* Sam sung to me through this Phone * (Samsung SGH-E530)

Member Name: Nickycool

Product:	Samsung SGH-E530
Date:	08/12/05 (1697 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small and sweet

Disadvantages: Lose it all the time, not the same charger as other Samsungs

I've got this phone on a contract as I work for Vodafone. I'm on a staff tariff so I won't be discussing anything related to that, as it wouldn't apply to most people.

You can get this phone on contract with Vodafone, O2, Orange or Sim free so you can be on Pay as you go or use T-Mobile, any other networks that you may use. The SIM free phone will cost you around £200.

In the box, you get
The phone + battery
The charger
Carry Case in the colour of your phone
Wrist strap in the colour of your phone
Stereo hands free kit
The Manual and guarantee papers

The phone comes in different colours. The most available colour is lavender pink but the other colours are orange, light blue, cream and brown.

The phone is dual band and weights about 85g so it's quite a lightweight phone. Sometimes, I even forget I've got it with me.
The maximum standby time on the phone is 200 hours and it has 5.5 hours talk time, which in my case I've never fully use as I'm never on the phone for that long. The antenna is integrated into the phone so it's not poking and annoying you.

Looking at the front of the phone is quite a lot like my old phone Samsung E330. It's got a colour LED on the front, which always displays the time unlike my old phone but also displays a funky classic looking clock, which you can change in the phone settings to have different and nice pictures instead. Also you can see the camera and the flash on the front.

The camera is a 1.0 megapixels camera. It's got 4 different zooms, dual flash, selfshot, timed shot and multi shot and you can change the settings so you can store more pictures, have frames or interesting effects around the photos. You can also record video MPEG4 and also you can record your voice as well. It has bluetooth as well, which personally I'll never use.

On the left-hand side of the camera, there's an up and down button. That's for increasing and decreasing the keypad volume. Also there's the small micraphone for recording your voice.

On the right hand side, there's the button for the camera. Under that, there's a covered hole where you slot in your hand free kit. At the bottom of the phone, there's a covered hole, which is where the battery charger slots in to recharge your phone.

Open the phone up and you'll see that the screen is a coloured screen. You'll be greeted by a number of things. The top left hand corner, there's network bar to see how much signal you have. Under that, there's the date. In the top right hand corner, there's the battery bar, which shows you how much battery life you have left. Under that, there's the time. In the middle, there will be a picture or calendar of some kind, depending on your settings. Then at the bottom, you will see Menu and Contacts. If you push the button for Contacts, you'll just get a list of all contacts.
If you push the button for Menu, you will get pictures for 9 options. It always goes to the middle, which is for messages.

The first option on the menu is for call records. It keeps a record for all the calls you have dialled, received or missed. Also how long your last call was and how long you have phoned on this phone. You can reset this at anytime.

Second option is Phonebook. This is where you can add, edit or delete your contacts.

Third option is Applications. This takes you to Java World, Mp3 Player, Lifestyle, Voice Recorder, World Time, Alarm, PIM Sync, Calculator, Converter, Timer, Stopwatch and for people on Vodaphone, Vodaphone options. Some of these are self-explanatory but others aren't.

- Java World is for downloaded games. You get 4 games preloaded onto your phone. Bobby Carrot, Airship Racing, Arch Angel and Freekick.
MP3 Player is for downloaded songs.

- Lifestyle is the option that makes this phone a ladies phone. The options for this menu are Fragrance Type, Biorhythm, Height/Weight Ratio, Calorie Counter, Pink Schedule (to tell you when you get pregnant and when your period is going to be) and Shopping list.

- PIM Sync is for when you want to link up with your PC. You have to have special programs from Samsung to do it and it takes some figuring out to be honest.

The 4th option on the main menu is the Browser. This is for connecting to your WAP or the Internet.

The 5th option is for messages. Whether it's text, picture, email or broadcast messages, you do it here.

The 6th option is the File manager. It's to look at and manage everything you've downloaded or taken with your camera.

The 7th option is the Calendar. This is where this phone can schedule your life. It tells you memo, things to do, birthdays or anniversaries.

The 8th option is Camera. This is where you go if you want to change the options or just to take a photo.

The 9th option is Settings. This controls all the settings on your phone. Ringtones, text messages tones, the time and date etc.

Funky little features
-* rainbow coloured text
-* you can protect your pictures but also your received texts from deletion
-* changing the size of font on the text messages so you can see it better

Total memory of the phone is 92 MB.
For texts, 200 messages but 100 MMS (pictures messages)/1.4 MB MMS
Java Games 4MB
Emails 3 MB
You can store 1000 contacts in your phone and of course, you can store on your SIM card. I don't think that will ever be full with me. I don't think I know 100 people let alone 1000.

On the charger, there's a light, which tells you if your phone is fully charged or not. Red means it's not fully charged and green is when it is. The only drawback with this is that the charger is different to all the other Samsung chargers so you can't use your old charger as an extra charger.

Been using this phone for a month now. Though my old one was a Samsung. This phone differs to my old phone a great deal.
The texting is a difficult at times, as you keep having to change the settings for numbers and symbols but the rest of the menu is dead easy to use.
It's a lovely little phone though but far too many options that I'll never use on it. It keeps its charge for about 5 days and I receive and send about 50 texts a day so there's nothing to complain about there. It is annoying that the first option when sending a message is Send and Save instead of just send!
It fits easily into the palm of your hand but that's also a disadvantage as it's very easy to lose in your handbag.
All in all, great phone if you get it on contract but not enough buying for SIM free version

Summary: Small lovely little phone

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