Samsung / Bang & Olufsen Serenata
Discontinued 2nd
October 2007
The Samsung Serenata is definitely
one of the strangest looking phones we've ever seen,
but this curious handset is different from almost everything
else for a reason. The result of a joint effort between
Samsung and Bang & Olufsen, the Serenata is an impressive
multimedia phone with a radical user interface.
It's
not the first phone we've seen from the Samsung / Bang
& Olufsen tie-up. First there was the Serene,
announced two years ago - a phone that shared the novel
"upside down" approach with the screen.. but
one that ultimately offered very little apart from looks.
You'll be glad to know that the Serenata is a hugely
improved phone.
Before we delve into the technical specifications
of the Serenata, we really have to address the basic
form and function. The majority of phone functions are
controlled by an iPod-like selector wheel plus two very
discrete buttons. At the bottom of the Serenata (behind
the manufacturer logos) is the handset's microphone,
with the screen in between. This unusual positioning
means that the screen doesn't get greasy when talking
into the phone. Slide the back of the Serenata up, and
you'll see a large speaker a little similar to the Samsung
i450. The screen is a square 2.3" 240 x 240
pixel panel in 256,000 colours.
So far the Serenata doesn't appear to
be too different from the old Serene, but underneath
the Serenata is very different. This is now a 3G phone
with HSDPA high-speed data, capable of download speeds
of up to 1.8 Mbps, so you can enjoy streaming multimedia
downloads. It also supports tri-band 900 / 1800 / 1900
GSM which means that you're unlikely to see the Serenata
in the US. The old Serene was surprisingly poor
when it came to multimedia playback, but the new Serenata
can cope with MP3, AAC and WMA audio plus various types
of DRM (digital rights management). The big speaker
and advanced B&O audio system should mean that the
Serenata is an exceptionally capable music player.
The
internal memory on the Serenata is an impressive 4GB,
but there's no expandable memory. Another thing strangely
lacking is a digital camera, but then people who buy
the Serenata are likely to be more interested in music
than pictures. The Serenata also has an email client
and web browser.
At 136 grams in weight and 110 x 63
x 20mm in size, the Serenata is a fairly big phone.
Talktime is about 3 hours with up to 12 days standby
time. When used solely as a music player, the Serenata
has 13 hours playback time on the wired stereo headset
or 5 hours over the speaker.
If you had seen a picture of the Samsung
/ Bang & Olufsen Serenata a year ago, you would
assume that this was the Apple
iPhone, because it's certainly more music orientated
than the Apple device even if you ignore the iPod-esque
selector wheel.
We don't have any pricing information
for the Samsung Serenata at the moment, but bear in
mind that the Serene cost around €1000 (about £650)
at launch SIM Free, so expect to see a similar price
tag on the Serenata when it starts shipping from November
onwards.
|
Samsung
/ B&O Serenata at a
glance
|
Available:
|
Q4
2007
|
Network:
|
GSM
900 / 1800 / 1900 UMTS
2100
|
Data:
|
GPRS
+ UMTS (3G) + HSDPA
|
Screen:
|
240x240
pixels, 256k colours
|
Camera:
|
No
|
Size:
|
Large
monoblock 110 x 63 x
20mm / 136 grams
|
Bluetooth:
|
Yes
|
Memory
card:
|
No
|
Infra-red:
|
No
|
Polyphonic:
|
Yes
|
Java:
|
Not
specified
|
Battery
life:
|
3
hours talk / 10 days standby
|
|
|