Review of the Samsung Gravity

Review of the Samsung Gravity
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The Samsung Gravity

The Samsung Gravity is an entry level phone from Samsung. The phone is specifically designed with messaging applications in mind, featuring a full QWERTY keyboard and slider design. The physical appearance of the Samsung Gravity is not the greatest, although it has some appeal. Several color schemes are available which include Gray/Green, Orange/Gray and Aqua/White. The Gray/Green color schemes is fairly appealing and is the most common. The Samsung Gravity is available through several major networks and is marketed towards teenagers and heavy text message users. The Samsung Gravity offers very little beyond messaging capabilities and basic phone functionality. The Samsung Gravity certainly does not qualify as a smartphone on any level and lacks the ability to perform any complicated tasks. There is certainly potential for the Samsung Gravity for fans of the slider design, QWERTY keyboard and simple to use menu system that the Samsung Gravity offers.

Physical Features & Appearance

At just 4.3 ounces the Samsung Gravity doesn’t feel too heavy. The Samsung Gravity has a nice solid feel, noticeable when placed in a pocket although not too heavy to make it a burden. The dimensions of the Samsung Gravity are as follows: 4.5 x 2.1 x 0.7 inches. About the same size as many other candy-bar style phones on the market, although noticeably thicker because of the QWERTY keyboard:

qwerty

The QWERTY keyboard has a very solid feel, the keys are raised just enough to provide comfortable tactile feedback. The spacing on the QWERTY keyboard is designed with the younger crowd in mind, unfriendly for larger thumbs. The phone as a whole feels very solid and the slider mechanism does not feel loose as with other slider phones.

The buttons on the outside of the phone include the volume rockers on the left side. In addition to the volume rockers, the memory card slot can be found on the lower left side. The dedicated camera button is a nice touch and can be found on the right side of the Samsung Gravity. In addition the accessory and charging port is also found on the top right side of the phone.

The back of the phone is fairly plain. The back of the Samsung Gravity has a camera lens and several holes indicating the location of the rear speaker.

Features

As previously mentioned the Samsung Gravity is mainly a messaging phone. The Samsung Gravity has full support for AOL, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger and MSN. The messaging services are accessed by integrated clients which work well with the Samsung Gravity’s QWERTY keyboard. The clients are fairly minimalistic but more than enough to stay in communication when away from the computer. The Samsung Gravity also supports picture/video messaging and standard text messaging (SMS).

The Samsung Gravity features a 1.3-megapixel camera which is capable of video capture. Photo quality was decent at best. Photos were often blurred and lacked lively color. Video quality also leaves something to be desired as resulting video is very choppy. There is no flash function on the Samsung Gravity. Photo and video capabilities are best for quick captures but nothing more.

Support for Java (J2ME) applications enables replacement messaging applications, games and other programs to be downloaded. The selection of programs ranges from social networking applications to streaming video. The Samsung Gravity features a built in video player compatible with MPEG4 and H.263 formats. The screen size is fairly small on the Samsung Gravity which renders the aforementioned video player close to useless.

Features (Cont.)

Audio playback is possible with the digital audio player supporting MP3 and AAC/ACC+ formats. Playback quality was decent, although the lack of a 3.5mm jack makes the selection of wired headphones very limited on the Samsung Gravity. The Samsung Gravity does support A2DP Bluetooth Headphones under Bluetooth version 2.0.

The Samsung Gravity also supports several other Bluetooth version 2.0 profiles including: AVRC, HSP, HFP, FTP, OPP, DUN and BBP. The rest of the standard features are present and there is support for MP3 ringtones and vibrating alerts. The Samsung Gravity includes a built-in web browser which does a decent job at displaying WAP pages. Viewing regular websites or graphic heavy webpages will be a painful process because of the limited processing power of the Samsung Gravity and the lack of screen real estate. Pre-loaded applications on the Samsung Gravity include a calendar, calculator, notepad, to-do list and currency converter.

The 1000 mAh battery is rated at around 6 hours of talk time. The actual talktime is close to 5 hours. The official rating is 288 hours of standby time (12 days), which proved to be true. The Samsung Gravity is compatible with the following frequencies: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE. The lack of 3G support rules out the ability for any serious media usage.

Conclusion

Pros:

  • Messaging Capabilities (AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo)
  • POP-3 Email Support (Including Gmail)
  • Built-in Audio & Video Player
  • A2DP Bluetooth Support for Wireless Headphones
  • Full QWERTY keyboard
  • SD Memory Card Support

Cons:

  • Poor battery life (around 5 hours of talk time)
  • Thicker than other slider phones
  • Lack of support for SDHC memory cards
  • Lack of 3G Support

The Samsung Gravity has plenty of basic phone features to offer, including some advanced messaging features. Sadly the Samsung Gravity does not offer any productivity options to make this a viable business phone. The Samsung Gravity will likely find its niche among teenagers and texters.

Images

QWERTY

Side/Front

Front