Thursday, April 17, 2008

Review And Opinions about the Samsung I450

 

image

Dominating TV ads, newspaper columns as well as gigantic billboard signs around the this round thing we call earth,  is the new dual sliding I450 from Samsung, also dubbed "the poor man's N95". First announced in October 2007, some of you might feel that it's a little late for me to be blogging about this ...but after actually getting my hands on this baby I felt i just had to tell you guys about it!

I have mixed feelings about this phone, as part of me feels proud (as the owner of the world's first dual slider (N95-1) ) to see this mobile phone concept continue to be developed and looked upon by other mobile companies. Yet, there's also a part of me that feels a little envious about this cool phone and it's touch sensitive, turntable-like wheel revealed when you slide the phone down. ..how it's all smooth and sensitive, effortlessly browsing through music... but more about that later on. As a new member to the dual slider species, the Samsung I450comes with a 2 meg camera with LED flash, a secondary camera for video calls, FM radio, and even HSDPA for the Internet addicts. Feel like having a better understanding of this phone, read on, sir!

General

Samsung i450 may not be the most compact handset around but it certainly won't tear a whole in your pocket either. It stands at 102 x 50 x 17.9 mm, which is identical to Nokia N81 with only a millimetre of difference here and there - nothing to fuss over.

image image

The build quality of the Samsung i450 is good and high quality materials have been used for its finishing. The plastic is not too shiny, which makes it less prone to fingerprints. At least the fingerprints are hardly visible, except for the display area. We didn't fall in love with the slider mechanism. Not that it rendered any obstacles to usability but its spring was far too strained - resulting in an unusual rigidity when closing it. However that may as well be a subject to some fine tuning. The memory is expandable with a microSD and Samsung sets the limit at 4GB.

Another thing that surprises us is the fact that Samsung decided to use a Symbian Platform instead of their usual Java Rubbish, good choice! This will give users much, much more power and utilities to actually qualify it as a "device" and not a "phone" in this modern era. Just because it uses Symbian doesn't mean it equals the N95 however, especially since the I450 lacks WiFi, an accelerometer, graphic accelerators, and so on.

 

 

Music

image image image

 

Sliding the front panel down reveals the dedicated music controls - the Touch wheel key. It is a truly interesting and unprecedented feature. It allows easy browsing of the music player options for a more enjoyable sonic experience. While it looks like a fully mechanical key, in fact the Touch wheel key is a touch sensitive piece of machinery. Its response to touch works well, however the response to presses is not that fluent. It lacks positive feedback and it requires more pressure than one would expect from a touch-sensitive key. As this is meant to be a music device, Samsung obviously didn't care about using buttons instead, which could have double up for gaming and other functions (as on the N95).

image image

The 3.5mm stereo audio jack is placed on the top of Samsung i450, which, as we see it, is the most suitable spot for the purpose. Furthermore, it is hidden under a black plastic lid so that it runs with the general design lines. You cannot use that port for plugging a hands-free set, you should use the universal connectivity port for that purpose and the supplied retail hands-free set. Next to the audio jack are the loudspeaker and the power key. The power key is also used for changing the phone's profiles, locking it and removing the memory card.

imageimage  The default music player

image image Samsung's own music player

The music player looks exactly like on other Symbian 3rd edition devices. At least, that's what you may think when you first look at it. In fact there are two different music players on Samsung i450. The first one is accessed from the menu and has only minor differences from the one on Nokia's smartphones for example. The other one is activated by sliding the phone down. It is controlled with the dedicated Touch Wheel key and is definitely much better looking.

Being able to listen to your favourite tracks is one thing but playing them properly is completely different. Samsung teamed up with Bang & Olufsen to produce some killer speakers, yet we were somewhat surprised to see that the results of Samsung i450 weren't the best around - and that's something unusual for the South Korean manufacturer.

Now, don't get us wrong they are not bad by any means and are still able to outdo most handsets. However every single Samsung we have tested so far has been exceptionally good. Therefore we are somewhat confused that a supposedly music-oriented handset as i450 falls a little short of that achievement.

Display

image 
The display is not much of a treat. Samsung i450 is equipped with a 2.4" 256K colour display with QVGA resolution. It has good picture quality and made a decent impression overall. On a different note, sunlight legibility isn't among its strong sides and in a sunny day you will have some difficulties finding a proper angle for working with the phone.

Imaging & Photography

image image

image 

This is about as good as it gets, any larger and the pictures turn grainy

 

Samsung i450 is armed with a 2 megapixel camera with fixed focus and LED flash. Those surely aren't features to brag about and we're quite positive that the camera is the most disappointing piece of hardware in the phone. However, saying that without putting it to a test is by no means fair to this handset. 

image image image

Samsung i450 doesn't have the 3D rotating gallery of the Nokia N-series smartphones, which is our favourite among phones on this platform. Images and videos are presented in list view only. However, there are no differences in terms of functionality. You can view the pictures and videos both in portrait and landscape mode, as well as full screen. Once you pick a picture you can zoom on it and view it in greater detail. The actual zooming is also very fast, in line with the overall performance of the smartphone.

Key features
  • Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60 v3.1 UI
  • Dual slide design with unique Touch wheel key
  • 2.4" 256K colour TFT LCD display with QVGA resolution
  • 3G with HSDPA
  • 3.5mm standard stereo audio jack
  • microSD memory card slot reportedly accepting high-capacity cards
  • FM radio with RDS
  • Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
Main Disadvantages
  • No WLAN
  • Average display quality
  • Mediocre camera
  • No camera lens cover
  • 3.5mm jack cannot be used for plugging a hands-free set (sadly)

 

In a nutshell, the Samsung I450 is truly a cheap alternative for those who want a dual slider phone but can't afford an N95. Without GPS and WiFi, it certainly doesn't make it into the "what computer's have become" club. But with its above average sound quality, decent camera, and intuitive touch-sensitive wheel design, it is sure to be a winner for every Samsung Fan out there, as well as music lovers! Nokia and their line of Nseries devices can rest unshaken, but Sony Erricsson's Walkman series now has a worthy opponent.

No comments: