Disclosure: Few days back I had given this a "very good" product rating, But, as I used this phone longer, I have found it hard to continue doing so(for reasons mentioned under negatives) and am searching for a replacement.
Intro
I have been a Dual Sim user for more than 2 years. My earlier dual sim gadgets, a Karbonn K330 and a Spice M4242 have been reviewed on this site.
After having been with the "Chinese Made Indian Phone(CMIP)" party for so long, I was actively looking at other brands. The Nokia X1( rs. 1950) and the Samsung E2322(Rs. 2450) were the top contenders. Both had all the features that I was interested in, mainly dual sim capability and torch. I had narrowed my choice to the Nokia X1 when I realised that I would like to check my email when on the move.
Under the new circumstances, I found the Samsung Duos E2652 as the best combination of price and features.
Enter the Champ
The Samsung Duos E2652 AKA Champ Duos is a dual sim phone with a large touch screen( a touch screen makes a lot of difference since typing out a long email is easier with a QWERTY keypad on a touchscreen) running on Java. Feature wise, it supports EDGE/GPRS for net connection which is enough for me. Other features include a 1.3 MP camera, Bluetooth, 3.5mm audio jack, 1000 mAH battery, etc.
Positives
Nice form factor, and physical attributes. It weighs almost as much as my currect Spice, but is shorter and wider. The keypad is displayed on the touch screen, and therefore the only buttons on the phone face are the call Accept, Reject and Back keys.
Browsing with the inbuilt browser is good. The display can be rotated to landscape mode for viewing, though for providing text input the display needs to be restored to normal mode.
Comes with a 3.5 mm audio socket which means any ordinary headset and mic combo available from any computer accessory shop will do - in case the bundled earphone set is damaged or lost.
Built in Stylus is quite useful when navigating in Opera. The menus can get microscopic and using fingertips is not practical.
Separate screen lock button and volume and page zoom controls, placed on the sides, are thoughtful.
In the ear earphones of pretty good quality. Good noise isolation.
No dedicated torch, but the large display is quite bright to be used instead.
Negatives
I prefer to mute all sounds of the phone except the incoming call sound. The E2652 doesn’t allow total silence. It will ring out everytime a outgoing call is ended when an alert showing the call details is received. Put it in complete silent mode, and everytime you launch the browser, it will ask for confirmation on whether to play the start up tune while in Silent mode!( How stupid can one get?) And there is no way to make the settings permanent - every time the same question!
The inbuilt browser allows webpage to be displayed in landscape mode, but this facility is not extended to add on browsers like Opera 4. Opera 6 can do it, but it is a bit too heavy for this phone.
Searching for a contact is too inane. Even on the cheapest phones, to get to contacts whose name you think starts with M(say Mahesh), one just has to type M. But in this phone, you need to know the whole name otherwise the search results includes names having "M" even in the end(like "SANGAM"). Also, the search is case sensitive. So searching for "Mahesh" will not give you "mahesh" and vice versa. This causes frustration many times since contacts you are sure you have saved do not show up in search results if you have entered the name with one letter in the wrong case.
I would have preferred smaller fonts when call data is displayed. With the huge fonts used here, only 4 call details are displayed at one time. I am guessing the reason behind the hugeness is for easy touch operation, but the option to decrease size could’ve been given.
Strangely, this also applies to any text entry, where just 5 words can be displayed at a time. If you will type a long email, you will not be able to easily review it, in the midst of creating it. It is possible to keep the text fonts small even while keeping the keypad letters big, isn’t it?
Data cable is not included. Could’ve been.
Bundled handsfree / earphone mic set doesn’t have a clip so expect frequent slip out. The phone also does not always route calls through the earphone even when it is connected. Strangely, it will route the ringing tone, but once the call is connected, the voice is not routed. The reason for this strange behaviour is that if earphone is plugged when the touchpad is locked, it is not recognised. Even after taking this precaution, sometimes the auto keypad lock will render the earphone useless.
While making a call a prominent message reads, "Press the call hold button to see in call options". Unfortunately, such a button is not easily traceable! I have pressed all pressable buttons, and none seem to be the one. Even the manual doesn’t mention a Hold button!
No option to schedule a power down and power up. It seems strange that such an useful feature is part of all Chinese Made indian Phones, but not in Chinese made Korean Phones.
I wanted to browse the internet using the phone as a modem - this is not supported. Even the local SAmsung authorised Service center personnel misguided me regarding this.
If you want to sync your contacts on a PC, you need to install the Kies software - which takes almost a day to install( I am not kidding).
The phone user interface is not designed with adequate thought. For example: if you are checking email, and if the idle time exceeds the time you have set the screen to autolock, the internet connection is interrupted - requiring you to do the whole "swipe the screen, continue app" routine. Eventually you will end up setting the screen autolock duration to the max, which is 10 mins which could reduce backup.
Touchscreen is erratic, though being my first touchscreen experience I cannot compare.
Contacts are not displayed with name and number, making better use of the large screen. Without the number being displayed it is not possible to search for a contact number when in a call. Only contact names are displayed. So if you are searching for a contact’s number to give it to a person who is calling you, you will have to disconnect the call, search and note down the number on a piece of paper, and call the person back. The cheapest entry level phones have more intelligently designed interface.
If accidentally you add a phone number to the reject list, there is no way to undo this!
Speakers are really weak. At the loudest setting the ringtone is barely audible from teh next room.
Inbuilt browser does not save settings. The home page and connectivity options need to be everytime you launch the browser.
Conclusion
OVerall it is a good phone for a narrow range of activities. The core requirement of dual sim, onboard web browsing are met. But, like small drops that make an ocean, the list of minor niggles is a tad too long, which makes it easier to call this a UNSATISFACTORY phone.
Avoid if you don’t want to feel irritated all the time.
Post Script: Being the true Indian, I did go to the SAmsung site to put up a similar unstatisfactory review of the phone. There was one question there: Why would you not recommend this product to your friend?" The answer: Because I don’t want to make him my enemy!