Phones you can afford

GIZMO GALLERY

Samsung launches high-on-utility, low-in-cost handsets.

Samsung's latest attempt to lure the masses lacks technological oomph. Take, for instance, Samsung E210 which is priced at Rs 6,999.

If you do not want e-mail capability, web access, and a QWERTY keyboard, maybe this 16.5 mm-thin flip phone is for you. The battery life is standard 6 hours, and the internal memory of 17MB needs a boost by external memory cards.

The E210 is definitely more responsive than Motorola KRZR (if you remember it). The dimensions of E210 are like those of modern clamshells, sliders and candy-bars.

In size and physical appearance, the model looks similar to Nokia 8800. The E210 is high on design, though its features are barely impressive. The camera module, a 1.3 megapixel, appears mediocre when compared with Nokia 6300.

Samsung's M600 and J600 too have been introduced in the market to compete with the Nokia and Motorola mass market line-up. Samsung J600 falls under the category of economical trendy handsets, with its price tag reading Rs 7,249 only.

This TriBand GSM handset does bear some resemblance to LG Chocolate. It can suit most pockets, just like LG's Chocolate that retails at around Rs 8,000.

The J600 weighs 92 gm and is a sliding handset with a 1.3 mega pixel camera. It has a 65k colour TFT screen which is a standard nowadays for all entry-level phones. The packaging is such that the phone looks anything but cheap.

But if you are looking for a phone that will deliver multimedia capabilities, then these phones can disappoint. Samsung has stuck at the base level considering the features, but for design, the company has left no stone unturned. Samsung J600 comes with a memory card slot, as the internal memory of 20 MB is clearly insufficient for a phone with 1.3 megapixel camera.

The J600 comes with its own set of drawbacks. For instance, without copying MP3 files to phone memory, in case they are stored on the memory card, one cannot use the tone as ringtone.

It cannot open pictures which are more than 1280 x 1024 pixels in resolution. There are only four in-built playlists available for playing songs and that with only 30 songs capacity each. The MP3 player on the phone cannot be played in the background.

Samsung's budget phones have all the ingredients that make a success story among the young and those looking at affordable devices. For instance, all three phones are bundled with polyphonic ringtones, one can also download MP3 tracks.

Available in trendy colours, all three phones have security features that can be used in distress or in the case of phone loss. The mobile tracker sends an SMS to two pre-designated numbers of your phonebook when the mobile thief changes the SIM card.

The Emergency SMS feature, on the other hand, can be used to send messages to up to 10 numbers in time of distress. The calls from these numbers would be automatically accepted to help in rectifying the situation. In a nutshell, the phone looks drool-worthy and has enough features to give other brands a run of their money but falters in basic areas such as technology.