Samsung i620 review

We have seen lots of phones from Samsung with slider form factor but this time it's a full hardware keyboard that is revealed when you slide the Samsung i620 out - the new mid-range smartphone running on the Windows Mobile 6 Standard edition. Packed with some exclusive features - a rotating D-pad wheel and sensor keys all over, you might as well be blown away by the one-off snowy white color too. So, it's compact, it's QWERTY, it's smartphone - yes this is really an offer you can't resist to play with - and neither do we. So grab yourselves something to drink and join us on this Samsung i620 review.

Official photos of Samsung i620

Key Features

• Windows Mobile smartphone
• Novel design and unusual form factor
• Compact dimensions
• 2.2" TFT display
• Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and HSDPA, 1.8 Mbps
• Rotating wheel and sensor front panel keys
• Full hardware QWERTY keyboard with sufficient backlight
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• 2 megapixel camera
• microSD card slot

Main disadvantages

• Landscape orientation is not common for applications
• No Wi-Fi
• No autofocus, mediocre camera performance
• TI OMAP 200 MHz processor struggles at times
• QWERTY keyboard has little tactile feedback
• Only 34MB storage memory available to the user

The Samsung "i" line of smartphones are obviously keeping us busy these days. And again, quite obviously, the i780 we recently tested and the i620 are poles apart. While the high-end PocketPC sure adds value to the Windows Mobile lineup of the company, the main point of i620 is the benefit of diversity. After all, Samsung i620 is an i600 in the slider form factor and short of Wi-Fi. Sadly, one of the defining traits of the device is an absence.
Samsung i620 handles very well. The touch-sensitive controls on the front and the rotating D-pad wheel make navigation a breeze.

Samsung i620
Ergonomics and friendly handling are a nice advantage of this smartphone, especially considering the space consuming QWERTY keypad slumbering under the slider.

Samsung F480 preview

It wasn't that long ago that Samsung introduced the F480 at the MWC in Barcelona. Have you been keeping track of our articles since, you would probably remember how impressed we were with this fella. In fact, Samsung F480 was one of best handsets to debut at the event formerly known as 3GSM. Therefore we deem it unfair that it's stayed out of the spotlight till now.

Samsung F480 official photos
Luckily, we are about to fix that. An out-and-out review is in the making but the most impatient of our readers can get a taster with this preview summarizing our first impressions of the handset. It will sure fall short of answering all your questions about performance but a quick peek won't hurt, right.
For starters, check out some Samsung F480 photos - beauty ain't it? As it turns out, there won't be two different versions of the handset as Samsung claimed with the first announcement. Instead, the leather case that was supposed to enfold the second version comes as an accessory in the retail package. This way, all you need to do to switch from leather to case-free is replace the battery cover. That's where the leather case is attached so there's no other way of removing it.

Samsung F480
We personally do appreciate the caseless version more but the more conservative user might think else. After all, the Samsung P-series earned quite a lot of fans for a good reason. So, no more small talk, let's get busy. We're back to the Samsung F480 ergonomics and construction after the jump.