Helio Fin (Samsung SPH-a513) Cell Phone Review - Organizer

Alfredo Padilla
Published on August 29, 2007 Comment on this

Synchronization Ease of Use (0.0)
By default the Helio Fin does not support synchronization of the phone's calendar and contacts with a computer. Helio does provide such software as a free download here, however we only award points for features or software that come packaged with the phone.

We did attempt to download and install the synchronization software so we could give you an overview, however the software couldn't recognize the Fin, even after repeated attempts.

Alerts (4.0)
The Helio Fin allows you to set alerts for calendar appointments and to-do items. Alerts can be set to go off one day, three days, or seven days before the scheduled time, which is less flexible then we would have liked. This makes the Fin a less flexible notification device than many other phones, including the Nokia N75 and the Katana DLX. We did appreciate the flexibility provided for the alert tone however. You can have it go off as a vibration alert, a tone, or both. You can also choose what type of tone goes off, with any ringtone loaded on the device as your option. When an alert goes off the screen is filled with the appointment information. Any key press dismisses the event, and there is no option to snooze it so it will go off later.

Over the Air PIM Sync (2.0)
Like other Helio phones, the Fin can make use of a service that allows you to back up and synchronize your contacts over the air. Although a nice option, business users will be disappointed by lack of over-the-air synchronization with an Exchange server.

Address Book

Adding Contacts (4.54)

To test how easy it is to add contacts to the Fin we timed how long it took to add a contact name and phone number from phone closed. We repeat the test for five different contacts and take the average for our score. The Fin took an average of 22.02 seconds to add a contact name and number. This is similar to our comparison phones, however it needs to be mentioned that we found the Fin's keypad difficult to use, as it lacks dividers to differentiate keys. Still, as the results indicate, this didn't slow us down too much.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Helio Fin	22.02	4.54
Sanyo Katana DLX	23.36	4.28
LG Chocolate VX8550	20.50	4.88
Nokia N75	22.84	4.38
Nokia N73	23.10	4.33
Sprint Upstage	21.30	4.69

Looking/Sorting/Search (1.5)

The contacts application on the Helio Fin is very simple, providing an alphabetical list of your contacts but no way to sort them by any other criteria. When a contact is selected the mobile phone is the default, however you can switch between other phone numbers or e-mail addresses using the left and right keys. The search functionality is via multi-tap, but we were happy to see it searches all parts of a contact's name. For example, to search for a contact named Alberto Juarez, it would appear as a match if you only typed in "jua." This is an improvement over some phones that only allow you to search by the first name, starting with the first letter, like the Katana DLX. Despite this feature, the sorting and searching options provided by the Fin are extremely basic. We would have liked to see predictive search, and the ability to sort by groups would have been nice.

Fields (2.8)
The Helio Fin provides a good selection of fields for contacts, albeit not as many as a smart phone like the Nokia N75. There are 14 fields available, including space for four phone numbers, birthdays, and a notes field where you can enter any information you want. As you would expect from phones nowadays, you can also add a photo to the contact.

Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (3.0)
The Helio Fin supports speed dial, with each phone number containing a corresponding field where you can assign a speed dial from 2 to 99. Voice dialing is also supported, but didn't work very well. Of the five diverse names we assign our test contacts, the voice command software was only able to recognize one. We've rarely been impressed by voice command software, and the Fin isn't going to change that. Unfortunately the Fin doesn't support voice tags, which means you can't train the phone to recognize your contact names.

Calendar

Adding Calendar Items (7.09)

To test how easy it is to add a calendar item we time how long it takes to go from phone closed to having a complete lunch appointment for the following day. The Fin took an average of 14.1 seconds to add our test appointment. This is a reasonably fast time, although it's not as fast as the Chocolate VX8550. The calendar is buried in the menu system, but by using keyboard shortcuts we were able to launch it fairly quickly. We were also helped by the fact that if there are no appointments on a given day, selecting the day and activating it will take you directly to a new appointment interface.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Helio Fin	14.10	7.09
Sanyo Katana DLX	15.22	6.57
LG Chocolate VX8550	6.48	15.43
Nokia N75	19.20	5.21
Nokia N73	18.96	5.27
Sprint Upstage	26.46	3.78

Calendar Views (3.0)
The Helio Fin's calendar provides three different views: monthly, weekly, and daily. The monthly view is the default when you open the program, and shows you the current month with the current day outlined in red. Days that have appointments have a small blue indicator in the upper left hand. At the bottom of the screen are three counters that show you how many of the three different appointment types appear in the selected day. The month view isn't very useful for anything but getting an overview of your schedule. The weekly view is the typical grid, with days along the top and hours along the left. Appointments are shown blocked during the time indicated. Unfortunately, just like the monthly view, the only information you get is a count of the type of appointments, which seems somewhat of a waste for a weekly view. We would have much preferred seeing a window that shows you details about the currently highlighted appointment.


Monthly	Weekly	Daily

This leaves the daily view, which is a simple chronological list of the appointments occurring that day. When an appointment is selected you see the time, title, and indicators for functions like an alert. This view provides the most information, and most users will probably use it the most. The Fin doesn't allow you to sort or filter appointments by category or group. We were unimpressed by the Fin's calendar; anyone who needs a useful scheduling tool will find the Fin's built-in calendar is useless.

Fields (5.5)
When you create a new appointment on the Fin you get a fairly basic selection of fields including title, start/end, and reminder. We were also pleased to see you can set recurrence, with a choice between weekly, monthly, and yearly. Unfortunately there's no way to set recurrence for daily, weekdays, or weekend. There's also the ability to assign one of several different icons to the appointment, which works a little like a categorization feature, although some of the icons are a little obscure. We're not sure what the rabbit or monkey heads are supposed to refer to. The alarm feature is a little strange, too. You can set the alarm to go off at a specified time one day, three days, or seven days before the event. You can also choose an "anniversary" option, which allows you to set the alarm to go off the day of the appointment; not particularly useful if you've forgotten your wedding anniversary or an important birthday and you only get a reminder on the day itself. We did, however, appreciate the flexibility to set whatever time we want on the given day for the alert to go off.

To Do/Tasks

Adding To Do/Task (8.64)

To test how easy it is to add a task we time how long it takes to go from phone closed to adding a new task reminding us to pick up groceries. We repeat the test five times and take the average time for our score. The Fin took an average of 11.58 seconds to add a task. This is a very good time. As with the calendar test, we took advantage of keyboard shortcuts in the menu to improve our speed, and the Fin's excellent response time made this very easy to do.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Helio Fin	11.58	8.64
Sanyo Katana DLX	17.96	5.57
LG Chocolate VX8550	n/a - no tasks	0.00
Nokia N75	14.36	6.96
Nokia N73	13.16	7.60
Sprint Upstage	28.28	3.54

To Do/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (3.5)

By default your tasks are sorted by priority, and each task can be assigned to either low, normal, or high priority. You can change this to sort by due date by hitting the left soft key and choosing the appropriate option from the menu. There is no support for categories, so you can't filter by category, either.

Fields (4.5)
When you create a new task on the Fin you have only a few basic options. You can set a title, priority, due date, and alarm. One item to note is that the Fin allows you to set an alarm for any time to go off either today, one day before, three days before, or seven days before. You can also choose from ringer/vibration settings and any ringtone for each individual task. We appreciate this flexibility; it's something we don't even see from some smart phones like the Nokia N75 or N73.

Notes

Adding Notes (3.27)

To find out how easy it is to add a note to the Fin we time how long it takes to go from the unlocked home screen to adding a note reminding us about a lunch appointment. We repeat this test five times and take the average for our score. The fin took an average of 15.3 seconds to add a note. This is an average time, and the table below shows most of our comparison phones getting a similar time. We did find one small quirk with typing on the Fin caused us some trouble. With most phones, a long press on any number key will insert that number, even if you are in T9 or ABC mode. On the Fin this didn't work, which meant when we entered "12pm" in our test note we had to switch between entry modes.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Helio Fin	15.30	3.27
Sanyo Katana DLX	n/a - no notes	0.00
LG Chocolate VX8550	13.73	3.64
Nokia N75	15.52	3.22
Nokia N73	15.12	3.31
Sprint Upstage	29.72	1.68

Note Interface (3.0)
The notes interface on the Fin is very basic. You have a chronological list of notes, with the newest notes at the bottom. You can't categorize, sort, or filter your notes. The left soft key opens a menu where you can access various features, including the ability to delete the currently selected note or all notes. You can also search your notes, however the search function is a little quirky. It will only match terms starting with the first word of the note, so for example if you have a note that says "Lunch 12pm tomorrow," you can find it by entering "Lunch" or "Lunch 12pm," but not if you only enter "tomorrow." This isn't as good as the search functionality found on the Chocolate VX8550, which allows you to search for any term or fragment of a term in a note.

Note Formatting (0.0)
You don't have any options for formatting your notes. You can't change the font type, size, or style, nor can you add media items to notes. One kind of fun feature included is the ability to set a background for notes. You can choose from 20 different backgrounds, or leave it blank. Although not very useful, it does add a bit of flair to an otherwise bland program.

Voice Memo (5.0)

The voice memo program on the Fin is found under Voice Functions in the Plan section of the menu. You can also access it by pressing and holding the left soft key when on the home screen. This brings up a quick access menu where the first item is assigned to voice functions. The voice memo program has two sections, one to record new messages and another to review already recorded messages. The voice recorder is very simple, you use the directional pad to control functions, with a press up starting recording and a press down to stop it.

Once you have recorded an item you are asked to review it, re-record it, or save it. Once an item has been saved it is listed in your memobox. Items are organized in the order they were recorded. The left soft key gives you access to a menu where you can rename, delete, play, or send items via e-mail. The voice memo system works fairly well, but is a little buried in the menus, and you can't record when the phone is closed. This may be a problem for those who need quick and frequent access.

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