Reviews and tests | Samsung i450 Review

In spring 2007, at the S60 Summit in Madrid, the Samsung company announced their mid-end smaprtphone Samsung i400, which inspired only an average interest in the target audience - it was meant to be the most affordable slider smartphone of those days, being compact and coming with the latest version of the operating system on board, and it also had really nice looks. On the announce day the specifications looked rather appealing, but such a long development time and the failure to meet the planned release dates fully neglected all of its advantages in comparison with the competitors, so it became obsolete prior to the release, it will either have its price severely cut or phase out soon due to a lack of demand. There would have been no trouble should this have happened to a single device but this tendency nearly affected all of Samsung S60 smartphones, which used to become obsolescent before they were actually released. The more powerful solutions offered by Nokia always managed to enter the market at earlier dates, and their price tended to get down to the stable level quicker, which makes a huge obstacle in the way of Samsugn solution of the respective class (as well to the rest of smartphone producers that aren't quick enough). Announced at the end of the last year, Samsung i520 only entered the market in September 2007. Its market perspectives are rather sad, it will phase out quite soon since the demand for it is relatively low. But the recently reviewed i550 smartphone is a very interesting sequel to the Samsung smartphone series which hardly has any direct competitors. However the market is still heavily dominated by Nokia smartphones, for example N82 belongs to a higher class but still lures away part of the audience from the i550 due to a much better balance, and will surely have more success on the market.

According to our sources, Samsung i450 won't experience any release delays unlike i520 or i400, so this is a key model giving the company way to the world smartphone market, and is very likely to fullfill its mission. The music phone segment is one of the most popular and rapidly growing ones, all the vendors are trying their best at inventing a better solution than those offered by the competitors, and the areas affected by improvements vary from the controls and intrface (e.g. Sence Me and Shake Control technologies utilized by SonyEricsson) to numerous audio quality improvements, the implementation of DSPs and other measures like that. i450 features not only a set of dedicated player controls, but also gave it a high audio quality. That's why this model has good chances for entering the top chart of the whole music phone market segment.

On the one hand, i450 is a fully functional S60 smartphone based off the latest revision of the platform, on the other hand it's a Beatz music phone, which belongs to the same product family with F210 and F330. The F330 review mentioned that F330 has almost no advantages over the non-music solutions by Samsung, the audio quality and player interface are almost the same. The i450 model, in its turn, features a set of new musical options as compared to the i550 model, and is more comfortable in terms of player controls. The hardware part is almost the same for both, which makes the audio quality also the same - save for a few smart improvements affecting the sound processing algorithms which are implemented in i450.

The first association that pops up in your head when you see a Samsung i450 is a "ain't it a Nokia N81's bastard child!" one. Its appearance, materials, some design elements and a number of hardware characteristics is the same with the N81 handset. Whether it's a coincidence or a marketing trick is up to you to decide, and we are just offering you a few comparison photos. It's evident though that the i450 model was destined to become the nemesis to the Nokia's music smartphone with all the necessary features on board, the market positioning is also the same. Probably the similarities between the two aren't because of the alleged design mimicry introduced on purpose, but rather an attempt at keeping with the consumer fashion, so if tge both companies are equally good at defining what's in most demand, they're likely end up offering to the consumer solutions comparable in terms of design, software and hardware alike.

Samsung i450 utilizes the double slider form factor, which naturally invokes associations with the first double slider Nokia N95. Let's mention that in contrast to N95, Samsung i450 has the single-touch capability, i.e. one touch makes the sliding part go the full way, but that's more of a drawback than improvement, since the mechanism turned out too tight. A slight horizontal and vertical play between the parts is present, yet it's not a real fun killer.

«in contrast to N95, Samsung i450 has the single-touch capability, i.e. one touch makes the sliding part go the full way, but that's more of a drawback than improvement, since the mechanism turned out too tight.»

The overall dimensions are a bit large, it's nearly comparable to Nokia N81 in size and is only slightly slimmer than N95, it stands out form its respective product line. The previous model in this line, Samsung i400, is much smaller and at the same time offers a comparable functionality (though it's not a double slider). On the whole, such a size isn't a really big drawbacks, it still fits the hand nicely and the rounded edges are a nice feature, but the thickness makes it not too comfortable for carrying it in a pocket.

Samsung i450 is made entirely of plastic, of a traditionally high quality like in the rest of Samsung phones. The face and back panels are glossy, the side parts are matte. Just like with Nokia N81, the back panel quickly grows scratched, which is rather impractical. The battery cover is easily removed yet there's no play between the parts. The upper left edge hosts the lens of the embedded 2 Mp camera and a LED flash. There's no lens guard at all, but it's sunk in the surface so it's hard to get it scratched against the table.

The menu elements are arranged in a standard fashion, the buttons are large enough for comfort work. All the buttons are quite traditional, the delete and menu buttons are in their place. Just below the screen there's a small finger rest which makes little sense though, just because it's too small to keep the finger from pressing against the screen since the sliding mechanism is rather tight. The frame guarding the speaker is meade of metal, just to the side of it sits the frontal camera lens.

The device has a strict, classical design, every element keeps a perfect harmony with the rest. Three color variants are available: gray, black-and-white, or black-and-orange, gray being the standard issue. The first look at an orange-and-black i450 makes you recall SonyEricsson products, which does more harm than good, since the device is deprived of individuality, while the two other color solutions are rather nice-looking.

«Three color variants are available: gray, black-and-white, or black-and-orange, gray being the standard issue.»

The side surfaces are remarkable for the presence of the 3.5 mm standard headset jack, which is covered with a plastic flap. On the one hand, it secures some protection against damage but on the other, it is a discomforting factor while keeping the headset plugged, it would be better if it were replaced with a replaceable gag. The location of the jack is rather beneficial for the ergonomics, the headset jack isn't discomforting in such a position. The polyphonic speaker and the profile switch button are placed just nearby. The latter is sunk into the surface, which eliminates the possibility of stray keystrokers. On the right edge sits the brand headset socket which is also used for the data cable, and the camera launch button. Talking in advance, let's noe that if you have two devices plugged to both the brand and standard sockets at the same time, the priority goes to the brand jack. The left side hosts the volume rocker and the microSD memory card slot. The maximum card capacity supported by the phone is 4Gb, as stated by the manufacturer.

Samsung i450 comes with a 2,4'' screen (36x48 mm) which is powered by the TFT technology and is up to displaying some 262K colors. The screen resolution is standard, that's 240x320 pixels. The screen size is the same with Nokia N81, so it's interesting to compare the quality to that of the closest competitor. As you see, both are comparable in most aspects. Nokia retains a slight advantage since its screen has a bit more brightness to it, the colors are slightly more natural, and the view angles are broader.

There's enough screen space space for 12 lines of text to be displayed simultaneously. The mirror backing of the screen allows for the screen information to stay legible even in direct sunlight. The overall quality of the screen is high enough not to raise even the slightest objection. The screen fonts are big and clear-cut enough as well as the phone numbers. A frontal camera for video calls is situated just above the screen.

Samsung i450 features the innovative control element serving to operate the music player. Unlike Nokia N95, in the place where the four control buttons should be, i450 has a touch-sensitive semicircle, which is just an exotically shaped touchpad. The element is equally responsive to taps and soft touches, so to carry out an action, for instance browsing a menu, you can either pass your finger across the surface of press it in the desired direction. The element senses not the warmth of the human body, but the physical pressure, so it can be pressed almost with any object and will respond. Of course that's a better solution since it doesn't restrict handling the phone in cold weather when you've got gloves on and you hand appears to the phone just as cold as the rest of environment, so it refuses to respond.

«The element senses not the warmth of the human body, but the physical pressure, so it can be pressed almost with any object and will respond.»

Nokia N81 utilizes a control element responding to the touch, the trademarked Navi Wheel, though N81 had a broader use for it while i450 only uses it as the dedicated player controls. Both devices don't let using the touchpad to work with the main menu. The touch element of i450 is nicely animated, by the way.

Summing things up, let's note that the touchpanel of i450 sports good ergonomics, input errors are rather infrequent, in the player mode it only adds to the overall comfort. As of now, not every music phone comes with dedicated player controls, so that's a great advantage of this model over the rest of similar products.

In addition to this control element, this part of slider also hosts the stereo speakers. An original yet highly unpractical solution. What's the primary role of the speakers, we wonder? First of all, they are meant to produce a loud ringtone so you never miss a call in a noisy environment. The loudspeaker mode is but a rarely used feature. The new i450 has a nasty drawback: once the slider is closed, the speakers become naturally blocked, the stereo effect is entirely lost This means that the stereo speakers fail to justify their title, they're only useful for watching videos or as the loudspeakers. We weren't able to spot any advantages offered by such a solution, either.

« The new i450 has a nasty drawback: once the slider is closed, the speakers become naturally blocked, the stereo effect is entirely lost »

As it comes to the quality of the sound produced by the speakers, it's on a very high level, yet the maximum audio volume is challenged by that of N81 and N95, seems like Samsung i450 is weaker at that. Despite of the high quality, audio still sounds a bit muffled.

The numerical keypad used in the device is quite standard, it's a solid plastic piece, the buttons are quite comfortable due to their large size. The keypad of Nokia N81 has the same design, for example. The backlighting is of a white color.

The device uses a Li-Ion, 1140 mAh battery. There’s no support for an enhanced battery though even the default one is just enough for the majority of users, the capacity is high enough as compared to the rest of the solutions available on the market. The moderate duty cycle (an hour of talking, two hours of listening to the music and radio and an hour of menu and application work) lasts as long as two days before the device requires recharging, that’s a very fair result for a smartphone with lots of additional features. A full recharge cycle lasts for two hours and a half.

Besides the three GSM bands (900/1800/1900) there’s also support for EDGE (Class 10) and the third generation network support DCDMA 2100 as well as HSDPA with a maximum speed of 3,6 mpbs. Thus Samsung i450 sports great communicative telecom qualities, the only thing that’s actually missing is the support of the fourth GSM band. Wireless communication capabilities include Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR. The Bluetooth functionality is at a high level, it neither lags nor it brings any bugs or crashes, options include the activation status (on/off), the recent devices list, the Bluetooth visibility status, the visibility period setting, device name and the rest of standard parameters. All the services are quite typical of a S60 smartphone as well.

Wire communications include USB 2.0, but the actual data transfer speed isn’t as high as it sounds. The Mass Storage mode is fully supported, as well as synchronization with Media Player and PC Studio. One of the modes can be simply selected as the one used by default, or be specified upon every PC connection.

Contacts, Calendar, Notes and Messages can be synchronized with the PC, the synchronization is possible in either direction between the PC and the smartphone.

The biggest drawback of i450 is the lack of Wi-Fi, this restricts the functionality in a very big way. Wi-Fi is the worldwide accepted standard for the mid-end and hi-end smartphones, every new Nokia has it, just as well as the closest competitor N81. The presense of Wi-Fi is especially important for musical solutions, for instance the very mentioned N81 uses that technology to broadcast audio to third party audio reproduction systems (the Home Media feature), or just to download music from the local network. No signs of an IrDA port were discovered either, so the only means of wireless communication remains the Bluetooth protocol. To crown it all, TV-out is also missing, which is quite strange against the background of the latest Samsung handsets all coming with one.

«The biggest drawback of i450 is the lack of Wi-Fi, this restricts the functionality in a very big way.»

The performance of Samsung i450 is comparable to the rest of S60 smartphones produced by the company. Let's give it a more thoroughful examination, it's the most important point of this whole article.

All the previous S60 smartphones by Nokia (i520, i400, i550, i560, i570) wre based off TI OMAP 2430 while i450 makes use of OMAP 2431. What's the principal difference? It's all only about the lack of a hardware 2D/3D graphics accelerator, nothing more. The previous model of the OMAP CPU familey, 2420, which is used as a base for a multitude of hi-end Nokia models (N93, N95, E90, N82) come with a graphics accelerator, which has seen but a limited use in the Samsung phones, so the lack of such is quite justified for the i450 music phone.

Let's have a look at the OMAP 2430/31 changelog as compared to the 2420 chart of specifications. At the first glance it might seem that the difference is mostly cosmetical, but that's far from being true. The capabilities of the previous model are higher in some aspects, for example the graphics, which allowed for 2 millions of polygons processed per second while 2430 has this number halved. However all the solutions based off 2420 have a pronounced gaming and multimedia accent, which is not true for the 2430 devices.

TI OMAP 2420 specifications

But the more important difference is the price, 2420 is significantly more expensive. The overall cost is very important for the mass products, and may act as a serious limitation if it's too high, so the use of cheaper components is quite justified, but for the most part the rest of the specifications are quite comparable. The same goes to OMAP 2430, after all it sports a better balance, and its lifecycle will be longer than that of 2520. The Nokia company has a very interesting strategy addressing this issue: they use the single-chip Freescale solution for the mid-end phones, which besides the lower specifications is also much smaller and allows designing of compact-sized handsets. There are some evident parallels between the OMAP 2431 platfrom and the Freescale MXC300-30. They offer comparable levels of performance in the standard applications, comparable audio quality and so on.

Let's get back to OMAP 2430 then. The list of improvements is rather long as compared to the older revisions, for example the CPU frequency was increased to 450 Mhz from the 330 Mhz of 2520. The HD resolution cameras are now supported (5 Mp and more), the delay between shots is less than one second. Definitely, this means that all the next-gen camera phones with 7 and 8 Mp cameras will be based on the OMAP 2430 platform (save for those supporting 3G networks, but those are still rather exotic).

«all the next-gen camera phones with 7 and 8 Mp cameras will be based on the OMAP 2430 platform»

The rest of important features in the 2430/31 revision is the upgraded TWL4030 component (as compared to the TWL92230 of 2520). While TWL92230 is just an energy saving chip, then TWL4030 is a universal soltuion which combines a number of codecs, high-quality uadio components helping to reduce the noise and improve the quality of the output signal, and a better sound section on the whole This is exactly what raises the Samsung music phones to such a high level. The i550 model sports the same audio quality. As compared to the Nokia N95, N95, N82 models, based off the OMAP 2420 model, the Samsung models have a better audio quality, and the maximum sound volume is roughly on the same level, which is provided by the IcePower Mobile sound booster chip produced by the Bang&Olufsen company.

«TWL4030 is a universal soltuion which combines a number of codecs, high-quality uadio components helping to reduce the noise and improve the quality of the output signal, and a better sound section on the whole»

The market positioning also plays a significant part in this sense. For example, let's take Samsung i560 which is disussed in this article:

Samsung i560 Review

Let's note a number of important points now. The i560 model isn't positioned like a musical solution, however the audio capabilities are theoretically the same. However all the musical features of i560 are artificially limited in a very big way, otherwise i450 wouldn't stand a chance against provided that the prices are comparable. So in i560, all S60-specific audio feauters are missing, however those are widely found in a lot of Samsung and Nokia phones. The players lacks any specific settings, which means no equalizers, sound balance adjustment, enhanced stereo, visualization and so on. Everything is simple to the limit, the only options available are repeated and random playback, and sorting the tracks by performer, album, gentre and so on. The maximum audio volume is also artificially limited. Considering all the limitations, the i560 model has a very average audio section despite the fact that the hardware is nearly identical. http://www.smape.com/en/reviews/samsung/samsung_i550-rev.html

«Considering all the limitations, the i560 model has a very average audio section despite the fact that the hardware is nearly identical.»

There's also a specific chip called Digital Signal Processor (DSP) which offers additional audio post-processing algorithms and oversees the separation of the wanted signal from the noises, addressing a number of technical parameters like the dynamic range, frequency range, noise suppresion, non-linear distortion level and so on.

All the latest Samsung models use quality audio processing components, be it OMPA or self-developed hardware base, so the IcePower Mobile chip receives a postprocessed signal. So Samsung are now a leading company in terms of sound quality and, to a lesser extent, sound volume. Comparing i450 to N95, it's evident that i450 is the winnder, however the difference isn't that big and doesn't split the to in different classes.

The overall strategy of Samsung in this field seems to be rather well-orchestrated, the OMAP 2430 offers a high performance, quality sound processing algorithms that eliminate any need in additional sound processing hardware components, a relatively low power consumption rate and the optimal functionality/size/price ration. The Freescale platform is still a very perspective direction for future developments, it belongs to a different class and is even smaller and cheaper, which makes it a perfect solution for compact mid-end phones without not focusing on any particular aspect of functionality like quality 3D graphics, high performance or refined camera shots.

As we have already mentioned, the performance of i450 keeps on a level with the rest of Samsung smartphones, the difference with Freescale is in favor of the latter, the performance of Samsung devices is relatively lower, but the difference isn't critical in this case. All the application launch almost instantly, no delays or lags were spotted. The speed is comparable with Nokia N81. Of course, the 3D test results are much less impressive as compared to what Nokia N95 can do, but that's naturally explained by the lack of a graphics accelerator

One of the latest versions of the Symbian OS is used to power the phone - 9.2, S60v3 FP1. There’s no support for Fast Boot, but even the standard boot time isn’t too long - 20 seconds.

The size of free user memory amounts to 86 Mb, the total RAM size is 116 which is quite all right for a modern smartphone. Similar to the rest of devices based on the third revision of the S60 platform, the applications are terminated upon pressing the power off button, minimizing is done by pressing the Menu button. The heap size and the maximum Jar size are unlimited. The amount of onboard user memory equals to 25 Mb.

In terms of software platform, Samsung i550 is nearly identical to similar Nokia products, as we have already noted the platform was licensed from the Finnish manufacturer. There is no observable difference between this one and, say, Nokia 6120 - save for a number of additional minor functions. Samsung i550 was developed at the R&D Suwon centre and is based off the Quallcomm MSM6260 chipset, the software part is exactly the S60 Feature Pack I, that’s the latest platform version for any existing or announced phone on the market. The difference between this revision and the previous ones are very minor, including the OS-level support for the A2DP Bluetooth profile, HSDPA, an updated S60 Web Browser, the Freescale CPU support. As it was mentioned, there are to product lines based on the S60 platform: the ones utilizing the Freescale chipset which are known for a low development cost and fast performance yet lack functional variety and the more sophisticated TI OMAP 2420/2430 that comes with a 2D/3D graphics accelerator. The interface performance as well as the time taken to perform all the typical tasks is comparable for both chipsets, though Samsung refrains from implementing Freescale even in inexpensive products.

The menu structure is quite standard for the majority of S60 devices, nothing very fascinating a new here on this side - save for the unexplained absence of the two additional viewmodes, the only two that were left are the standard List and Grid. The drawing and animation time is close to instant. The menu icons aren’t animated. The upper right corner of every menu item depending if it’s a subfolder shortcut or an end function, a semi-circular symbol is displayed if the corresponding application is run in the background.

The Go-To mode first appeared with S60 devices by Nokia and it made its way to Samsung products as well. From five to eight different applications depending on the screen resolution and orientation, listing today’s calendar events, mp3 player current stats - that’s what the Go-To mode offers. Some of the phones based off S60v3 Feature Pack 1 use an updated, more functional version of the Go-To mode, the main difference being the ability of the user to customize which applications should submit their current stats to the display. So far only the latest business-class phones by Nokia make use of this feature, namely the ones comprised under the E-series trademark, and our Samsung i550 apparently doesn’t fall under that category.

The Go-To mode can be turned off should the user decide so. By default the Go-To mode presents a line of icons granting quick access to a total of 6 applications that can be viewed simultaneously, the number of shortcuts is limited and you can’t scroll along the shortcut panel. Both preinstalled and 3rd party applications can be given shortcuts on the panel, that comes in very handy for such user-installed applications like mobile ICQ clients and so on.

In addition to the Go-To mode, Samsung i550 possesses an exclusive expansion not found in any of Nokia’s phones: just at the bottom of the screen there’s the Google Search toolbar. Anything typed in it will immediately bring up a browser window with the Google Search results for the word you typed.

Different products based on the FP1 revision may vary in menu contents and icon arrangement which isn’t a big matter after all since the user can customize the order of icons and menu elements to his liking any moment he wants.

Similar to the rest of S60 devices, the S60 offers a voice control option with a zero learning curve both for the user and the device itself. The phone adjusts itself to the user’s voice automatically; if the phone is used by a number of people and not a single person, this voice adaptation can be turned off. The voice navigation capability has been widely enhanced in the i550 model, the dedicated Voice Signal application sports quite a few voice control functions and a lot of settings:

Upon launching the application you have to speak out the desired action: phone call (contact name or number), message (contact name or number), find a contact or launch an application. In the latter case a list of recently launched applications is displayed, which can also be navigated through with voice commands.

The application’s functionality appears to be more advanced as compared to similar applications that come with analogous Nokia smartphones, a lot of additional info on the subject is available at www.voicesignal.com

Let’s move along then. Two themes are preinstalled on Samsung i550, as well as any number of custom themes compatible with the S60v3 platform. Each preinstalled theme comes with an exclusive screensaver, but the user is free to set a custom screensaver choosing from the default date-and-time, a text message or an animation. The latter type of screensaver needs the playback and backlighting duration to be specified, it stands to reason that both values should better be set equal.

The contact book is among the most powerful features of S60-based smartphones. Almost no difference can be observed on this front as compared to earlier versions. Some slight changes in the information field layout and visual effects are the only thing that makes a difference in this FP1-based firmware. The number of contact records is only limited to the amount of free user memory, which is quite typical of almost every smartphone. There are three types of fields for phone numbers, video calls, IP-phone numbers, fax numbers, e-mail address, web address, mail addresses and a single type of field for pager number, first and last name, note and date. Only one Name/Last name and Birthday record can be set per contact, but the rest of the fields can be ‘cloned’ as many times as you wish. The mail address field includes seven subfields. The Symbian’s field renaming feature is quite expectedly included in the phonebook service. Not only the phone number, but as well the e-mail address, video call number, SMS, MMS and PPT contacts can be set as standard. The PhotoID service stays same with previous versions, so you might want to look for a 3rd party application since Nokia sticks to their purposely limiting this functionality. The very word ‘thumbnail’ is just enough to ascribe the deal. A contact can be associated with a VideoID clip that would play every time this person calls you over the phone. The priority is given to the VideoID should a contact have both a picture and a video associated. The ringtone will be completely replaced with the video soundtrack, which to some would appear annoying. Only .mp4 files can be used by the VideoID function.

The integrated voice synthesizer can pronounce the name of the person who are calling you. First a ringtone is played once, then the name is pronounced and the ringtone follows again in an endless loop. The only thing you need to use it is to activate it. The same synthesizer is used for voice dialing - so you don’t have to leave voice marks, only the contact name needs to be spoken out for the dialing to start. The accuracy of recognition is rather high, in most cases it works without any need to repeat things twice. However in a very noisy environment you might happen to be forced to. There’s nothing much special about the quick dialing option.

The call logs are organized just as in the previous versions: Incoming, Dialed and Missed calls are displayed on the three respective lists, no uniform list comprising the three kinds is available, unfortunately. Switching between the lists is done by pressing the navigation button sideways. The maximum period of time for which call information can be stored is one month, which can be further customized to ten or one day. A number of filters can be applied to the call log, each call event can be viewed separately with all the detailed information.

Samsung i550 supports SMS, MMS and E-mail messaging. No outstanding features were added to the traditional functionality, which can hardly be seen as a sad thing since everything essential is already present as part of the platform: templates, T9, drafts, expansion storage (SMS and MMS alike). Text input is quite usual, switching between languages is done from a context menu or with the , button, the rest of the functions operated with the dedicated Edit button in the 6120c were associated with the # button in Samsung i550 - the caps lock, numeric/alphabet switch, text copy/paste.

Switching between received, sent and other kinds of messages is done by pressing the joystick or the navigation button sideways, it’s quite comfortable and eliminates the necessity to get back to the messages menu every time now and again, the tabs representing each category of messages are shown in a row at the top of the screen. Messages can be sorted by date, sender, subject and the type of the message itself. You can move messages between folders and create an unlimited number of custom folder inside the My Folder directory.

The delivery notes are stored separately, they can be discarded both one by one or by the whole stock. The user can specify if they want the delivery notes to be sent both for MMS and SMS messages or any one of the two kinds.

The MMS service is comfortable, the maximum message size is limited to 300 Kb, an image, an audio clip (talk record) and a video clip can be attached to the message. MMS options include the image size setting - original, small and large. The message text can either precede or follow the multimedia content. The address field isn’t just limited to a single line of text, it also optionally contains the Topic and Carbon Copies field.