We’re putting the Samsung Jet S8000 smartphone through a review this week. ‘Smarter than a smartphone’ is a tagline that practically begs to be challenged in a world where smartphones have redefined the way people view mobile devices. It implies that owners can expect a feature-packed phone that functions better than a smartphone which suggests that Samsung is attempting to revolutionize the whole gameplay when it comes to mobile devices. After all, phones are increasingly expected to lend more than just the calling and texting functionality today. So we had to get our hands on the Samsung Jet S8000 to inspect it feature by feature and see if it lives up to its assuming tagline.
The first thing that jumps out at you will probably be its brilliantly colored display on the 3.2 inch AMOLED touchscreen. Like practically all touchscreen phones, its penchant for greasy fingerprints may be the second thing one notices. The chassis looks neat and uncluttered with just a screen, cube-shaped central button and a button on either side for picking up and disconnecting calls on its front section. Our primary observation when operating this gizmo was that tapping, dragging, swiping and tipping on icons and widgets with the fingernails are not enough, it requires an expert combination of all four. Having widgets on the three home screens is not a bad idea at all. Think about it, not many phones in the market proffer this function.
Its 5MP AF camera is endowed with a number of useful attributes like dual flash, blink detection, smile shot, photo editor and the inevitable geo-tagging feature of course. The camera offers a lot of attractive still shooting mode settings like mosaic, panorama, continuous and frame along with portrait, night, sports scene options, as also direct upload to web functions. No complaints about the picture quality from these quarters. They’re just as vivid and crisp as touted by Samsung. Unless we were lucky enough to be within clear reception range of radio signals, the Jet’s FM radio rendered sound with barely any interference once we found the right station which can be done manually or auto-tuned. The manufacturers haven’t missed a beat when it came to the music player either. Crisp and clearly defined sound was what we enjoyed on this phone.
Samsung Jet S8000 is powered by an 800MHz CPU which means that multi-tasking shouldn’t present a problem and sure enough, it works just as efficiently as expected. The button that summons the cube allowing easy access to multimedia applications like games, video watching and internet browsing has conveniently enough been placed besides the camera key. The company’s proprietary TouchWiz interface can be a bit disappointing due to its response time that lags a little, in spite of the revamped swiping and scrolling functions. Another thing that may bother users is that a very sober aim is required to create text messages or access applications.
The menu icons don’t really guide owners to useful functions. What’s quite interesting is the customizable home-screen system that accommodates up to three singular home screens replete with different wallpapers and widgets which can be personalized. Another novel touch is the create message function that can be accessed directly from the contact lists or call log. Moreover, sent messages can be viewed by pressing the call button and going to the call log. The handwriting recognition for texting is disappointingly incapable of doing just that. We tried drumming our fingers randomly on the screen while using ‘Writing full screen’ mode offered by the texting function just to check what would come up and here’s it:”…..ijani,,,eee”. Conclusively, it can interpret writing, if not accurately enough.
Connectivity options like Bluetooth v2.1 and USB v2.0 are cozily packed into this phone. The network support includes 2.5G 850/900/1800/1900MHz, 3G 900/2100MHz, HSDPA 3.6MB/s and Class 12 EDGE/GPRS. Its memory capacity is offered at 2/8/16GB microSD and music lovers will surely like the crisp audio quality that can be enjoyed via the 3.5 headphone jack or loudspeaker. Support for MP3, WMA, MIDI, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ formats have been provided with this device. The gadget’s video format support accommodates MPEG4, WMV, DivX, XviD, H.263 and H.264 content. It also proffers D1 video playback, D1 30fps video recording and video editing functions. Compulsive social ‘networkers’ can go on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, Friendster or Photobucket via the Communities application folder. However, third party applications are not supported by this gizmo.
The internet browsing experience has been made pretty nifty with the Dolphin browser and one-finger zoom combination. Users can opt to load web pages in HTML mode or open the mobile version of the page. Integrated Google Search renders a full list of HTML and mobile portal-optimized websites, while typing the required page into the address bar intelligently leads users to the right version of the web page. Furthermore, the phone’s ‘Hide ad’ option is quite neat if owners want to load pages faster by doing away with on-site web advertisements. Have we mentioned that multiple pages can be opened simultaneously on this device? If the browser speed is compared to that of web-enabled smartphones, it may leave owners feeling a little less than cheery though.
The Motion Gate features are quite intriguing once users have managed to master the ‘Shake’, ‘Double-tap’ and ‘Snap’ movements. Shaking the device three times enables users to end a function like FM, while double-taps permit functions such as play/pause. Similarly, snapping the phone to the left or right allows users to move forward or backward through media applications. Java-powered game offerings include the motion-sensitive Rollercoaster Rush, Tetris, Brick Breaker Revolution, and more which are fun enough to play though some are just integrated free trials that users need to pay for to obtain the full version. It’s not a very pleasant thought after paying out the required change for the phone itself.
The 1,100mAh battery that powers Samsung’s latest offering works well with the 800MHz processor to allow for a reasonable amount of usage time between charging. While some complaints may be voiced about the entirely plastic feel emanated by the phone, its 108.8mm x 53.5 x 11.9mm dimensions and 110g weight make for a very pocket friendly chassis. Appearance-wise, the Jet may not display a particularly jaw-dropping exterior with a plain black front section hosting three buttons and a screen as also a back section detailed with vertical red lines.
Upsides:
The Jet’s multimedia features and picture quality are certainly its high points. Watching video clips on the phone is almost as good as watching it on the average HD idiot box. In spite of the advanced processor, its appetite for energy is noticeably modest.
Downsides:
The TouchWiz interface could have used a little more tweaking. We’re not saying Samsung did a rush job on this one, but it can’t be denied that there’s still room for improvement.
Unless manufacturers have made up their minds about the industry standard definition of a smartphone in the time taken to jot down this review, gadget buffs will have to evaluate it against the ones generally touted as such. Now that we’ve given a wholesome roundup up of Samsung Jet’s features, it’s left for readers to decide if they would consider shelling out Rs.24,150 for the phone. We give the Samsung Jet S8000 a good 8 on 10 rating.