Smartphone Thoughts: Plugged In with the Samsung i320 Smartphone

Figure 8: The navigation and call controls have all been assembled together in a line across the device. The softkeys are a little further from the screen than I would like, but overall it's a good layout.

The navigation control is a perfect size and shape for me. I find it really easy to navigate the menus or applications. Unlike some of the other Windows Mobile Smartphones, there's no chance of accidentally pushing a direction on the control pad when you actually meant to push in and select something. The Home key is shared with softkey 1 and the back key is shared with softkey 2. I would rather see these split into their own buttons, but to be honest, I haven't found myself pushing the wrong button by accident, at least not yet. The line between the top and bottom of the key will flash red when you get new mail or an incoming call. I've found this to be a great indicator when the phone is in silent and you want to be sure not to miss the next call. It would be nice if you could adjust the amount of flashing it does because it seems like a little too long. Currently it's 6 flashes per mail message or call. I would like to see it set to 3 or maybe 4 times. Again, this isn't a show stopper, it's a great feature, but it just flashes a little long for me.

All is not perfect in this small area of the phone. There's some little gremlin under the End key and the right softkey that seems to like to play games every now and then. I'm not sure if it's a faulty micro-switch or if it's just a matter of the side of my thumb pressing up against the End key when I try and push the right softkey. However, on occasion the phone will jump back the home screen when you're attempting to push the right softkey. By "on occasion" I mean once every 3-4 days. I spent some time being very careful about how I pushed those buttons to try and determine what the cause might be, but I wasn't able to find a solution. Doesn't happen all the time which makes it really hard to narrow down and determine the source. I would be interested to hear if anyone else has noticed this behavior too and what they've been able to determine.


Figure 9: The number one compliment I get when someone sees me using the i320 in public is for the screen. It's bright, sharp, and a really beauty.

The landscape screen on the i320 has just as many pixels as the your standard Windows Mobile 5, QVGA, portrait screen, and just as many as the HTC S620. The screen is physically a little smaller at 2.2 inches compared to the 2.4 inches on the T-Mobile Dash. I'm not sure if the 0.2 inch difference would result in much of a change when it comes to image clarity. That will have to wait until I have both devices in my hand and can do a comparison.

It's clear that this device is a looker. I don't think you can honestly say this is an ugly device, especially when you put it next to a BlackBerry. ;) So with that in mind, how does it handle voice. In my opinion, very well. I have spent a lot of time using the speakerphone on this device and the sound quality has been excellent. I've also noticed that conversations seems more clear and people have been surprised to hear that I'm on a mobile phone and not in the office. This is my first time using a Samsung phone, so this might just be the standard for Samsung devices. I don't know. I can tell you that HTC could stand to learn a thing or 2 from Samsung when it comes to call clarity.