Samsung REX 90 S5292

Overview

Flagship REX Series Phone

Samsung REX 90 Design and Build Quality

Available in brown and white, with a 3.5 inch TFT touch screen, Samsung REX 90 has a candy bar form factor with curved edges and dimensions of 113 x 61.9 x 11.9 mm. The face has three buttons along the bottom edge, with Call Attend, Home and Call End buttons aligned horizontally. The back of the phone has loudspeaker slots and a camera, with a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top and a mini USB port at the bottom.

User Interface and Comfort to Use Samsung REX 90

While the design and layout is neat, the Touchwiz UI interface installed on the phone will disappoint some users with its slow response, and the limited number of downloadable apps.

Telephony and Phonebook

Users can switch SIM cards without having to power down the device, thanks to Samsung’s True Hot Swap technology in addition to allowing a user to simultaneously make and receive calls with both lines.

Messaging and Emails

The phone has a total message storage capacity of up to 500 messages, and predictive text input. This is adequate for most users, but some heavy texters may find that constantly deleting messages for space is an unnecessary nuisance.

Gallery, Photo Viewer and Video Player

With 165 ppi pixel density, the phone’s 3.5 inch TFT screen gives acceptable display performance, while the video player supports most common formats. Lack of an ambient light sensor may make it difficult to view in certain lighting conditions.

Samsung REX 90 Music Player and FM Radio

The music player handles most music formats and the play lists are simple to create and use. The FM radio receiver allows for automatic radio on/ off, RDS data display and recording of broadcasts.

Samsung REX 90 Camera and Image Quality

The phone sports a 3.2 mega pixel rear camera that takes photos in resolutions up to 2048x1536 pixels, but lacks an auto focus feature. Lack of a flash also limits photo-taking capability at night.

Video Camera and Video Quality

The video camera offers an acceptable level of performance but has a low frame rate. There is a night mode that gives image enhancement in low-light conditions, but is unusable in dark situations.

Samsung REX 90 Connectivity Options

A microUSB port is located on the bottom of the phone, enabling high-speed data transfer with other devices in addition to Wi-Fi for connection to a wireless access point and a Bluetooth version 3.0 adapter.

Organizer and Other Utility Tools

There are a host of productivity apps preinstalled on the device including a calendar, file manager, task list, alarm, converter, and dictionary.

Samsung REX 90 Web Browser and Applications

The popular Opera Mini web browser comes preinstalled for internet access. Social apps included are ChatON, Yahoo Messenger, Gtalk, Facebook and Twitter.

Distinctive Features of Samsung REX 90

Supporting microSD card through a slot located on the left hand side of the phone, a REX 90 user can increase the phone memory up to 32 GB.

Value for Money

Retailing in India at a price of about INR 6490 (approx., may vary), it has a number of drawbacks, particularly the average performance of most of its features when compared to its direct competitors.

Verdict

The REX 90 is a feature phone that targets the entry level smart phone market, but unfortunately falls just short. The lack of 3G support, few downloadable apps and sub-par performance of its Java OS when compared with similar priced phones makes it hard to recommend.