Samsung S5603 Star 3G
Maxabout Review
Feature Rich & Affordable
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Photos
Samsung S5603 Star 3G
Samsung India has expanded its touchscreen phones series by launching Samsung Star, Samsung Star 3G and Samsung Beat DJ full touchscreen phones. The company claims that Samsung Star leads its affordable full touchscreen phones category.
Samsung S5603 Star 3G is a stylish and compact 3G enabled handset with a QVGA touchscreen. Its 3.2 megapixel camera comes with a power LED flash. It has 80 MB internal memory that can be expanded up to 8GB. It has been priced at Rs. 14500.00 which makes it the most affordable and feature rich touchscreen 3G handset available in India.
The touch screen responds very well to the fingers though the stylus does not work properly in most cases. The front panel of the S5603 has earpiece just above the screen as in most of the mobile phones and the light sensor and the secondary video call camera on the right.
The calling keys, the back button and the power buttons are properly placed below the screen. The back button looks like a D-pad and can be mistaken as navigation key. Since the S5603 does not has a navigation key so the users need to manually browse through the menu with their fingers.
There is an all in one jack for the USB connection, charging and the hands free which is a big disadvantage since nothing else can be used while the phone is getting charged.
The left side of the phone has got the volume rocker which doubles up as zooming rocker for the text and the camera. On the right side of the phone is placed the screen-lock key and below that the camera key. The back has got a 3.0 megapixel camera with LED flash and speakers at the bottom left.
Star 3G comes with a unique Gesture Control feature that allows the user to unlock the Touch screen or run an application just by giving a gesture command. Thus, the phone allows the user to customize the applications to a great degree. E.g. for calling your friend, you don’t need to search his /her number in the contacts list .Just give a gesture command (A, B or C as per your preference and setting) - the phone will recognize the command and dial the number simultaneously.
In addition, the user can also customize various applications like C- Call, M – Music, I – Internet etc.The phone also features music recognition using Shazam’s “Find Music” service.It also lets one browse the web with its incorporated accelerometer that facilitates auto-rotation.
The 3.0 megapixel camera is pretty standard, though the viewfinder quality is quite nice and clear. It can shoot 9 consecutive shots with a single click. The Panaroma feature can stitch upto 6 frames. The Smile Detection feature also comes in handy.
There are 6 scene modes including text mode, where users can capture pictures of mewspapers and magazines for a clearer view of the text. The max resolution can be set to 2048×1536. Videos can be shot at 15 frames per second with a 320×240 resolution. Pictures can be added to the phonebook for photo contacts.
The Samsung Star 3G S5603 is a full fledged media box with enough storage due to the expandable MicroSD card. Its FM reception is pretty good. For the game lovers, the phone is loaded with games like Tumbling Dice, Party Bubble Popper, Crazy Penguine, Pyramidbloxx and Monopoly World. These games are entirely based on motion and touch detection.