, or contemporary dancers, neither of which are good things

2 – The speakerphone is the only viable option. Right. Yeah. Enough said. A bunch of geeks yelling into their arms next to you in the pub. That’s going to go down very well

3 – They have to use some kind of ear piece / headphone kinda thing. Which would kind of take away the portable / compact benefits of the thing, right?

Anyway, who knows, maybe as flash as this technology is, there’s going to be some other kind of solution with the Samsung S9110 (details are still surprisingly scant on the ground, even with this things supposed release date this month), but we just can’t see what it might be.

While you’re waiting with crossed fingers, have a look at this Samsung S9110 review, or at these Samsung S9110 deals. But seriously, don’t hold your breath. Or, if you buy one, and you’re thinking about answering your watchphone in the pub next to us: do hold your breath. Hold it very, very tightly indeed.

Samsung S5600 Preston. Operation Bad Name

Martin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:02:10 +0000

Quite recently, the armed forces in these fair isles decided to stop choosing evocative names and phrases to apply to their missions and use instead a random word generator.

So, no more going blundering into a country, dropping bombs on weddings, stealing donkeys and generally causing a big mess, but getting away with it by doing it all under the title Operation Enduring Freedom. No more assassinating the wrong person, trying to cover it up, failing, but still winning everyone around by saying it’s all part of Operation It’s All Okay, Everything is Fine, and Oh, Yeah, FREEDOM FOR ALL.

Which we think is generally a good thing. However, it seems the mobile phone industry has gotten a hold of something similar. Which we think is a very bad thing indeed. Because now we have phones like the Samsung S5600 that come with names that are, well, just preposterous. Who in the hell thought that when the random name generator spewed out the name of a post-industrial malaise of a hole that is the pseudo-city in the north of England that that would be a good name for a pretty cool phone? Who thought that when people then had to write, go and look at these Samsung Preston deals, anyone would actually want to?

Absolutely bizarre. Anyway, regardless of the name, this thing is actually a pretty decent mid-range touchscreen (it is in fact just the Tocco Lite with a few more additions… The Tocco Lite Plus, then. Or the Tocco Lite Heavy. Or the Tocco Not-as-Lite-as-it-was… see, anything is better than ‘Preston’). Check out this little Samsung Preston review, have a look at Samsung’s official page, or even, if you dare, take a little look at this video:

Samsung Pixon 12. Camerific

Martin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:33:10 +0000

For those of you too lazy to carry around an actual camera, the Samsung Pixon 12 is actually a pretty decent attempt at being a camera. Even if it is not – as you have to remember – an actual camera. It is a phone, with a camera attached. Just as it has an FM radio attached. And some 3G functions. And some other pretty cool stuff (check out this Samsung Pixon 12 review for the full rundown). Have a little look at this list of functions if you don’t believe us:

Single camera button for instant photo-taking
28-mm wide angle lens
Xenon LED flash
Touch auto-focus
Track moving subjects
Smart Auto mode that adjusts to the conditions
Saves images relatively quickly (for a cameraphone) – fire off the next shot within 2 seconds
Instant uploading to Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket and more via WiFi

See, not bad at all. But, one word of very stern warning: just because the Samsung Pixon 12, as its name so subtly suggest, has 12 megapixels, don’t expect it to start taking pictures as good as any real camera with the same specs. Megapixels do not a better picture make, as someone might have once said.

All that said though, if you do find yourself taking pictures more than most, the Pixon 12 could be just the camera for you. Just make sure you get all the expandable memory you can – those 12MP pictures don’t come lightly. And have a look at the video below too:

Samsung i7500. Hail the geeks

Martin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:39:52 +0000

It’s not often – but it is very enjoyable – that we get to ignore all the megapixels, mbps, gigabytes and other number-focused measuring that goes on most days in the mobile phone kingdom. But today is one of those days, as we announce the soon-to-be-released Samsung i7500, the first phone from one of the top three global manufacturers to be running Google’s Android OS.

So what does this mean for you and your sticky mitts then? Well, basically Android makes your phone something of a Google desktop, giving you instant (and fast) access to all the things that make Google our favourite techno-geeks ever. Amongst the top draws will of course be:

Google Maps – GPS lets you use features such as Google Latitude and Street View
Gmail
Google Calendar
Google Talk
YouTube
Tonnes of other apps via the Android Market

So there we have it. Not a number in site and we’ve managed to persuade you why you should snap up a Samsung i7500 the day it’s released. What? What do you mean you’re not persuaded? Oh, you’re still using Hotmail. Bless.

For those of you who have actually entered this new century, check out this Samsung i7500 review of the Samsung i7500 or whet your appetite with this uber-geek presented Cnet video. As the bible said, one day the geeks will inherit the earth. And chances are they’ll do so with an Android phone in their back pockets.

Samsung Jet S8000. Top of the range mid range

Martin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:12:36 +0000

We always shudder slightly when we hear the phrase ‘mid-range’ because it conjures up images of mediocrity, just enoughness; that idea of having to accept something that’s not up to scratch. And, to be honest, most mid-range phones are little better than this.

Not so with the Samsung Jet S8000. It’s a fully functional touchscreen, soon to be released from Samsung, and we can’t speak of it highly enough. The screen itself uses the AMOLED technology we’ve blogged about before, so even though not huge at 3.1”, it’s clear, crisp and with nice deep contrasts. The interface is the newest version of TouchWiz, again something we’ve written about before – using the fantastic 3D-cube interface to allow quick and easy access to all the phone has to offer. And all of this is running on an 800mhz processor that will eat up all you can throw at it.

There’s a few concessions, of course – the HSDPA connectivity is not the best, the camera’s only 5MP (although saying ‘only’ sounds ridiculous to us), the battery isn’t the most powerful or long lasting (but then that helps keep the weight down)… In fact, for every minor concession Samsung have made, there’s either a very good reason, or simply no good reason why the highest end option would have made the Samsung Jet any better at all.

So, here’s to a new celebration of the mid-range. The Samsung Jet S8000 isn’t going to wow your mates with it’s super-large-screen, crazy-fast-download or photo-journalist features, but it is going to fit very snuggly into your pocket, and not fall through the hole burnt there by an expensive price tag. Check out this Samsung Jet Review for more vital stats, and there’s a decent video below too:

Samsung Omnia 2 i8000. One mean screen

Martin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:00:05 +0000

We’ve seen big screens, responsive screens, bad screens, screens that smudge, screens that crack… well, we’ve seen a whole lot of screens here over the years. But despite all this screenage, the Samsung Omnia 2 I8000 still made our jaws drop just a little.

At 3.7” this is the biggest screen you’ve ever seen. How do we know that? Well, it’s the biggest screen ever featured on a mobile phone. Impressed? Well, as you all know, size isn’t everything, it’s what’s inside that counts. And this screen features AMOLED technology, which means it’s not only thin, not only extremely bright and with great contrast, but it doesn’t need to be backlit, so it’s not a massive drain on the battery’s juice. It’s hard to put into words what a relief this is… one of the problems with increasing quality with screens – as they reach DVD-like quality, as they increase in size, etc – is that the increase in battery consumption has normally risen too. Now Samsung are using a technology that while it increases your viewing pleasure, actually decreases battery usage in comparison to similarly spec’ed screens.

All this is not to say the Samsung Omnia 2 is just a bit of a looker. It’s got just about every top spec feature packed into it’s thin (12mm) body too. All the 3.5G, GPS, WiFi, mediaplayers and so on you could possibly want. So, if you’re in the market for a top range smartphone that isn’t the iPhone, the Samsung Omnia 2 I8000 might just be for you. Check out a more detailed Samsung Omnia 2 review here, or have a look at this annoyingly low-res video below.

Samsung Omnia Lite B7300. More than the sum of its parts

Martin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:28:04 +0000

A brief glance at the specs of the upcoming (though possibly not until October) Samsung Omnia Lite tells you not very much:

GPRS + EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA + WiFi data connectivity
3.0″ touchscreen with 240 x 400 pixels, 65k colours
3 megapixel camera
TouchWiz 2.0
107 x 52 x 13mm
103 grams
Bluetooth 2.0
250MB of internal memory, expandable with MicroSD to 32GB
GPS
FM radio
OS: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

Not much apart from the fact that this will be a pretty average smartphone. But then that’s Samsung’s goal with this, as far as we can tell. They’ve been busier than normal announcing phones left, right and centre recently, and this might be judged by some to be the least impressive, but we think it’s not all that bad. Basically a slimmed, trimmed and streamlined version of the high-performance but slightly clunky Omnia phones, the Samsung Omnia Lite B7300 will not only be performing all your day-to-day smartphone tasks with ease, but also adds a little extra. That extra comes in the form of the neat TouchWiz interface that’s now appearing as standard on Samsung touchscreens, and as it’s now up to version 2.0, you can be confident it’s pretty slick. Check out this Samsung Omnia Lite review for more details.

And keep your fingers crossed that release date gets pushed slightly earlier, because we think you’re going to enjoy the Samsung Omnia Lite B7300 hits the shelves.

Samsung Omnia Pro B7610. Crystal ball time

Martin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:30:31 +0000

When it’s 31 degrees outside, or 88 degrees Fahrenheit for those either reading from the States, or who are over sixty (we think one of those two options might be more likely), it’s quite hard to imagine what the world is going to be like come October. The leaves will be falling from the trees, the clocks would have changed and, best of all, we won’t have pit stains down to our hips before it’s even mid-day, but apart from that, it’s hard to say what the world will be like. Except to say that some things will be very different. A week is a long time in politics, someone once said, and the same can be said of the technology world.

That’s why, when we look at the specs for the upcoming Samsung Omnia Pro – due for a launch sometime around October) – we worry slightly. It’s not that it’s not impressive, we’re just not sure how impressive it’s going to be. Have a little look to see what we mean:

Windows Mobile 6.1 (currently, although probably 6.5 by the time it comes out)
Dimensions: 113 x 58 x 16mm
3.5″ 480 x 800 pixel touchscreen display with 16m colours WVGA resolution
800 MHz processor
Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
5 megapixel camera
3.5G support
WiFi
GPS
Bluetooth
DLNA support
FM radio
microSDHC card slot (up to 32GB supported); 1GB of onboard storage.
1,500mAh battery pack

So the Samsung Omnia Pro B7610 is no slouch of a smartphone for sure. But we’re not quite willing to predict the future and say it won’t be a bit of a slouch if this phone really is not released until the autumn. Check out this fuller Samsung Omnia Pro review here, or have a look at the video below for a slightly dull preview of the phone in action (chances are this is just an Samsung Omnia Pro B7610 prototype though, so be aware things might change):

Samsung goes large with the Samsung Pixon 12

admin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:26:40 +0000

Samsung has announced that it will be releasing an upgraded version of the original Samsung pixon, the name? The Samsung Pixon 12. OK it’s not the most imaginative name to come from Samsung, however it seems that they are building on what was an already successful phone and as the old adage would say, if it aint broke, don’t fix it. It seems that Samsung is looking to rival Sony Ericsson in the megapixel department after they announced the originally named Idou was unveiled as the Sony Ericsson Satio. Both handsets will boast a 12 megapixel camera and both will inevitably take great quality photos.
Unfortunately we will have to wait until the handsets are released to see which one does take the best quality images (as yet we haven’t found any samples of images taken). As soon as we know more we will post an update here at Best Rated Phones.
So what does it all mean in terms of you purchasing your next mobile phone? Well you can be fairly sure that the Samsung Pixon 12 will be released before the Sony Ericsson Satio, so if you can’t wait to get your hands on a mobile phone with the highest resolution camera, the Pixon 12 would be the way to go. In our opinion though, it may be well worth waiting for the Satio to be released as we just love the design of this phone.