Samsung SGH-X620

Intro and Ergonomics
After reviewing the Sony Ericsson W800i, any other phone to me seems like a compromise. But of course, not everyone can afford that expensive phone, and well, neither could I. But I was quite lucky to get to relish the W800i for sufficiently long. Now that its gone, we ve got the Samsung SGH-X620 for review today. So let's take a look at this candy bar from Samsung and see what it has to offer in today's competitive market.

At a quick glance, it does tri-band GSM/GPRS but doesn't support EDGE and also lacks Bluetooth. Thanfully, but at least it has Infrared and a USB connectivity for data transfer. But honestly speaking, its quite useless considering its limited base memory of 3 MB. But this phone has an FM radio tuner which will surely appeal to the intended audience.


The Samsung SGH-X620 is a pretty neat looking phone with smooth curvy edges that snuggles well within your palm and glides easily in and out of your pocket as well. The phone is 10.6 x 4.55 x 2.0 cm in dimensions and weighs not more than 71 grams. It features a 128x160 resolution, 65k color screen and a VGA camera, but lacks a flash.




There are the usual left and right soft keys on the upper side, the call answer key and the end keys which are right below these. A cancel/delete key and a 5-way navigation pad are located right in between these 4 keys assembly. And unlike the SGH-E630, where the 5th navigation pad (center button) was only linked to launch the WAP browser rather than functioning as a enter/ok feature, has the X620 gives it a dual mode function to work as an enter key in the menu system as required and to launch the WAP browser while on the main status screen. The up and down direction keys are a little smaller as well, and sometimes that can be a bit frustrating as you end up pressing the "C" button together with the down button, which is also small. The four directions are pre-configured shortcuts to launch the camera, messaging, FM Radio and the calendar/organizer respectively, but sadly they can't be reconfigured as per user needs. The number keypad however is quite comfortable and neatly laid out. The keys too have a soft feel and they deliver crisp tactile feedback.

As mentioned before, the center key of the navigation pad starts the WAP browser. The SGH-X620 browser is as tedious to use as any other WAP browser, but this one has a specific problem with text input. On Samsung phones, the # key is generally used to input a space. However, in this browser, the # key switches text entry modes, so there's no key to enter a space. You have to use the arrow keys to go right, adding a space after the end of the word.

The MMS composer in this phone, in contrast, is quite easy to use and straightforward in operation. T9 dictionary, organizer/scheduler, JAVA support for games, voice recorder and stopwatch are other standard features in the phone.


Features, Performance and Conclusion

The camera integrated in the X620 is of standard VGA quality (640x480 pixels). Besides the very basic features, the X620 sports the regular multi-shot, digital zoom, night mode and the brightness control features as well. But it lacks an LED flash, as mentioned before. Not that the flash makes any sense, really speaking. Otherwise, the camera quality is quite good for a VGA cam. The placement of the camera lens on the rear side is however of a little concern. The lens stays too flat, in-level with the back panel and has no cover or protection whatsoever, to avoid it from any physical damage.





The photos captured by this cam don't look that great on its relatively low res 128x160 65k color display. The display is not bad in any way - the wallpapers included in the phone look quite good - but it's just not the best for viewing digital pictures. And the X620 also lacks certain image editing features such as flipping the image up/down, left/right, and some additional effects - which is common to most of these cam enabled phones. The phone also has a low data storage space (3MB), which limits the whole imaging fun by restricting the number of photos to a very short count. Naturally it doesn't have a memory slot support to add-in an extra memory externally for more storage.

The polyphonic ringtones on this phone sound typical Samsung-ish; and they just don't match up to the fidelity of any Sony Ericsson phones - even the ones in the lower segment. In addition, the bundled ringtones are so crappy that you'll just want to stay away from them. They have Ishq Samundar in MMF format, for Christ's sake! I decided to stick to the classic phone-ringing tone or even better switch it to "vibrate only" mode to avoid embarrassment. LOL!



The phone offers good voice clarity and strong reception even in crowded or enclosed areas. Its standard Li-Ion 800 mAh battery provides a stand-by time of upto 300 hours and a non stop talk-time of upto 6 hours and 30 minutes, which is sufficient enough to go along for the entire day and half without a recharge (considering the average use, of course).

All-in-all, the Samsung SGH-X620 is a lower-mid segment model with a VGA camera and FM radio, which is being currently offered for about 7000/- with a years warranty. This however is a little expensive if you compare it with Sony Ericssion K700i, which offers much more functionality for just a little bit extra.


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