Samsung Touch Phone Simple And Easy To Use

The new F480 sports a great form factor, fits comfortably in the palm of your hand, and has a responsive touchscreen display. It does not have a lot of bells and whistles, making it good for users who just want to have a touch-based phone that works.

The Samsung F480 sports a brushed metal finish and feels very solid. The 2.8-inch screen, secondary camera, dial key, end/power key, and shortcut menu key are found up front, while a 5-megapixel camera with flash is found at the unit’s rear. Users can find the microSD card slot, volume keys, camera key, and multifunction jack (charging and headphone) along the sides of the unit, with the unit’s Hold Key located on top of the unit for easy phone locking/unlocking.

The unit does not come with a stylus, which means that a user would have to rely on their index finger to do all the navigating. While the screen is small, Samsung has made sure that the icons are big and easy to press. The home screen has a softkey line that gives a user quick access to the numberpad (to dial), the phonebook, and the main menu. Touching the small arrow at the bottom left of the screen opens a toolbar containing 10 widgets (An analogue and a digital clock, birthday list, games, photo album, world clock, date, events alerts, music player, and FM radio) which can be dragged to the home screen.

Click to enlarge

Pressing the “Menu” buttons displays 12 icons: Call log, Phonebook, Music player, Browser, Messages, My files, Calendar, Camera, Bluetooth, Applications, Alarms, and Settings. Sub-menus were straightforward, which made it easy for us to check our inbox, create a new appointment, and adjust the settings.

The F480 runs on a proprietary Samsung operating system, making it difficult to install third-party apps. It has 200MB of internal memory but can be upgraded to 8GB using a microSD card. It comes with Bluetooth and is HSDPA-enabled, although Wi-Fi and GPS is missing on the device.

Since the unit only sports a 2.8-inch screen, Samsung has opted to use a virtual T9 keypad than a QWERTY keyboard. The layout is confusing at first, but we eventually got the hang of it and were able to send text messages swiftly.

The F480’s media player can play MP3, AMR, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA files and will display it by Artists, Genre, Albums, and Composers. Users can use their favourite headphones by hooking up the special adapter, although it could have better if Samsung had just placed the jack directly onto the phone. An FM tuner is also included, but a headset needs to be plugged for it to work (since the headset acts as the antennae).

The 5-megapixel camera took decent photos both indoors and outdoors, although the camera sometimes had a hard time focusing on objects. The flash can really light up subjects, but expect washed-out photos.

The F480 lasted for three days before we had to recharge it. Samsung promises up to 3 hours of talktime and up to 250 hours of standby time.

Overall, the Samsung F480 is a good phone for consumers who are looking at taking their mobile experience to the next level. It may not have as much features as the Omnia, but it is still a solid device for just about anyone.

See page over for product specifications and final rating.

Samsung F480 Specifications:

Network:
GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
UMTS 850 / 2100 MHz
HSDPA 7.2Mbps

Operating system: Samsung Proprietary with TouchWiz User Interface

Design: Full touch screen with Haptic (Vibrating) Feedback
Display: 2.8″ QVGA 262K TFT LCD screen
Camera : 5-megapixel camera
Features: Smile Shot, Wide Dynamic Range, Face Detection, Image Stabiliser, Panorama Shot and Power LED Flash
Video:
Video player (H.263/H.264/MP4)
Video editing / streaming
Music:
Stereo FM Radio with RDS
Music Player (MP3/AMR/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA)
Music recognition
Email: POP3 / IMAP4 / SHTP
Internet: Access Netfront v3.4
Smart fit rendering
Mobile blogging (via Telstra Blogs)
Features:
MMS
Document Viewer
RSS Reader
Flight (Offline) Mode
Speakerphone
Organiser functionality including Calendar, Memos, Tasks, Voice recorder, World clock, Calculator, Currency Converter, Unit converter, Timer, Stopwatch, Alarms

Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 / USB v2.0

Memory: 200MB internal + Expandable memory (Up to 8GB MicroSD)

Size: 98.5mm x 55mm x 12mm
Weight: 103g
Talk time: Up to 3 hours
Standby time: Up to 250 hours

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Samsung F480 | $699 |  | www.samsung.com.au

For: Good form factor; Responsive touchscreen; Large icons; Good camera functions; Customisable home screen (using widgets)
Against: Unit prone to slowdowns; Wi-Fi missing
Conclusion: Samsung delivers with easy-to-use F480 touch phone.