Samsung Z500 Review

Overall Rating

Very stylish
Great camera sofware
Quick Charging - long lasting
Clear screen
USB Charging

No real indication of charging in progress or finished
I prefer Itap to T9 but that's really a preference
USB Charging

I bought the Samsung V500 for a number of reasons.
1 - It looks great
2 - It has expandable memory
3 - Bluetooth
4 - 3G / UTMS
5 - I prefer flip phones


## THE HARDWARE ##

STYLE
To start this is a great looking phone. The version I have is all black with chrome effect buttons on the side and silver inserts around the screens and camera. One thing not seen in many online pictures is that the top third of the front screen has a permanently lit blue LCD for reception battery and time. Looks far better than the usual backlit reverse LCD.
The 3 ports for headphones, memory and charge / USB all have press in covers which finish off the phone cleanly. The battery also serves as the back of the phone and has a robust locking mechanism very unlikely to catch in your pocket and disconnect the battery like some other phones.
The whole phone is very solid. It's not as solid as my dad's Nokia 6680 but what is?! The flip action is very smooth with no play in the joint and it snaps shut cushioned by two rubber feet.

MAIN SCREEN
The screen is incredibly clear and works well indoor and outdoor. The brightness level is less on low battery to conserve energy and I think this is a good feature. The screen is a little small though at 176 x 220 although colours are excellent.
One annoying feature is that you can't apply a full size 176 x 220 wallpaper unless you incorporate it into a theme first. Wallpapers of 176 x 147 can be applied but margins are saved at the top and bottom to display date, time, statuses and the menu. But like I said if you can write your own themes and use the transparency effects you can have full-size wallpaper.

MEMORY
The expandable Trans Flash memory is a godsend. Now I don't have to worry about the limited memory like I had on my previous Motorola V525. 32MB came with the phone but easily expandable to 512MB for around £35 or €50. Max available for Trans Flash is 1GB. It also came with a Trans Flash to SD adapter, which means I can plug it out and then straight into my Palm Zire.

BATTERY
I was initially worried about this phone as many reviews indicated to poor battery life and initial use charging periods of 16 hours.
I am happy to say that I have none of these bad experiences. Charging from warning level takes around 40 mins and just to be sure I always charge for 1 hour. This lasts for 4 days and that's with lots of use. Since I got the phone I can't put it down.
NB: I am using this phone in 2G mode 90% of the time for 2 reasons.
1. Promote good battery charge loss for the first few charges. (Don't want the charge to be lost fast - bad for battery)
2. 3G is in its infancy. Good in built up areas. I mainly use it for downloads.

RECEPTION
Reception has been pretty excellent. It differs from other mobiles though. I often carry a second mobile for work (Nokia 3510i) and sometimes it can be less than it and sometimes more.

USB
The USB Functionality is excellent allow you to sync all your contacts and data with a PC or manage your files with ease.
Something I was wary about is that the USB connection also charges the phone. While this is an excellent feature and means you don't always have to carry your charger just a USB cable, it bothers me that you will be top-up charging the battery every time you use it which is not good for Lith-ion batteries.
NB. The USB software and driver would not install using the installation front end. I had to run both setups separately.


## ERGONOMICS AND SOFTWARE ##

BUTTONS
The external buttons are well placed allowing camera functionality even with the phone closed using the smaller external display. This is something I have not seen before. Also the buttons allow you to flip the image been taken horizontally or vertically. Not sure how many applications this would have but a nice feature all the same. The charger and USB connections are rigid and do not fall out easily as was with my Motorola. The internal buttons have a nice click feel although the placement of the Clear button is still confusing my mapping at the moment as I was used to.
The addition of two extra buttons is a very good feature.
One is for starting video calls and the other to switch applications. For example while in the middle of a call you can switch to messages or to the web.
As mentioned before, the camera is operable via the external screen with phone closed. Holding down one of the side external buttons for a couple of seconds starts this feature. If you have anything else in your pocket the camera can sometimes be activated and you end up with pictures of the inside of your pocket on your phone :) This can be a little annoying; ideally a lock button should be there similar to the iPod to prevent the key being pressed

RINGTONES ETC
Midi, MP3 and AAC formats are known supported formats. I have yet to try others like ORB or WMF. Volumes levels are very good although there is no external speaker; all sound comes through the earpiece speaker. One major fault is that the message alert tone volume is not independent of the ring tone volume. It is always too low.
The vibration feature has the opposite problem. When ringing in vibration mode the vibration is very strong. You start thinking that it cant be good for the phone but I'm no expert on how much vibration a phone can take, maybe it is fine.

BLUETOOTH and INFARED
I have tested both of this with my laptop and both perform as expected nothing new here but Bluetooth essential to any techie.

MESSAGING
Samsung uses T9 text prediction, which is a shame, as I really like Motorola's ITaP technology. It will take me a while to get used to T9 again. The message text is also a bit bigger than needs to be but I guess not everyone has good sight. It would have been nice to make the text size changeable. Messages also take a bit longer to send than they did on my Motorola but it is not extreme or too annoying.

ORGANISER
Other reviewers noted problems with

Overall an excellent phone only brought down by a few issues and personal gripes.
Highly recommended

Members' Comments onajmcgarry's Review

• footiefan304 on 28th Nov 2005

  What about the camera??? I need to know..great review though

• ajmcgarry on 4th Jan 2006

  The camera can be operated with the phone open or closed.
  When closed only the external lens is usable and with limited functionality. The horizontal and vertical flip functions are still there but no other functions are available bar taking the picture as there are no buttons to access them with the phone closed.
  When open pictures can be taken with either the internal or external lens. This is easily accessible without using the menu.
  Brightness, Zoom, Image flip functions and Switching lens can all be achieved with single button presses without accessing the menu.
  
  Pictures can be taken in 1152*864, 640*480, 320*240 and 176*144. The zoom function is not available in 1152*864 mode.
  
  Update from lens to screen is quick although not as quick as an actual camera. There is no blur effect however, like I have seen on others. Most pictures come out slightly warm, although there is a white balance function available. These are all preset 4 in all and and Auto mode. The are also various colour mode and effects including black and white and night mode. ISO is also changeable although I find from personal use that given a second to adjust the auto ISO finds a good level.
  All that is missing is a flash which can make some night shots impossible.

• Catalin on 28th Aug 2007

  I bought mine second hand 2 days ago and the battery seemed not to last long, but after a couple of days I read on the internet that you must change the network mode to GSM900/1800 for more battery life. Also I do not have an original charger and I charge the phone until it shuts down. Now it lasts about 4 days...amazing. Xcuze my english... me romanian!