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Samsung S5200 (GT-S5200).
We have seen a lot of high-end touchscreen phones from Samsung in recent months, but
the Samsung S5200 is a much more traditional slider phone aimed at the mass market, and
it replaces the old U600 slider.
The S5200 has a 2.2" 240 x 320 pixel display, a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and
flash, an FM radio, microSD expandable memory, Bluetooth 2.1 and a multimedia player.
Although the camera is only a 3.2 megapixel unit, it does come with face detection, smile
shot and panoramic stitching. We have found recent Samsung phone cameras to be pretty
good, and we expect that the S5200 will deliver perfectly acceptable results for stills photographs.
The multimedia player copes with MP3, AMR, AAC and Windows media audio plus MPEG4 and
H.264 video. Music playback is enhanced with Samsung's DNSe sound technology, and the S5200's
USB 2.0 connections and maximum of 8GB of memory should make it a capable music player.
The FM radio also comes with RDS, a feature missing from some cheaper phones.
There are the usual personal information management functions plus a web browser and email client.
Because the S5200 lacks 3G, it would perhaps not be your first choice as a portable web
browser. There's also a "fake call" and "SOS message" function to help out in emergency
situations.
Samsung say that the 800 mAh battery can provide up to 5 hours of talktime and 12 days standby
time, and this overcomes a key problem with the U600 which had a much shorter battery
life. Weighing in at 97 grams and measuring 104 x 49 x 11mm, the S5200 is a very-pocket
friendly and slim design.
Overall, it's quite an attractive phone to look at, and although the S5200 is closely
based on the old U600, the smarter two-tone design is much more appealing.
Samsung have quoted an estimated retail price of about €230 including tax, which seems
expensive as far as we are concerned, but we guess that it will be discounted below
€200 SIM-free.. and of course it will be much cheaper with a prepay bundle or contract.
Samsung say that the S5200 should be available from June onwards. At the moment only Russia
has been mentioned as a market, but we think that the S5200 will be available widely throughout
Europe.