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SINGAPORE : Saving the environment is a huge cause these days, and Samsung has jumped on the green bandwagon by releasing a solar-powered phone, the GT-S7550 Blue Earth (S$498, without contract).
The 3.5G quad-band touchscreen phone touts a 3-inch display, 3.15-megapixel fixed-focus camera, an FM radio, a microSD card slot (up to 16GB), A-GPS, and connectivity options like WiFi and Bluetooth.
The outer shell of the phone is made from recycled plastic water bottles, and its back is adorned with solar panels. The packaging of the phone is made of recycled cardboard, with the phone holder inside doubling as a photo frame.
Documentation is spartan and the mini-USB cable is not included. You can transfer songs and pictures via a microSD card, which is troublesome since the slot is hidden behind the back cover.
The Blue Earth looks good and feels smooth on your hand with its 108x53x14mm frame but it's rather heavy at 119g.
The Samsung TouchWiz interface provides three panels on your home screen that you can browse by swiping. The touchscreen is responsive, but at three inches, it's a tad small.
For example, to add widgets (like Facebook or Weather) to the panels, you open the widget sidebar and drag the desired widget onto the screen.
But as the sidebar dominates nearly a third of the screen, bigger widgets might cut into the sidebar. This makes shifting the widget back to the sidebar difficult, unless you do some rearrangement.
Perhaps because of the limited screen size, you don't get a full Qwerty keyboard, physical or virtual. Typing becomes a drag with the touchscreen alphanumeric keypad, especially when you are keying in Internet addresses.
That's the only flaw when it comes to web browsing on this phone. Other than that, the web browser is smooth and renders difficult websites superbly.
Reception and call quality is great, though voices tend to sound high-pitched. Photos and videos captured with the fixed-focus camera are surprisingly decent.
The battery life of the phone is good - it lasts around two days on a single charge. You can enhance the battery life by selecting the Eco mode, which lowers the brightness level and backlight timing.
Just don't expect too much from the solar panels as you get only five to 10 minutes of talktime after charging them for an hour in the sun. Yes, you will still need the eco-unfriendly power adapter.
- TODAY/il
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