S 3500. Review on Samsung S3500

I bought this mobile about a month ago since I wanted a phone with a music player, which is something my previous mobile(a Nokia 2626) did not have. I started out looking for music phones but ended up buying the Samsung S 3500.

Within a few days of using the phone I found that along with the good points there were some bad ones as well. So let me start with what I like about my new gadget.

Firstly, one of the reasons for buying this model was that this is a slider and it looks nice, a pleasant change from the boring candybar design of most phones. Its number keys are big and easy to use and there are dedicated keys for volume and camera on the sides of the phone.

It is a real pleasure to listen to the crystal-clear sound reproduced by the music player through the earphones. The loudspeaker, however, isn't very loud. So if you are interested in a mobile with powerful speakers then you should seriously consider the LG GM 200 which is one of the very few mobiles which feature Dolby surround sound. I came across this phone during one of my visits to mobile phone shops and had the chance to listen to some music on it, both via earphone as well as loudspeaker: believe me when I say that it is very loud indeed and of good quality as well.

Anyway, back to my Samsung. The S 3500 does not have an equalizer either since it is not a music phone.It has folders for Images, Videos, Music, Sounds and Other Files. Within each of these you can create sub-folders to organise your data. Besides, it supports SDHC cards of up to 8 GB whereas most other phones in this price-range support only up to 2 or 4 GB of external memory(however, no memory card comes free with the mobile)

Another thing to note is that this mobile does not have a standard 3.5mm earphone jack. Instead, it has a multi-function jack which is also used for connecting the battery charger and for attaching the data cable when you want to connect the phone to your computer. You can also use bluetooth stereo headphones to listen to music.

The phone has a 2 MP camera(which can be used as a camcorder as well) and from the little that I have used it, it seems to be of pretty decent quality.

Another feature that I like is that you can record FM radio programmes. So, for example, if you like a particular song that is being played on the radio then all you need to do is press Options and select Record. However, I have no idea for how long you can record( I wish the information given in the instruction manual were more comprehensive). Since this recording is saved to the phone's internal memory, the maximum duration is probably rather limited.

What disappointed me the most about the mobile was the phonebook. It has no provision for entering company name, job title or postal address. Besides, there is space for only one number each of mobile, residential landline, office landline and one more number. And it is difficult to fit a postal address in the Notes text-field as it has a limit of only 100 characters.

In contrast, my previous phone, Nokia 2626, was more flexible and user - friendly despite being an entry-level phone. In the 2626 you can enter job title, company name and more than one phone number of any category. So, for example, if you want to enter two office landline numbers then you just have to press Options > Add Detail> Numbers and choose the category(office, residence, mobile).

Secondly, the Task feature in the Organiser folder has space for only 100 characters per entry.

Worryingly, the phone hanged a couple of times yesterday(and it's barely a month old!) If the problem persists I will have to get it checked. It is for these reasons that I am not recommending this phone even though I don't think it's a bad phone(so far). In any case, I will update this review as the months pass to tell you how it is performing.

Update(Dec. 01, 2009): I have had the mobile checked and repaired at a Samsung service centre to resolve its problem of hanging. They said that the problem was with its software. After repair it has not hanged so far.

And I have also changed my mind about not recommending this phone since its good points are much more than the single bad one that I have pointed out.