Samsung S5620 Monte deals & review

In a word or two

The Samsung S5620 Monte is a feature-rich mobile phone with a striking design and simple interface.

The Design

The design of the Samsung S5620 Monte ensures it stands out from the crowd of otherwise-similar Samsung Genio mobiles. Like many of the Genio handsets, the Monte has been designed with social networking and affordability in mind. The angular style of the buttons beneath the screen and the coloured sides, though, elevate the Monte and give it its air of distinction.

The colour schemes of the exterior – black and orange, white and red, black and graphite – lend the Samsung S5620 Monte a fresh feel. The second tone runs around the sides of the phone and above the main menu key, and the three physical keys on the front are level with the screen for a clean look but are still easy to press.

The 3 inch touchscreen features capacitive technology and is sensitive to your presses and swipes, responding well. The inbuilt accelerometer means you can rotate the Samsung S5620 Monte and the screen will automatically adjust from portrait to landscape. This function also lets you turn the phone to mute so if you receive a call at an inconvenient time, simply flip the phone on its side to silence it.

The Samsung S5620 Monte is a good size and weighs only 92g. You can hold the phone comfortably in your hand and the patterned back ensures a secure grip.

Specifications

Created for your social networking enjoyment, the Samsung S5620 Monte has support for 3G and Wi-Fi. The web browser is swift and lets you zoom in on images using one finger. Among the many pre-installed apps on the Monte is the Palringo app for instant messaging, which supports multiple IM servers including AOL, Google Talk, Yahoo and Windows Live.

The Monte comes with widgets for sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Bebo so you can open them directly without needing to launch the web browser or find the app in the main menu. You can also display the information from the social networking sites on your home screen, keeping you constantly updated with your friends’ activities.

The TouchWiz 2.0 Plus interface allows for a bright and simple way to navigate the phone. The usual three home screens which can be decorated with as many widgets as you like, still feature but as the latest version of the TouchWiz UI there are a few changes. For example, to change the display of widgets, you now use the Edit icon on the top left corner of the screen rather than the traditional widget tray. The main menu runs across several screens and most of the apps are visible here, in a similar layout to the iPhone.

Multitasking is easy on the Samsung S5620 Monte. Just like on the Jet S8000, if you want to exit an app and leave it running in the background while you open another one, simply press the menu key beneath the screen. A long press of this key brings up the task manager for controlling which apps you open and close. This is good if you want to listen to music while you read a document emailed to you – the Monte has an MP3 player with a 3.5mm audio jack, DNSe (Digital Natural Sound Engine) inbuilt and the ability to create playlists and filter your collection; and the document viewer supports all Office 2007 documents on your phone.

Other noteworthy features of the Samsung S5620 Monte include Exchange ActiveSync which gives you access to your Outlook together with push email; a 3.2-megapixel camera with smile detection and geo-tagging using the inbuilt GPS receiver; and Smart Unlock for opening an app or speed dialling straight from the unlock screen.

Considerations

The camera on the Samsung S5620 Monte is decent but there is no flash so you are slightly restricted when it comes to taking snaps.

Verdict

The Samsung S5620 Monte is a phone with strong social networking features, multiple connection options, an interesting design and a friendly interface.