GSMArena.com GSMArena.com

Tip us

888k

156k
74k
1.1m

RSS

Log in

Login

I forgot my password
Sign up
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Videos
  • Featured
  • Phone Finder
  • DealsNew
  • Tools
  • Coverage
  • Contact
ADVERTISEMENTS
GSMArena team, 18 March 2009

First look


Samsung S5230 preview: First look

  • Comments (36)
  • User reviews
  • S5230 Star

4. Messaging, music player, gallery
  1. 1. Introduction
  2. 2. 360-degree spin, design and construction
  3. 3. User interface
  4. 4. Messaging, music player, gallery
  5. 5. Camera, conclusion
  6.  
  7. Samsung S5230 Star specification
  8. User opinions and reviews
  9. Review comments (36)

Samsung Preview

This article is outdated. We have already published a full review.

The simple messenger

The new Samsung S5230 has a large 3-inch touch display supporting hand-writing recognition. Writing a message can be done in three ways.

The first is the traditional one - typing by the virtual 3x4 keypad.

The second is to use the stylus and write the letters on the screen. We've hardly seen a user take handwriting recognition as a primary input method, but may be it's just us. In general, the handwriting recognition is very intuitive and in most cases recognizes the letters correct.

And finally comes the on-screen QWERTY thumboard that we missed on the Samsung S5600 (hopefully due to its pre-production status). With Samsung S5230 switching between the 3x4 keypad and the QWERTY one is seamless thanks to the built-in accelerometer - just turn the phone sideways.

Samsung S5230 Samsung S5230 Samsung S5230 Samsung S5230
Messaging

Music player

The music player of the Samsung S5230 is exactly the same as in the S5600 and hasn't been much altered from the M8800 Pixon.

It allows filtering tracks by author, album, and genre. Automatic playlists (recently added, most played etc.) are also generated and can subsequently be used as filters. If that doesn't seem enough, you can create your own custom playlists. The music player can naturally be minimized to play in the background.

Samsung S5230 Samsung S5230 Samsung S5230
Samsung S5230 music player is quite familiar

The music player also has a dedicated widget, allowing quick access to the full version of the application by only a single tap. You can also start, stop and alternate tracks straight from the home screen if you prefer.

The equalizer offers the standard presets like pop, jazz, classic, etc. but it also packs three options thanks to the DNSe sound chip - widening, dynamic and surround effects.

Last, but certainly not least, the player is nicely touch-optimized including fast forward and rewind, just like the S5600. This adds up to an excellent music application that can fully replace your portable MP3 player.

Nice finger-optimized gallery

There is only one image gallery in the S5230 and it is an inherent part of the file manager and accessing it is as simple as opening any folder that contains images.

Once you open a picture to view, you can sweep you fingers across the screen to see the next image without having to return to the image list. The sweeping is really responsive and fluid and even the screen is a resistive one, it doesn't ruined the fun at all.

The gallery also has slideshows and a nice accelerometer-based feature. It lets you browse pictures in fullscreen landscape mode by simply tilting your phone on its side (plus, of course, you get automatic rotation of the photos by changing the device orientation).

Samsung S5230 Samsung S5230
Viewing a single image: going fullscreen, zooming

Next Page » 5. Camera, conclusion
4. Messaging, music player, gallery
  1. 1. Introduction
  2. 2. 360-degree spin, design and construction
  3. 3. User interface
  4. 4. Messaging, music player, gallery
  5. 5. Camera, conclusion
  6.  
  7. Samsung S5230 Star specification
  8. User opinions and reviews
  9. Review comments (36)

Reviews Samsung S5230 previewPage 4
  • Comments (36)
  • User reviews
  • S5230 Star

Phone finder

  • Samsung
  • Apple
  • Huawei
  • Nokia
  • Sony
  • LG
  • HTC
  • Motorola
  • Lenovo
  • Xiaomi
  • Google
  • Honor
  • Oppo
  • Realme
  • OnePlus
  • vivo
  • Meizu
  • BlackBerry
  • Asus
  • Alcatel
  • ZTE
  • Microsoft
  • Vodafone
  • Energizer
  • Cat
  • Sharp
  • Micromax
  • Infinix
  • Ulefone
  • Tecno
  • BLU
  • Acer
  • Wiko
  • Panasonic
  • verykool
  • Plum

All brands Rumor mill

ADVERTISEMENTS

Related articles

  • Top 10 trending phones of week 2
  • Flashback: the original Samsung Galaxy S was a best-seller that spawned an empire
  • Weekly poll: are you getting a Galaxy S21, S21+, S21 Ultra or are you sitting this one out?
  • Samsung Galaxy S21 series vs Galaxy S20 series - the upgrades detailed
ADVERTISEMENTS

Popular reviews

Apple iOS 14 review

Apple iOS 14 review
Android 11 review

Android 11 review
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra review

Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra review
ADVERTISEMENTS

Home News Reviews Compare Coverage Glossary FAQ RSS feed Youtube Facebook Twitter Instagram

© 2000-2021 GSMArena.com Mobile version Android app Contact us Privacy Terms of use Change Ad Consent Do not sell my data