Samsung makes Waves

Samsung Wave 533

SAMSUNG has unveiled three new entry-level smartphones, the Wave 533, 575 and 723.

Samsung Wave 575

The Wave smartphones run on the company's proprietary Bada ­operating system. The mobile OS allows the phone to connect to the Samsung App Store where users can download and install more applications.

The marketplace has more than 2,000 free and paid apps in various categories such as games, news, social networking and utilities.

All three models share the same basic specifications such as a ­touchscreen, up to 100MB of internal memory, microSD card slot (supports card sizes of up to 16GB) and A-GPS. They can also play videos encoded in MPEG4, H.263 and H.264 formats.

In terms of connectivity, all the models support Bluetooth and WiFi.

A Social Hub feature aggregates information such as e-mail, SMS, status updates from social networking sites, and web calendars. The information is then displayed in one window for easy viewing.

As for the differences, the Wave 723 and 533 support HSDPA network while the 525 is limited to only EDGE connectivity.

Additionally, the 723 has a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. It also includes a number of handy functions such as smile shot, panaroma shot, geotagging and an image editor to make your shots more exciting.

The other two models only have a 3-megapixel camera.

Also, the Wave 533 is the only model that comes with a slider Qwerty keyboard.

The Wave 533, 575 and 723 retail for USD229, USD235 and USD313 respectively.

Quick review of Samsung SP-H03 LED Pico Projector

For mobile warriors, this pocket projector should warrant a serious look.

BOXY: The Samsung SP-H03 LED Pico Projector looks just like a luxury watch case.

PICO projectors are getting better all the time and they have come to a point where it's really feasible to carry one around for small presentations.

Case in point is the Samsung SP-H03 LED pico projector - this diminutive little number turned in a surprisingly good performance for such a small device.

Specs

With a native resolution of 854 x 480-pixels, the SP-H03 is not the highest resolution pico projector out there but it's certainly more than adequate for PowerPoint slides, viewing documents and, of course, watching the odd movie or two.

In terms of size, it's pretty small - I'd say that it looks like a small music box or a luxury watch case.

The whole device is finished in black, with the removable battery unit taking up the whole of the bottom of the device.

BIG: The LED Pico Projector's battery is a clip-on unit that takes up the entire bottom part of the unit.

On the back you get the usual connections - a special mini VGA input, mini USB port, audio output and a mini 3.5mm connector port that accepts a special RCA cable for video and stereo audio input.

One nifty little touch is that the control system is driven by touch sensitive controls on the top of the projector, with the soft touch buttons having their own LED backlighting.

In use

Turn it on and it's immediately clear that the SP-H03 is actually more powerful than its size would suggest. The display is very bright for a pico projector - at 30 lumens, it's actually about twice as bright as the 3M MPro 150 pico projector we tested. While this doesn't mean that it's comfortable to use with the lights on, you can actually still clearly see the display in a brightly-lit room.

BRIGHT: With its 30lumens brightness, the Samsung LED Pico Projector projects a very bright image.

The focus slider is on the side of the device, and although it works, I would have preferred the slider to have less "give" when adjusting focus - as it is, it took a bit of fiddling before I got the focus just right.

Also, there is no keystone correction so you'll have to keep it as level as possible when in use.

Since the buttons are touch-sensitive, it's actually quite easy to accidentally activate a button when you're trying to adjust the focus slider on the side as your palm or other finger is very likely to accidentally touch the top of the projector when you're doing this.

At about 5ft away the device projects an image size between 32in and 35in in 16:9 aspect ratio which is not too bad.

If you step back further the image gets larger but at the expense of brightness. Nevertheless we found that with the lights dimmed, you really can comfortably project pretty large images of 50in or more.

One thing we were really surprised with was the speaker. While lacking in bass, the 1-watt (again, about twice more powerful than the last pico projector we tested) speaker on the SP-H03 produced audio loud enough for an audience in a small room to hear clearly.

This really means that this tiny projector is often all you have to carry if you want to give a presentation to a small group of people.

The one downside is that battery life is obviously not going to be really great because it lasts about two hours on a single charge.

However, the charger for the pico projector is pretty small, so it's not a big deal to carry it around as well and keep the projector plugged in while you're using it.

The SP-H03 supports a number of formats, including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, JPG images, MP3 songs and various video formats.

SOFT-TOUCH: The buttons on the Samsung LED Pico Projector are backlit and touch-sensitive.

The machine itself has 1GB of internal memory but you also get a microSD slot and the option to add more storage if you want to.

However, we did find the SP-H03 to be rather fussy when it comes to file formats. The projector just won't display some JPEG images and the only reason we can think of was that the photos may have been too large for the SP-H03 to handle.

There are quite a number of video formats out there so playback on the SP-H03 is even more spotty.

We generally had no problems playing DivX files in standard resolution though HD files are of course beyond the capability of this tiny projector.

Of course, native playback on the device itself is merely a bonus. The most common usage model is to connect it to a notebook via the VGA port and use the SP-H03 as a pure projector.

In this respect I really have no complaints at all because the SP-H03 can handle whatever your notebook can play or display.

I even connected it to my Nintendo Wii via the RCA adaptor, and I had a real blast playing with a screen as large as an expensive 50in HDTV. The only drawback is that you really do have to turn off all the lights in the room if your game has a lot of dark levels.

Conclusion

If you thought that all pico projectors were made the same, think again - Samsung proves that it can make it brighter and louder than most of the competition.

MINI-PORTS: (clockwise from top left) the Samsung LED Pico Projector has all the usual inputs -- a VGA input, audio/video input, headphone output, USB port and power adapter socket.

There's not much to say except that if you are looking for a pico projector, the Samsung SP-H03 should be near the top of your list.

Pros: Bright for a pico projector; speaker loud enough for a small room.

Cons: Limited native photo and video format support; touch sensitive buttons easily activated by accident.

SP-H03 LED Pico Projector
(Samsung)
Pocket projector
MEMORY: 1GB internal, microSD card slot
BRIGHTNESS: 30 lumens
PC COMPATIBILITY: 1080i, 720p
FILE FORMAT SUPPORT: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, BMP, JPEG, MP4, MP3
SPEAKERS: 1 built-in (1-watt)
DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 7.11 x 7.11x 3.81cm
WEIGHT: 182g
PRICE: RM1,399
RATING: 4

Samsung keep following Apple's direction

SIDE BY SIDE: Apple has the iPhone and the iPad (left), while Samsung has several smartphones and its Galaxy Tab (right) - wherever Apple goes these days, it seems, the South Korean giant is sure to follow. 

Most of the analysts say, the tech heavyweight rivals are not so much heading into battle as strolling hand in hand into an ever more profitable future.

"Samsung is both a provider and a competitor to Apple. But they have very different strategies. Apple is aiming for the high-end market, whereas Samsung is geared more towards the mass market."

Up to a third of the components of the iPad and the iPhone are actually sourced by Apple from the South Korean firm, analysts say, meaning Samsung has a lucrative finger deep in Apple's pie.

"Apple is dependent upon Samsung to a certain extent for their components but Samsung is clearly benefiting from Apple's innovation," said Hong Kong-based Young.

"Apple has almost single-handedly created a new market for Tablet computers, for instance, which Samsung will capitalise on. But Apple's products are dependent upon Samsung hardware."

Samsung reloaded

Samsung Electronics refused to comment on its relationship with Apple but insists the company does invest in innovation and aims to "provide consumers with breakthrough technology."

It is also looking for an Apple-esque relationship with its customers.

In 2009, Samsung refined their brand story in an effort to bond with consumers more on an emotional level. In 2010, Samsung continuing to spread their new brand story. Samsung is known for electronics, but has a more human mission as well.

"We are clear in our goals for Samsung. We are currently market leaders in a large number of product categories and business areas. In the future we want to be clear leaders in all of the categories and areas in which we compete.

"We want to be a loved brand, one with a loyal base and one that is in the front of consumer's minds as they make purchase decisions."

However, it is what can be done with the smartphone or tablet that counts. A smartphone or iPhone is just a phone and an iPad or tablet just an elaborate slab of glass without the applications and games that run on it.

Samsung's suite of Galaxy S smartphones and its Tablet run on Google's Android, with applications available from the Android Market app store.

It has also produced a smartphone, the Focus, which will run on the new Windows Phone 7 platform.

Apple sells applications exclusive for its products through its own app store. Samsung also has its own fledgling app store, Bada.

Down to two

Veteran Apple analyst Ashok Kumar, of New York investment bank Rodman and Renshaw, believes this is the true battleground. In the clash of the titans in this market, Ashok said, he believes there are only going to be two platforms standing in the end: Apple and Android. Samsung will be first among equals on Android.

"Samsung has a huge competitive advantage in the supply chain as it produces up to a third of the materials in smartphones and Tablet computers.

"Purely on the hardware side of things, Samsung's products probably have the advantage but Apple's app store is where it stands apart.

Apple dominates the high-end market but, as the price of smartphones comes down, Samsung's market share will increase - especially in emerging markets such as Brazil, China and India, Kumar says.

"Apple is a premium product, it is not really in their DNA to go for the mass market jugular. This is where Samsung can, and will, capitalise," says Kumar.

"Samsung may not have the 'cool' factor that Apple has and Samsung is not really in Apple's league when it comes to innovation but they are a very, very successful follower. They are good for each other."

New features of Windows Phone 7 : reviewed

HTC 7 Mozart

On February 15, 2010, Microsoft Corp unveiled its Windows Phone 7 during the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. While the new operating system could be the most significant for Microsoft since losing the lead in the smartphone market to RIM's BlackBerry, Apple's iOS devices and Google's Android operating system, the local launch was marred by the unavailability of certain key features that would have made Windows Phone 7 devices in this country more competitive.

This is unfortunate, because Microsoft's new smartphone operating system has a real chance of taking hold in the market, thanks to a well thought-out interface that has all the animation and flash of its rivals and yet looks completely unlike any of them.

New interface

For those who haven't seen the phone in action, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 interface is made up of customisable "Tiles" which are active shortcuts to various applications - for example, the Outlook tile not only takes you to the application when tapped, but the tile itself will show users how many e-mail messages are unread.

Similarly, the People tile, which takes the user to the contacts list, also has constantly active thumbnails of people taken from the user's contacts list.

Tiles on the Home screen can be customised and the user can easily add (and remove) shortcuts to a variety of applications and even favourite websites.

Within this interface is a concept called "Hubs" which are essentially areas which hold collections of related tasks - for example, the People Hub not only allows users to access their contacts lists, but also to access each contact's Facebook photos and Windows Live feeds.

Then there's the Office Hub, which of course includes mobile versions of Word, Excel andPowerPoint as well as OneNote, a new application in the mobile Office suite for note-taking on the go.

Microsoft's hardware partners like HTC, LG and Samsung are set to launch products based on Windows Phone 7 in the coming months.

HTC announced that it will be releasing its HD7 and Mozart models early next month. The HD7 has a retail price of RM2,399 and will be available exclusively from Maxis at a subsidised price with a plan. Meanwhile the Mozart will have a recommended retail price of RM2,099.

Hardware front

In an effort to avoid the fragmentation in hardware (CPU speeds, screen resolutions, etc) which resulted in vastly differing user experiences in the company's previous Windows Mobile operating system, Microsoft has this time set more stringent base hardware specifications for devices running on Windows Phone 7.

With Windows Phone 7, every device must run on a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, have a screen resolution of 480 x 800-pixels, have at least 8GB of storage and at least a 5-megapixel digital camera.

Missing Marketplace, Xbox Live

For Malaysians, however, the disappointing news could be that both Xbox Live and the Windows Phone Marketplace will not be available at launch.

For gamers, Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 is one of its biggest draws, as the feature allows Xbox 360 console users with Xbox Live accounts to log in on Windows Phone 7 to customise their Xbox Avatars and even add to their achievement points for mobile games played on the smartphone.

While the unavailability of Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 isn't that big a surprise considering that the Xbox 360 console itself isn't officially available in the country, the missing Windows Phone Marketplace, Microsoft's application store for the smartphone, may turn off some users.

According to Ananth Lazarus, managing director of Microsoft Malaysia, the missing features are "to be rolled out in the future," although no specific time-frame was given as to when this would be.

As it is, the missing Marketplace puts Windows Phone 7 at somewhat of a disadvantage, because the smartphone operating system itself has no Twitter application nor an instant messaging client like Windows Live Messenger built in.

Samsung PX2370: Review

The Samsung PX2370 monitor has a number of features that makes it great for gamers and movie enthusiasts.

SAMSUNG has been steadily updating its monitors with LED backlighting technology, and the PX2370 represents the high-end for these new models.

What makes the PX2370 different from the B-series model we reviewed a while back is that the PX2370 has a much wider colour gamut which covers 100% of the sRGB standard and boasts some other "Magic" features.

First off, the PX2370 is thin - I said this about the BX2450 which I reviewed before, but the PX2370 is thinner than that.

It also looks very classy. I liked the design even more than the BX2450, even though it shares some of the same design cues like the transparent bezel which frames the darker bezel on the inside.

I suppose I just like the minimalist look, and the PX2370 is extremely minimalist in design with only the power button visible on the front.

The back of the monitor continues this trend - there are four control buttons, a DVI port, a single HDMI port, a 3.5mm stereo output and, interestingly, an audio optical digital output which acts as a passthrough for digital surround audio that comes from the HDMI.

The equally classy-looking stand is a plastic and metal affair which unfortunately only allows for a slight tilt adjustment and nothing else.

In use

The PX2370 performed very well right out of the box as colours were very accurate and required almost no manual colour calibration.

Thinner: The PX2370 is extremely thin and light, thanks to the LED backlight technology.

The monitor is a TN (twisted nematic) panel, which means good horizontal viewing angles, but only so-so vertical viewing angles.

The screen tends to darken significantly as you view the screen at a higher or lower angle.

To counter this, Samsung has actually included a MagicAngle mode which adjusts the contrast and brightness so that the screen is more viewable from extreme vertical angles.

There are a number of settings for MagicAngle and I have to say it really works.

My monitor is usually placed at eye level when sitting on an office chair, but sometimes, I sit on the sofa which is much lower and a proper MagicAngle setting solved most of the darkening problems at this lower angle.

I also like the MagicLux feature which utilises an ambient light sensor on the monitor to adjust the brightness of the backlight to suit your environment.

The PX2370 has four adjustment buttons on the back which takes some getting used to, since you can't see the labels until you peek round the back.

However, the onscreen display does help by overlaying the menus roughly over the correct button at the back.

It does take some getting used to, but once you do, it's actually quite easy.

Also, one of the selection buttons can actually be customised to quickly launch a specific feature - I selected MagicAngle since I wanted the feature at my fingertips whenever I changed position.

Conclusion

The PX2370 monitor is very nice - I really liked the colour accuracy which is great for home photo editors (though it the TN panel isn't up to professional standards) and movie watchers.

The fast response times means that it works very well for games as well.

Definitely a thumbs up for the price.

Pros: Good colour accuracy; fast response times; classy-looking.

Cons: TN panel means some darkening of the image when viewing from extreme vertical angles.

PX2370
(Samsung)
LED LCD monitor
Display: 23in screen with LED backlight
Resolution: 1080p (1,920 x 1,080-pixels)
Response time: 2ms
Contrast ratio: 1,000:1 (actual)
Ports: HDMI, VGA, 3.5mm stereo audio output, optical output
Dimensions (W x D x H): 55.6 x 43 x 23cm
Weight: 4kg
Price: RM1,099

Samsung Wave: Review

Samsung is looking to make some waves in the smartphone space with this aptly-named model.

HERE we have another smartphone billed for an iPhone 3GS competitor but still far from the league. That seems to be the case with almost every single smartphone with a large touchscreen these days.

But unlike all the pretenders we've seen before, the upcoming Samsung Wave S8500 may just have the potential to make some inroads.

By way of introduction, the Wave is Samsung's first model to use its proprietary open mobile platform called Bada (which means "ocean" in Korean).

With Bada, Samsung says it has made it easier for developers to create more content for its Samsung Apps Store marketplace. More about this later.

Thoughtful design

Encased in a light and sleek aluminium body - and without a parting line on the side - the Wave combines modernity and sophistication.

The ergonomically designed body also makes it more comfortable to hold.

The front is dominated by the 3.3in Super Amoled tempered glass display, which is scratch-resistant.

Below the display are three access buttons for making and ending calls and accessing the menu interface. On the sides sit the volume, camera and display-toggle keys. A standard audio-in jack, speaker grill and a mini USB port are located at the top.

The mini USB port is protected by a sliding cover, which unlike the standard rubber cap, is not easily detached to go missing. Certainly a thoughtful design that we appreciate.

THOUGHTFUL DESIGN: The standard audio jack, speaker grill and a mini USB port with a protective sliding door are available on top.

Equally useful are the options to silence incoming calls simply by turning over the phone and activating the speakerphone function by just putting it down on the table.

Oh my eyes!

The Wave's brilliant Super Amoled display is definitely a showstopper. Thanks to the use of Samsung's mDNIe (mobile Digital Natural Image engine) technology, the display offers vivid "in-your-face" colours and higher contrast images that seem almost alive. And we are not just being superfluous with our words here.

For the uninitiated, Super Amoled is an enhanced version of the already bright Amoled technology. Unlike its predecessor, this technology features an on-cell integrated touchscreen - gone are the air gaps between screen and touch sensor panel like in previous versions.

According to Samsung, the new screen delivers images that are up to 20% brighter, 80% less sunlight reflective and yields 20% longer battery life.

As an added bonus, the display and its whole body are covered by an anti-smudge coating to keep the smartphone looking clean and polished longer.

Fast just gets faster

The Wave loaded up very quick and it took a mere 23 seconds after pressing the On button to get to the Touch Wiz 3.0 user interface. This latest UI promises more intuitive and customisable options to users.

The super-charged 1GHz Samsung ARM Cortex A8 processor certainly makes navigation blazingly fast and smooth. The transition animations look great and are not laggy at all.

Even graphics-intensive racing games like Asphalt 5, which comes preinstalled with the device, ran smoothly. Lags did happen but only very rarely during intense action sequences when the car hits multiple items on the tracks.

POCKETFUL OF FUN: The graphics-intensive mobile racing game, Asphalt 5, runs smoothly on this device.

Additionally, the built-in force feedback takes the gameplay experience to a whole new level.

In terms of the phone menu, the Wave has four homescreens which you can populate with widgets.

The background is made of a four-segment panoramic shot so when you slide your finger to the next homescreen, the background will switch to the next segment of the image.

Press the menu button and you will be presented with a screen with rows of colourful application icons, which suspiciously looks like you-know-which-smartphone.

The Wave's auto rotation feature works 360°, meaning whichever side you turn the device the screen will always be in the correct view.

Also available is the Social Hub application to enable you see all your online activities and updates in real-time from a single place. The app integrates e-mail, instant messaging and social networking services like Twitter and Facebook.

Internet surfing is done via the updated Dolphin 2.0 browser, which offers improved and faster access to webpages.

We have nothing much to say about the call function except it worked well, providing loud and clear audio. Also, there is a front camera when you need to make a video call.

And for the first time in the world in a smartphone - the Wave comes incorporated with Bluetooth 3.0 as well as the newest WiFi 802.11n standard.

A fun shooter

Carrying the Wave around is like having a 5-megapixel Samsung compact camera in your pocket. The camera has lots, and we do mean lots, of options normally only found in the company's standalone compact cameras.

The only thing missing is an optical zoom so users will just have to depend on the 4x digital zoom.

There are various shooting modes like single, smile shot, panaroma, beauty and vintage as well as up to 14 scene modes such as candlelight, fireworks, night, sport, portrait and party.

The smile shot feature takes a picture only when it detects a smile on the subject and surprisingly it worked like a charm even indoors under fluorescent lights.

Equally impressive was the panaroma shooting mode (up to four frames). You can simply select your direction - only one way, either to the left, right, up or down - and press the shutter once to take the first frame. Then, you need to slowly point the device to the next segment of the panaromic frame and when it is within the range (it will be marked by an orange box), it will take the shot automatically.

POCKETABLE SHOOTER: Carrying the Wave around is like having a 5-megapixel Samsung compact camera in your pocket.

Meanwhile, the camcorder offers three recording modes - namely normal, MMS and slow motion. As the name suggests, slow motion slows down the action when viewed.

Suffice to say, we were quite impressed with both the still and video image quality which turned out to be above average and looked a lot better compared to almost all camera phones that we've tested before.

To make it easier when shooting outdoors, you can activate the "Outdoor Visibility" option in both shooting modes to enhance visibility on the LCD screen.

The must-have pinch-to-zoom feature is available when viewing images and it also worked smoothly.

The Wave supports DivX HD video playback at 720p resolution so it can be your perfect multimedia companion while travelling. We downloaded an HD video to the phone and thanks to its superb screen, the video looked awesome.

The device also supports other multimedia file formats including MPEG4, H.263, H.264, XviD, WMV and MP3. It also has built-in FM radio with recording and RDS functions.

Battery life is about two days despite heavy usage, which we consider great for a smartphone.

Bada bing bada boom

This review would not be complete if we don't elaborate on the Bada platform. According to Samsung, Bada allows developers to code in Flash, C++, Web Runtime as well as Java, so there is a lot of leeway when creating an application.

All applications will be available in the Samsung Apps Store, which users can access directly from their phone or through their PC via the Samsung's Kies software - which is what iTunes is to the iPhone.

With Kies, users can synchronise and back up data from their phone. Malaysia is one of the countries that the marketplace is supported. Understandably, it is currently very sparsely stocked at the moment but the good news is that all the apps are free.

Final touch

In a nutshell, the Wave offers an eye-popping display, speedy performance, a responsive and intuitive user interface and a good camera.

The icing on the cake is that, at RM1,699, the Wave is a steal compared to other smartphones.

The only major drawback in our book is the virtual keyboard, which is too narrow for our fingers. Also there is no auto-correct feature to help speed up the typing.

Having said that, we had only four days to play with the device but in this short span of time, it did leave a lasting impression on us.

Suffice to say, if this is the tip of the iceberg of things to come from Samsung, then we say bring it on. The phone is scheduled to hit the market on June 8.

QUICK SPECS

Manufacturer	Samsung
Class	Touchsreen smartphone
Other Features	GPS, FM Radio with recording, LED flash, HD 720p video recording, media player, proximity sensor, accelerometer
Dimensions	(W X D X H): 118 x 56 x 10.9mm
Weight	118g
Price	RM1,699
Extra Details	Review unit courtesy of Samsung Malaysia, 1-800-88-9999.
Connectivity	Bluetooth v3.0, WiFi, microUSB
Operating System	Bada
Display	3.3in WVGA (800x480) Super AMOLED
Camera	5.0-megapixels
Memory	2GB
Expansion Slot	microSD
Standby/Talk Time	450/8.5 hours