News
Issue #2002 - 36 (September 2002)
(Updated Sep. 25, 2002)

DEVICES

Samsung T100 Gets Good Reviews

Source: BBC online - Geoff Lynn acknowledged. 

The new all-colour SGH-T100 mobile phone from Samsung is a good example of the kind of device that will be dominating the shelves of mobile phone stores over the next few months. Phone manufacturers and retailers want to persuade you to replace your old mobile with a new phone that has a colour display, polyphonic ring tones, games, downloads and other interesting features. 

The question in my mind is not whether people will switch to colour mobiles, but more a matter of when and at what cost. If the T100 is anything to go by, that could be sooner rather than later. 

Star Trek look
The immediate appeal of the Samsung phone is that it has an exceptionally bright and clear screen, packed into a compact, stylish-looking, silver handset. 

It has been built in the clam-shell style that flips open so you can access the keyboard and screen, somewhat reminiscent of the communicators used in Star Trek by Captain Kirk and his cronies. 

You could probably even programme the voice recognition to understand the command "Beam me up, Scotty" if you were so inclined. 

T100 specifications 

• Size: 88 x 50 x 21.9 mm
• Weight: 94g 
• Up 80 minutes talk time  and Up to 60 hours standby

The space-age appearance of the phone is complimented by a small light near the antenna that flashes to tell you whether you have a text message, voice mail or have missed a call. 

The design has been clearly thought out to give the maximum space to the colour LCD display, while the keys are big enough to let you happily type text messages. 

The screen is 120 by 160 pixels and boasts up to 4,096 colours. This is easily good enough to display colour photographs. 

Having installed the PC link software, you can download some of your own images to set as new wallpaper. 

Missing features
You can also download new ring tones to impress your friends. As far as I can tell, polyphonic ring tones just means the phone has a wider repertoire of sounds to choose from, making your ring tones more musical and less like something you composed on a 1980s Casio organ.

Phone comes in a clam-shell design
There are three games installed, one of which - Y-Fighter is a passable arcade-style shoot-em-up. Certainly a huge advancement on Snake. 

The phone also has a calendar, alarm and to do list, although these appear to be token efforts rather than serious programs. 

The WAP function works well enough, although there is a slightly strange section called "information" which allows access to news and sport and the like. It is not apparent how you configure this to work. 

Sadly lacking is GPRS support - which would give you faster access to data services - Bluetooth, Infrared, multi-media services or picture messaging. 

I would not say these are fatal omissions in terms of the phone's appeal, but you can pretty much guarantee that Samsung will be bringing out a model that does have them in the next few months. 

The SGH-T100 currently costs between £50 and £180 depending on the network and contract arrangement.

For more information: www.samsung.com

MobileInfo Comments and Advisory:  Samsung is becoming a leading player in the handset market. Nokia, better watch out. Long term, Samsung does have cost advantage. 

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