Samsung i550 - destination far away

Introduction

The Samsung – since it took the second place from Motorola on the mobile-manufacturers’ top list – is going forward, the goal on the long run is probably to overcome Nokia. The Finnish will react, of course, but there’s a great battle ahead. However, this needs the Koreans to be able to cover all those fields that Nokia is already operating on, and this is the minimum. Considering this, it is not surprising that Samsung has opened fronts on the market of the Smartphones.

The models with letter ‘i’ in their name have operating systems, either Windows or Symbian. This test’s main hero is i550, running with Symbian, and since it has a built-in GPS-receiver, it is surely to be considered as the competition for Nokia 6110 Navigator.

We can already see that the function that will be improved the most in the future – besides the media player and the camera – will be the navigation system. However, we are still not able to predict when this reaches a level where we can throw out the PNAs that are getting cheaper and cheaper every month. In my humble opinion it is still far in the future, especially because that I wouldn’t dare to go on a longer trip with the i550 – otherwise, I have to tell the same about the 6110, too.

The phone was provided by the Hungarian representative of the manufacturer, but recent news says that it will be sent out onto the market by the Vodafone, we could only get the cell with the Live software. Fortunately, the Symbian wasn’t affected much by it, so – besides a few ‘Lived’ themes – the functionality of this i550 is nearly the same as we’ll be able to use once the independent model can be bought.

Appearance

Symbian stuff is generally big. This is also correct for the Smartphones, but since I’ve seen the Neonode N2 in my hands (60 grams), I believe in reducing the weight. The i550 got that brick-shape that is unusual from this manufacturer, the numeric buttons are like they’ve been stolen from Sony Ericsson, so for the first time it might seem to be something else than a Samsung phone.

The black-colored cover is surprisingly thin (not a razor though), but too stuffed. The buttons under the large display may seem to be startling for the first time and annoying while using, and among them there is a trackball in a very trendy style. This is more like a disadvantage, too. There are nine function buttons between the numeric buttons and the display, the calling-buttons and the clear in one line, which is not a problem, but the two softkeys and the dedicated keys are above them that get the user into the menu, navigation, multimedia, and the internet. I often ended up on the internet because this and the navigation’s button are emerged over the others. Thanks!

The trackball itself should be a useful thing. We have already seen things like this on mobiles, e.g. the HTC Artemis when the little ball drove us to the lands of ecstasy (pedophile priests can tell the same about themselves), but the Samsung’s operation ball is a big pile of smelly bullshit compared to it. This has only one cause: it is not a real trackball. Well, it is a sphere, and rolls into every direction, but you can only navigate up-down-right-left with it, and every roll makes the cursor jump towards the desired direction only one. So if you are in the address book and you want to roll through ten names, it is not enough to roll it once, but you have ‘scratch’ it ten times down. Fortunately, the ball is very sensible, so if you’ve chosen in the menu what you want to open, the ball has a good chance to move away the cursor in the last moment getting you into the next part in the menu.

The volume controls and the microSD socket is on the left side, the hotkey of the camera and the usual Samsung system-connector is on the right. The bottom of the phone is empty, on the top there is the power button and the 3.5 jack-plug socket covered by a round-shaped plastic cover – good mark for it. The back of the phone has a pattern on the lover half, the camera, a mirror and the flash in at the top.

Menu, stuff

The display is not surprising, 2.6 inch diameter, 240x320 pixels resolution. No light sensor, the user sets the brightness, it makes sense to set is well to spare with the battery.

The i550’s processing unit is operating on 550 MHz, 128MB RAM, and 150MB ROM. This last one allows the phone to run zillions of programs, while the system itself stays fast; it is obviously Symbian 9.2 upgraded with Series60 Feature Pack 1.

The speed tests gave the expected measurements, the cell is strong in every field except 3D, because it doesn’t have the chip implemented that the N95 has.

Let’s see the JBenchmark results.

The customization and structure of the menu system is following the Nokia’s, so theme can be shaped to the user’s liking. Here are two themes besides the Vodafone’s color; they are advised to be used because the red company’s graphics are very boring. The handling is perfect if we look at the software, the buttons give us the hard time. Using is key lock is always recommended, which can be accessed by pushing the button with a star longly.

Basic functions

The i550 has the same basic functions as its competitors with the same system. Dynamic phonebook with all the known functions, so unlimited data can be attached to a name, only the automatically generated voice dial name is missing, but the phone has the Voice Signal program known from the i450, but it’s harder to start and only speaks English.

No surprise with message handling, the cell has SMS, MMS and e-mail. The last one automatically offered a Vodafone Mail e-mail box, but its parameters and name are free to modify. Attachments and authenticated SMTP server-using are solved in this phone, too. Typing caused no problems, despite the function buttons, the Ericsson-like numeric keys can be easily used, writing is simple and fast, the Hungarian T9 may prove to be helpful.

The organizing functions are good as usually, the calendar is superb, the alarm clock operates well, because of the FP1 it can manage more than one times. The dictaphone can only record one minute which is not a very kind thing, but it can be lengthened by an installment by the user. The calculator is pretty basic, no stopwatch or timer. However there is Quick Office that opens MS Office files in read-only mode, and we don’t have to miss the Adobe Reader’s mobile version.

Multimedia

I tired the camera first; I was prejudicial without much hope. The camera has a very slight line on the top of the phone, next to a mirror and a lamp. This is the first problem: the lamp is too close to the camera, so when exposing, the picture is covered with a thin white fog. I can’t say anything else: it’s a constructional mistake, pretty big though, so the lamp is no good at all.

The phone has to be hold horizontally when taking a photo. There is auto-focus but in the way that means. You can’t push the button halfway in, when you want to take a photo. When you want to expose – and this made many people laugh – the display gives a sign: "Don’t move the device; focusing", then the photo is taken. No macro mode, only a few options despite it is a Samsung, but usual for a Symbian. A few effects, a couple of environment themes, changeable size and quality. Judging by the test pictures we can figure out that the i550 optics took noisy, but not satisfyingly detailed pictures, might burn in around lighter spots, and the contrast is very high. We have to admit: there are many things to correct with it.

Videos are taken in 352x288 pixels, and these can be edited with the Video Editor program a little bit, but this only means a few things. A "photo-film" can be made with the same program that puts chosen pictures after each other giving us a small movie. We can use some effects and put narration under the film.

I have to pull the media player down despite the 3.5 jack-plug, because there is no equalizer. This is strange because every Series60 Nokia has it in itself; I don’t know why it has been missed out. Anyway, the media player brings the usual stuff; the songs can be sped up if the number ‘2’ or ‘8’ is pushed long enough. The loudspeakers are better than the usual, but standard headphones aren’t very good things, however, all other headphones can be used instead of it. The FM radio is a simple one, no RDS, but there is automatic tracking – at least -, and the stations can be stored, as well. It has no other extras.

GPS

Oh-oh, the navigation. The main extra of the i550. Let’s see the facts: no matter that the GPS-receiver is a SiRF Star III, it gets the signal so weakly that I’ve never seen before. For the first time I put it in the passive holder on a way home, but it couldn’t catch a satellite during the 20-minutes long trip. Next time I tried something else: I put it on the top of the dashboard of the car, and then it could find signals in 5-6 (!) minutes, but in the middle of the downtown of Budapest it is definitely not enough. And when I drove into one of the side streets the mobile started to change the position rapidly – and this is only the beginning.

The i550 got the Samsung’s standard navigation software which was made by the Navigon. For testing we got the map of Eastern-Europe on a 2 GB memory card, which was very detailed on Hungary – while we are talking about the cities, villages and their streets. But the map itself is at least three years old, it’s not recognizing streets in the capital which are existing for years now, I drove a lot of time in the big nothing. But okay, it will surely get its update, go on.

The next shock gets you when you want to browse the map without any real destination: you can’t use any functions like this while the phone is not getting the signal of a satellite. It must be a joke, even the POI database is inaccessible, first you have to type in the destination, then the mobile finds the satellite (we know how much time it takes), then it plans, and finally we can see the outcome.

Okay then, let’s say some words about the visualization, maybe it’s the strength of the device. Well, absolutely not. However, it has more than one view (and a night-view, too), but neither the 2D nor the 3D version is a joy for our eyes because the map has no street names on it. Not one. The small orange arrow is sliding on a grey net, and at the bottom the name of the next street can be read. On the map itself gas stations can be seen (the logo of the company), and the phone writes out graciously the names of the train stations.

All right, then maybe the algorithm will be an award-winning one. Not really. I could count more than a thousand cases when it tried to get me to the wrong direction, but now I’ll only tell one, my favorite. I was going from Kőbánya to Budakeszi, but I overruled the system in a short while and took the Lágymányosi-bridge. After this – as I expected – it directed me down to the embankment – but not the lower one, the upper to take me back - on the Petőfi-bridge – to Pest (!!!) to take me to the boulevard then onto the Margit-bridge back to Buda. Well, I have already had some navis with me, but I’ve never seen anything like this.

With these things comes the bonus, which is the voice-navigation on a female voice. It is very polite, starts every sentence with "please". It doesn’t use the word "re-planning", just calculating silently in the back, but has a couple of idiotic sayings. On of these is the word "Attention! " (just this one word) when the driver drives faster than the allowed. To pay attention for what, when or why – it doesn’t say. Maybe it’s better this way because the allowed max. speed on the Lágymányosi-bridge is 30 km/h from Buda to Pest, but I think at a speed like this I’d be even horned at by a truck with a trailer. But the funniest sentence of the phone can be heard shortly before the arrival: "You are approaching your destination in x meters. "

Data communication, battery

The i550 works on GPRS, EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA networks, on the last one it can change data at the speed of 3,6 Mbit/s. No WLAN, the browser uses the solution known from the Nokias, no problem with it. On the local level, 2.0, stereo Bluetooth and USB (with the same version number). The phone can be charged with this. The mobile connected to the PC can be used as an external hard-drive, in this case the contents of the memory card are manageable.

Under the back cover there is a battery with a 1000 mAh output. Well, the phone gets on with this for one day if you don’t start using the GPS, because a fully-loaded device can get empty in 50 minutes if the user navigates with it. The performance is pretty weak even without this, if it’s used lightly, it can stay on for two days, but you’d better carry a charger everywhere, and in the car it is totally necessary.

Summary. This phone in this shape is not enough. Given a basically perfect system (Symbian), around this should have been made a good phone, however this usually succeeds. Now it didn’t, crowded buttons, lame trackball, and the reason why a user would choose the i550 than other Smartphones, the navigation, is more like punishment than a useful feature in this case. To the top of it: weak battery, no WLAN, no equalizer… So, the Korean giant couldn’t make it this time.

I myself got the conclusion: there’s nothing better than a 50,000 HUF iGo-based (or maybe Garmin) navigator, smoother and more comfortable if you really need navigation. The mobile phones’ navigation is still not developed enough to be able to be used accurately, but the i550 has weak points on many other fields, so now we are not going to give any seals, even if we don’t know yet how much it will cost.

Bog

Translated by EQMontoya

The phone was provided by the Samsung’s Hungarian branch office. Thanks for that.

Specifications

Samsung i550
	General
	Technology	GSM, UMTS, HSDPA
	Size	115 x 53 x 13,8 mm
	Weight	At about 120 gramms
	Avalible colours	Black, silver
	Display
	Diagonal of display	2,6 inches
	Resolution	240 x 320 pixels
	Display type	TFT
	Colours	262.000
	Memory
	Contact list capacity	dynamic
	SMS memory / max. MMS size	dynamic / 295KB
	Built-in memory	50 MB
	Extendable memory	microSD
	Data trasfer
	Frequencies	900/1800/1900 MHz
	GPRS / EDGE	Class 10 (4+1/3+2) / Class 10 (236,8 kbps)
	UMTS / HSDPA	yes (384 kbps) / yes
	IrDA / Bluetooth	no / 2.0 (A2DP too)
	WiFi	no
	USB	2.0
	Push-to-talk / RSS	no / no
	GPS receiver	yes
	Basic functions
	Profiles	yes
	Vibration	yes
	Loudspeaker	yes
	Voice dialing / voice management	yes / yes
	Voice recording	yes (max. 1 min)
	Alarm	yes, in turned off too
	Predictive	hungarian T9
	Softwares
	Platform	Symbian 9.2 Series 60 Feature Pack 1
	WAP / HTML browser	yes / yes
	E-mail client	yes (POP3, IMAP4, authenticated)
	Java	yes, MIDP 2.0
	Games	java
	Currency converter	yes
	Extra softwares	QuickOffice, Adobe PDF, Video Editor
	Multimedia
	Main camera	3 megapixels, autofucus, with LED light
	Secondary camera	yes, QVGA resolution
	Video recording	yes, max. 288 x 354 pixels resolution
	Media player	yes, runs in background
	Equalizer	no
	FM-radio	yes
	Operate time
	Stock battery	1000 mAh Li-Ion
	Stand-by time	na
	Talk time	na
	Other
	Samsung navigation, trackball