I bought this phone from my own savings by skipping lunch for 2 months and cutting down on travelling by rickshaw, hence I feel proud for purchasing it.
Almost all Samsung phones possess these attributes ie: good battery, sound quality and a value for money package with decent features. This phone is loaded with camera, music player upto 8gb and bluetooth at an unbelievable price of 3400/- Quality is not compromised though. It’s available cheaper as it was launched in feb 2009.
Looks - its slim at 12mmwhich is helpful as it can fit anywhere with ease. It has a contemporary look thats easy on the eye, slightly reminiscent of high end Sony ericcson mobiles. Its got a 2 inch widescreen thats not available in this price range. The ugly part would be the rear where its totally plain with a black plastic thats rough and gets scratched easily.
VGA Camera quality is better than any lg phones as the picture is clear on zooming and the black part remains intact unlike others where black is filled with coloured spots and the clarity is vague. Picture quality is more than decent and is available with an array of options for different types of photos. However they are a bit lackluster and look too dull specially compared to Nokia. On computer screen they look more dull.:( Nokia seems a bit more clear.
However, in standby mode that is the wallpapers and user interface, the pictures lack the sharpness of Nokia phones.
Battery life- is averagewith 2 hours music, it continues to work for 1 to one and a half days but cant manage more than that. This is due to its paltry 800 mAh power. Thick Samsung phones have battery life upto 3 days as reported by my friends. In many cases the battery depletes quickly if you have kept a bright screensaver!
A WORD OF ADVICE - always check the mAh value of the battery whenever you are purchasing a phone. Most Samsung phones are 800 mAh. An ideal phone should be minimum 1200 mAh. Hi end nokia phones -(E series) have 1600 and so on and so its not surprising that they work for a good 4 days. Videocon though provides totally downmarket quality and is best not to buy has a whopping 2000 mAh for almost all phones, they work for a good 5 days.
Phone works normally with a 2gb card. Its got 15mb internal memory, so its managable. A common error with most Samsung phones is it sometimes just switches off on its own suddenly! and then asks to format the memory card. By restarting, it all files are restored. But Its scary! I have about 400 songs and it still has not slowed down which is a good thing specially when compared to LG.
This phone has a good keypad with wide buttons that make messaging very easy and quick like nokia phones. However, there is lots of network blockage and its a problem while sending bulk messages. Even while making calls you have to dial twice! This is irritating.
This phone is best not for internet users as it is too slowand useless, I personally avoid mobile phones for using the net.
Sound quality and MP3 player - mp3 player is really easy to use with many playlist options like in the I pod, Radio is equally good. So I mostly use this as a mp3 player than a phone.
Phone is really loud while talking and handsfree device is also audible and clear.
CONS
The only problem I had with my phone was that the left earphone that started making disturbances and there was a lot of distortion only within 10 days of purchase. The warranty proved useless as I was blamed for the malfunction.:(
The solution was that I purchased an Ear phone adapter for 250/- from another place which allows us to connect the standard 3.5mm earphone, this also was convenient as I could plug it in the car or any stereo system at any time. So I recommend that please buy this device as its quite helpful. This also has the best bass and blocks all outside disturbance that causes your own voice and footsteps to be heard.
Samsung gives very few options for personalization, less options for default wallpaper, Nokia is best in this dept as it provides many wallpapers and themes, ringtones etc The ringtone has to be the alarm tone here.:( Surprisingly, Alarm tone is too soft, only Nokia phones have the abilty to wake me up. Also when you set a mp3 as your alarm tone, after its finished ringing, it reverts back to the default’Samsung tune’.
To sum it up, its quite user friendly and there are other nice touches like mobile prayers and wallpapers of different Gods, mobile tracker etc: among other unique features.:) A total value for money phone thats suitable for a student. But Samsung phones have terrible resale value. They work fine and will seldom give problem, but overall, a Nokia gives you a premium feel to it which the Samsung just can not match to.