3G HSDPA - fast and furious
Samsung's SGH-Z560 is a phone with several useful talents, one of which is HSDPA, the enhancement that takes 3G to the next level, offering data speed of up to 1.8Mbps. T-Mobile has taken advantage of that to offer the handset as its first HSDPA capable consumer focused mobile phone.
HSDPA can be used to shift all kinds of data around the mobile network from email attachments to Web pages at speeds that are quite extraordinary. Whilst testing the SGH-Z560 we were constantly amazed at how fast Web pages loaded into the handset, for example. It comes with all you need to use the phone as a modem with a desktop or laptop PC, and we reckon it could double as a substitute for your own broadband connection if that decided to go offline for a bit.
Mobile internetting requires more than just sheer data speed to be a success, and the two other crucial factors are a screen that is capable of showing Web pages properly and a means of entering URLS with as much ease as a mobile phone can provide.
The screen is a fairly standard specified 2.3 inches corner to corner with 240 x 320 pixels and 256 thousand colours. There is room in the handset for it to have been made larger, and we think more pixels might have helped too, but as it stands it delivers fairly well thanks in no small part to a neatly designed Web browser.
The browser can display Web pages in a desktop format which will probably always require horizontal scrolling, or a column-formatted display which needs none. You can turn the text size down a long way which helps get as much info as possible on screen at once too. It is nowhere near as comfortable as Web browsing on a desktop PC or laptop, but better than on many mobiles.
Web addresses are relatively easy to enter because the number pad on this handset is enormous. That in turn is a function of the fact that the whole handset is big. It is a clamshell, and when opened up it is just a bit over 180mm tall. Samsung has taken advantage of the size to provide a large numberpad and big navigation key and other buttons, which is a good thing.
With the clam closed the SGH-Z560 is a bit large in the hand, at 97mm tall and 51mm wide, but it is thin – just 16mm, and light at just 94g.
There is a front screen embedded in a frame which houses three touch sensitive buttons. You use these for controlling music playback and between them they can pause and play tracks, skip forwards and back within tracks, and go to the previous or next tracks.
Music itself is best stored on microSD cards, as there is only 17MB of internal memory going spare. The good news is that the card slot is nice and easy to get to – on the upper right edge, and it is protected by a cover so your cards are secure.
The music player itself delivers quite good quality sound, but there is a real irritation in that you have to use Samsung’s headphones as they connect to the handset via the same proprietary connector that is used for mains power and connecting to a PC. You may have headphones with a 3.5mm jack you would rather use, but that’s just too bad.
The front screen doubles as a viewfinder for the main 2 megapixel camera, whose autofocussing lens is also on the front of the casing. If you press the camera button on the right side of the phone with the clamshell closed the camera whizzes into action. Frame your shot in the front screen, press the side button again and the shot is taken. Open the clamshell while the camera is running in this way and the main screen becomes your viewfinder. You can easily switch to using the inner VGA screen that you’d more usually use for video calling.
The SGH-Z560 comes with a lead to connect it with your computer and software that you can use to synchronise its calendar with your desktop. There is quite a range of additional on board software. The calendar is augmented in a group labelled Organiser by the ability to set three independent alarms, a task manager and the ability to write a 100 character memo note to yourself.
Another group, called Applications is where you’ll find the more multimedia oriented stuff. This is where the media player is found, and also where the device voice recorder sits. There is a world clock and a calculator here too, and a unit converter that copes with currency, length, weight, volume, area and temperature.
The Applications group also contains tube maps for London, Paris, Milan and Berlin which are actually a bit too complex to view successfully on the SGH-Z560’s small screen. Sure, you can zoom in, but as you do so your area of view diminishes, and you can’t see an overview of the map very well.
Finally, this group has a game called mPet in which you adopt and care for a virtual pet.
The SGH-Z560 is supplied with two batteries, which is a good thing, as battery life from one alone is average rather than wonderful. We did a test playing continuous music and got around five and a half hours from a full battery. If you work out a scheme for charging both batteries in the handset, carrying a second charged cell could prove to be useful.
There is no doubt that HSDPA adds more oomph to standard 3G, and if you like your data fast and furious and are keen to have a handset that doubles as a modem, the SGH-Z560 should catch your eye.
It isn’t the tiniest mobile on the planet, though, and we don’t really like Samsung’s headphones. Still, if you can life with those things, then T-Mobile’s first consumer focussed HSDPA handset is quite an effective handful.
This review covers the above mobile phone only and does not address the performance of any 3G Network. The score is based on a 3G mobile phone checklist.
Copyright : You are advised that this material is the copyright of www.3G.co.uk and is our own personal view only. (C) All rights reserved 2005. Whist every care has been taken in the preparation of this review, the author nor 3G.co.uk cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or authenticity of the information it contains, or consequence arising from it.
|
