TouchWiz -Samsung 5.0 megapixel

The fourth camera phone from Samsung with 5.0 megapixel camera is not only about imaging .. lets have some more experience of touch.

Beyond imaging

• 5.0 megapixel camera with auto focus and flash
• The ‘drag and drop’ facility helps in accessing features from the homescreen
• Complete touchscreen device with a 2.8- inch display
• Inbuilt memory of 223 MB, which can be expanded up to 8GB

Unique buddy

The launch of LG’s Prada was a new beginning for touchscreen multimedia devices in India. It looked impressive and had a designer feel. Following the success of this model, the company introduced Viewty. Samsung joined the league with its designer phone Armani. Continuing with the trend, it has now introduced the TouchWiz.

The TouchWiz is just 11.5 mm thick making it the slimmest 5.0 megapixel camera phone.

The handset has a 2.8 inch touchscreen display with a square shaped speaker on top. There is a row of three keys: call accessing on the two sides and a dedicated key in the center that directs to the music player, messages, main menu, Internet and call options. Even the side panels consist of a layer of metal along with plastic. The volume key, camera key, card slot and charging are added to the plastic layer. There isn’t anything new in terms of design.

NOT only touch

Touchscreen phones have been around for a while now but none have been able to match the iPhone’s interface. However, the TouchWiz comes with an innovative user interface known as the TouchWiz UI. This handset can be operated with a finger and its interface allows users to drag and drop features on the homescreen itself.

An on-screen short key for ‘Widgets’ has been added on the left of the homescreen. Touching this key reveals a column that displays the list of features that can be dragged and used. This list includes events, clock, calendar, time, FM radio, music player, images, reminders and profiles. Once through, users can simply drag the features back to the list. This feature enhances user experience, while the shortcuts save time in accessing features from the main menu. The phone’s touch interface is quick andresponsive. Users will not face any difficulty while accessing the menu or any other features. While e-mailing, users have the option of accessing the T9 dictionary, which makes insertion of text faster and easier.

The multimedia point

The TouchWiz has a 5.0 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash. A dedicated key on the left panel activates the camera and pictures can be captured with the same key. The quality of the images is impressive. The camera offers plenty of features. The most talked about out of these is ‘face detection and smile shot’. The camera also boasts of the anti-shake feature. With these features, camera phones are inching closer towards the clarity of digital cameras. Image editing options include manual adjustment of brightness and contrast. Users can also adjust the colours of pictures throughthree rows of colours. An insert option allows users to insert frames, pictures, cliparts and emoticons. While editing, an arrow, which appears at the bottom right corner, reveals options such as effects, transform,crop tool and rotate.

Browse n surf faster

Web browsing is a unique experience on the TouchWiz. Unlike some business phones, this handset picks up GPRS settings automatically. Web pages get loaded fast. Even scrolling through pages is easy. Apart from the regular Samsung browser, Opera Mini can also BE loaded. Other features include music recognition, RSS reader, music player and FM radio. The sound quality of headsets and the loudspeaker is above average.

As for the battery, a single charge lasts for a day and a half with a couple of hours of calling, using the camera, browsing the Web and listening to music.

Tech features

Best price

The Samsung TouchWiz is priced at Rs 19,190. Other options worth considering include the LG Viewty also a complete touchscreen device for Rs 18,990. The Sony Ericsson K850i and Samsung’s Soul are partial touchscreen phones. They are priced at Rs 19,280 and Rs 20,035 respectively.