Phones Review

Review by Iliya Solovyev (smape.com)

The new Samsung F330 can be spoken of as a musical variant of Samsung ?840, in many respects their specifications coincide. However there is also a number of differences concerning user interface, design, other features and we’ll dwell on them in the review. On the whole let’s begin the review with the remark that the device sold at its price becomes an interesting offer. With rare exception it has actually no direct rivals by other manufacturers on the market and that sort of expansion is rather advantageous to the company’s product range.

Design, ergonomics
Samsung F330 is implemented in a slider form factor, traditional for the company for the recent period of time. Its design solutions in many respects coincide with those of the above-mentioned Samsung E840: a mirror-plated front panel as well as touch-sensitive keys, however the device has its own face, it looks interesting and advantageous. Many consider the handset design as expressive, brilliant and stylish. It’s really so, the combination of white (a principal colour) glossy plastic and a mirror-plated surface produces a nice impression, it automatically relates the model mostly to a female audience.

Let’s compare this phone with some other music sliders available on the market, for example, with SonyEricsson W910i, Nokia N81. All the three products look well, have their own advantages, Samsung F330 differs in the most balanced dimensions. It is neither too wide, nor too thick. On the whole, the dimensions are typical for the current generation of mobile communication devices.


The material used for the exterior of F330 is the high-quality plastic standard for the company, its practicality raises no reprimands; it doesn’t tend to accumulate fingerprints. The side edges have thin inserts of a dark blue, almost black color where the control keys are located. The left edge hosts the sound volume rocker button, the button of switching between applications and the headset output covered with a plastic gag. The socket location on the side edge is not too convenient, however it causes no special problems. The power button and the camera launch / the shoot button are put on the right edge. The memory expansion slot (microSD) is found nearby.The handset has a single speaker; it’s equally used for transmitting voice and sound. There’s no extra polyphonic speaker. Accordingly the sound is not of the highest quality, yields to the models equipped with stereo speakers. The front camera for video calls is put nearby.
On the front panel above the screen (as well as on the back panel) a logo of the Beatz series – a note is depicted. The navigation block is edged with a glossy insert transiting to the bottom edge. The back panel is not of much interest, the camera module is located at the top part of the slider, its back surface being black.

The build quality is traditionally above any ideal, the slider mechanism is absolutely smooth and the play between parts is minimal. It takes a single push of the finger for the sliding part to go the full way automatically. However there’s no separate finger rest for opening the slider, the finger rests just above the navigation button which is touch-sensitive, therefore stray keystrokes take place. On the whole the handset design is pleasant. The phone is compact, light, neat, sits in hand rather comfortably, the only objection is raised with an easily soiled surface, but there’s nothing to be done here.

Display
The handset sports a display with a 2,1” diagonal (32?42 mm), the matrix is build based off the TFT-technology and is able of displaying up to 262 thousand colors. The resolution is quite traditional, namely being 240×320 pixels. This stands for approximately 12 lines of text simultaneously visible on the screen. There is no luminance sensor here, the screen and keypad backlighting being adjusted manually (there are four positions available).
The display has a mirror-plated substrate that resists the sunlight so the information remains easily legible, nevertheless due to a mirror-plated front panel the colors are erroneous and the screen glares. The screen quality is high; it is one of the best among the similar products, the colors are very natural and the brightness is up to standard. Comparing the screen of Samsung F330 with that of Nokia N81 and SonyEricsson W910i, let’s note just its small diagonal, as for the rest there are no serious distinctions.

The screen fonts are easily legible and optimized for the device’s display. The phone numbers are shown in large symbols, no problem arises here. The options include a setting that allows to choose the symbol type as well as font size, font color and background color. Controls, keypad
The sound volume buttons have a few settings, for example while receiving an incoming call the button can be set to act either as Mute or Reject. The first function just mutes the ringtone while the second drops the call. Unlike Samsung G600, F330 has no text template sending option after the call is rejected but its availability was handy with that device.Unlike with Samsung G800 which pioneered the use of the button switching between running applications, but at the same time launching the camera, with this device the button is utilized only for the former function, that’s it is used to call the quick access menu consisting of five shortcut icons:

• Dial
• Messages
• Browser
• Mp3 player
• Shut all the running tasks

Thus, switching between applications is implemented in this device; by pressing this button you can switch to one of the offered modes from any item of the main menu. It is possible to keep a few applications running at once, however there is no full-fledged task manager here and the quick access menu cannot be customized. If Samsung G800 is the first step the company have taken towards multitasking, then F330 is the logical development of this idea, the button tasks are shared. Though everything is in its infancy here (there are only three processes available in a background), the advance in this direction is already evident.The handset keypad is standard; it is made of a plastic plate, flat, however due to their big size, the keys are easy to tap at and nice to type with. The keypad use a bright white backlighting, it’s very even and well-visible in all kinds of environment. It is an interesting fact that the numerical keys are backlit when the slider is closed, which is not quite logical.

Let’s dwell on the navigation block. It is made of white matte plastic; it is touch-sensitive and only the central key is ordinary. The solution is not the most ergonomic one, stray keystrokes are frequent. If the player mode is activated the keys are employed for track management, even if the player is in a background mode. Menu navigation is habitual, there are no surprises. The player launch button is put just below the navigation block.Battery
The phone makes use of a Li-Ion battery with a standard capacity of 900 mAh. There’s no support for any enhanced battery types for this model. Similar to the latest Ultra Edition II phones, the trademark charge saving technology OPUS is implemented here, giving the battery a few extra percent of saved charge. This doesn’t make a big difference but still helps.F330 is able to survive for about two days of moderately extensive usage (about an hour of talktime, two hours of listening to the music and another hour of application and menu interaction); the result is quite up to the modern standards. Few users are going to be dissatisfied with that. However the majority of modern music devices, especially by SonyEricsson, allow for a much longer battery life during the multimedia cycle.

A full recharge cycle takes two hours and a half. The charge indicator has a peculiarity: the first two points tend to fade away rather quickly, but the last point stands for about a day.

Samsung F330 battery life

	Samsung F330	Sony Ericsson W910i
Moderate usage	2 days	3 days
Multimedia cycle, video (3GP)	2:30	4:40
Multimedia cycle, audio (MP3)	9:20	19:30

Communications
Samsung F330 is a three-band device (GSM900 /1800/1900), has a full Class 10 EDGE support, it supports 3G networks (WCDMA2100) and HSDPA as well. In other words, as regards communications F330 quite meets all modern requirements.

Wireless communications support of Samsung F330 is represented by the Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR module. It gives raise to no reprimands, the data transfer rate comes up to 140 Kbps. Unfortunately, like with all 3G models based off the Qualcomm chipset there is no support for sending Java applications from outer sources to the phone itself. The .jar and .jad installation files placed in a separate folder in the phone memory cannot be installed. The Bluetooth options include the activation status (whether it is turned on or off), the list of visible Bluetooth devices, the Bluetooth visibility status of the phone itself, the device name and miscellaneous settings. The Bluetooth service includes a standard set of features. Unlike G600 and E950, Samsung F330 doesn’t sport an enhanced A2DP support allowing for two Bluetooth stereo headsets to be used simultaneously with the same phone. The lack of this feature isn’t quite logical for a music devise. However such functionality is a niche one, therefore one shouldn’t consider it as a disadvantage.

The stereo headset (A2DP) proved to be a reliable accessory, the only minor flaw being a negligible lack of volume. The following list of profiles is supported:

• Dial Up Networking Profile
• File Transfer Profile
• Generic Access Profile
• Service Discovery Application Profile
• Headset Profile
• Handsfree (Car Kit) Profile
• Generic Object Exchange Profile (OBEX)
• Object Push Profile
• File Transfer Profile
• Basic Printing Profile
• Audio Vdieo Remote Control Profile
• Advanced Audio Distribution Profile
• Enhanced Data Rate
• Dual Profile Bluetooth (Voice & Data)
• vNote

The wire connection is achieved through USB 2.0, but the data transfer speed is not the highest. On the other hand the phone sports full and correct support of Mass Storage, Media Player, Samsung PC Studio modes. The corresponding menu lets the user to set one of those as the default connection type or ask for choice every time a phone-to-PC connection is established. Performance
The performance of Samsung F330 is traditionally low, it’s easily felt after trying to rewind a long 3GP clip weighing about 60-70 Mb. Besides, the Java performance is not an exception to that rule, its functionality isn’t perfectly implemented. However F330 has made quite a bit of progress in comparison to 2,5G models.

	Samsung F330	Samsung E950	Sony Ericsson W910i
Jbenchmark 1.0.1 Score	1141	1568	7222
Text	278	499	1964
2D Shapes	271	383	1983
3D Shapes	198	199	873
Fill Rate	102	88	667
Animation	292	399	1735
Jbenchmark 2.0.1 Score	124	86	978
Image Manipulations	147	70	321
Text	130	94	657
Sprites	119	99	505
3D Transform	112	94	662
User Interface	112	76	12617
Jbenchmark 3D HQ	145	75	371
Jbenchmark 3D LQ	163	84	424
Triangles ps	15363	9186	30619
KTexels ps	1492	948	1517
Jbenchmark HD Gaming Score	98 (3,3 fps)	50 (1,7 fps)	151 (5,0 fps)
Smooth triangles	34096	18953	28641
Textured triangles	21941	13455	24299
Fill rate, KTexels	559	307	1972

The heap size equals to 4 Mb, the maximum Jar size - 1 Mb.

User interface
Samsung F330 is among the last generation of 3G devices, in many respects the software platform coincides with G800, that’s it is a maximally simplified version of what we see with Samsung G600. F330 has been developed at the R&D Suwon centre, but the differences from 2,5G models are great. It concerns practically every trifle with rare exception, for example, the impossibility of quick access menu customization, the list of applications is fixed; further, F330 has no text template sending option after the call is rejected, there is no user theme customization, the FM tuner, multimedia player, Bluetooth, sound profile and user interface features are reduced. However there are also some positive aspects, for example, the phonebook implementation, switching between applications. On the whole, as for the interface both F330 and G800 are intermediate solutions, the following models will provide more user customization features.

Let’s dwell on the basic points of the F330 user interface features. Let’s dwell on the camera phone user interface features. Following the wake of D900, the company again implements the Living World embedded interface plug-in. Once the phone identifies its geographical location, it displays a corresponding desktop wallpaper (Kremlin for Russia and so on, including the Sydney Opera House, the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco, the Big Ben of London and the Eiffel Tower of Paris) The wallpaper displays a set of symbolical animations indicating the time, quality of signal and incoming calls or messages - the wallpapers switches between the day and night versions, the sky gets overcast with clouds when the signal level gets low, fireworks can be seen once you get a unread message or miss a call. If you are out of the mobile network area, you see a green lawn among hills. This is not exclusive to F330, but still is a winning feature that looks interesting and has no direct analogues with other brands.

During the standby mode a screen-size clock can be set to be shown, that’s large enough for the numbers to be easily seen from a distance. Up to two clocks corresponding to two different timezones can be shown on the screen simultaneously or the clock indicating the time of your city of residence of a larger size.

The status line displays all the indicators of the running processes and the activated modules - Bluetooth, player, the profile selected, the web connection, the battery charge level, the network service indicator and so on. If you open a menu, the indicators go a line down so you can always see them.Is goes without saying you can pick any picture for wallpaper instead of the Living World screen, almost anything like a photo taken with the camera. The calendar cannot be set to be used as the wallpaper, an option like that is excluded. But on the other hand there is rather an interesting feature that allows to create animated wallpaper, referred to as My Screen. The matter is that you choose from one up to nine pictures, photos, the effect to be applied and the shot change rate. During the standby mode the chosen pictures replace each other, besides one of following effects is applied:

• Butterfly
• Paper plane
• Cherry blossom
• Bamboo

Besides, several picture change modes are available: rolling-up, replacing, moving aside and so on. It looks attractive, slightly reminding of the multimedia menu background implementation with Nokia N95.The information displayed during standby (the name of service provider, the currently playing song title, the event indications) can be customized to be shown in a number of ways according to the user-defined preferences: font color, style and alignment are customizable.

The font style in the dialing mode is also customizable as well as size, color and numerical symbol style, the former two parameters being active only for the standard font presentation. However the preset figure types are more attractive - as one of the available variants the symbols traced with a fountain pen on notebook pages are offered, an appropriate animation present. Besides the font customization, you can also set the background color for the phone number window; almost everything here can be adjusted to your own liking, since Samsung phones have long been known for their strong positions in the field of user customization features, which is evidently a customer attracting factor.

As we have already mentioned, the My Menu implementation with this device differs from that with Samsung G600. The quick access menu cannot be customized; it is called by pressing the special button on the left edge. It’s to advantage that the list is available from any item of the main menu, not only during the standby mode. One can bind different functions chosen from a rather extensive list to the navigation button strokes sidewise.

Another interesting and useful feature is the ability to filter the contents of phone book and call log by the three initial numbers while in the standby mode. In fact, if you know a phone number by heart you can trace it in your contacts book and the call log by merely typing the three initial letters… once you do so, you see the search results shown as a list of contacts’ names as well as surnames and phone type icons (home, mobile, etc). If the phone number is not saved in the phonebook, it’s only the number itself and the call status icon that are shown in the search results.

The absence of user themes turned out to be a disappointment. You remember how handy this feature was implemented in Samsung G600; the user was even able to create custom themes right from a basic menu, without having to resort to a specific application, the quality of themes implementation deserved admiration. Samsung F330 gives only an opportunity to choose between the two basic color schemes - white and lilac, though at that the menu presentation changes. If in the case of the white colour scheme the menu is displayed in the traditional way, in the case of the lilac one – the icon matrix shrinks and the selected element is located at the upper part of the screen.

The main menu can be either set to show as the traditional icons tab or as a list with each icon hosting a pop-up menu listing its sublevel functions (this option can be turned off if you get annoyed with the crowding pop-up windows).The navigation features the recently introduced ‘user action memory’ function found in the newer Samsung models - the phone keeps track of user actions and opens every menu at the menu item that was last activated. Fast menu navigation is possible through numerical keys, everything is standard here. But as compared with G600, there is no animation - upon activating a menu item, the previous screen cannot be set to slide sideways or fade or open in halves, giving way to the new information. Among the few drawbacks of menu implementation is the lack of possibility to swap the menu item positions and the order of submenu items, there is no way to create new groups and icons either.In general the user interface may be characterized as follows: the F330 software platform is much similar to that of G800. The phone lacks many pleasant trifles known by G600, and on the whole the simplified software platform is typical of the 3G devices of this brand. The market of such devices is insignificant for the company and of no first priority at present. One cannot speak about the great popularity of 3G models. GSM and UMTS devices are developed at different design offices; hence there come differences in the software aspect, even irrespective of the R&D center. Further we’ll also dwell on the basic distinctions from the already reviewed G600.

Sound profile
The support for sound profile is a pleasant feature of Samsung F300. The six profiles are present, but the user cannot add custom ones though the preinstalled list of six profiles is more than enough for the phone to be handy, the existing profiles can be modified. The profile creation mode is quite simple, but that doesn’t mean a lack of options. There are three main groups of settings - Call settings, SMS settings and Misc sounds settings.

The Call settings include the signal type (a lot of variants here - ringtone only, vibration only, ringone and vibration, vibration followed by the ringtone and vice versa, ringtone fade-in with or without vibration and so on), the ringtone itself is also set here as well as the volume of sound and the number of times the melody is replayed.

The SMS settings are much simpler, only three types of signal can be chosen: vibro only, sound only or vibro and sound. Unlike with G600 a custom .mp3 file can be used as the incoming message signal. Miscellaneous sound settings include the keypad button sound, the power on/off sound and some minor service sounds.

Switching between profiles is only possible via the main menu, there’s no separate button for switching profiles. The Mute mode is toggled by holding the # key; the activated profile icon is displayed in the status line.

Call service
The phonebook is called by pressing the right soft-button or via the main menu. The list contains phone numbers from the phone memory as well as from the SIM-card (a customizable item – it can be set to show only the phone memory or the SIM-card numbers). Every contact is given a small picture if the one is fixed or a preset icon. Filtering by the initial name letters is possible (up to 50 symbols). If several phone numbers are associated with a single contact, only the main one is displayed in the contact headline (mobile phone number by default).

A name, a surname and two phone numbers (a mobile phone number and a home number) can be associated with a newly created or edited account as well as an e-mail address, a short note, an individual ringtone and a call picture. Any picture, photo or preset icon can be used for that. The call picture is large, practically taking the whole screen. Seemingly, here we observe the next simplification in comparison with G600 - a reduced quantity of items, however in actual fact G800 acquired a new feature: the ability to add necessary items. One can set up to 35 items in all, 10 being initially preset. The list of items to be added contains the following ones:

• Mobile number (personal, work)
• Home number (personal, work)
• Fax
• Other
• Videocall number
• E-mail
• WEB page address
• Group (a contact can belong to several groups)
• Message signal (individual)
• Nickname
• Birthday date
• Company
• Position
• Address (personal, work)

When giving a contact more than one phone number, the user can specify which number is to be used as the default one for making calls and sending messages. It is just an advance towards any smartphone’s book of contacts, the account items cannot be renamed and moved here, a quantity limit is present.When setting the birthday date, the phone automatically offers to mark the event in the calendar, give the event a name and set the alarm clock to warn you in advance of the upcoming birthday.

The phonebook memory can contain up to 1000 contacts, each containing all the associated phone numbers. The user groups are supported; three groups are preset – family, friends, and work. All of the three groups being customizable, i.e. you can rename them or create your own ones. A unique ringtone and picture can be associated with each group. A group can contain up to 20 contacts. All the contacts as well as the namecard can be sent via SMS, MMS, E-mail or Bluetooth to another person. The quick dial list can contain up to 8 numbers, everything is standard here. The list shows only the person’s name and surname which might be a bit inconvenient if that person has several numbers and only a picture if it is associated with the contact.

Other miscellaneous options include the possibility to choose the storage location for the newly saved contacts - the SIM card or the phone memory (or set it to be asked for each time the user saves a contact), sorting all the contacts by name (Display as), but there is no template choice (Name+Surname or vice versa) here.

The call log keeps track of all the recent received, dialed and missed calls. Up to 30 records of each call type are stored. The call log can be either displayed as a common list with each call type having an indication icon or three separate lists for each call type. Switching between the lists is done by pressing the navigation button left and right, this aspect sharing the same approach as we saw in Nokia and SonyEricsson phones. The number of times that the specified number has been dialed is shown in brackets next to it. The stats tab contains info about the cost and number of incoming and outgoing calls as well as the length and cost of the most recent call.

Samsung G600 has a blacklist which supports adding undesirable contacts both one by one or even by a whole group. The latter function is a unique Samsung feature (in the sense of a manufacturer-preset function); its usefulness can’t be underestimated. It was very nice of Samsung to include this function as a standard function embedded into the firmware.

Messaging
Samsung F330 traditionally employs a combined messaging system - the phone automatically defines the message type depending on its content. The phone memory can store up to 500 SMS messages + the SIM card memory. Up to 20 recipients can be defined for every outgoing message; up to 12 messages can be glued together in a single one. Sound, vibration and backlighting signals are available for warning the user of an incoming message. EMS is supported. The MMS memory is limited to 300 messages the multimedia content of which must not exceed the free user memory. The messaging interface supports a separate blacklist. The text message settings are minimal; they include only the text reply, the delivery notice and saving the copies of outgoing messages. Older messages cannot be automatically purged; there is also no feature to set the text style. There’s no SOS message option.

There’s a separate recent contacts list for text messages. Once you are about to send a text message, the phone displays this list of recently contacted people so you can instantly choose one of them as the recipient of the current message. The other option is to use the phonebook to select the recipient. A message can be dispatched either to a single person or to a whole contacts group. The number of recipients is indicated near the icon to the left from the contact name in the contact line.

Upon starting a new message the user is free to set the font size (large, medium and small), colour and style (bold, italic). The same settings can be applied exclusively to a selected piece of text within a message. Possible attachment types include an image, a video clip, a calendar note (up to four task types plus a phone card) and a sound. Once a multimedia attachment is detected, the text message is automatically converted into an MMS. The photo and video attachments can be quickly selected from the gallery or instantly taken right with the camera without having to quit the image editor.

The following e-mail protocols are specified: POP3, IMAP4, SMTP, SSL(3.0), TLS(1.0), OTA E-Mail Settings Configuration, Push E-mail EMN OMA 1.0.

The maximum size of an outgoing message can’t exceed 300 Kb. The maximum number of e-mail accounts is five. There are the interesting functions of auto e-mail checking at user-defined intervals, sending the reading notices and the e-mail downloading mode - headers only or whole messages. The mail download limit is 500 Kb; an automatic delete is also present here. deleted messages can be kept saved at the mail server if the user wishes so. All types of attachments readable by the phone itself or by the Document Viewer are supported. The viewer starts right here and when the file viewing is completed the application shuts, leaving the editor running. E-mail settings include a blocking option similar to the one used for messages and for the contacts book. The difference is that the user is allowed to blacklist specified e-mail addresses as well as header phrases to block spam.

The multimedia messaging system (OMA 1.2) limits the maximum size of a multimedia message to the usual 300 Kb. Up to 20 recipients can be specified per message; maximum text length is limited to 1000 symbols. The MMS setup includes the priority, the expiry date and the delivery time (from one hour up to one week and the time fixed by the user). An MMS message limit makes from 30 up to 300 Kb. The auto resize mode to the given limit can be switched on. According to the settings, the message type can be set either freely depending on the size of the created message or strictly limited - should the image exceed the limit, it’s automatically modified to fit. When inserting an object, its actual size is specified, and an already composed MMS message can be previewed prior to sending.

Besides the listed options the MMS messages can have their font size (large, medium and small), colour and style (bold, italic, etc) adjusted in the same manner as SMS messages, the same goes to background color and message viewing mode, the latter option is set to Fullscreen by default. The automatic deletion function is absent for the MMS messages. SMIL is supported - the maximum number of pages and objects inside a message equals to 15 and 35 respectively.

PIM
The Personal Information Manager includes a standard set of applications like calendar, alarm clocks and quick notes. Up to six alarm clocks can be set, the first one named Wake Up alarm. Each of the alarm clocks can be flexibly tuned, schedule is fully supported (the days of the week are chosen); the alarm signal can be replayed at a user-defined interval. The alarm turns on even if the phone is turned off. Each alarm clock can be given a unique title and adjusted to play a unique song, including .mp3 files or turning on the radio. Much like the sound profiles, the alarm clocks support a variety of signal types - ringtone only, vibration and ringtone, vibration followed by a ringtone, fade-in ringtone with or without vibration and so one. Once an alarm clock is adjusted and activated, a short info on that alarm’s settings is instantly shown on the screen, everything being more than evident.

The Calendar has a few viewing options: by month, by week or by day. The schedule can include up to 240 records (on the whole as well as for one day). Preliminary notices and recurring event signals are supported. Sorting events by type is well-implemented (meetings, anniversaries, tasks). A day that hosts a specified event is indicated by a colored corner, the color corresponding to the event type shown in the status line (meetings, anniversaries, tasks).

The default view mode is adjusted in the options, as well as the starting day of the week (Monday or Sunday). Memory manager is in its place, indicating the number of occupied and free event slots in the calendar memory. The expired events are deleted being picked out or after a period of time.

All the necessary event parameters are specified on adding a new event - date, beginning and end time, the alarm activation time in case an alarm signal is associated with an event and the interval at which an alarm signal is replayed. The total amount of events, as noted above, equals 240, that’s 100 is reserved for meetings, 50 for anniversaries and holidays each and 20 for personal and important events each.

As we have already mentioned in the phone book description, the Birthday line associated with every contact is automatically added to the calendar as an Anniversary-type event, the user is asked to set a reminder, specify the day and the time when the alarm must be activated. So you won’t miss your grandmother’s birthday, and the preliminary warning will remind you to buy a present beforehand. This calendar option is really handy.

Multimedia, MP3 player
The Samsung software platform isn’t the most powerful one when it comes to multimedia content processing. But as for music playback, the situation is incomparably better on this front though the music player interface has been simplified in comparison with G600 in spite of F330 being a music device in the company’s opinion. For example, there is no double sound output to two Bluetooth-headsets simultaneously, visualization is weaker. On the whole the controls are comfortable, no reprimands here. During the playback the screen displays info including song title and the name of performer, the album cover (thanks to the Album Arts function), the playbar (a progressive rewind mode is supported) and all sorts of indicators showing the on/off status of different player settings.

Background mode is supported, the settings include:

• Playback settings (reshuffle, random song),
• Sound output via a wireless stereo Bluetooth headset
• Add to playlist (one, several or all created),
• Ratings system (from 1 to 5 or unrated),
• Setting a song as a ringtone or alarm signal.
• Equalizer (sound effect) presets. The device sports 9 sound effects in total. Being activated, each changes the sound quite noticeably. The effects are not customizable. There is no support for custom equalizer presets either.

Any song can be sent via MMS, E-mail or Bluetooth. Flight Mode is supported, which helps to save battery charge however it’s inaccessible without a SIM card, which is a minor flaw. There are no additional visualization effects known by G600.During background mode, the player window is automatically minimized to a small box corresponding to the user-defined color and style. The song name and the control indicators are shown in the box. The player is managed through sensor controls. Its options include sorting songs by performer, song title, genres, recently played tracks, most frequently played tracks and so on.

The following multimedia formats are supported by the Korean novelty: MP3, WMA, Polyphonic 64, AMR, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+, i-Melody, Midi (SMF) and SP-Midi.As we see, all the basic standards are supported save for RA. like the majority of the latest models by the Korean manufacturer, the novelty makes use of a dedicated sound amplifier based on the patent-protected technology by Bang&Olufsen. The sound chip was dubbed ICEpower Mobile and helps to increase the output sound volume but doesn’t affect the quality. So Samsung phones became almost the loudest phones on the market leaving behind all the rival handsets by other brands, which gives them an advantage on the mass market. Speaking of sound quality, it nearly matches the latest XpressMusic models manufactured by Nokia supplied with a dedicated DSP which in combination with a high-quality headset provides for a high sound quality; however Samsung easily beats them in volume (F300, Ultra Edition Series II, E740, F330 and some others). DSP (Digital Signal Processor) provides additional sound processing algorithms while ICEpower Mobile only amplifies the signal to increase the sound volume. While a standalone amplifier amplifies noise and signal distortion just as well as the wanted signal, the DSP allows for separation of wanted signal from the noise part so the amplifier is fed with a clearer signal.In other words, DSP handles such signal parameters as dynamic range (the equally high capability for reproducing quiet and loud sounds without any distortion), frequency range, noise-emission level, gain compression, and with the Samsung models these parameters are determined by a circuit technique of the amplifier itself. Samsung did their best to improve the sound quality both by increasing maximum sound quality and implementing an improved circuit technique of the ICEpower amplifier itself, sporting better characteristics as compared to a regular DSP-embedded amplifier. How does a casual phone user benefit from it? Of course, first of all there comes the high-quality and at the same time very loud sound perfectly audible in most situations. It’s an evident advantage over the many competing models, but calling that line of Samsung devices ‘perfect’ is simply wrong.

So, let’s repeat the main idea of the narration: the Samsung F330 hardware is similar to that of a “non music” U700, but at the same time provides a high quality and volume of sound. However being a rather good music solution, owing to a simplified player interface in comparison with G600 and not the very handy controls, F330 cannot offer any fresher features than the rest of last-generation Samsung models do. F330 is exactly as musical, as U600 is (let’s repeat once again, it is on a level with the highest sound standards). As a matter of fact it’s positioning on the market, a good headset and a 3,5 mm adapter bundled, labels for managing compositions that make this phone a musical one. As for the sound quality in comparison with other rivals, let’s note a slight advantage of F330 over SonyEricsson W910i (not taking into consideration the very easy controls of the latter) while Nokia N81 and Samsung i450 provide a slightly higher quality of sound (as concerns N81 - a higher maximum volume as well). In general F330 is a good musical solution for the mass market but no more than that, it offers absolutely no fresh features.

Continuous music cycle wastes the battery charge over about ten hours, it’s quite a standard value for a modern mobile device, but some of the next-gen music phones will provide for more than twice as many hours of playback before the battery issues its last breath (we are hinting at the upcoming Nokia and present-day SonyEricsson Walkman phones).

The FM-radio implementation is typical of Samsung products, all the standard functions like search and autosearch are in their places as well as manual tuning and things like that. The specified frequency can be added to the channels list and associate a name with the station. The saved stations can be further deleted, renamed or set to be activated as an alarm clock signal.

Tuning is performed by finger-rotating a circle that is shown on the screen, everything is more than evident. The station memory can contain up to 99 stations, RDS is supported. Sound output can be configured both for the headset or the embedded speaker. The FM tuner as well as the MP3 player can stay fully functional during the standby mode. The reception quality is high and raises no objections. But Samsung G600 possessed the enhanced ability to record radio broadcasts. There is no such function here, everything is simple.

Preinstalled Software Package
Samsung F330 comes with a standard variety of preinstalled applications. We have already reviewed some part of it or are going to review (Image Editor and others). Now let’s dwell on some other features. Unlike with many Samsung models there is no Document Viewer for viewing office files. As before, the controls are very easy, the zoom icon in the viewing mode indicates the availability of easy zooming which is performed with pressing the sound volume button. The Document Viewer application, as it’s easily deduced from the title, has no document editing capability which is the only weak point of F330 as compared to smartphones. A TV-output isn’t available either.

The voice recorder application found in the F330 has a nice and easy to use interface; it’s functionally simple yet highly effective. Maximum voice record length can be limited to fit the maximum MMS length or to one hour, the recorded file can be saved either to phone memory to a memory expansion card. The record volume and the record name are set by the user. Unfortunately the voice recorder is unable to record phone talks, but the exterior sound source records turn out fine, no reprimands.

The world clock function is quite standard and allows for displaying two timezones and corresponding cities on the world map.

The integrated calculator displays a good functionality; it can handle both basic operations as well as complicated mathematical functions like sinus and cosines. The basic math functions are implemented by pressing the designated buttons. The calculation result can be immediately transferred to the measures converted should such necessity arise. The measures converter can handle and convert all kinds of currencies, measures of length, weight, area, volume and temperature.

The countdown timer and the stopwatch are quite typical of most phones, nothing to talk about.

It’s important to note that the phone lacks the Smart Search function, a very useful search application. It remains a mystery why it wasn’t included.

Google Search
The Google Search function found among other menu items, quite accordingly with its name offering a Google search capability as well as used for opening the browser application (Access NetFront v3.4, the same browser used in most Samsung devices) and accessing the mail server. Everything is quite clear. The browser sports a good variety of functions and settings including:

• Page Format (small, medium, large)
• Page Pilot (a mini-map helping navigating through large web pages)
• Page Address Copy
• Saving images from the page or saving the whole page
• Cache and cookies settings (cache size is 2 ??)

Miscellaneous settings include options to allow Java scripts launching, play sounds and viewing images, as well as fast view mode - the Smart-Fit technology forces the text and images to fit the screen in a fashion that allows for more comfortable browsing. It’s possible to browse web pages using both portrait and landscape orientation, the latter variant retains the same options.

The browser supports a vast majority of data types and languages: WML Ver. 1.3, WML Script Ver. 2.0, ECMA Script, xHTML, cHTML, and HTML Ver. 4.0.1.Camera
The camera of this device is not marked out with anything special; its quality coincides with that of E840 - 2 Mpix without autofocusing. Image quality is appropriate. More or less comprehensible photos can be achieved only with an ideal light setting. On the other hand, if one takes into consideration other offers available on the market of music phones, things fall into place. F330 quite represents the market reality.The camera button is located on the right edge of the casing. There’s no separate button for switching between shooting modes (like in E590) but a quick action menu can be easily called upon pressing the right soft button. The menu has following items:

• Camera
• Camcoder
• Gallery
• Settings
• Exit

Video recording modes are the following:

• Single shot
• Multi shot
• Mosaic shot
• Panorama shot

It deserves mentioning that in the serial shooting mode the maximum resolution drops from 2560×1920 to mere 320×240. The same goes with the Mosaic shot. An overall number of 15 different kinds of Mosaic are available which is more than enough. Each series may consist from 6, 9 or 15 pictures of Normal or High quality. F330 has a timer; it can be set to 3, 5 or 10 seconds. A time bar is displayed during the countdown backed by a value shown in numbers which is nice. The effects are few, only Black and white, Sepia, Negative.likewise a majority of other Samsung phones, F330 offers you to choose from 21 different kinds of frames to decorate your photos. That’s quite interesting considering the MMS functionality. Your girlfriend can get an MMS with her photo inside a heart-shaped frame after the date is over, the very same photo that you took in the street an hour ago.

A set of standard White balance settings is available (Auto / Daylight / Incandescent / Fluorescent / Cloudy /). You can also tune the way the viewfinders works (Regular / Indicator / Guidelines) and tweak the camera application icons. A photo just taken with the camera can be rotated at once by pressing the central OK/select key.

Extra settings include typical:

• Quality (Super Fine, Fine, Normal, Economy),
• Scenery presets (usual or night landscape),
• Exposure metering (Matrix, Spot),
• Shutter sounds (preset sounds, off),
• Digital zoom sound (on, off),
• Brightness adjustment sound (on, off),
• Storage (phone memory or flash card, no storage folder customization),
• Default Filename.

The following photo resolutions are available:

• 1600×1200(UXGA)
• 1280×960(SXGA)
• 800×600(SVGA)
• 640×480(VGA)
• 320×240(QVGA)

For video shooting:

• 320 x 240(QVGA)
• 176 x 144(QCIF, MMS)

A few examples of how the camera of F330 works:

The F330 gallery implementation is very simple. It only possesses a few basic functions such as sorting - by date, type, name, size. The slide show isn’t customizable at all. It’s impossible to customize even the time interval. The only supported video formats are 3GP and MPEG4. The functions include View, send via MMS, send via Mail, send via Bluetooth, set as a personal icon, set as a background; copy and move; delete and rename. You can instantly share a file through Bluetooth or send it for printing both via Bluetooth or USB connections. The last thing you can do is just view the file properties.

F330 supports following graphical formats. All the basic formats are supported, but there is no support for BMP:

• WBMP
• PNG
• GIF
• A-GIF
• JPEG

Impressions
Samsung F330 offers a good communication quality; our testing didn’t expose any major drawbacks. The speaker volume is sufficient for most situations. The polyphonic speaker isn’t too good; it’s not always audible. The battery life is standard for most of the company’s phones, which makes up about two days of moderately extensive usage; active users will have to recharge the handset daily.As we have already mentioned, the device leaves a pleasant impression on the whole due to its interesting design, moderate dimensions and well-balanced ergonomics. But there are some drawbacks as well, for example, not the most powerful software platform as well as touch-sensitive controls, which certainly won’t please everybody. Especially in frosty weather when it is rather problematic to manage the device outside, sensor controls don’t respond to touching them when you are gloved, for example. But in general, considering the price reasonable for its segment, we get a good musical solution, however there is nothing extraordinary in it. The devices from the company’s portfolio like E840, U600 are main competitors to this product. Among other competing offers let’s note SonyEricsson S500i/W580i, offering in many respects comparable functionality, similar dimensions, but worse materials of implementation, build quality. The audiences of these solutions won’t cross. Belonging to the higher price segment Nokia N81, SonyEricsson W910i cannot be considered as an alternative to the reviewed device, the difference in prices, functionalities and positioning being considerable. The two above-mentioned solutions belong to top-class music devices in the companies’ portfolio.

Samsung F330 is an image solution, rather than a musical one; all of the latest generation models of the company that we have mentioned more than once possess exactly the same musical capabilities. The novelty has no advantages over them, except for a sales package. The model will hit the shelf at the turn of November - at the beginning of December, 2007 at a price of about 260 euros. That is F330 automatically gets in a niche between U600 and ?840, and if U600 is a more balanced solution as a whole (a high-quality camera, better ergonomics at a minor difference in price), then ?840 is a less interesting alternative in such comparison. It is the author’s subjective opinion that first of all the successful design is sure to provide a stable but moderate demand for the device. In the company’s product range F330 just enlarges an assortment. At that it is not a key model in any segment; this part is rather assigned to some other devices.

SMAPE’s opinion
Samsung F330 is a rather affordable music slider offering a high quality of sound, a very interesting design, however the software platform is far from being perfect, and the model isn’t remarkable for anything special against the background of other modern devices by Samsung.

+ High quality of sound
+ Remarkable design
+ 3G support
+ Well-balanced dimensions
- Controversial touch-sensitive controls
- Relatively short battery life
- Easily soiled surface
- Not the most powerful software platform Originally posted at Smape

Review by Iliya Solovyev (smape.com)

Right now Nokia 5310 XpressMusic is the series’ most affordable offer, its price is RM200 lower than 5610, but at the same time the musical capabilities retain the same level, no compromise on this front at all. That effectively means an audio quality no lower than that of Nokia 6500 Classic (and maybe even higher), a maximized mp3 playback cycle when it comes to battery life and comfortable player controls. Effectively the model is a musical incarnation of Nokia 6500 classic, sporting more ergonomics and balance between the functionality and the price.

Thus sporting characteristics like that (and combined with a price quite affordable to the target audience) Nokia 5310 makes one of the best solutions available in this segment. A perfect balance between the price and the functionality is achieved, the handset is very slim, compact-sized and brightly coloured, the controls are very usable and the audio quality is unbelievably high for such a price - an evident bestseller.

Design and ergonomics.
The model makes use of the candy bar form factor, the thickness is mere 9.9 mm. The dimensions are very compact and so is the weight, once you put it into the pocket you can hardly feel it resting there. That’s just the way a perfect music phone should be - small and light, easily carriable even in the smallest pocket.The design of Nokia 5310 is more on the neutral side than flashy. The bright small pieces of red or blue color are still harmonical with the rest of the elements; these insertions are made from painted aluminium, the paint is strong enough to have endured a few weeks of testing without even the slightest scratch or worn spot appearing over the course of tests.

The build quality is rather high, there’s no play between the parts and the body doesn’t screech even if squeezed hard. The quality of the plastic is quite sufficient, the most part of the phone’s surface sports a matte texture resistant to fingerprints. The back panel is made of durable dark grey plastic with a dotted texture and a subtle relief which help to conceal the scratches and worn spots, and also gives the device some intriguing and original looks. The back panel hosts the camera lens (2 Mp), there are neither a flash nor a lens guard. The camera module is quite cheap, the same is used in Nokia 6300, 6500 Classic, 7500 Prism and a number of other Nokia handsets not focused on the imaging aspect. The back surface is also the home to the polyphonic speaker. The company claims some stereo capability for these model, though in reality it’s hardly perceptible and in a way muffled, soundling much like mono. The side edges of the handset, the top edge to be more precise, are more abundant in details. The 3.5 mm standard headset jack is located there, you can use almost any headset with this phone. This standartization is only to the benefit of any music phone since the customer isn’t limited to using only the headset that came in the box. The location of the jack is also quite well-thought, due to it you experience no discomfort when carriyng the phone in the pocket with the headset plugged in. A certain question arises, what on earth makes other companies move the headset jack to one of the side edges where it can pose certain discomfort? As compared to SonyEricsson W880i and the rest of the recent SE phones, Nokia 5310 seems to be far more useable and ergonomically trouble-free. Of course, ergonomics is quite a subjective factor, but placing the headset jack on the side is something that is reported to be a really bad idea by a large number of buyers, leading to certain inconveniences while the handset is carried in the pocket. In addition to the headset jack, the top edge hosts the microUSB port protected with a plastic flap, it’s fully analogous to the same element of 6500 Classic. The profile switch button is found right nearby.The bottom edge is completely deprived of any control elements or slots, the right edge hosts the volume rocker (with a wristband holder nearby), the left edge is the base to the slim charger slot. The memory card slot is hidden beneath the battery cover, hot swapping is possible. The device supports card capacities up to 4 Gb, and the common sales package includes a 2 Gb memory card.

The keyboard is quite traditional, made from smooth black plastic. The buttons are big and easy to press, the keystroke is firm and the feedback is accurate, the backlighting is of a white color. The navigation button uses the same material, it’s also easy to operate and poses no problems at all. In addition to the traditional set of buttons, to the left of the screen the three dedicated player control buttons reside, those are made of plastic unlike what we observed with the 5300 models, they’re quite comfortable to operate too. The dedicated controls retain their functionality regardless of the currently launched application, i.e. even if you’re typing an SMS message or browsing through menus these buttons still work as they’re supposed to in the player mode, it’s possible to switch the tracks anytime. In the standby mode, the player is launched by pressing the central Play/Pause button.
Screen
The screen is of a standart type common for the latest generation of Nokia phones, effectively being a two-inch QVGA matrix powered by the TFT technology, with a pallete of up to 16M colors. The matrix quality is very high, being one of the best found in its class. Comparing the screen to that of SonyEricsson W880i, it becomes evident that both feature almost the same high level of quality, but the advantage (because of a larger diagonal) still belongs to 5310. The brightness levels are automatically adjusted by the integrated luminance sensor (located near the speaker), this element is increasingly becoming a common feature of all the Nokia casual phones (earlier found mainly with smartphones, but things seem to have changed). The mirror backing of the screen matrix eliminates the inconveniences potentially posed by the direct sunlight, the latest Nokia phones are the evident leaders in this aspect. Even while exposed to direct sunlight, the screen remains perfectly legible no matter how hard the light is.
Battery
The model utilizes a battery of an innovative type, that is BL-4CT 860 mAh, as claimed by the manufacturer its full charge is sufficient to provide a total of 12,5 days of standby or 4,3 hours of talk time, in reality that stands for about two days of moderate usage (up to one hour of talk, an hour and a half of working with camera and the menus and two or three hours of listening to the music). Quite a decent result yet nothing above this.But as for the mp3 playback, the results become more impressive. The thing is that the 5610 on par with 5310 are the next-gen music phones, and the engineers had total success in saving the charge whenever possible, resulting in very low consumption rates during continous mp3 playback cycle. Probably the cause for this is the dedicated DSP (Digital Signal Processor) of a new type which also includes an energy saving chip. While listening to the music only (with the rest of the features unused or turned off), Nokia 5610 stood for about 20 hours without recharging (the company claim some 22 hours), and Nokia 5310 was able to stand for 18 hours 40 minutes of continuous mp3 playback without recharging, which is an astonishing achievement for a handset as slim and compact as that. This is sure to satisfy the absolute majority of consumers, and makes a good start for the future Nokia models which deal with music which are bound to feature comparable values in this area. The three aspects became primary for the Nokia engineers when it comes to musical gadgets: the battery life, the audio quality and the usability of controls.

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic Battery

Model	Nokia 5310 XpressMusic	Sony Ericsson W880i
Regular duty cycle	2 days	3 days
Multimedia cycle, video (3GP)	3:50	3:45
Multimedia cycle, audio (MP3)	18:40	16:35

Connectivity
The type of interface slot used in Nokia 5310 (just like in 6500 Slide and all the newer models) is microUSB, the slot is placed at the top edge of the body. The MicroUSB data cable is found in the sales package. The slot isn’t protected by a flap or something. The data transfer rate is comparable to the majority of devices utilizing the microUSB standard, for instance a simple file copy test produced a result of 650 Kb/s. The USB protocol version is 2.0, the Mass Storage mode is fully supported, you can choose out of the following modes: Mass Storage, PC Suite, Modem Connection. The handset doesn’t go offline when used in the Mass Storage mode which is an evident plus. Unlike 6500, the phone doesn’t recharge when plugged to the PC via cable.

The device is designed to operate in GSM 850/900/1800/1900 networks as well as in WCDMA 850/2100 ones, there are no differences from 6500 Slide here. Both GPRS and EDGE Class 10 are supported.

The Bluetooth protocol version is 2.0 + EDR, all of the main profiles are supported: AVRCP, DUN, FTP, GAP, GAVDP, GOEP, HFP, HSP, OPP, SAP, SDAP, SPP, A2DP. The availability of the A2DP profile allows the usage of a wireless stereo headset - a feature standard for a modern handset. The extras include the adjustable Bluetooth visibility timeout (varying from one minute to one hour), however there’s no setting that would allow to automatically shut down the running Bluetooth service completely after a specified period of time.

User Interface
Nokia 5310 Xpress Music, in a manner similar to the rest of the latest Nokia phones, is based off the fifth revision of the Series 40 hardware platform. A series of previous articles contained detailed explanations of the features found with S40v5, and the 5610 is not an exeption. The only thing that differs is the graphical representation of the application interfaces, and for the rest all the features are virtually the same. In order to keep a consistent theme linking the exterior design with the menu graphics, the Nokia designers did their best at picking a style and a color scheme for the menus, the player and the radio skins that would complement the exterior, for instance the black-and-blue version of the handset has the black and blue colors dominating in all the preinstalled menu themes and player skins, and this is perfectly true for the black-and-red version as well. The themes look quite harmonical and aren’t to flashy. Each theme comes with a unique screensaver.
Series 40 v5 was announced on May 7, 2007. Among the key features the latest MIDP upgrade (2.1) and JSR-248 support were mentioned. Upon the first glance, the differences aren’t that noticeable in comparison with the previous revisions and might appear totally inperceptible to the user, but from the developer’s point of view it’s a great step forward. JSR-248 was finalized by the end of 2006 (on December, 21 the final build was finished) with the backup of Vodafone who helped to develop a Java specifications package universally compatible with all kinds of third-party software. JSR-248 is also regarded as one of the key elements of the S60 platform effectively providing a high level of mutual compatibility between software developed for the S40 and S60 Series products.The MIDP 2.1 update also allows the complementary use of dedicated multimedia controls in miscellaneous Java applications (for instance, Nokia 5300 can’t have its buttons acting as controls anywhere outside the corresponding media applications, but this limitation won’t apply in any of the future models).

The following features were added as compared to the previous revision of the platform: Java APIs for Bluetooth (JSR-82) were updated to v1.1; Mobile Media API (JSR-135) gained access to the radio and a number of other multimedia aspects that can now be fully engaged in Java applications; the introduction of the SATSA-CRYPT0 package in the Security and Trust Services API (JSR-177); enhanced 3D sound support for Java applications (JSR-234); Adope Flash Lite player updated to v2.1.

Series 40
The changes are quite significant, the main focus being the higher compatibility between applications and platforms alike. The software support for dedicated media controls as secondary controls in miscellaneous applications is another great step forward. The future feature packs are estimated to extend the functionality of the fifth revision of the platform even further though no radical changes can be expected.

As for the finished product, it won’t appear to the end user anywhere different from the previous versions of the platform. The user interface has undergone almost no changes. The player and the radio get a few extra features though all the controls remain the same, and the Go-To active standby mode isn’t changed at all - however its possibilites are already maximized at the moment, so wishing more hardly makes any sense. If you don’t like lots of indicators and shorcuts on your mobile desktop during standby, the active standby mode can be manually deactivated.

In the standard view the active standby mode engages a row of icons serving as shortcuts to 5 applications (the number is customizable and the icon bar is scrollable, should there be too many icons to be displayed on the screen simultaneously). It’s needless to say that it’s absolutely up to the user to select the applications regardless of their native or third-party status. For instance, a custom ICQ client can be as easily given a shortcut on the bar as an embedded function like the Galley. Up to three applications can be set to submit statistical data to the screen while in the active standby mode. By default, these are the mp3 player/radio, calendar and reminders. The player shows the current playback status, the calendar displays the daily schedule and current tasks (and is also browsable with the navigation button without having to interrupt the standby status, just press left and right to scroll through event records associated with the current date). The reminder is just a custom piece of text which stays on during standby. The rest of applications which can submit stats to the screen include the timer, the regular status indicators and the My Presence application. The order in which the data tabs follow is also customizable, and the number of lines can be decreased at will. In other words, everything is fully customizable, ranging from an empty to an info-packed screen in the standby mode. The Active menu is an addition to the active standby mode, which also hosts a number of application bookmarks.

The main menu, similar to a number of newer Nokia models, has a total of four viewing modes available: list, icons, footnoted icons, tabs. The regular list and icons aren’t much of a sensation though the two latter modes are quite interesting and new. The font size is only customizable for the three applications: Messages, Contacts and Internet, just as it used to. Quick jumping between the icons is done by pressing the associated numeric keys or via the voice control feature, which doesn’t require any learning curve.

The menu items can be swapped in a custom order (though sumbenu items are tightly fixed so you won’t be able to customize the order for them). Almost any function can be accessed through a couple of keystrokes, this is equally true for the active standby mode which reserves three directions of the navigation button for acting as application shortcuts and the fourth direction serves to browse through the Go-To tabs.Call service
The phonebook capacity didn’t change from Series 40 v5 and is limited to 1000 contact records, each record can store up to 5 phone numbers. The contact memory isn’t dynamical, once you add a contact record with a single associated phone number it eats up a full one cell in the memory - just as much as a record with 5 phone numbers would take. However a 1000 record limit practically means no limits for most humans - even the businessmen hardly ever happen to have more than two hundred contacts in their phonebooks. The five phone numbers are Generic, Cell Phone, Home, Video, Work and Fax. The Address field prompts you to specify the street/city/region/ZIP code/country formula, the e-mail field does just what its name suggests, the online/offline status indicator is quite self-explaining, the note field stores a short text note, the image option allows to assign a picture to the contact record, and the video option does the same but lets using a video. Each contact record can be given an individual ringtone.

There are three viewmodes available for the contact book - List of Names, Name and Number, Name and Picture. The call icon size is rather large and can actually take up almost the whole screen with the person’s name and number displayed overriding this picture when an incoming call pops up. If the picture is too bright, you risk not being able to see those clearly. The VideoID function means that a custom video clip can be set for playing each time this particular person calls you. If both a picture and a video are specified, the video is preferred, and the ringtone is replaced for the video’s soundtrack.

Up to 25 user groups can be created in the phonebook, though no group presets are available. A single contact can be a member of more than one group. If a contact has a specific ringtone associated, this will override the group’s ringtone. The group affiliation is indicated right in the contacts list, indicated by a corresponding icon. The speed dial is quite a standard feature, the numericals from 2 to 9 are used as the shortcuts.

The call log shows all types of calls, - that is dialed, received, missed alike, - and every call record comes with a small icon which indicates the call type. That’s quite practical, you can see all the calls and and the same time be aware of the call type for each individual call record. You can extract the phone number right from a call log record and create a phonebook record based upon that number immediately. Also you can select a call log record to send a message to that particular number, view the call time and date, duration and so on.

Messaging
The Message service includes SMS, MMS and E-mail, audio messages and quick messages. SMS is just the good old SMS services save for the small addition of a shortcut bar for immediate access to the media content. The message view/send interface went through a few cosmetical changes that basically affect nothing. You are still able to insert into the message contact numbers and names, emoticons, change the message type from SMS to MMS and backwards - the overall usability is a bit higher than it used to be, you no longer have to call on the contextual menu. In the message editor you can always insert a text template, an audio fragment, an image or a video clip. Once you add something of the kind to an SMS, it’s automatically converted into an MMS.

The message system features a call log of its own, it’s a list of the most frequently called people of sorts, so if you write to someone frequently, the corresponding contact record is sure to appear somewhere in the upper sections of the list, so you just have to open this list and select that person prior to sending a message to them, instead of looking them up in the regular phonebook. That’s quite comfortable due to the obvious reason that the phonebook’s list of contacts is usually much longer and way more complicated than a simple list of people to whom you often send messages. The call log’s recent records are also added to this list, which only improves the usability further. A message can be sent to a whole user group. There’s also an option that lets you specify a default (a.k.a. ‘favorite’) phone number to which all the messages will be sent automatically unless specified otherwise by choosing another number.The MMS-service is quite standard, the interface was changed a bit though the impact on the functionality is equal to zero - a pure aesthetical improvement. The message size limit is 300 Kb. A specific setting will automatically resize the image attachments to fit in, if activated. The voice messages are just automated MMS messages which work in the following manner: first he voice recorder is launched, and then the record is over it’s immediately wrapped into an MMS message ready for sending. Then you specify the recepient and you’re done.

The integrated e-mail client supports the POP3/IMAP4/SMTP/APOP protocols. Attachments are fully supported and automatically recognized by type. The mail delivery options are: load message headers only; specify the message size limit; the secure authorization method; the default encoding. Image attachments can either retain their original size or downscaled to 1280?960, 640?480, 320?240 or 120?160.

The text copy and paste function first emerged in Feature Pack 1 devices like Nokia 6132, 6233. The access to this function is only granted from the the contextual menu because there’s no dedicated text edit button that is inherent to most S60 smartphones, which is far from being comfortable, yet the very possibility of text copying and pasting is a big plus.

The message settings (global parameters, SMS, MMS, E-Mail settings) include such features as sent messages saving, the possibility to change the font (tiny, small, normal and large), support for smilies and icons. An MMS message has a resolution limit for image attachments of 640×480, though you can always start an MMS-plus message which sports no limits at all.

On the whole, the messaging service is quite good, everything’s up to the modern level, we were never able to spot any serious problems on this front.

PIM
The personal information manager comprises the following applications: Calendar, Tasks, Reminders, Timer, Stopwatch. The calendar supports viewing the data either by month or by week, the latter variant also submits hourly schedule for each weekday. Five types of events (meeting, call, anniversary, note, reminder) are available, recurring events are supported, any event can be given an expiration period ranging from one day to one month, after which