Samsung E710 Review

Overall Rating

Excellent camera quality/facilities.
Aesthetically pleasing aswell as practical.
Great features such as video recording etc.

No Bluetooth or loudspeaker.

I purchased the Samsung E710 around 3 weeks ago from the Vodafone website as it was on special offer. First impressions of the mobile phone were extremely good as I had already had a little play with it in a Vodafone shop.

Many people are complaining about the battery life of this handset but what they are forgetting is that it takes at least 4 full charges and 4 full discharges to obtain the full lifetime of the battery. I have found the battery life to be very satisfactory as I use the camera functions as well as the built in flashlight a lot.

Moving on to the handsets fixtures and fittings: I found these to be plentiful and easy to use.
As the handset is the first Samsung 'clam' design without an external aerial, the exterior ergonomics are stunning. As like the very popular E700, the camera lens is mounted near the top of the fascias hinge with a 16 colour, 96x64 resolution greyscale screen mounted below. The external screen displays such information as the time (digital/analogue), the date, signal strength, battery life, and such alerts as an incoming call/SMS/MMS etc

One of the main features of the E710 is the fact that, by pressing and holding the camera button for 3 seconds located on the handsets side, you can take pictures of one self using the external screen. Once the picture has been taken, open the handset up and it appears in full 65k colour upon the main 120x160 resolution display. The handset features a VGA camera which supports resolutions up to 640x480 pixels.

There are other external features such as the multicoloured service light which flashes in different colours when you have incoming data and a flashlight which can be used as a light for the camera or simply a flashlight.

Another extra that the E710 has over its predecessor, is the fact that it features 4x25 seconds video recording and playback. Again, the flashlight is handy here if filming in dimly lit conditions. Quality isn't great but damn good for a mobile phone.

Call management is excellent as you can assign a picture to a contact etc. When you receive an incoming call, you can either open the folder to answer it or hold down the volume key upon the left of the handset for 3 seconds which will divert the call to voicemail.

The menu system, coupled with the 4-way scroll keypad, is incredibly easy to use alongside the other useful functions like managing calls and organising contacts.
Games are very impressive as I previously owned a Nokia 7250i which, I'm sure you know, was one of the first camera handsets on the market and is now heavily outdated.
Ringtones are crisp as the handset supports 40-poly which is 40 chords/layers of sound creating very clear and complex ringtones.

There are so many undeniably useful features and functions, that I cannot list them all. This is a truly inspiring handset and is worth every penny. I few minor grumbles such as the lack of Bluetooth and a loudspeaker.
Those aside, a highly recommended handset. For more information, visit: www.samsungelectronics.co.uk