Samsung SGH-T349 – with partial QWERTY keyboard
Sum and Substance:
Thumbs Up:
Good call quality, nice innovative 20 key QWERTY keyboard.
Thumbs Down:
Bad camera and music quality.
Inside the Trunk:
Technology: GSM
Band: GSM 850/1800/1900 (Tri-Band)
Phone design: Candy bar
Caller ID: Yes
Other features: EDGE, GPRS, camera, stereo Bluetooth, music player.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
The display of the SGH-T349 is 2.2 inch big, has a resolution of 176X220 pixels, music player can read formats of MIDI, AAC/AAC+, and MP3 and the video player can play 3GP, H.263 and MPEG-4. The 1.3 mega pixel camera photos of 220×165, 320×240, 640×480, 800×600, 1,024×768 and 1,280×1024. The video resolutions are 128×96, 160×120 and 176×144.
The phone has 50 MB of internal memory which can be further expanded to 4 GB through microSD cards. The handset has 1000 entry memory for contacts and there is 90 entry memory each for missed calls, dialed numbers and call received. Downloadable content on the phone includes screen savers, ringtones, video files, wall papers and games.
Razzle Dazzle:
The phone has pretty standard candy bar phone design. It is 4.49 inches long, 0.53 inches thick, 1.97 inches wide and weighs about 3.2 ounces. We really liked the attractive lime green and pearl gray color scheme. The phone is 2 inches wide, 4.5 inches high, 0.5 inches deep and weighs 3.2 oz.
Inside Dope:
Samsung SGH-T349 is a messaging phone, which sports the latest in-style 20 key QWERTY keyboard layout. Having a full QWERTY keyboard makes the phone quite big so it has been shrunk but still has great ergonomics while typing. We have seen this keyboard on BlackBerry Pearl’s SureType and we loved it. This is a message centric phone, although great on messaging is low on other features. It has been made for business men who need messaging applications while on the move. There is no GPS or 3G however; there is a music player, Bluetooth and 1.3 MP camera. The handset is extremely cheap at just $15 with a two year contract. It is also available for $99.99 with T-Mobile’s Prepaid service.
The display of the screen is 2.2 inch big and has support for 262,000 colors with resolution of 176X220 pixels. Although a bit small, it serves its purpose. The display is vibrant and bright with colorful animated icons on the interface of the menu. In the display, you can change the size and color of the font, backlight time, background color of the dialing display and the wallpaper can be set up to show the calendar on the home screen.
Below the display there is the navigation array which has 2 soft buttons, talk and end keys, four way square navigation toggle button with OK button in the center. There is also messaging and back key in there. The navigation toggle, back and messaging keys are raised more above the surface as compared to the other keys for easy use. The messaging key is user programmable and can be used for going to your message in-box, audio postcard, instant messaging, e-mail and text messaging. The navigation buttons have shortcuts on each side.
The semi-QWERTY keyboard is a mixed bag with 2 letters per key. It is definitely better than a standard numeric keypad but not as good as full QWERTY keyboard. This keyboard has taken best of both worlds to enhance user experience. The full QWERTY keyboard has been avoided to keep the phone size small.
The hardware on the sides of the phone include a volume rocker, microSD card slot, charger jack and camera key. We thank Samsung for giving us the memory card slot on sides so that we don’t have to go digging behind the battery cover.
The SGH-T340 has a 1000 entry phone book and a single entry can take an email ID and five numbers. There are 19 polyphonic ringtones however you can use your MP3 tracks as ringtones. Photo caller ID and grouping of contacts is also supported.
Other basic features on the stopwatch, timer, unit conversion app, world time clock, tip calculator, notepad, to-do list, alarm clock, calendar, voice recorder, multimedia and text messaging, vibrate mode and speakerphone. For messaging the phone comes preloaded with messengers like Yahoo, Windows Live and AIM, the mobile Web e-mail has support for Comcast, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, AIM, etc.
The handset has a built in music player which can play formats like MIDI, AAC/AAC+ and MP3. The player has all the music features that you would want in a phone like repeat and shuffle of tracks, album art, etc. The video player can play formats like 3GP, H.263 and MPEG-4. For storing videos and tracks, the phone has 50 MB of internal memory which can be further expanded to 4 GB through memory cards.
Don’t expect great photos from the below average 1.3 MP camera at the back of the phone. It lacks flash and self portrait mirror. It has nine effects for color and five settings for white balance. There is also a mosaic shot mode, multi shot, 4x zoom and self timer. The camera can also take video clips, with the maximum resolution of 160X120 and the options are similar to that of the camera.
The handset comes with two games – Midnight Pool 2 and Block Breaker Deluxe 2. The wireless Web browser on the phone lets you download games, sound and graphics. There is no 3G on the phone, all you get is GPRS and EDGE.
We had nothing to complain about when we tested the phone for call quality. Both parties had a good experience with the calls. Speakerphone calls were better than what you see on other phones. The inclusion of Bluetooth lets you pair up wireless headsets for music or phone calls.
The battery of the SGH-T349 has a rated seven hours of talk time and standby time is of 12.5 days. We were impressed with the battery which lasted about over an hour for rated talk time.
Nitty Gritty:
Samsung SGH-T349 is good messaging phone; it has all the features that you need for messaging. However, it is pretty average for music and camera quality. Don’t buy this phone if you use the latter two features a lot.
