Review: Samsung E950
The Samsung E900 is still as popular today as it was back in 2006 and its new improved family member is looking set to be one of the hottest and coolest mobiles of 2008.
The Samsung E950 uses a combination of plastics and metal in its design. The phone is available in silver / black and the attention to the detailing definitely shows in the finished product. When holding the phone to the ear the metal back panel can be seen making the phone look very cool and stylish. The E950 has made some changes to the key-pad since the Samsung E900. While the E900 used a touch-sensitive key-pad which did look very neat and cool but didn’t suit everyone with its usability, the E950 now uses a Hybrid System which is very similar to the interface that is used in the LG Venus. The user interface has two parts one is the numeric key-pad that can be slid out when required and the other is a touch-sensitive pad which is below the main display. Samsung call this a DAC Pad (Dynamic Control Pad). Now, the touch-sensitive pad is virtual and is context sensitive and is within the DAC pad therefore changing to the menu’s requirements. While this is a great idea we don’t think the concept is as good in the E950 as it is in the LG Venus as it has a larger touch-screen for one and has a smooth faster performance. However, the DAC pad does work and gives a neat solution the interface problem.
The E950 introduces a new graphical interface that now features animated icons and customizing the graphics on the phone is optional. Smart-Search is an additional UI implement that searches the throughout handset contents for example, messages and contacts etc. The Smart-Search feature will activate automatically when first dialing a number therefore it can be used as a shortcut for finding names and numbers in your phone-book.
Ok, the E950 isn’t at the higher end of the market, the same as the E900 before, so don’t go expecting all the most up-to-date and fantastic features and functions. But nonetheless, the E950 is well equipped and is an obvious enhancement to the E900. The LCD display screen is of good quality and has a fantastic 262,000 colours and features a Sun-light mode, this will increase brightness and the contrast for when using outside. The built in camera is of 3.2 mega-pixels and features a 4 x digital zoom, LED flash and a mirror for getting yourself ready to take a photo of yourself whenever and wherever. Unfortunately there isn’t an auto-focus feature so the quality of the images taken, are in between that of the old E900 and D900. This ultimately means the images will be above average for a middle of the road phone but nowhere near as good quality as the very best in camera phones.
The music player is quite good and slightly higher than average. The music player is very well featured and supports play-lists and albums and allows the creating of play-lists on the go. The audio quality is outstanding. This is because there are twin speakers that are mounted to the front and rear of the phone and a dedicated amplifier chip so the sound is quite loud, this also applies to the ring-tones so you should never miss a call again with this little beauty. As-well as all this, the phone also features a built in FM radio with RDS so that it will automatically scan radio stations and tune into to the most available. Using a standard stereo headset is great but the option is there to use a Bluetooth® Wireless headset if you so wish. The built in memory is of 60 Mbytes and the phone has support for the use of MicroSD™ memory cards as it features a MicroSD™ memory card slot. Using a memory card will increase the memory up to 2 Gbytes and this will allow storage of around 500 songs making full use of the multi-media player’s features.
The battery is fairly average for a Samsung phone. You will get 2 – 3 days use from the standard battery, so we can’t grumble at that.
When it comes to the messaging service the E950 does it all. As well as being able to send SMS, MMS and EMS it is able to send and receive emails. Being able to surf the web is impossible but may not be the best handset for the job as it only supports 2.5G EDGE speeds. Although the phone is Yahoo! ready and is packed with Yahoo! search and messenger.
We have struggled to rate the Samsung E950 we really wanted to give it 5 stars but we have awarded it 4. The reason for this is if it wasn’t for the LG Venus improving on the touch-pad design we would have given the E950 5 stars. But the Samsung E950 really is a cracking phone and if you can get along with the touch-pad you will get on great with this phone and we love it!
Specification: Samsung E950
- 3.2 mega-pixel camera with LED flash, image editor & 4 x digital zoom
- Video camera records up to 1 hr at 15 frames per sec with 288 x 352 pixels
- TFT display, 320 x 240 pixels 2.0, 262,144 colours & OLED touch panel with 65,000 colours, 1.2
- MP3, eAAC+, AAC+ &amop; AAC music player with WMA formats amp; OMA Digital Rights Management 1.0
- MP3 ringtones, 64 voice polyphonic
- RDS FM Radio
- Built in Speaker phone
- SMS, MMS, EMS & Email (IMAP4 /POP3/ SMTP) messaging
- Built in Java games
- Voice recorder
- Predictive text
- Caller ID using images & sound
- Personal organiser
- Triband
- 60 Megabytes of memeory with MicroSD™ memory card slot for up to 2Gb
- Bluetooth 2.0, TV-Out & USB 2.0 connectivity
- EDGE technology for Internet with GPRS class 10, WAP 2.0 & Yahoo! Ready
- 3 hrs talk time
- 260 hours battery standby
- Size, 16.5 x 46 x 98 mm
- Weight 89 grams
Consumer Reviews: Samsung E950
Reviewed by Tose from Skopje, Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic Of on Wednesday, November 19, 2008Rating:
Good mobile phoneEverything is great.
But i have a little problem!
When i want to put something on my memory card, via USB cable, as MASS STORAGE DEVICE my connection blocks within 2-3min (aproximately), but i think that it doesen't depend on time.
PLEASE HELP ;-)
Reviewed by Hakan from Istanbul, Turkey on Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Rating:
Okay, but seen betterEverything is perfect in this phone, but sound really sucks. Play a mp3 file or set a mp3 file as a ringtone, you'll see what i'm talking about. you cant hear if the phone is in another room, even you set the highest volume.
everything is perfect but the sound.
Reviewed by Adian from Wexford, Ireland on Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Rating:
Okay, but seen betterI can't seem to get used to the touch pad on the Samsung E950, maybe my fingers are too big.
Reviewed by Ben from Leeds, UK on Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Rating:
I WANT ONE!! 
Love it Samsung, the E950 rocks!!!!
Reviewed by Dave from London, UK on Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Rating:
Good mobile phoneThe Samsung E950 is much better than the E900. Love the touch sensitive button and camera is really good too. Samsung have done a good job with the E950.
| Price plan | Minutes | Texts | Term | Line rental | Deal Information | Go To Deal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 O2 3000 min + Unlimited sms 18M |
3000 minutes per month |
Unlimited texts per month |
18 month contract length |
£75 |
Samsung i900 Omnia 8GB Show me more Information |
FREE PHONE 
|
|
O2 3000 min + Unlimited sms 18M |
3000 minutes per month |
Unlimited texts per month |
18 month contract length |
£75 |
Samsung i900 Omnia 8GB Show me more Information |
FREE PHONE
|
|
O2 3000 min + Unlimited sms 18M |
3000 minutes per month |
Unlimited texts per month |
18 month contract length |
£75 |
Samsung i900 Omnia 8GB Show me more Information |
FREE PHONE
|
