Samsung F520 (SGH-F520)
Discontinued 24th February 2007
We often criticize Samsung for being
stuck in a rut when it comes to design - but the Samsung
SGH-F520 is certainly a very different looking handset
from most.
The most obvious feature is the very
large 3" touch-sensitive display with an impressive
480x272 pixel resolution that works in landscape or
portrait mode. But it's not just a touchscreen phone,
the Samsung F520 comes with a very impressive (and quite
possibly unique) two-way slider mechanism which offers
number keys in one direction and QWERTY keyboard when
slid out the other way.
At first glance, the Samsung F520 is
very similar to the
Apple iPhone or LG
PRADA LE850, and it is sized mid way between the
two. However, the Samsung has a significantly different
feature set underneath.
The Samsung F520 is a 3G phone with
HSDPA support, so it is capable of broadband download
speeds in areas with 3.5G coverage.. neither the PRADA
or iPhone have any kind of 3G support. At 3 megapixels
and a flash, the F520's camera is also better than the
LG or Apple, and neither of those two rival phones have
a keypad. Memory is expandable using microSD cards.
As
you might expect, the Samsung SGH-F520 comes with a
comprehensive software suite including a multimedia
player (supporting MP3, AAC and Real formats), email
client, web browser and a document viewer. The F520's
interface is designed to be simple and elegant, again
like its Apple and LG rivals.
One thing that the Samsung F520 lacks
is WiFi, which many rival devices have. And even though
the 480x272 pixel display is very impressive when it
comes to resolution, it's not a patch on the Nokia
N800.
The Apple iPhone won't hit Europe until
2008 or perhaps later, and although we don't have an
anticipated launch date for the Samsung F520, it will
most likely beat the iPhone to the European market by
some considerable time. The technical specification
on the SGH-F520 is very good, but all the rival products
in this market have something slightly different to
offer (for example, the ultra compact Neonode
N2).
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Samsung
F520 (SGH-F520) at a glance
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Available:
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2007
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Network:
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GSM
+ UMTS (3G)
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Data:
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GPRS
+ EDGE + UMTS + HSDPA
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Screen:
|
480x272
pixels, 262k colours
|
Camera:
|
3
megapixels
|
Size:
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PDA-style
device 105 x 54 x 17mm
/ weight tbc
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Bluetooth:
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Yes
|
Memory
card:
|
microSD
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Infra-red:
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No
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Polyphonic:
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Yes
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Java:
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Yes
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Battery
life:
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Not
specified
|
|
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