Introduction
Samsung updates its portfolio of full-touch mobile phones with the stylishly small Samsung GT-S5603 Preston. Here is another entry-level phone that will surely attract much attention from users who also love the Samsung Star and the Samsung Jet. Packed with a lot of features that are too sweet for its affordable price, the Preston is one of the best choices among its kind.
Design
The Preston is light, small and wide. It fits right in your hands but I noticed was that it is not very comfortable to hold. The front part feels heavier compared to the back part which is curved and is made of lighter material. The back part also has a smooth finish which makes it easier to slide from one’s grip. It also feels uncomfortable when you turn the phone horizontally to take pictures.
The front part has the 2.8inch capacitive touchscreen. On top of it are the earpiece and the front camera lens for video calls. At the bottom are the three standard buttons: the dial key, the end call/exit/power key, and the back key at the middle. The mouthpiece is located at the bottom side of the phone. On the left side of the phone are lanyard eyelet hole and the volume buttons which double as the scroll keys; on the right are the hold key and the dedicated camera key. The buttons on the sides are too noticeable because of the curved design of the phone’s body. At the back is the 3.2MP camera with LED flash on the upper left, and the speaker near the lower. The port of the headphone, the USB connectivity, and the battery charger is on top of the phone.
The phone’s design is not phenomenal or anything, it’s just plain and simple. What made our review unit interesting is the shade of violet at the back, and we are not sure if units like these will be available out in the market.
Touchscreen
Display
The phone’s TFT capacitive touchscreen is not something new. Of course AMOLED is brighter and livelier, but considering the Preston’s price it we may be asking for too much. The colors look good but pixels are always visible and images are not as smooth as they should appear on the screen.
Interface
Just like its sibling, the Samsung Star, the Preston uses the TouchWiz interface. Some of the features included are the Mobile Widgets you see on the home screen; the Photo Contacts which associates images with the contacts in your Phone Book; and the Gesture Lock which allows you to use specific strokes to activate functions and lock and unlock the phone.
The Preston also has an accelerometer sensor which works only on a few parts of the interface. For instance, the menu and its subfolders only have the portrait view. When viewing images or watching movies, however, the phone can be turned horizontally for a better viewing.
Response
The phone doesn’t have a stylus so everything is made to be thumbable. The icons, the menu lists, and the virtual alpha-numeric keypad are big enough for finger navigation. The finger sweeping motion is available on certain parts of the interface, and that includes the gallery section.
The interface mainly runs on kinetic scrolling - which is quite poor if i may add - both with the touch capability and when using the volume buttons on the side. Scrolling can be quite a chore when the phone occasionally delays response. Scrolling is particularly difficult when viewing Office documents.
Because the phone is shaped wide and the interface is made to be big, it sometimes feels like the screen should have been bigger vertically. There are parts of the interface when only three or four lines can only be displayed because there are other stuff on top and at the bottom.
Typing messages using the alpha-numeric keypad is good, but the phone can only keep up at an average speed. Dragging widgets across the screen is also on the average.
All things considered, the touchscreen response is average. The phone does not lag but there is delay, and there is also some issue with the ergonomics of the phone.
Features
Camera and Video Recorder
