Samsung S5233 Star WIFI
Samsung star is the cheapest one and the first one to get released among the touchwiz series of handsets. Its sleek squared shape design with chic black color completes touch style.Comes with mobile widgets that customize screen with embedded widgets such as clock, scheduler, and other useful apps.Also offers enhanced camera features, MP3 player, FM radio with RDS and a great internet experience with full browser support.
If you want me to describe Samsung’s Star in a few words, that would be “a touchscreen phone for the masses.” Today, touchscreen phones are not a novelty as it was used to be a few years back and Samsung is only trying to give a touchscreen experience at an affordable price. We had a chance to test out the device for a few days and here is our verdict.
We can’t say Samsung Star is an eye-turner but considering a moderate price tag attached to it, it doesn’t disappoint either. The front sports a nice 3.2-inch QVGA screen along with Call/End buttons and the centre one acting as a back button. The sides are taken by the volume controls, charging/headphone slot on one side while the other side has a camera and a key lock button. The plastic battery cover is however, a downer that slides down pretty easily (on the loose side) to reveal the battery and the SIM card slot.
One thing you’ll notice when you hold it is its weight. It is just 92grams and with the use of plastic body, some users may feel it cheap and not classy.
Samsung Star Display
Star has a 3-inch screen supporting a WQVGA resolution and 262K colors. As you would expect, the screen is decent enough to keep you hooked to watch movies or play games.
Samsung Star Homescreen
Star runs Samsung’s proprietary OS overlaid with the TouchWiz UI. TouchWiz, in simple words is a user interface developed by Samsung to combat HTC’s TouchFLO and the likes. Though initially, Samsung kept TouchWiz exclusively for Windows Mobile phones, now they have extended to non-WinMo but touchscreen phones. TouchWiz with widgets on the side may sound exciting and it is if you haven’t used TouchWiz before but over a period of time you’ll be bored of the UI. One good thing of the UI is that it allows to keep three different homescreens (three small squares denote it) which supports different wallpapers and widgets to spread between them.
It is a quad-band GSM phone that supports EDGE connectivity and no 3G. This actually shouldn’t not a problem in India since 3G is yet to roll out completely but Star’s lack of 3G may ire some users in countries where 3G is common. Call quality is not topnotch but it is at par for the phones in this range.
Samsung Star Camera
Many of you must be waiting for this, so here it is – the camera. Star possesses a 3.2MP sensor, digital zoom, lots of different shot modes, white balance and of course, a dedicated camera button. While it may sound good on the surface, the camera is a real disappointment. Let’s forget the fact that it does not have a flash or ISO settings but not having autofocus is surely going to cause a pain in the a** for many. No autofocus means you really have to be a pro to not shake your hands while clicking a picture, which otherwise can turn a beautiful moment into a blurry one. The video recording is not exemplary but it is able to record 15fps at QVGA resolution.
Star also comes with a music player that can be activated from inside the menu or can be accessed quickly via a widget. In fact, music player is the only thing that works in tandem with other things, say while composing messages, surfing the web etc. The phone supports a variety of formats like MP3, AAC, AAC+,WMA, AMR, WAV and integrates Samsung’s proprietary audio technology DNSe to enhance the quality of the music. Regarding the audio playback quality, it’s above par then you would expect from a sub-10k phone. The playback from the loudspeaker is crisp and easily audible in a small room while the earphone outputs the same quality but the lack of a 3.5mm audio jack may leave some users unhappy as you need ones that work with Samsung only.
Other notable features it has are FM Radio, games, accelerometer and Smart Unlock. Star supports MIDP 2.0 and since there are tons of apps and games supporting MIDP 2.0, finding and installing content won’t be that difficult. Few games effectively use the integrated accelerometer and apart from that, the accelerometer is only used to change the screen orientation.
Samsung Star Gesture Unlock
One thing that impressed me was the Smart (Gesture) Unlock feature. The functioning of this unlock is simple – just write an alphabet on the screen in locked mode and the phone will directly take you to the desired menu. Smart Unlock supports unlocking of the phone, speed dial or launching an app.
Samsung Star Battery
S5230 comes with a powerful battery rated at 1000mAh and though, it is does not come close to the Samsung claims, it did give me a 1.5-2 days on a single charge from my normal usage. The usage included about 4-5 hours of calls, around 3 hours of music and an hour for other things.
On an ending note, I would like to say again that Star is not about the high-end features but it tries to deliver touchscreen experience which the consumers can get at an inexpensive price. If price is your concern but still need a good looking touchscreen phone, Star is the phone that won’t disappoint.
Samsung S5233 Star Specifications
Network
Technology / Frequency Bands GSM : 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Battery
Type Li - Ion
Capacity 1000 mAh
Standby 600 hours
Talktime 780 mins
Built
Dimensions 104x53x11.9 mm
Weight 94 g
Antenna Type Internal
Form Factor bar
Colors Black
Dedicated Keys Camera Key, Lock/unlock key
Touch Screen yes
Stylus yes
Multiple Languages yes
Display
Size 240x400 pixels
Type color : TFT
Colors 262144 colors
Secondary Display no
Camera / Imaging / Video
Camera Yes 3.0 Megapixel
Resolution 2048x1536 pixels
Image Formats JPEG
Zoom yes 4x
Flash no
Video Recording yes 15 fps
Video Formats MPEG-4 / 3GPP H.263 / H.264/AVC
Secondary Camera no
Connectivity
Bluetooth Yes , version 2.1 + EDR
Irda No
Wlan/Wi-fi No
Pc Sync yes
SyncML no
USB yes
GPS no
Data
Data Modes GPRS / EDGE (EGPRS)
GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes
3G No
Internet Browsing WAP 2.0 , Jasmine 0.8
Media
Audio Playback Yes
Audio Formats AAC / MP3 / WMA
Video Playback Yes
Video Formats MPEG-4 / 3GPP H.263 / H.264/AVC
Ringtones Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, WAV ringtones
FM Radio Yes
Streaming yes
Memory
Inbuilt 50 MB
Memory Slot Yes microSD/TransFlash Expandable Upto : 8 GB
PhoneBook Capacity : 2000 , Photo Caller
Messaging
SMS Yes
MMS Yes
Email Yes Protocols : POP3 / SMTP / IMAP4
Predictive Text Input T9
Calling / Voice
Voice Recording yes
Vibration yes
Speaker yes
Software
Operating System Proprietary
Java MIDP 2.0
Games yes
Features
SMS SMS yes Yes
MMS MMS yes Yes
Email Email yes Yes
Bluetooth Bluetooth yes Yes
Infrared Infrared no No
Wi-fi Wi-fi no No
3G 3G no No
Camera Camera yes Yes
Video Capture Video Capture yes Yes
FM Radio FM Radio yes Yes
Audio Player Audio Player yes Yes
Video Player Video Player yes Yes
Memory Slot Memory Slot yes Yes
Java Java yes Yes
SmartPhone SmartPhone yes Yes
Touchscreen Touchscreen yes Yes
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