Samsung Serenata First Impression Cell Phone Review - Tour & Design
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Mark Brezinski Published on January 09, 2008 Comment on this |
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Front
Sliding the phone open will reveal the main selling point of the phone: the Bang & Olufsen stereo speakers. Since they're tiny holes on a smooth, black surface, they're hard to pick up in the photos.
Left
Top
The top is so featureless we didn't even take a picture. Just picture the sides extending around and you've got the idea.
Bottom
Right
Back
Battery Out
Taking out the battery isn't a particularly exciting experience. The only thing that's under there is a typical SIM card slot.
In the Box
Though it's not yet set in stone, the Serenata should come with a docking station, a Bang & Olufsen headset, and a case. You'll also receive three-in-one cables for power, RCA, and USB.
Handling
The Serenata is shaped a bit differently, but still fit nicely in our palm. With so few input buttons, one-handed use is possible, but requires a bit of an awkward grip. We also thought the touch buttons on the screen were a bit odd, especially since none of them had any kind of cue as to the boundaries of the touch-sensitive region.
Portability
The Serenata is 4.31 x 2.38 x 0.78. This is a bit thicker than most phones, but it shouldn't distort a pocket horrendously. The only problem might be its pear-like shape; 2.38 inches is pretty wide on a phone. If you want to be super-cool, you can use the metal clip to pin the phone to your belt or lapel pocket.
Aesthetics
Since this is a fashion/luxury handset we were really expecting more from the phone in the looks department. The front of the phone does look nice, but the rest of it looks very plain. The metal clip looks a bit out of place, and the slide-out speakers look like a blank plastic panel at first glance. Its exterior is a masterpiece compared to its UI, however, which was incredibly plain. Most screens were simply black with blue text, with nary an image to break up the monotony. Hopefully the UI will be fancied up a bit before its release.
Durability
We weren't able to do a creak test since there was a booth person standing over us while we played around with the handset and she was pretty intimidating. We did sneak in a quick twist, however, by holding it up to our ear, pretending as though we were attempting to hear the playback over the general roar of CES. It didn't sound creaky. There were a few durability issues, however. The first is its moving parts. The clip slides open, and the handset itself is a slider; moving parts accrue wear and tear faster than non-moving parts. Also, its screen looked a bit exposed.
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