I have been using Samsung Duos SCH-W259 for the last 3 months. Previously, I have used Karbonn KC-470. It was a pathetic excuse for a phone. But I am extremely delighted with this Samsung W-259 for the following reasons:
Excellent Battery Backup - for me with moderate calls and music, it easily lasts 2 days in dual standby mode
Texting is a breeze. Response is reasonably quick even in T9-on mode.
Has a very long call memory. Some of the calls made/received before 75 days are still in the calls list.
Though I am not satisfied with the specs of camera and video-recorder, atleast it has one and definitely much better than the Karbonn KC-470 any day. If I retouch the photos taken in this phone with computer software such as GIMP, then the results are admirable. I have not tested the videos as yet. Will update the review when I do.
Build quality is extremely sturdy and the phone feels very gud in your hand.
Keys are strong and tactile and give a distinct click when pressed. Keypad and individual keys are reasonable big.
Has got 3 themes, all of which are good.
Has got so many settings to configure the phone the way you like. This will take a full day to see all the nook and crannies of this phone.
CDMA calls are so clear that you can hear the minute fluctuations in the signal clarity.
Music player is very gud, with a few inbuilt EQs. only downside is you can have a max of 4 playlists.
Has an SOS feature. I haven’t explored it though.
Lots of standard features - FM, expandable up to 4GB card, Calendar, Memo, Task, World clock(ur screen can show two different times and timezones), calculator, convertor, mobile prayer, image editor, games, voice recorder(does not record phone conversations though), Bluetooth, timer, stopwatch, 5 alarms.
Has copy-paste facility which is very handy.
comes with PC suite. I have tested the message sending facility. can send bulk sms very quickly. But SMS sent from PC through this phone does not get saved anywhere. You cannot ensure that the message has been sent, except by way of the’message delivered’ status reports.
Info like contacts / text can be added, deleted and backed up using PC suite.
Can be used as a mass storage device through BT or USB.
gets charged through USB.
Message alert reminds you periodically if you did not read the received text message immediately.
Negatives: -
Has a proprietary socket-jack for power adapter and the same socket has to be used for the head phone too. That means phone-charging and listening via headphone cannot be done simultaneously as both the jacks use the same socket.
Camera quality leaves a lot to be desired. If it is brought on par with comparable nokia GSM handsets in this budget, then this phone is absolutely hard to put down.
There are many more positive features which I will keep updating here as and when I remember.Bottomline is - I have thoroughly enjoyed using this phone. In CDMA+GSM category, I think it will be very hard to pick another phone in this budget which can match, if not beat, this phone. I recommend this phone without hesitation to anyone interested.