Can the ‘cute’ Genio make the grade?
It is now clear that the switchover to touchscreen phones has two phases. Phase one involved high specification handsets (iPhone, Samsung Pixon, Nokia N97, HTC Hero) with sophisticated software, good cameras (except the iPhone) and loads of other bells and whistles. Now comes phase two, as typified by Samsung’s new touchscreen Genio.
This is a ‘fun’ (for which read ‘cheap’) mobile phone with modest functions and features but still boasts a touchscreen. Samsung’s strategy is fairly flawless: kids all want an iPhone. But only a few of their parents will pay for one.
In the interim, anything affordable with a touchscreen will do the trick. Samsung’s Genio is unashamedly aimed at this audience. But for those interested in their mobiles’ abilities and performance, does the Genio stand up?
The first thing to notice about this handset is that it is small, colourful and – for want of a better term – ‘cute’. It comes with a choice of shell covers in the box (white, black and patterned).
Many of the basics are here: an FM radio, Bluetooth and an MP3 player. There’s no wi-fi and the phone only has 40MB of internal memory, so you’ll definitely need an SD Micro memory card (up to 8GB) if you want to hold anything other than a few text messages on it.
Like higher-end Samsung touchscreen models (the Pixon and the Jet), the Genio has a ‘widget’ bar on one side, where frequently used multimedia applications are accessed. These include Facebook, Twitter and Bebo clients.
The camera, while a lowly two megapixels, has one exceptional quality going for it: it resets itself in under a second. In fact, this is the fastest camera I’ve ever tested on a mobile phone. This sounds trivial, but it makes a big difference when trying to capture a moment or an event. The device also records video.
One of the phone’s best accomplishments is sizing its touchscreen functions, applications and widgets to exactly the right proportions. Each applications used all of the screen, making it far more usable than the split-screen formula (favoured by the likes of Nokia and Sony Ericsson).
There are only two quibbles with this phone. The first is that Samsung’s touchscreen performance is still some way off the industry leaders (the iPhone, Palm Pre and HTC Hero). With this phone, you will make the odd error and tapping out messages or phone numbers can sometimes take more than one attempt.
The second oversight is more irritating, in that it could have been avoided: the phone has no 3.5mm earphone jack.
To be fair, it does have a conversion lead with a 3.5mm orifice, but that is not the same thing.
Despite these two lapses, the Genio is a decent effort that will find a ready market. For what it is and who it’s aimed at, this phone is right on the money.
Price: €120 on Vodafone and Meteor pre-pay.
