Samsung B5310 CorbyPRO Disadvantages

Introduction

The S3650 Corby was just the beginning of a lineup that appears to have no visible end. There is a Corby for the touchscreen addicts, a Corby for the music buffs, Corby for the heavy texters, Corby for the young, and one for their parents. That’s pretty much everyone, don’t you think? We guess there should even be a Corby for the bored-with-the-Corby.

The founding member of the Corby wasn’t announced so long ago, but so much has been changed. Well, if you put the S3650 Corby and the recently announced B5310 CorbyPRO side by side you'll notice one thing that hasn't changed at all: design. But on the inside they are very different, indeed.

The Samsung CorbyPRO is meant for a different range of users altogether. It combines great texting and the intuitive touchscreen control tops that up with a nice connectivity package (such as HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS and a 3.5mm audio jack) and all that is delivered at a bargain price.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/EDGE
• Dual-band UMTS support with HSDPA
• 2.8" resistive TFT touchscreen of QVGA resolution
• Four-row side-slide QWERTY keyboard
• 150 MB onboard storage, microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
• 3.15 megapixel fixed-focus camera with smile detection, QVGA video @ 15fps
• FM radio with RDS
• Find Music recognition service
• TouchWiz and Cartoon UI
• Social networking integration with direct file uploads
• GPS with A-GPS support
• Wi-Fi and GPS
• 3.5mm audio jack
• Accelerometer sensor for screen auto rotation
• Office document viewer
• Excellent web browser
• Push email
• Smart unlock
• Replaceable rear covers (Fashion Jackets)

Main disadvantages

• Disappointing sunlight legibility
• The camera has no autofocus or flash
• Video recording maxes out at QVGA@15fps
• All preinstalled games are trial versions only
• Google Maps is the only GPS navigation app
• microSD slot is under the battery cover

The original Corby was all about design, about touchscreen, about budget. The CorbyPRO, on the other hand, has managed to keep all that but goes much further by adding some killer features that are well above the S3650 league.

For instance, now you get UMTS support with HSDPA which will dramatically boost web browsing. But the really big news here is Wi-Fi support. It is a great addition to the comfy QWERTY keyboard and the numerous social networking services that the phone gives you access to.

Samsung Armani Disadvantages

Samsung Armani review

f there's one thing the Samsung Armani phone has in abundance, it most definitely is style. Slim, compact and high-tech, the fully touch-operated Armani phone is not just the final touch to your look - it's the finish with a flourish. Anyway, with us the tech junky tends to get the upper hand over the fashion savvy, and we are eager to find out if there's more to it than what meets the eye. The really promising Samsung Armani phone seems the right mix between technology and looks, but we're more interested in how it fares as a gadget, not an accessory.

Key features:

• Stylish looks and high-quality build
• Small dimensions and compact "card" form factor
• 2.6" touchscreen TFT display with QVGA resolution
• Vibrating haptic response
• microSD memory card slot
• Stereo Bluetooth
• 3 megapixel camera
• Office documents viewer
• Rich retail accessories

Main disadvantages:

• Slow interface response
• Slow memory card reading
• Awkward web browser controls
• No 3G support
• No camera auto focus

The model designation that hides behind the Samsung Armani name is actually Samsung P520. That alone may be enough of a hint that the Armani phone is an offshoot of the Samsung P-series. The Samsung Armani has inherited the same form factor and has the same size and weight as the Samsung P310 for example.

The Samsung Armani phone comes in two retail packages - standard and extended . The difference between the two is the Bluetooth headset in the bigger one.

The standard contents of the retail box are a hard leather case, charger, data cable, memory card, a wired stereo headset, soft pouch as an alternative to the leather case and, finally, a cleaning cloth.

All the contents of the box look really classy and are all Giorgio Armani branded. The user guide has the most exquisite covers we've seen, for example.

So after you've had a taste of what's coming, you are welcome to hop aboard and stay with our Samsung Armani phone review right after the jump.

Nokia X6 Disadvantages

Introduction

In the world of Nokia it's all about evolution, rather than revolution. So don't expect the specs on the X6 to blow your mind. The handset is the next step for the market leader scrambling to make up for a late start in touch- screens. To be honest, the Symbian S60 touch edition has been struggling to catch up with the standard setters in terms of user experience. And the X6 claims to have the answer: the responsiveness only a capacitive screen can bring.

Nokia X6 official photos

The Nokia X6 is also the first XpressMusic handset to head straight for the high-end. Midrange is the highest the music Finns have gone so we are interested to see how this change of approach works. Nokia have always had a strong appeal to the masses, but pleasing the selected few is undoubtedly harder.

Key features:

• Quad-band GSM support
• Tri-band 3G with HSDPA support
• 3.2" 16M-color TFT LCD 16:9 capacitive touchscreen (360 x 640 pixels)
• Symbian S60 5th edition UI
• ARM 11 434 MHz CPU, 128 MB of RAM memory
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash
• VGA video recording at 30fps
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology
• Built-in GPS receiver
• 32GB built-in storage
• FM radio with RDS
• Bluetooth and USB (standard microUSB connector) v2.0
• 3.5mm standard audio jack
• Very good audio quality
• Proximity sensor for screen auto turn-off
• Accelerometer sensor for automatic UI rotation and motion-based gaming
• Stereo speakers
• TV out
• "Comes with music" edition gives you a year of all-you-can-eat music subscription
• Landscape on-screen virtual QWERTY keyboard
• Ovi Maps 3.0 Touch
• Further Ovi and MySpace service integration (direct image and video uploads)
• Most regional retail packages include a set of the great Nokia WH-500 headphones

Main disadvantages:

• X6 is still quite pricey (around 500 euro at the time of writing)
• UI is still immature with somewhat inconsistent user experience
• Touch web browser not quite polished and with dodgy Flash support
• No voice-guided navigation license
• No office document viewer preinstalled
• Doesn't charge off microUSB
• Very poor sunlight legibility
• Slow image gallery
• No DivX/XviD support for the video player
• No microSD card slot (as a connectivity solution)

As you can see in the two lists above there is almost nothing new in the software package, so it all falls on the hardware to justify the high asking price. The well-stuffed retail package is a great place to start but does the capacitive screen improve usability enough to be worth the extra money over, say, the 5800 XpressMusic? And the difference in price is by no means trivial.

Nokia X6 at ours

In the increasingly competitive touchscreen market manufacturers don't have much room for error. The unpolished S60 UI is enough of a burden already, so Nokia X6 has to be near perfect in every other respect. A tall task indeed, but let's see how they've tackled it.

Nokia X3 Disadvantages

Introduction

The Nokia X3 is our first glimpse into the new Xseries and we’re excited to see how things have changed since XpressMusic ran the show. And they have changed, the new angular look is a testament to that. The S40 on the inside has changed as well, throwing Ovi Store and basic multi-tasking into the mix.

Currently the Xseries is composed of two completely different phones. The Nokia X6 is a touch phone running Symbian, and the X3 is an affordable Series 40 slider. It packs stereo speakers, excellent audio quality and a built-in FM radio antenna for a complete sonic experience. All right, we said affordable, so don’t go looking for top-notch gear beside the obvious full music package.

Nokia X3 introduces us to the Xseries

The Nokia X3 runs the Series 40 6th edition but it’s unlike any S40 handset we’ve seen before. For a brief, joyful moment, we thought Nokia have finally given in and added multitasking. The truth turned out to be different but still there were small steps taken in the right direction. And you should see what they’ve done with the Gallery – it’s only a notch bellow the S60 one.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and let’s take a look at the Nokia X3 pros and cons.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• 2.2" 262K color QVGA display
• 3.2 megapixel fixed focus camera
• S40 user interface, 6th edition; rudimentary multitasking
• Stereo FM radio with RDS; Built-in antena (so it plays on the loudspeakers even if you don’t plug the headset)
• Stereo speakers
• Standard 3.5mm audio jack
• Up to 26 hours of music playback
• Bluetooth (with A2DP) and microUSB port
• microSD card slot (16 GB supported, 2GB included)
• Rich preinstalled application package
• Ovi Store, Ovi Maps and Ovi Share

Main disadvantages:

• No 3G connectivity
• Smallish display with poor viewing angles and sunlight legibility
• Slider action has an unpleasant plastic-on-plastic friction
• No accelerometer for screen auto rotation
• S40 interface feels clunky and out of date
• No true multitasking
• No smart dialing or an office document viewer
• A bunch of software bugs
• Video recording maxes out at QCIF@15fps

The specs look like nothing to be excited about but a shortish feature list never tells the whole story. So, think before you go “Nah, it sounds lame”, because you’ll be wrong about sound. We spent several days with it and now we’re ready to tell you the story behind those specs, the good, the bad and the ugly, the whole thing.

Do we have your interest? Good. Jump to the next page where we open the box and take a look at the Nokia X3. After the hardware inspection we’ll try to explain what the deal is with this multitasking-but-not-quite situation.

Nokia N900 Disadvantages

Introduction

It's crystal clear by now that the Nokia N900 has almost nothing to do with the traditional Nseries values. The full QWERTY side-slider may look similar to its double-digit mates but the Maemo experience is completely different. However, the N900 is not there for the mere sake of difference - a tablet and a phone, it tries to get

The internet tablet genes are strong in the Nokia N900 so connectivity and web-browsing are its greatest virtues. The large high-res display and great typing skills are the right kind of backup but we've seen plenty of similar packages already. We told you though - the N900 is different. It's a Maemo-powered phone with Mozilla browsing and all-you-can-eat connectivity. Call it good news, call it a good start or just call it good. Let's see if it calls back.

Key features

• 3.5" 65K-color resistive touchscreen of WVGA (800 x 480 pixel) resolution
• Maemo 5 OS
• State-of-the-art Mozilla-based web browser with Adobe Flash 9.4 support
• Slide-out three-row full QWERTY keyboard
• ARM Cortex A8 600MHz CPU, PowerVR SGX graphics accelerator; 256 MB of RAM
• Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support
• 5 MP autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and active camera lens cover
• WVGA (848 x 480 pixels) video recording @ 24fps
• 10 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA support
• Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
• 32GB onboard storage
• DivX and XviD video playback
• Foldable kickstand
• microSD card slot with microSDHC support
• Built-in accelerometer
• Proximity sensor
• 3.5 mm audio jack and TV-out
• FM Radio receiver, FM transmitter
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Solid audio quality
• Kinetic scrolling
• Contacts integration of Skype, Google Talk and other VoIP services
• Great build quality

Main disadvantages

• Large and heavy
• UI only works in landscape mode (for now)
• No video call capabilities, smart and voice dialing
• Outdated camera interface and features
• No preinstalled voice-guided SatNav application
• No voice recorder, no MMS, and no handwriting recognition
• No FM radio application (despite that the hardware's there)
• Limited third-party software availabilty
• Limited 3G support in the US (no AT&T)

In our preview we saw the Nokia N900 as a lean and mean browsing machine. This price range though has little to no room for one-trick ponies. The chubby phone/tablet will have to play its best and that's where Nseries come in. Of course, the Maemo has still to catch up with Symbian in terms of system expandability but the N900 is an Nseries handset and all-round service is implied.

One thing to definitely note about the Nokia N900 is the WVGA screen, which is not too frequent to see in other smartphones - platform limitations are hard to get around. There is of course the Vodafone 360 H1produced by Samsung and running LiMo, which even adds 16M-colors support, but it's very much a niche device. Now add the QWERTY keyboard, which turned out pretty comfortable despite the three-row layout, and things are starting to get there.

So, it's time we checked what the Nokia N900 can do for you and where it can possibly fail. A new OS (new to phones anyway) should be able to at least come close to the current crop of smartphone platforms and show a high enough development potential. For what we saw in our preview, the Maemo and the N900 may as well be even more ambitious. But if you take nothing for granted you've come to the right place. Join us on the next page as we power up the N900 and the review unfolds.

Nokia N97 Disadvantages

Nokia N97 review

They don't get any bigger than that. A launch of this caliber can aptly be called inauguration day. The release of Nokia N97 is the Nseries counter-move that geeks have been waiting for since November. Easily one of the most complete smartphones ever created, the N97 has been haunting Symbian buffs' dreams for quite a while.

We're about to see if this feature-loaded son of a gun is the stuff dreams are made of and if it has the gut to stand up to the best on the market. The 5800 XpressMusic was cheap enough to easily be forgiven a couple of shortcomings but the N97 is not the begging type. Nokia-faithfuls are used to only getting the best treatment, so they won't settle for less with the Nseries skipper.

Key features

• Slide-n-tilt 3.5" 16M-color resistive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and lens cover (VGA@30fps video recording)
• Symbian OS 9.4 with S60 5th edition UI
• Slide-out three-row full QWERTY keyboard
• ARM 11 434MHz CPU and 128 MB of RAM
• Quad-band GSM support and 3G with HSDPA support
• Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS (plus 3 months of free voice-guided navigation via Ovi Maps)
• Digital compass
• Class-leading 32GB onboard storage
• microSD card slot with microSDHC support
• Built-in accelerometer
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• TV out
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS, FM transmitter
• microUSB port and stereo Bluetooth v2.0
• Web browser has full Flash and Java support
• Nice audio reproduction quality

Main disadvantages

• The S60 5th edition UI still has poor ergonomics and is not as thumbable as expected
• Camera features are so two-thousand-and-late
• No DivX or XviD support out-of-the-box
• No smart dialing
• Somewhat limited 3rd party software availability
• No office document editing (without a paid upgrade)

Obvious from the list above, the Nokia N97 hardly puts anything new on the table. It is however a bold try to fit all of today's top features under one hood and offer a nice ride at that. This certainly is an ambitious task by itself but the ever-expectant Nseries fans, who always want something new on their next handset, make it even harder. The Nokia N97 will need to be near flawless to get a warm welcome.

Nokia N97 will also be a major test for the still quite young (or immature if you want) S60 5th edition UI. The growing pains were expected and acceptable in the 5800 XpressMusic, but it's been 8 months since. The time is long enough in mobile phone terms and the market leader is simply expected to have had everything figured by now.

The disappointing N96 does owe Nokia some and the N97 will - among other things - probably have to cover its debts too. Join us on the next page as we take a peek inside the retail box of the new Nseries sovereign and complete our ergonomics rundown.

Nokia N97 mini Disadvantages

Introduction

The Nokia army of touchscreen smartphones gets larger by the hour and the Nokia N97 mini is surely one of the most interesting new recruits. The Finnish company has obviously reconsidered its priories and now focuses on optimization, rather than expansion with its flagships.

The original Nokia N97 was the first sign of that as it hardly offered any ground-breaking features, instead relaying on the good all-round performance. However the first high-end S60 touchscreen handset left enough room for another similar handset in the portfolio and Nokia feel that its downsized version is enough to fill the gap.

Key features

• Slide-n-tilt 3.2" 16M-color resistive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and VGA@30fps video recording
• Symbian OS 9.4 with S60 5th edition UI with kinetic scrolling
• Slide-out three-row full QWERTY keyboard
• ARM 11 434MHz CPU and 128 MB of RAM
• Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G with 3.6Mbps HSDPA support
• Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
• Digital compass
• 8GB onboard storage
• microSD card slot with microSDHC support
• Built-in accelerometer
• 3.5 mm audio jack and TV-out
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.0
• Web browser has full Flash and Java support
• Nice audio reproduction quality
• Office document viewer

Main disadvantages

• The S60 touch UI is still inconsistent
• Outdated camera interface and features
• No DivX or XviD video support out-of-the-box
• No smart dialing
• No office document editing (without a paid upgrade)
• No camera lens protection
• No FM transmitter (though that may be stretching it too far)

Nokia N97 mini vs Nokia N97

• More compact (113 x 52.5 x 14.2 mm, 75 cc vs 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm, 88 cc)
• Lighter (138g vs 150g)
• Smaller display (3.2" vs 3.5")
• Less internal memory (8GB vs 32GB)
• Smaller battery (1200 mAh vs 1500 mAh)
• No lens cover
• No FM transmitter
• Arrow keys vs D-pad

The N97 mini has quite a task on its hands, constantly being compared to the moe high ranking Nokia N97 even though it comes later to the market. As usually happens in such cases, the price difference that would have been present if both handsets were launched simultaneously is reduced and the balance of powers has shifted.

Still the reduced display (and mostly body size) is a welcome change for many users, who used to find the Nokia N97 intolerably bulky. We certainly hope it's got a few tricks up its sleeves so it can put up the original N97 a good fight and differentiate enough beyond size and pricing. Well, we're about to check that and much more in one of our trademark reviews, starting with the unboxing on the next page.