Samsung M520 Cell Phone Review - Software
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Alfredo Padilla Published on April 07, 2008 Comment on this |
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Summary
The Samsung M520 gives users a generally snappy and easy to use interface, but there are some drawbacks. The Browser is very limited in its functionality and there's not a single full version game on the device out of the box. The customization options are also limited and third party applications are limited to Java apps.
OS (3.5)
The Samsung M520 runs Samsung's own proprietary operating system. The OS was remarkably stable and snappy in our use of it, we only ran into serious lag with a couple of rogue applications like Sprint's music software. We liked that menu items could be accessed via keypad shortcuts and that menus weren't overly large. In fact simplicity seemed to be the rule in the interface, sometimes to its detriment as some areas like video playback were almost too simple. This does make it easy to use for anyone who just picks up the phone, however, and with an entry level device like this one that's particularly important. We also liked that some limited multi-tasking capabilities were supported, for example you could listen to music while accessing other phone functions. Our score for proprietary operating systems like this are limited to a maximum of five points. We reserve higher scores for more capable smart phone operating systems like Windows Mobile or Symbian.
Home Screen Score (6.0)
Extensibility (3.0)
The Samsung M520 supports Java applications like Opera Mini or Google Maps, as do most phones. What you can't do is install native third party applications as smart phones allow.
Customizability (3.0)
As we mentioned above you have some customization options in the home screen like changing the theme or changing the applications assigned to the shortcut menu. If you use the alternate home screen you can also change the background image on the home screen. You can also change your dialing font, but that's about it. You can't change font type or size throughout the interface, nor can you re-arrange the order of applications in the main menu. This is pretty limited customization options, but not significantly more limited than most regular phones.
OS Responsivness (7.0)
As we mentioned above the operating system of the Samsung M520 is generally very responsive. With a few notable exceptions we discerned no noticeable lag when moving through menus and accessing features. This can be seen most in the fast times we were able to manage when adding contacts, calendar appointments and tasks. The big exception, of course, is the music software, which takes forever to launch.
Browser Features (5.5)
Browsing Interface (3.0)
The browsing interface on the Samsung M520 is also rather limited. All web pages are organized into a single column, and as we mentioned above particularly large pages are split into multiple pages. Even with this large pages can be something of a pain to navigate, mostly because there's no way to page up or down, instead the D-Pad moves from link to link. This means that link heavy pages take forever to navigate about.
The browser menu is one of the few places on the Samsung M520 where the menu gets particularly long. In fact there's a "more" option at the bottom since not all the items will fit in the space available. Thankfully keypad shortcuts are supported here too. More advanced features like getting an overview of the web page, landscape or full screen view are not supported. In most respects we would not recommend using the built in browser to anyone who needs to access the internet often on their device. Instead we recommend you go out and download the free Opera Mini, which is a much more capable mobile browser.
Browser Access (5.71)
To see how easy it is to access the web browser we count the number of steps it takes to go from the home screen until we have browsed to our website. The Samsung M520 took seven steps to complete this process, entering the URL counts as a single step. You can see below that this is slightly below average, and we were helped out, as we are in so many places on the Samsung M520, by using keypad shortcuts.
As with most phones we've seen from Sprint, and other carriers nowadays, the Samsung M520 doesn't ship with a single full version game. There are several demonstration games, but we feel strongly that any phone you buy should come with at least one halfway decent game out of the box. If you do decide you like any of the demos or you want to download a game of your choice you'll have to pay Sprint for it. The D-pad on the Samsung M520 should be fine for most casual gaming, it's responsive and not prone to errors. Your choice of games will be limited to Java games, but there's a large catalog of such games available.
Calculator (4.0)
Alarm (7.0)
Document Software (0.0)
There is no document software on the Samsung M520 so you won't be able to view things like Word, Excel or PDF files.
Other Software (0.0)
There is no additional software of note that we'd award points for on the Samsung M520.
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