Samsung S7350 Classico Mobile Phone Review - A Brush With Class

As always - Samsung has produced a beautiful looking phone with a smooth-action slider. Housed in a brushed metal casing, this mobile oozes classical elegance in a very neat format. The Classico is also known as Samsung S7350 Ultra, and succeeds the Samsung S7330 model.

The Samsung S7350 Classico measures c109mm x 50mm x 13mm, making it a slender, very elegant piece of equipment which will fit into any pocket or handbag.

For the businessman or woman, the personal organiser features make life that bit easier - images and graphics are easily sent and received by means of MMS, there is a calendar, a personal organiser and alarm clock with the ability to set a discreet vibration option for urgent incoming calls or messages which is always useful when in meetings.

As a quad band phone, the Samsung S7350 is handy when it comes to connectivity, specifically covering the GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800 and UMTS 2100 networks. It is 3G HSDPA high speed technology enabled, and its support for MicroUSB makes it easy to use a printer or go surfing on the World Wide Web.

Connecting to other devices is made seamless by means of the MicroUSB support, or if you prefer - there is also Bluetooth 2.1 capability with A2DP. The 100MB memory can be increased to 16GB by using a microSD card, allowing several tracks, videos or images to be stored, and the battery lasts for up to 4 hours of talking time with approximately 250 hours of stand by time (from fully charged). WiFi is not supported in this handset.

It has a 5 Megapixel camera with duel LED flash, auto focus and even Smile/Face Detection. One of the few mobile phone cameras on the market with a decently sized screen - at 2.6inches (max 2560 x 1920 pixels) - and with 16 million colours and autorotate, this phone shows you your picture as it is. This makes it easier to view and store only those images you really want to keep. The camera allows video recording in WVGA format at 30 frames per second at a resolution of 720 x 480 pixels.

The self-portrait mirror makes taking those all-too-frequent passport/identity photos a doddle, the 4x digital zoom and autofocus features mean that you get a decent snap every time you press the button.

The Classico has a pre-installed MP3 player as well as an FM radio with RDS. With a handset which supports Bluetooth-compatible headphones, your music listening pleasure is assured. The radio boasts A2DP which enables receipt of additional information relating to news, weather or music.

Depending on where you are in the country - losing your way need no longer be a problem - with a GPS receiver and Mobile Navigator (Route66 software) to point you in the right direction.

As gaming device, the Samsung S7350 will please many fans - it comes pre-loaded with trial versions of games, including Pyramid Bloxx, Brick Breaker Revolution and Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

The only downsides we could find were the lack of WiFi support and the inability to download external themes. If you are happy with the pre-installed themes, then there is no problem, but flexibility here would have been nice.

All in all - this is a nice phone which will suit the person looking for a little more elegance in appearance, with all the functionality required from a 3G handset.

by Carlson Osbourne