Samsung SGH-F500 Review

Introduction:

At the end of last year Samsung presented two differently oriented slim devices: for music and video respectively. This production line deserved the name Dual Face, given by the manufacturer, and it really caught our eyes with its innovative design: a phone on one side and a personal media player – on the other. However, the overall dimensions of the units did not increase despite the combination, so they retained their slim appearance.

Today we are going to review one of them, namely the model whose purpose is video playback – Samsung SGH-F500 the Ultra Video. This is the first phone capable of playing video content that has been compressed by DivX and xVID.



The kit is placed in a box, which opens like a book and its content is as follows:

• Samsung SGH-F500 Ultra Video
• Charger
• Stereo Handsfree
• Data cable
• TV Out Cable
• Cover battery pack
• CD with software
• Micro SD card (1GB) with adapter to SD
• User guide

In case you wish to simultaneously protect the device and prolong the duration of its autonomous work, you can rely on the help from the Cover battery pack. This is a combination of a case and a battery, which has been integrated into it; indeed, we have seen something of the sort in Samsung devices before, for instance in P300/P310. What is interesting here, is the phone display indication of the charge level of this battery as well, thus informing the user on both ones.

Design:

As mentioned above, the Samsung F500 belongs to the Dual Face line of products. In it, the company designers faced the complicated task of simultaneously uniting two devices into one body while sticking to the slim design. The unit’s dimensions are 116.4 x 50 x 10.7 mm (4.6 x 2 x 0.4 in.) and it weighs 7.5g (3.8 oz.), which brings it close to the big and heavy devices. But in view of the fact that the user gets both a phone and a video player (on the two sides of one unit), dimensions and weight would seem to be fully acceptable.



On one side is the phone part, whose screen resolution is 220 x 176 Pixels / 65,536 colors with a landscape orientation. Colors displayed are bright and well-contrasted, making the screen visible at even direct sunlight so that one will not need to shade it. At first glance it seems fairly small, but this is for a good reason: the unit’s other “face” - the multimedia device – is on the other side.

We have an entirely different picture here: the big 2.4 inch display with 320 x 240 Pixels resolution and 262,144 colors sticks out a mile. Despite featuring more colors than the first one, we were not able to make out the difference between the two. This one is also well-contrasted and vivid, enabling trouble-free work with the menus of the multimedia part at even direct sunlight. Regrettably, details are quite difficult to perceive when watching video in such circumstances; and in case the scene setting is darker, one will not actually be able to grasp the subject-matter. Let us not be that demanding, though; one can hardly watch normally even a TV when the sun is shining onto the screen. However, we will not spare critical remarks either; because there is actually room for improvement: the Samsung’s display is one step behind, compared with that of Nokia 5700 XpressMusic (and other Nokia models).

The glass, protecting the big display, is too close to the LCD itself, which will alter its coloration at even a slight pressing (like when pressing your LCD monitor). This is why we would recommend not putting the phone into your pocket with other objects, which might press and possibly damage the display.

In order to impress us stronger, Samsung designers have chosen to add something even more interesting to the appearance of the device with the aim to distinguish it from F300. Besides being a Dual Face, the handset features a rotating lower part like the one of Nokia 5700 XpressMusic. With both units, the conception is to position them conveniently while watching videos on the display. Though the intention might have been the same, realizing it is quite different; rotation here is to 180 degrees and the axis is in one end, rather than in the middle, as with 5700. Thus, apart from turning it to a convenient position rather easily, one is even capable of setting the angle of observation instead of using the fixed position at every 90 degrees. Despite being tight enough, the mechanism opens with ease; what is more, during the period when the phone was with us, we did not feel any loosening. Another (stopping) mechanism secures the fully closed and opened positions, so there is hardly any probability that it would open while being carried in or taken out of the pocket.



Controlling the two sides follows two different patterns. The phone part has a standard numeric pad with the buttons of each row physically united into one. Despite this order their usage did not pose a problem for us; on sliding the forefinger on the surface, one can feel the rubber separator between the rows. Control keys are situated around the five-position navigation button above. All of them are lit in the color of the inscriptions and, as you can see, apart from the red and green receivers, all the rest are backlit in white. As a whole, the buttons on the phone part are easy to press and have a good tactile feedback, so operating the headset was not a problem even for thick-fingered people. The only difficulty we experienced was the occasional pressing of “C” instead of the navigation button lower position.



The multimedia part is also very pleasant to manage. This is done through the sensor buttons next to the display, which activate various options depending on whether you touch them or sweep your finger on their surface. The sweeping design is quite reminiscent of the mobile computers’ touch pad: in case one has the relevant experience, controlling the F500 will seem fairly easy and natural. The only non-sensor key is the central „Play/pause”, which causes some embarrassment at the start. We mean that while ‘browsing” the player menu one uses sensor buttons, so, when coming to the point of playing a file, it comes by habit to activate the “Play/pause” by mere touch as well. Anyway, after some attempts you will get accustomed and this will no longer make any impression, but in general we consider it to be a minor drawback. One possible cause for the designers of F500 to refer to such peculiarity of the controls is confusing keys, which might occur at shifting one’s finger from “rewind” to “fast forward” or from “Option” to “Menu exit”. When doing so without the necessary care one is very likely to involuntarily activate the “Play/pause” button if it were also a sensor one.

The remaining buttons that take part in controlling both devices are located on the sides. It is here that you will find the slider switching between the two displays (slide down) and keypad locking (slide up). However, the relief of its surface may render this switch easy to find, but not so to operate. Despite of the fact that one can shift it by both the soft part of the finger and its tip, the easiest way for us was using the nail. The camera button is a little lower; it is only active while using the multimedia part. Slightly bulging, it is easy to grope for and respectively – to press, which is done by only a light touch. There is also the slot for an additional memory card on this side. It is covered by a lid, which protects it from accumulation of dust or other polluting agents. The multi-function jack socket on the opposite side of F500 features the same protection. Here are the volume up and down buttons, which can also be detected by touch and pressed with ease.



The Reset button is located a little lower. The need to place one on the unit is a consequence of another design peculiarity of the “two faces”. You will not see anywhere on the photos a dismantled F500, and for a very simple reason: it cannot be taken to pieces, at least not until it has been brought to a repair shop. That is why its battery is not removable and so the Reset is indispensable for restarting the phone whenever there is need to do so (at crashing). As purely technical explanation will have it, pressing the Reset breaks the power circuit from the battery to the electronic components of the unit, which is equivalent to removing the power supply. This will not lead to losing the settings one has made, so do not feel uneasy about the possibility of erasing valuable data. To prevent an involuntary restart, the button is concealed beneath the corpus and can only be pressed by use of a sharp object, such as the tip of a ball-point pen.

Another peculiarity as a result of the specific design is that the SIM-card slot remains hidden between the two rotating parts, which will allow for its replacement while the set is on. We tested whether the card would be automatically recognized when the phone is operating: F500 was able to restart and do so only once in ten consecutive attempts. When it did not, we had to either reset or switch it off and then – on. Most probably, replacing the card this way has not been thought of. Nonetheless, we decided to try.



The phone’s microphone is also located at a rather unusual place – just above the key “1” between the key pad and the control buttons. We can think of two logical explanations of its odd place: there might not have been enough space below the keypad or the constructors did not want it obstructed when using the Cover battery pack. Its unusual position will not allow for talking while pressing the phone to your ear with the shoulder. Thus your cheek will cover the microphone rendering your speech almost unintelligible at the other end of the line, though they will hear a voice talking.

Interface:

Being a “two faces” handset, Samsung F500 disposes of two separate user interfaces, conformable to the functions and securing maximum convenience of control.

From the media part, the following functions are accessible: Video and music players, Album (for photos and clips), Documents and Settings. The interface is consistent with the spatial orientation of the unit (the position of holding it) and the icons in the main menu (there are six of them) are located horizontally. They are arranged in a row at the bottom of the screen; the presently selected one is enlarged and displayed in the middle. The menu is intuitive, but in case you might find it difficult to get used to it, we would recommend reviewing the tutorial of F500, which is to be found in the settings menu.

It is most surprising that the multimedia section cannot operate without a SIM card, which will remain unexplainable and illogical to us. It is not normal not to be able to make use of the above functions without the availability of a card. For all that, the two faces are evidently not that self-dependent.

The rest of the functions are concentrated in the phone section, where the icons are arranged in a grid of 3 x 3 and the currently selected position is enlarged and displayed on the right. They are animated, so the overall look is traditional for Samsung models – it is almost the same as in U 100 and similar to that of U 300 and U 700.

Phonebook:

The phone book has a capacity of 1000 contacts, each of them capable of accommodating several phone numbers, an e-mail, a web address, notes, dates of birth, and also photos and ring-tones, etc. At an incoming call, the photo, which has been associated with the respective contact, appears in a small window. When you dial a number, the image is not displayed. In case someone rings while you are using the multimedia section, the call is automatically transferred to the phone part, Once the conversation is over, you can continue from the point of interruption. Sorting of the contacts is done by first or last name with the option to search only by the name, belonging to the respective type of sorting.



Like with Windows Mobile 6 phones and Sony Ericsson K850, the F500 starts looking for coinciding numbers in the phonebook and the call records simultaneously when one starts typing a number on the keypad. The results are displayed in a small window. What is different here is that only coinciding numbers, and not names of the phonebook, are shown. This is a very easy way to make a call to a friend, whose number you may know only partially, or to check its availability in the directory. This is indeed a very convenient function, so we are convinced it will be appreciated. This is here, that we can note one of the restrictions of the small display: in case one types more than 5 digits, the window with the search results will hide the rest of the number, so the whole number remains invisible.

Organizer:

In the applications menu, you will find calendar, memo, task, voice recorder, world clock, calculator, converter, timer, stopwatch and memory status (for tasks and memos). The calendar has different viewing options – by days, weeks, months, and its resources are standard. You can set an appointment or an anniversary and each has a field for assigning an alarm. Up to 20 memos with no more than 100 symbols each can be memorized. The number of tasks is the same, allowing for 15 symbols in the title and 100 symbols in the text. The voice recorder enables the user to record voice notes with the option to set their length at up to 1, 5, or 30 min.

Special attention has been paid to the alarm: it is directly accessible from the main menu. There is the option to set five alarms and five additional ones, to which the user can even ascribe an arbitrary name (Wake Up alarm, for example). Settings for each alarm are very detailed: there is the choice of various music, type of alarm (melody, vibration, or both), volume, repetitiveness with the choice on which day exactly, as well as snooze settings (on/off up to ten times).



The memory of Ultra Video is divided as follows: 20 MB for the phone section and 350 MB – for the multimedia one; according to official data, the phone can support a memory Micro SD card up to 2 GB, though we presume it will cope with a 4 GB one as well. In our set, there was 1GB card, which enabled us to dispose of about 1350 MB ready for taking in favorite films and tracks.

Messaging:

Options for sending messages are altogether standard – you can compose text, multimedia messages, and e-mails. The memory is sufficient for saving up to 200 text messages, 30 templates, 100 push messages, whereas for the multimedia ones and e-mails are kept in the phone memory.
In emergency situations one may send the so-called SOS messages, provided their options for sending and content have been set beforehand. This might prove very useful in critical situations, since sending can be done with the keypad locked by fourfold pressing of the volume button. We hope you may never need to send such messages, yet they can be effective when necessary.



Connectivity:

Samsung SGH-F500 is a tri-band GSM/GPRS phone (900/1800/1900 MHz), supporting UMTS/ HSDPA 3G (2100MHz), which comes to show that it has been mainly targeted at European users. We call the attention of our USA readers to the fact that the sole usable frequency there will be 1900 MHz, which means a rather limited application. We would like to remind that some time ago Samsung released a CDMA version of a dual face device, called UpStage, which is being offered by Spring and can be used trouble-free and unrestrictedly. Regrettably, the latter model does not feature the same functions, but at least its design is identical.

The complete HTML Internet browser smoothly downloads WAP, as well as normal Internet pages; our attempt to download www.phonearena.com was a success and the visualization was correct, without any mistakes. However, it is a pity that the small display of the phone is utterly insufficient for convenient content viewing and there is no option to use the large screen of the other face to that end. Such nonsense shall be considered inexcusable nowadays, when Internet access is an inevitable everyday necessity. It would be much cozier if one were able to browse on the big display with the help of the sensor buttons: one would dispose of everything there – enough space, easy control, and, of course, a 3G phone. Alas, complete bliss is unachievable.



There are two ways to connect the unit to a computer: Bluetooth 2.0 or a cable. Small files are transferred more easily the wireless way, whereas for larger ones, requiring faster connection, we would recommend the cable, available in the set. When exchanging information with a computer by way of the latter, one can use three modes of connection: PC Studio, Media Player and Mass Storage. The PC Studio mode uses Samsung’s software for file exchange and synchronization. In Media Player mode, the F500 is recognized as a portable one (PMP), which only enables the exchange of musical files and synchronization with Windows Media Player. The name itself of the last connection mode – Mass Storage – speaks of itself. In it, both the multimedia section memory of the device and the additional memory card are recognized, so one gets access to files and folders, as with every one information storage device.

Fastest transfer (about 2MB/s) is achieved in the last two modes, so bear this in mind when moving large amounts of information. For instance, an entire DivX movie (700 MB) will be transferred within 6-7 minutes, while doing so with a song (10 MB) will only take around 5 seconds.

Camera:

It is time we turned the other “face” of F500, where the multimedia part is and take a look at its capabilities.

It is obvious that this Korean product has not been intended to impress by its camera, so the role it plays is of secondary importance. It is a 2 megapixel one, placed on the phone part, where we are accustomed to seeing the second camera of the video-phones. Due to the specific design, you can rotate the keypad in case you consider taking pictures this way to be easier. Since an optimized interface from other Samsung phones has been used, there are plenty of options here as well: change of resolution (totaling 7 ones), photographing mode, white balance, effects, frames, and even ISO. By use of the same camera you can make video-conversations, but only through the phone section.

Activating the camera is comparatively slow – it takes about 4 seconds from pressing the button to being ready for picture-taking. This requires around 5 seconds, but then you have to manually save or erase each photo before going on with the next. In case you need to take a series of pictures you will see just how inconvenient this is: it is even possible to miss the right moment during this period.

The performance of the camera is not quite impressive; the first time we were taking pictures the weather was cloudy and rainy (the sky, of course, was also darker), which resulted in a predominant red coloration in most places and lack of detail. Despite the sunny skies at our second attempt, the images were not much better than the previous ones: red was prevailing once again, though to a lesser degree, and we observed the same lack of detail. Situation is even worse indoors – little detail, no focus, and “noise” in the images, which grows with diminishing illumination.

The maximum resolution of the video camera is 320 x 240 pixels (plus two smaller ones) and its settings allow for a number of changes. One is capable of balancing the white, adjusting the duration of the video to be shot with the option of filling the entire available memory, effects, muting the sound, etc.




Multimedia:

Samsung F500 is intended to be an adequate multimedia device and its enormous asset is the ability to directly reproduce DivX-compressed content. On F500 one can watch entire movies that have been downloaded straight from the computer without intervention whatsoever – you simply load and view.

The video player supports the following formats: MPEG-4, h.264, WMV, AVI and DivX. We tested it with dozens of files of various size and extensions, and it managed to perfectly play each and every one of them. The only exception were those, encoded by h.264; we put to the test files of different resolution, framerate, and bitrate, but not once were we able to play audio and video simultaneously. The multimedia section crashed on several occasions to the point of no response by any of the buttons, so our last resort was the reset key. What was interesting in this situation was the uninterrupted operation of the phone section, regardless of the other face’s blocking. Obviously, the DivX support has been most laid stress on; yet, it is not normal that a video-oriented phone should not support h.264 as well, even at low resolution and fps at that.



We also tried the uppermost resolution for viewing DivX encoded content and testing led us to the conclusion that F500 cannot manage higher resolutions. Watching videos of up to 640 x 480 did not pose a problem, but at 960 x 544 the player would not start, displaying the following message instead: „Unsupported content type”. This should not make one feel uneasy, though: high-resolution files are not yet as wide-spread as the rest, so encountering this problem is most unlikely.

Another issue to be subjected to testing was whether the player would cope with files, encoded with the XviD codec (the free competitor to DivX), which is also fairly popular. We were very glad and quite surprised as well at the fact that the Samsung managed to play files encoded by it, which is one more of its great assets.

We had to assess the durability of the battery at watching video, so we turned volume to the maximum and set the DivX file to be played repeatedly. Under these conditions, the F500 kept on working for 141 minutes and with the addition of the cover battery pack the duration increased to a total of 323 minutes. This will allow for watching one or even more movies, yet we would recommend carrying the cover battery pack with you whenever there is a prospect of a longer trip.

One should bear in mind that the sound at watching video or listening to music is quite low – just enough if the environment is quiet. This can be explained by the fact that there is no other loudspeaker apart from the one of the phone, which has been designed to reproduce the sound at conversation rather than playing music. You would better use the headphones – besides providing better audio quality, this will not disturb by-standers.

We can testify that that the player was adequate in fulfilling its task as it was supposed to, therefore it is certain to be a good means for time-killing – for example when you are on a long-haul trip by bus or train. There is also a TV Out Cable in the set, which will enable the user to play clips directly from the phone onto the big TV screen. This feature, combined with the DivX decoding, makes it a mobile player indeed. One can set the output signal to either PAL or NTSC, so that the greater compatibility will not let the color image appear as black and white on the TV. Regrettably, the cable has only three RCA jacks, so in case you dispose solely of a SCART socket, buying an additional transition plug will be indispensable.



The F500 supports the following music formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+, WMA, and was in reality able to cope with all of them; the player also allows for displaying an album cover with the respective track in case there is one, as well as an option to choose out of eight equalizer settings. Another interesting option is sorting the tracks in playlists of “recently” and “most played”, which could be very convenient with numerous files; however, there is one unpleasant feature as well – the unavailability of standard functions such as sorting by album or artist. Sound is reproduced either by the loudspeaker or the headphones from the set, but it is a pity that a standard headset cannot be plugged due to the lack of a 3.5 mm stereo socket. And in case you will hardly ever utter the word “cable”, better use Bluetooth stereo.

Software:

Being an up-to-date device, Samsung F500 will not deprive the user of the opportunity to view office documents directly on the big display. We tested several ones made by Office 2003 (Word, Excel, Power Point), as well as PDF documents, and F500 experienced no problem in opening even bigger files. They can be viewed in the most convenient orientation – landscape or portrait, zoomed in and out as one needs to view them – and the device performed this task rather well. However, our attempts to open documents made by Office 2007 were doomed to fail. So, in case you are using the latter software, files should be saved as compatible with 2003.



For making good use of spare time, users have two JAVA games at their disposal: Powerinlinex and The Last Age. In the first you race on in-line skates and must pick points by overcoming obstacles; in the second you control a combat robot and the action takes place in the future.

Performance:

Working with F500 is fairly pleasurable and comparatively fast, which is valid for both of its sides. You will not have to pass time in irksome waiting while another menu is being opened or a file – loaded. Even the big videos are opened quite fast – about 4-5 seconds for a 350MB DivX encoded *.avi file.

Ringtone volume is quite good and detecting incoming calls is trouble-free. If in a noisier environment, you can use a combination of melody and vibration. We do not recommend relying on vibration solely, since it can be felt only in case the phone is in a tightly fitting pocket.

The Samsung F500’s performance as a phone was not particularly good. During a conversation the incoming sound is at a medium volume level and voices are sharp. Occasionally there is also a slight background noise. At the other end things seem a bit better, but not at the desired level of satisfaction, either. Volume is above medium there, but voices sound muffled, even inarticulate. All conversation were made at quiet places with normal speech and in the conditions of full network coverage, so as to minimize the influence of all external factors on the assessment.

There is an interesting extra, though: one can increase the microphone sensitivity during conversation by selecting whisper mode. The very name suggests that it is supposed to pick quieter talking, even whisper. Your collocutor will understand that you are whispering, but at the same time – hear your exact words. Despite being only a small innovation, this feature will enable the users to talk without the uneasy feeling that they are somehow embarrassing the by-standers, even at a company meeting or a math class, for instance.

F500 cannot boast strong signal reception, either – its results rate it below the average. We would say our evaluation is 4.5 – identical to that of Nokia 5700, for example.

According to Samsung official data, the unit has a 950 mAh battery, which is supposed to secure power supply for up to 230 minutes in talk mode or 190 hours in stand-by. In reality, the device is operational for 310 minutes and in case this might seem little to you, there is always the cover battery pack at your disposal for making it even longer.

Conclusion:

The Ultra video can really catch the eye by its dual face design, as well as by the rotating lower part. It is indeed a terrific concept for this type of device and serving perfectly the goal of making impression, but we regret to say that its constructors have plenty more things to take into consideration. One of its drawbacks (or shall we say – nonsense?) regarding the distribution of functions to the two sides, is viewing Internet pages on the small screen only. The other is the indispensable usage of a SIM card for both sections – of course, a phone will need it, but why can the multimedia part not do without it?

It is obvious that in developing this model, stress was put mostly on what was considered most important – convenience at playing video, and the DivX support ranks it one step forward compared to rival models like Motorola RIZR Z8.