Samsung's P735 is one of a new breed of cameraphones. Not only does it offer a megapixel camera, but it also has a novel form factor that differentiates it from everything else on the market. It opens up to reveal a large display, but its hinge does more than just open and close. By twisting and turning the top half of the phone, the P735 can be put into a 'L' shape configuration, or actually be flipped around completely so that the main display is on the outside of the phone. This is useful for taking photos.
Taking photos is a snap when you twist and turn the main display to the outside of the phone. |
The P735 is a triband GSM phone that works on T-Mobile USA's 1900Mhz network and the 900Mhz and 1800Mhz GSM networks found in most other parts of the world, meaning it will work on your European vacation. It weighs 4.5 ounces, and is 3.6" x 1.73" x 0.95" in size, which is a bit large. Included in that package is a battery that was good for over 6.5 hours of talk time in my tests - even though Samsung claims only 4 hours.
The P735's numeric keypad has a nice feel, but has unusual positioning of the its two softkeys and dedicated camera button: the camera button is above the softkeys, which means that you often hit the camera button instead of the right softkey. The P735 has a nice directional controller, or d-pad, but it is raised quite a bit from the level of the keypad. Everything is very usable; it just isn't optimal.
But one buys a P735 for the multimedia capabilities. The megapixel camera takes a decent photograph for a cell phone. Outdoors shots are a bit blue in color, but reasonable. Indoor shots are much better. The camera offers resolutions ranging from MMS to full 1024x864. Normally the P735 shoots photos in a vertical portrait format, but if you twist the phone's hinge into the 'L' configuration, it will automatically adjust the camera to records photos in landscape format.
The RS-MMC memory card slot supports up to 512MB cards. |
Unlike most video capable cameraphones on the market, the P735 can record video clips of nearly unlimited length. The phone only stops recording when you tell it to or when it runs out of memory. Since the P735 has 60MB of internal memory and a RS-MMC memory card slot that supports up to 512MB cards, that's a lot of video.
The P735 also has a reasonable MP3 player included. While you can't create real playlists, you can pick and choose the songs to play. Songs can be in internal storage or on the RS-MMC card. The included stereo headset offers good sound, but uses a proprietary connection, so you won't be able to use your own headset. If a call comes in while you are listening to music, the MP3 player will stop so you can take the call.
The P735's very bright and ultra-crisp 262k TFT main display features 176x144 resolution. |
The P735 has a nice 262k color TFT display with a 176x144 resolution. It is very bright, and very crisp, and large enough to get the job done. The external 65k color sub-display is an ultra-bright OLED type that you could read from across the room in the dark - it's that sharp. Both displays are used by the Picture Caller ID system so you can see a photo of who is calling you.
While the P735 doesn't support email, except through T-Zones, it does have nice MMS and SMS editors. It also comes with a nice suite of 3D games, including the 3D first-person flying robot game Metalion. New games, including Java based games, can be bought from T-Mobile or found elsewhere on the Internet.
The Samsung SGH-P735 is a good solid multimedia phone. Not only can it take a nice picture, but it has looks that will turn heads and start conversations. Business users will miss voice dialing and a speakerphone, but for the casual user the P735 will offer enough fun for those things to be overlooked.
--Reviewed by Michael Oryl, editor in chief of www.MobileBurn.com
Pros:
Megapixel Camera
MP3 Player
3D Games
