SAMSUNG Monte (GT-S5620) as a phone sits somewhere between a smartphone and a regular phone. I felt this way as I was using it because it featured a capacitive touchscreen. A capacitive touchscreen is usually found on a smart multi-touch device. Touchscreen devices are usually capable of operating in portrait and landscape modes, but the Monte works only in portrait orientation with text input through a keypad interface. You won’t find a landscape virtual keyboard which is a pity. This design limitation may be due to the screen width and resolution.
The display rendered colours well thanks to the 262 thousand colours display. The screen uses a not so common resolution of 240 by 400 pixels, but this is higher than even some of the latest smartphones from competing manufacturers. The slightly higher resolution gives the Monte an advantage of displaying slightly larger text fonts on the 3-inch wide screen. I found this a useful for my ever worsening eyes.
When I first held the Monte I was really attracted to how well it fits into my palm. It was a comfortable fit that I’m sure Samsung engineers took time to develop. The back was tapered ever so slightly and the bottom rounded off. The design was not just a symmetrical shape that went after looks and I commend Samsung for this design. Samsung did well to incorporate and maximize the design as you see from the metallic orange highlight on the sides. (*Please check stores for colour availability.)
Keeping a familiar button layout as Samsung’s Jet and Blue Earth, the micro USB port for charging and transfer can be found on top with a 3.5mm headphone jack next to it. On the right-hand side the Lock button and camera shutter button. Hidden behind a cover is the micro SD card slot. The left-hand side has the volume up/down rocker switch and a hole from which dangling accessories can be hung.
The internals, at least what internals accessible by a user from the rear, reveals a mechanism I like. It is a spring loaded slot-in for the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card. This design feature made it simple to insert my SIM without having to dig out the battery pack. Something I often have to do with other phones.
Operation of the phone was easy as I’m already familiar with the Samsung Jet. But new users shouldn’t worry because there has been some UI changes for the better and that makes it very easy to navigate. I really liked the numeric representation at the top of the screen indicating which virtual screen workspace is in focus. Previously, it was simply a short line. Activation and access to the built-in apps and widgets is done through a simple named button named, Widget. The widgets then appear from the bottom and you can flick to scroll what is available. A big improvement over the system used in the Jet.
Digging through the program icons I found something interesting and potential buyers may consider it to be the deal maker for getting the Monte. It is labeled ‘Dictionary’. It is a nifty English-to-English, English-to-Chinese or Chinese-to-English electronic dictionary. Other than the Dictionary I liked the fact that more of the Widgets are not just browser links.
As a Social Media networking device the Monte is equipped with the usual applications so don’t worry about being left out or falling behind all your friends' status updates. I was able to connect to and post updates using either my 3G network connection or the built-in Wi-Fi.
Google Maps, Mail and Search is included and works well. The browser installed is the Dolfin webkit browser version 1.5 and should suffice for most users. It maintains the single-handed, one-finger zoom in/out. An interesting inclusion for the browser is the ability to operate in landscape mode but the text input for inputting search text, usernames and or passwords remains as numeric keypad style and not a horizontal qwerty keyboard.
The Monte serves up a friendly connected experience but doesn’t go so far as being a smartphone and that is cool because not everyone wants a smartphone. The 3.2-megapixel camera may disappoint some as it doesn’t include a LED or xenon flash. As with Samsung’s camera software, the panorama mode still stands out as one of the talking points. Reserve photo taking with the Monte to the bright sunny outdoors.
|
Posted by JamCanSing
19-Apr-2010