HTC Leo spotted once again, friends call it "HD2"

This new Leo hotness from HTC sure is making the rounds, and we certainly can't get enough of it. Its latest appearance shows the handset from some sexy angles, but also gives us a new tidbit to chew on: the Bluetooth menu identifies the phone as the HD2. So, is this the much-rumored successor to the Touch HD, or an absolutely gorgeous impostor? We'd venture a guess, but we're too busy longing for that 4.3-inch capacitive LCD to care.

GSM Palm Pre now looking at 'autumn' launch in Germany

You know, we admire Palm's patience. We knew a GSM Pre was in the works about 8.43 minutes after its CES presser ended in January, and we've been waiting all this time for some carrier in some part of the New World to grab hold of a GSM version of the world's first webOS handset. If you'll recall, we last heard that O2 Germany would be giving its loyal users the chance to get that very handset before the holiday season, but now an updated image on the site clearly indicates that it's coming this fall. As in, before winter. As in, within the next few months. As in, not nearly soon enough.

Philips TM700

General	2G Network	GSM 900 / 1800
	3G Network	UMTS 2100
	Announced	2009, July
	Status	Coming soon. Exp. release 2009, 3Q

Size	Dimensions	112.4 x 51.8 x 16.5 mm
	Weight	111.9 g

Display	Type	TFT touchscreen, 65K colors
	Size	240 x 320 pixels, 2.2 inches
		- Handwriting recognition

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3 ringtones
	Speakerphone	Yes

Memory	Phonebook	Yes
	Call records	30 received, dialed and missed calls
	Internal	6 MB
	Card slot	microSD (TransFlash) up to 2GB

Data	GPRS	Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	HSCSD	Yes
	EDGE	Class 10, 236.8 kbps
	3G	Yes, 384 kbps
	WLAN	No
	Bluetooth	Yes
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes v1.1, miniUSB

Camera	Primary	2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels
	Video	Yes, QCIF@15fps
	Secondary	Yes

Features	Messaging	SMS, MMS
	Browser	WAP 2.0/xHTML
	Radio	No
	Games	Yes
	Colors	Black
	GPS	No
	Java	Yes, MIDP 2.0
		- MP3/MPEG4 player - Organizer - Voice memo - T9

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 970 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 280 h
	Talk time	Up to 6 h

Samsung S5600v Blade

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 900 / 2100
	Announced	2009, June
	Status	Available

Size	Dimensions	102.8 x 54.8 x 12.9 mm
	Weight	92 g

Display	Type	TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	240 x 320 pixels, 2.8 inches
		- Accelerometer sensor - Gesture lock

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, WAV ringtones
	Speakerphone	Yes
		- DNSe (Digital Natural Sound Engine)

Memory	Phonebook	Yes, Photo Contact
	Call records	Yes
	Internal	50 MB
	Card slot	microSD (TransFlash), up to 8GB, 4GB included, buy memory

Data	GPRS	Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	HSCSD	No
	EDGE	Class 12
	3G	HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
	WLAN	No
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, v2.0

Camera	Primary	3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, LED flash
	Features	Smile detection
	Video	Yes, QVGA@15fps
	Secondary	Videocall camera

Features	Messaging	SMS, MMS, Email
	Browser	WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	Games	Yes + downloadable
	Colors	Black, Pink
	GPS	No
	Java	Yes, MIDP 2.0
		- MP3/WMA/AAC player - H.263/H.264/WMV/MPEG4 player - Organizer - Shazam Find Music service - Turn-to-mute - T9

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1000 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 250 h
	Talk time	Up to 2 h

Sony Ericsson T715

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Sony Ericsson T715 gallery

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 2100
		HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 - T715a
	Announced	2009, June
	Status	Coming soon. Exp. release 2009, Q3

Size	Dimensions	91.5 x 48 x 14.9 mm
	Weight	96 g

Display	Type	TFT, 256K colors
	Size	240 x 320 pixels, 2.2 inches
		- Smart desktop

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, AAC ringtones, composer
	Speakerphone	Yes

Memory	Phonebook	1000 contacts, Photo call
	Call records	30 received, dialed and missed calls
	Internal	90 MB
	Card slot	microSD (TransFlash)

Data	GPRS	Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	HSCSD	Yes
	EDGE	Class 10, 236.8 kbps
	3G	HSDPA
	WLAN	No
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, v2.0

Camera	Primary	3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, LED flash
	Features	Geo-tagging (cell-ID), videocalling
	Video	Yes
	Secondary	No

Features	Messaging	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email
	Browser	WAP 2.0/HTML (NetFront)
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	Games	Yes + downloadable
	Colors	Galaxy Silver, Rouge Pink
	GPS	No
	Java	Yes, MIDP 2.0
		- MP3/eAAC+/WMA player - MPEG4/WMV/H.263 player - Organizer - Voice memo - TrackID - YouTube - Google Maps - T9

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Po 950 mAh (BST-33)
	Stand-by	Up to 400 h (2G) / Up to 350 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 10 h (2G) / Up to 4 h (3G)

LG BL40 Black Label video leaks, heart-melting specs confirmed

he fourth member of the fashionable Black Label series has just made another step toward revealing its identity. A short video appeared on YouTube demonstrating the UI of the LG BL40, as seems to be the name of the next Chocolate successor. The video also comes to confirm most of the rumored hot specs of new the handset.

LG BL40 will come with an exciting 4" touchscreen display with cinema aspect ratio of 21:9 and a resolution of 800x345 pixels. It will run what a revamped S-class UI and will sport 3G connectivity with 7.2Mbps HSDPA.

A scratch-resistant glass will make sure that your new Black Label handset keeps its excellent looks for a long time. Muti-touch, Wi-Fi and A-GPS are among the other confirmed specs.

Rumors also had it that the LG BL40 will come complete with a 5 megapixel camera but there's neither confirmation nor refutation of this one in the video. We guess LG will clear that out when they officially announce the handset next month. And here goes the video in question for you to enjoy.

BlackBerry Tour 9630

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 2100
		CDMA/EVDO Rev A 800/1900
	Announced	2008, July
	Status	Coming soon. Exp. release 2009, 3Q

Size	Dimensions	112 x 62 x 14.2 mm
	Weight	130 g

Display	Type	65K colors
	Size	480 x 360 pixels
		- Full QWERTY keyboard - Trackball navigation - Wallpapers

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3 ringtones
	Speakerphone	Yes
		- 3.5 mm stereo headset jack

Memory	Phonebook	Yes, Photocall
	Call records	Yes
	Internal	256 MB
	Card slot	microSD (TransFlash), microSDHC, up to 8 GB

Data	GPRS	Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	HSCSD	Yes
	EDGE	Class 10, 236.8 kbps
	3G	HSDPA; HSUPA
	WLAN	No
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, v2.0

Camera	Primary	3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
	Features	Geo-tagging
	Video	Yes
	Secondary	No

Features	OS	BlackBerry OS
	Messaging	SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
	Browser	HTML
	Radio	No
	Games	Yes + downloadable
	Colors	Black
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support, BlackBerry Maps
	Java	Yes
		- BlackBerry maps - Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) - Media player MP3/WMA/AAC+ - Video player MPEG4/WMV/H.263/H.264 - Organizer - Voice memo

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1400 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 336 h
	Talk time	Up to 5 h

HTC Hero

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General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 900 / 2100
		HSDPA 850 / 1900 - American version
	Announced	2009, June
	Status	Available. Released 2009, July

Size	Dimensions	112 x 56.2 x 14.4 mm
	Weight	135 g

Display	Type	TFT capacitive touchscreen, 65K colors
	Size	320 x 480 pixels, 3.2 inches
		- Sense UI - Multi-touch input method - Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate - Handwriting recognition - Trackball

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, WAV ringtones
	Speakerphone	Yes
		- 3.5 mm audio jack

Memory	Phonebook	Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
	Call records	Practically unlimited
	Internal	288 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
	Card slot	microSD (TransFlash), buy memory

Data	GPRS	Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	HSCSD	Yes
	EDGE	Class 10, 236.8 kbps
	3G	HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2.0 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
	Bluetooth	Yes v2.0 with A2DP
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, miniUSB

Camera	Primary	5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus
	Video	Yes
	Secondary	No

Features	OS	Android OS, v1.5
	CPU	Qualcomm MSM 7200A 528 MHz processor
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
	Browser	HTML
	Radio	No
	Games	Yes
	Colors	Brown, White (teflon coating)
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support
	Java	Via third party application
		- Digital compass - Dedicated search key - Scenes quick profile switcher - MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA9 player - MPEG-4/H.263/H.264/WMV9 player - Voice memo

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1350 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 440 h (2G) / Up to 750 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 8 h (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G)

Motorola ROKR ZN50 touchscreen slider officially announced

While everyone is still waiting for Motorola to announce their first Android-powered smartphone, another highly intriguing model was unveiled. The full-touch Motorola ROKR ZN50 has nothing to do with Android but is still interesting enough to make it in the news.

Motorola ROKR ZN50 is the first full touchscreen music slider by the American company. Its design, slightly reminds us of the Nokia XpressMusic lineup with its blue and red accents, only that it is much hotter looking.

The two color versions of Motorola ROKR ZN50 • image source

Motorola ROKR ZN50 is also the first Moto to have the new Motorola panorama interface which is featuring 3 homescreens, that you can freely fill up with the load of widgets available.

Motorola ROKR also fares pretty decently in terms of features. It sports a 3.2-inch 256K TFT touchscreen with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 240 x 427 pixels. It also comes complete with a 3 megapixel autofocus shooter, built-in GPS receiver and support for stereo Bluetooth and HSDPA.

Motorola ROKR ZN50

As far as the music capabilities of the ZN50 are concerned, we have to mention the SRS WOW HD technology as well as the 3.5mm audio jack and the dedicated music player controls. The handset which measures 108.9 x 54 x 14.34 mm and weighs the hefty 143 g. Its relatively small 950 mAh battery allows up to 30 h non-stop music playback. The built-in microSD card slot with support for up to 16GB memory cards makes sure that you will have enough room for all your favorite tracks.

More views of the new ROKR

The new full touchscreen music slider also pack a T-DMB2 TV tuner which, allows you to use the device as a pocket TV set.

What we cannot quite understand about the ROKR ZN50 is why the hell it'll only be available in Korea. After all, one of the hottest Motos we've seen lately certainly deserves worldwide availability.

QWERTY-enabled LG GW300 connects with youth

LG are clearly on the move these days, though kind of settling down after the high-riding Louvre and new Black Label Chocolate. Affordable messaging is the game and the LG GW300 is keen to play along with full QWERTY keyboard.

Official photos of LG GW300

LG GW300 which surfaced today reports to the 3G-enabled GW550 to secure LG's supply of QWERTY messengers in the low and mid range. The affordable QWERTY bar features a reasonably large 2.4" landscape QVGA display, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0 but sadly no 3G. That means that the weighing 96 grams LG GW300 will have to rely on GPRS/EDGE only for its network data transfers.

Pricing and availability are still unknown. We guess many would be keen to get an update on specs of what looks like quite a plain and friendly messenger.

Nokia 3720 is ready to replace golf and rugby balls

The still unannounced rugged Nokia 3720 was shown off on several official teaser videos, where some guys do all they can to break it. They play golf and kick it rugby style, but the robust 3720 got away unscratched.

We have already informed you that Nokia are working on another rugged handset after the pretty popular 5500 Sport back in 2006. The heavy duty phone should be able to survive plenty of disasters, that would turn out fatal for its siblings.

Unluckily for the smartphone fans the Nokia 3720 will run on the S40 platform. It is IP54 certified, meaning it's dust and splash resistant.

The new Nokia will be a clear shot at the two Samsung ruggedized handsets - the 3G enabled Samsung B2700 and the cheaper Samsung B2100 Xplorer. Given the advantage those two have on hitting the shelves the Nokia certainly won't have an easy task.

After the first unofficial leak it now came time for Nokia themselves to release a little teaser about the handset. Several cool videos popped up on the Nokia Conversations website showing how Nokia 3720 handles extensive torture. In the first one the little Finn takes the role of a rugby ball but gets away pretty easily.

Next comes golf ball test, where the Nokia 3720 is hit a good 10-15 meters away with a steel club, landing on the wet grass. Once again the phone passes the test with flying colors.







And here go the final three videos, showing how the 3720 deals with a swimming pool, a pint of beer and a very big ladder.

Samsung S8000 Jet review: Airborne

Introduction

It's that time of the year and the living is easy: pool parties, blockbuster movies and new gadgets. The Samsung S8000 Jet sure knows good timing and gallantly promises a bit of everything - style, entertainment and impressively light and lively handling. It's a thing to show off to your friends and help you enjoy and capture the hot moments of the season.

The S8000 Jet is not exactly jet set stuff but claims a big piece of the touchscreen action. And it knows who it needs to kill to get it. The Jet is the direct and brave answer to the LG KM900 Arena and boy isn't it a tough call between these two. The S8000 Jet has the fancy 3D interface upgrade, 5MP camera with D1 recording, Wi-Fi, GPS and all the stuff to put this touchscreen phone in the desirable category. We have a thriller of a local derby and the high-end contenders need to do everything and do it well.

Samsung S8000 Jet offical photos

We were impressed in our preview with the new visual upgrades of the TouchWiz interface, which combine the best part of the 3D LG cube and page-organized iPhone menus. But now it's time for the final and deciding round with the Samsung S800 Jet.

Here is the full ammo of the S8000 Jet, along with what might be the deal breakers.

Key features

• 3.1" 16M-color resistive AMOLED touchscreen of 800 x 480 pixel resolution
• 800 MHz processor
• 5 megapixel auto focus camera with dual-LED
• Geotagging, image stabilization, face detection, Smile Shot, Wide Dynamic Range (WDR)
• Latest TouchWiz 2.0 UI with Motion UI, Media Gate 3D, Smart Unlock
• Quad-band GSM support and 3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA support
• Wi-Fi
• GPS receiver
• 2 / 8 GB onboard storage
• microSD card slot with microSDHC support
• Built-in accelerometer for screen auto rotate and turn-to-mute
• Proximity sensor for display auto turn-off
• TV out
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• microUSB port and stereo Bluetooth v2.0
• Web browser has full Flash and Java support
• DivX/XviD video support
• DNSe and SRS sound effect
• Smart dialing
• Speaker Call

Main disadvantages

• No smartphone capabilities
• microSD slot is under the back cover
• Smart dialing only works for numbers, not contact names
• No preinstalled GPS navigation software

As the specs suggest, the Samsung S8000 Jet is nothing short of a multimedia monster. The picture is complete with full Flash support - still quite a rarity among today's handsets - DivX/XviD video codecs and great music package. The camera is a high-end snapper with premium features that the LG Arena doesn't have, while the Smart Unlock, Speaker Call and Motion UI just add to its uniqueness.

Unboxing the Jet

The Samsung S8000 is a high-end multimedia handset, but comes with an almost standard package. There is the mandatory charger, microUSB cable, 2GB microSD card and a two-piece headset. Its remote ends on a 3.5 mm jack so you have quite a choice of alternative headphones to use with the phone. A bunch of leaflets and a CD with the latest Samsung PC Studio are also supplied.

Unboxing Samsung S800 Jet • the headset

The only extra thing you get with the Jet is a weirdly designed leather carrying case. It hides almost the whole phone except the speaker, mouthpiece and the 3D Cube button. The two call buttons positions are marked, so you can take calls without pulling the phone out. Of course there's no way to know who is calling.

The weird carrying case

Samsung S8000 Jet 360-degree view

With a touchscreen device like the Samsung S8000 Jet the seen-one-seen-all impression can't be helped. The big screen on the front and the few buttons underneath are non-negotiable. This is a limitation of the form factor and makers are pressured to give their devices a distinct face.

For a phone aiming to make a big splash, the S8000 Jet looks and feels quite palm-friendly. At 109 x 53.5 x 11.9 mm and 99g, the S8000 Jet is a just about the same size as the LG KM900 Arena, but a few grams lighter.

Design and construction

As we said, the touchscreen form factor does limit the design somewhat, but Samsung still need to work a bit harder to distinguish the handsets in their own line-up. Their touch-enabled phones are beginning to look so similar that it's difficult to identify which one's which. Phones nowadays are not only about the features, but the style and the look as well.

Size comparison: Apple iPhone 3GS, LG KM900 Arena vs Samsung S8000 Jet and Samsung S5630

The Samsung S8000 Jet front is quite sleek with black glass framing the display, while the surface around the buttons is made of a matte material that helps keep fingerprints away. However, apart from that area of the phone, the rest is so fingerprint-prone that at some point you may feel the need to get some tape and play at being a CSI agent.

The edge is bordered with a strip of glossy black plastic, which is quite nice and in fact is the only thing that really distinguishes it from other Samsung offerings.

The back, however, is unique and surprisingly stylish, yet at the same time a huge letdown as the glossy plastic attracts a lot of smudges. Anyway, the dark red and black stripes are shaded in such a way that any direct lighting creates interesting - holographic - effects.

The Jet's front of course is dominated by the display and the 3.1-incher beats the LG Arena screen by a whisker. And with a WVGA resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, the S8000 Jet punches its weight with other devices offering the highest resolution on the market. Now add the AMOLED technology that provides contrast, unrivaled by any LCD and you get the idea that with the Jet you receive top-notch image quality.

Not the biggest screen, but pleasingly crisp and responsive

The only thing that stops it from being perfect is the resistive display. Or at least that was our first thought. But when we started tapping on the Jet's screen, we instantly forgot the technology behind it. As we already saw the same kind of display in our Samsung M8910 Pixon12 review we have no concerns about resistive displays used by Samsung any more.

It reacts to even the slightest touch just as a capacitive screen does, with the added bonus that you can use anything you want to interact with it - stylus, pencil, nails, gloves, etc. Writing, scrolling, typing, zooming - everything is as easy as on the capacitive screens of Samsung's M7600 and S8300.

Sadly, there is always something to spoil the deal and here it's the disappointing sunlight legibility. Performance in bright sun is the same as the Pixon12 and far from the best we've seen. Yes, you will be able to see most of the screen on a bright sunny day, but it's far from perfect and users will be struggling under direct sunlight. We know it's not the best part of a Samsung handset, but it shouldn't be make or break.

The Jet screen beats the LG Arena's by 0.1"

There are three hardware buttons below the display - Call and End keys obviously and the center button. Now, that's where we see the major change compared to the pre-market unit we first tested. To begin with, the control now looks transparent like a gem cut into a cube shape. A 3D Cube it sure is but it doesn't launch the Cube launcher like we saw in the earlier Jet sample. A short press toggles the main menu on and off while a press and hold launches the Task Manager. So, that leaves the former task-switch knob (right next to the shutter key) in charge of the Cube Launcher and the Motion Gate.

The buttons on the front are large and solid to press

The video-call camera and a slightly oversized ambient light sensor are above the display. Right next to them is the proximity sensor that takes care of turning the display off when you hold the handset next to your ear in a conversation.

Video-call camera and ambient light sensor

On the left side of the phone is the volume rocker and on the right side are the hardware Lock (or Hold) key and the Cube Launcher/ Motion Gate / shutter key combo. The latter is not a single button as we've seen in a number of recent Samsung handsets but a rocker-style control where the shutter key is tangibly raised. This can be half-pressed to handle auto-focus. All controls are easy to operate in both single and two-handed use scenarios.

One rocker-styled control on each side plus a hardware lock button

The top handles connectivity - it houses a 3.5 mm audio jack and a standard microUSB port with a protective cover. The phone charges off the microUSB port - just like most of its recent siblings - and is quite useful as you can leave the charger at home when traveling if you have a computer with you. There's nothing much to note at the bottom - only the mouthpiece is there.

The microUSB slot, audio jack and the power button • the bottom side

As usual, the 5 megapixel camera lens is at the back of the device along with the dual LED flash. It is not protected by a lens cover but there is a slightly raised edge surrounding it.

The back of the Samsung S8000 Jet also hosts the small loudspeaker grill, with a small nub so the speaker isn't muffled when you put the handset flat on a desk.

The lack of stereo speakers is a shame, especially given that otherwise the device is a very capable portable media player.

The back is plasticky and attracts smudges, but still looks amazing

Under the back cover you'll find a 1080 mAh battery and the SIM and microSD card slots. Typically for the latest Samsung devices the memory slot is under the back cover and even though it's hot-swappable, you still need to open the cover first. If the S8000 Jet is meant to compete with the Arena successfully, it should have much more internal memory than 500 MB or at least a more accessible microSD slot.

The microSD card slot is hot-swappable but under the rear cover

The build quality is quite solid. The rear cover is not held by any complicated lock but fits solidly in place and there are no audible creaks or other disturbing sounds. The front buttons don't wobble and have a very satisfying press.

Samsung S8000 Jet in the hand

The Samsung S8000 weighs in at 99 grams and is very pocket friendly. It feels as good in the pocket as it does in the hand. With a size identical to the LG Arena it should find its place as one of the most compact multimedia devices on the market.

TouchWiz UI just got better

Samsung S8000 Jet comes with the latest edition of the home-baked TouchWiz interface. This time it is spiced with more eye-candy and accelerometer control with the Motion gate and the Media gate applications.

If you have been keeping track, you would know that the number of available effects has been reduced since the early pre-release samples of the S8000 Jet, but what has remained is still enough to make the Jet quite a treat to navigate. Those effects are sure to wow users but if you want even faster response you are free to switch them off.

The Jet packs the latest version of the lively TouchWiz UI

Another thing that has an extremely positive effect on the user experience is the exceptionally sensitive screen. Even if you are used to capacitive touchscreen you are unlikely to feel the slightest discomfort with the Jet. The 800 Mhz processor that Samsung were so keen to brag about is also doing a great job for a really responsive and neat ticking device.

The Samsung Jet has the same homescreen layout as the Pixon12 monster of a cameraphone we recently reviewed. It gives you three different non-scrollable screens that you can alternate by sideways sweeps. The current selection is indicated by three thin bars at the top.

You can fill up each of those homescreens with as many widgets as you like and assign a different wallpaper each. The widgets are tucked in a tray on the left side of the screen by default. Once you open the tray, all you need to do is drag them to a place on the screen where you would like them to be. If you decide that you no longer need a widget just drag it back to the tray.

Widgets are mini-applications that you can use to customize your home screen. One shows the time in two time zones, another has the weather and so on. Even the operator logo is a widget and can be tucked away.

Some widgets are handy like the AccuWeather thingy that shows the local weather and a clock with two time zones. There are others like the 'Go on a diet' or 'Quit smoking' that count the days you've been 'clean'.

There are widgets that simply serve as shortcuts to an application, but there are also some widgets that help you run the others. One brings up settings for both the offline widgets (the one that don't need an internet connection) and online widgets (such as the aforementioned AccuWeather) where you can set up the network connections for the online widgets. The other very helpful 'meta' widget help you search for new widgets to download.

Selecting a widget to download launches the browser and directs it to a page with a short description of the widget and a screenshot. At the time of writing, there are 24 of them available to download but this number should increase as the user (and developer) community grows. You can also find updates for the already downloaded widgets that contain bugfixes and new features.

Aside from the homescreen, Samsung have also rearranged the main menu. It now stretches over three different screens, which are sweep-scrollable sideways. The reason that so much more space was needed is the fact that almost all apps are now brought to the main menu, arranged in a flat iPhone-like structure. You will only need to dig deeper for the settings but if those were also to be brought to the fore, the main menu would most certainly have become a huge mess.

The main menu has a flatter iPhone-like strcture

You can pick between three different themes for the menu and you can also assign a custom background. The image selected sits slightly dimmed in the background so that it doesn't interfere with the icons and hurt usability. Strangely enough, the Jet doesn't allow the user to reshuffle the main menu as the Pixon12 did.

The three available themes

In both the main menu and the homescreen, you have a button bar at the bottom that features four virtual keys - keypad, phonebook, messages and a button to toggle between the homescreen and menu.

The Samsung S8000 Jet, like most recent Samsung phones, comes complete with multitasking. The task manager gets launched by pressing and holding the hardware Menu key. It has a nice 3D view and a more classical grid one. You can alternate or even close the tasks straight from there. A "End all applications" key is also present in case you don't want to waste time closing applications one by one.

The Task manager packs a cool 3D view mode

A true cheer raiser around the office is the Samsung S8000 Jet's Smart unlock feature. First featured on Samsung S5600 and Samsung S5230, Smart unlock allows users to not only unlock the phone but open a menu item or an application, or even dial a contact, just by drawing a letter on the unlock screen.

The smart unlock is one of the best things about the S8000 Jet

Each letter from A to Z can be set to trigger one of those actions. For instance, you can use it to start features like the music player, messaging, web browser, Java apps or the dialing keypad. It also makes it a piece of cake to call some of your favorite contacts without even needing to unlock the phone.

Media gate

Two new exciting multimedia features are making anofficial debut with the Samsung S8000 Jet. The first is the 3D Media gate. Launched upon a short press of the dedicated button right above the shutter key, it brings out a cube UI that you flick on screen for quick and easy access to six key multimedia features: Photo album, Music player, Video player, FM Radio, Games and Web browser.

Quite impressively, you can really roll the cube in all directions and it reacts fluidly to the lightest and fastest of your sweeps. Even if you tossed and spun the cube around so the side of the cube displays its icon upside down or side up, it will smoothly rotate to its proper viewing position. An icon bar at the bottom of the screen also features the six applications of the cube launcher - if you tap any of them, the cube will roll to the relevant side. Or you can choose to tap and hold to launch the desired feature without rotating the cube.

The Media gate is quite impressive

Once you are done rolling the cube and click on one of its sides, the respective app will launch a nice 3D interface to let you browse your photos or the tracks you'd like to play. It's not the regular interface of the actual multimedia apps, but a new and cool (albeit probably not the most practical) redesign.

Motion gate

The Samsung Motion gate a.k.a. Motion UI featured on the Samsung S8000 Jet is Samsung's own motion recognition engine which gives you access to your multimedia favorites just by tapping, tilting or flipping the handset. It gets activated by a long press on the same middle key on the handset's right side, which launches the Media Gate.

A cube appears on screen again but this time only two of its sides are usable and you can pick which two applications should go there. The available options are camera, music player, FM radio, speed-dialing a favorite contact and motion game.

The Motion gate allows motion-based control of two multimedia features of your choice

To launch a Motion gate application you need to flick the phone left or right. The Samsung S8000 Jet apparently has a remarkably sensitive accelerometer as it precisely recognized almost every command.

Once you launch an app through the Motion gate (except speed-dialing which simply dials the predefined contact) you once again get an interface different from the one you can find in the menu. It allows you to control its features by double tapping on the phone's panel, snapping the phone left or right or flipping it.

For example you can double-tap to play/pause the music player and snap it left or right to skip to the previous or the next track.

In case it seems somewhat complicated to you, Samsung have also included a motion tutorial that explains how each gesture works.

Not much more to want from the phonebook

The Samsung S8000 Jet comes with a phonebook that can store up to 2000 contacts with multiple fields. You can assign a photo to each contact, or even a video if you so wish. On the downside, those pics can only be used as caller ID and are not visible in the contact list. You can view contacts in the phone memory, the SIM card, or both.

The Jet offers two search patterns for the phonebook. The first is the traditional search by typing a part of the contact's name. It doesn't work all that well with the virtual keyboards however. You have one extra click to open the text box to type and only after you tap 'Done' do you get to see the search results.

Samsung Pixon12's phonebook

So, we ended up using the alphabetic scroll most of the time. Quite nicely, Samsung have provided the option to place the scroll bar on either side of the screen to facilitate single-hand usage for both left and right-handed users.

Frankly, the Jet screen size favors single-handed use anyways but we guess the variable scroll-bar position is still a nice touch. Of course, the kinetic scrolling is also available in the search but it's not quite so convenient in longer contact lists.

We like it that this time Samsung found enough space next to contact's names to place a Send Message and a Call button. The photo you may have attached is not displayed.

When editing a contact there are first and last name fields along with a field for the display name. So you can have a contact appear by his nickname while still keeping the contact's full name on record.

Editing Dee Dee's contact info

Another useful feature to avoid duplicate entries is that the phone will display a warning if the number for the new contact you just entered is already in the phonebook.

Photo contacts if you like

Just as most recent Samsung the S8000 Jet features an interestingly looking alternative to the phonebook. While it still relies on the regular contact database, the Photo contacts application might save you the effort of ever entering the phonebook again, once you've filled it up.

The app itself allows you to tag parts of photos, which can then be used as shortcuts to various contacts. That might be pretty handy if you are into grouping your contacts. You can take a photo of your colleagues and another one of your buddies and than tag each face to its respective phonebook entry. Then you are one photo away from calling everyone in for a poker night at yours.

With Photo contacts you can use faces instead of names for browsing your contacts

Bear in mind that when adding a photo, faces are detected automatically but tagging is manual, even if you've already tagged that contact.

So in general photo contacts might not be the most practical application, but it is certainly one of the funniest ways to dial a number.

Call management is fine, Speaker Call we like

Quite expectedly the Samsung S8000 Jet is very good at its main job - making calls. Reception was problem-free with excellent voice quality during calls.

The dialer gets activated through its reserved shortcut on the homescreen or from the main menu. You can proceed to dial just like you would on any other phone. Unfortunately the smart dial feature works with numbers only, instead of names, which makes it pretty useless. When you punch in some digits, the contacts whose numbers contain them pop up but we doubt it anyone really remembers just a part of a contact's number.

The smart dial feature is a no-go on the Jet

Normally that app should search contacts, whose names contain the letters corresponding to those digits but we guess it will take another device to get that right.

As most recent Samsungs, the Jet has a nice accelerometer-based telephony feature. It allows you to mute the ringtone of an incoming call by turning it face down.

The Jet also packs another cool accelerometer feature, which we do like. The so-called Speaker Call allows it to automatically activate the speakerphone when you take the handset off your ear during a call and place it on a level surface. Lift the phone back up to your ear and the regular mode kicks back in. Be warned however that switching modes takes a second or two so don't just stick it to your ear right away.

Calling Dexter on the Jet

Samsung S8000 Jet also has a proximity sensor, which automatically turns off the display when you hold it next to your ear. Working like a charm, it makes sure you won't accidently press anything with your ear, while giving you instant access to all the on-screen controls when you take it off.

New events like missed calls or incoming messages show up on the homescreen as a widget. It has three tabs each signaling a different type of event. It also displays the sender's number and the time of the call or text.

Finally the Samsung Jet comes complete with a reject list option that allows you to selectively block numbers you don't want to receive calls or messages from.

As for the loudspeaker performance, here is how the Jet ranks alongside some of the other devices we've measured. You can find more details about the test itself, as well as the full list of tested devices here.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overall score
Apple iPhone 3G	66.1	62.1	71.7	Below Average
LG KM900 Arena	70.9	68.2	78.3	Good
Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH	70.1	66.7	75.8	Good
Samsung S8000 Jet	75.5	68.1	77.9	Very Good
Samsung S5230 Star	77.1	75.7	82.0	Excellent

Messaging is nicely organized

The Samsung S8000 Jet messaging department is an exact copy of what we saw on the Samsung M8910 Pixon12. The handset has a shared editor for SMS and MMS and a separate one for emails.

The SMS and MMS editor is the familiar intuitive application which allows you to add the recipient from your phonebook, from your recent contacts or punch it in manually. You can also add a whole group in the recipient field for mass messages, instead of adding contacts one by one.

Sending Dexter a message

The messages can be broken down into up to 15 parts for sending if you exceed their maximum character limit (standard 160).

Email support is also duly covered. There's a Gmail icon in the Google menu but all it does is open the gmail.com webpage in your browser. You might as well use it if you prefer web-based access but the native email client seems the far better option to us.

The greatest problem we had with it is that it didn't automatically detect the settings for Gmail so we had to enter them manually, but once that's done, handling email is a breeze. Still most other brands are already providing some automatic configurations for the email clients on their handsets and maybe it's about time Samsung did something about it.

The email client could not configure out mailbox settings automatically

The downloading email limit is 5MB, enough for receiving most types of files. If you receive an office document as an attachment, you will be able to view it as well.

As far as text input, the Samsung S8000 Jet has support for all three options that touchscreen handsets can offer. The first one is the traditional thing - typing on a customary (albeit virtual) 3 x 4 alphanumeric keypad.

An alphanumeric keypad is the first text input option

Turning the phone on its side automatically expands that numpad to a full-fledged on-screen QWERTY keyboard. The 3.1" display provides enough space for this layout, especially given that the number keys and symbols are in separate screens that toggle on and off upon a tap. Typing is really comfortable by touchscreen standards, once again the very sensitive display and the haptic feeback count in favor.

The full QWERTY keyboard is easily the most comfortable typing method on the Jet

The final option is handwriting recognition. While very intuitive and precise in most cases, the lack of embedded stylus is almost ruling it out as an option. If you don't mind your stylus (mind you, there isn't one in the retail box so you will have to find it yourselves) dangling on the side of the phone, be our guest.

We cannot see handwriting recognition working without an embedded stylus

File browser cuts it

True to its pedigree, the Samsung S8000 Jet is equipped with one of the most elaborate file managers you can find on a feature phone. It can display the files and folders on the phone memory or the memory card, and even both at once with matching folders nicely brought together.

There are folders for different types of files (images, video, sounds) and this allows the handset to sort the memory contents. However, you are not forced to follow this structure - you can place your files wherever you want and the phone will have no problems handling them.

There's nothing to complain about the file browser

You can copy or move files - both one by one or in bulk, and you can create and delete new folders (except the default folders, like Images, Sounds and so on).

When deleting multiple files you can choose to delete protected images, contact photos and so on. By default those options are off so you won't accidentally delete a contact photo or a ringtone.

Files can also be sent via Bluetooth, again one by one or in bulk. Throughout the whole file manager, you can pick files you would like to lock to prevent accidental deletion.

Luckily, the Jet has almost no issues handling memory cards unlike some of its siblings which we recently reviewed. Initialization and reading a 16GB memory card isn't the fastest around but it isn't frustratingly slow either.

Gallery improved

In line with other recent Samsung handsets, the S8000 Jet has two different picture galleries. They are both optimized for touch operation and very user-friendly, plus this time each sports a cool new view mode.

The first gallery is an inherent part of the file manager and accessing it is as simple as opening any folder that contains images. It allows sorting your images by date, type, name, and size.

The gallery offers grid, list and a nicely looking zig-zag view layouts. The latter is definitely the most visually elaborate but also certainly the least functional as it needs quite a lot of scrolling in some folders.

The zig zag view mode is a nice touch to the file manager gallery

Going through photos is quite fast with the Jet, we're delighted with image browsing speed. Once you open an individual image, you can sweep you fingers across the screen to see the next images without having to return to the image list. Alternating portrait and landscape modes is automatic thanks to the built-in accelerometer.

Alternating portrait and landscape modes is automatic

Samsung have also implemented the so-called one-finger zooming, which is recently getting new press hype by Samsung. It's marketed as a novel feature, but it's been around for quite some time already on the original Samsung i900 Omnia. And we just saw it implemented on the Pixon12.

Zooming is extra simple and takes only a single move of your thumb - you just need to hold it on the screen for a second and then drag up or down for zooming in or out. This method works in both galleries (as well as the web browser) and at first glance it even seems more convenient than the pinching gesture on the iPhone.

The one-finger zooming is a nice little feature to have onboard

The alternative to the picture gallery is the Photo browser. Strangely, the Media browser that we found on the Pixon12 wasn't present here and we really liked it a lot more. At least the images are ordered chronologically by default unlike the previous versions of the app we have seen. You can also opt for some other filters such as the usual "by file name" or the more intriguing "by color".

The Photo browser app

As usual the two galleries also have another Samsung proprietary accelerometer-based feature. It lets you browse pictures in fullscreen landscape mode by simply tilting your phone up and down.

The sensitivity of the tilt scrolling has been improved to a point that it is acceptable and quite usable. It is a great improvement over the rather annoying implementation in previous handsets that we have tested. But still, that feature is more of a gimmick and among the less practical things we've seen in the image gallery ever since it was first introduced on the original Pixon.

Minor facelift for the music player

The music player usually found on Samsung devices has received a light refresh on the S8000 Jet. It sports slightly different icons when browsing your tracks and a new way of displaying album art in Now Playing mode.

There're not much new stuff in the music player

The music player 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.

The music player widget allows you to operate the app straight from the homescreen

The new option here is the '5.1 ch' button which, when activated, makes the player do its best to emulate 5.1 channel sound on normal stereo headphones. There are quite a few equalizer presets available, but no option to set up a custom equalizer.

Further on, the three different visualizations are a nice touch to the music player and the album browser (quite like the one on Omnia HD) takes after Apple's Cover Flow, something we quite appreciate.

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

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

FM radio and RDS on board

The Samsung S8000 Jet features an FM radio with RDS. The advanced RDS allows displaying the station name on one row and some additional info on the other. It is complemented by a user-friendly and easily thumbable interface with several large buttons appearing on screen.

The Jet can automatically search and save all the available stations in your area. Alternative frequencies of a given station are automatically detected too, so you don't have to retune manually when traveling. There's an option to record radio broadcasts as well.

We are pretty pleased with the FM radio interface

The Samsung S8000 radio comes complete with an integrated music recognition feature called Find Music, which works much like Sony Ericsson's TrackID.

If you won't bother hitting the menu, the Radio widget on the homescreen gives you more immediate access. Tapping on it brings up the radio or you could just use the widget's controls to start/stop the radio or change the station. It can only jump saved stations though, and if you want to search you'll have to do it in the application.

Speaking of stations, you can save stations but they are labeled by just their frequency and can't be renamed. There's a separate list for your favorite stations.

Video player up to scratch

The video player has a nice touch-optimized interface and all the essentials are covered. It can play video files in fullscreen landscape mode (auto-rotated of course) and you can fast-forward and rewind videos in the same way as the music player.

The video player even provides the same 5.1 channel option when you plug in a headset. It also allows direct uploading of a video on the web.

Thumbs up for the video player

The Samsung S8000 Jet has no problem playing VGA or even 720x480 videos at 30 fps. Not a great surprise but worth noting since compressing videos to view on mobile devices can be a time-consuming business.

One of the best parts about the Samsung S8000 Jet video player is its DivX and XviD support. This means you no longer need to convert your videos to play them on your handset - just get them onboard and you are good to go.

Audio quality

The audio quality of Samsung S8000 Jet is pretty decent. The only concern we are having about its audio reproduction capabilities is about its somewhat shaky frequency response. It tends to deviate from the perfect for large parts of the audible range.

The rest of the scores however are excellent. Both the noise level and the dynamic range of the Jet can easily rival dedicated music player, and so can the stereo crosstalk. We have no grudges against the distortion levels either.

Here go the results so you can see for yourselves how the Jet compares to its competition. Things seem pretty equal between it and the LG KM900 Arena, with the LG winnig by the slightest of margins.

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
Samsung S8000 Jet	+1.01 -2.03	-87.9	87.0	0.015	0.060	-85.9
LG KM900 Arena	+0.09, -1.61	-91.6	91.7	0.0017	0.101	-90.4
Samsung S5230 Star	+1.02, -2.41	-88.0	87.8	0.0045	0.222	-82.3
Apple iPhone 3GS	+0.01, -0.05	-92.1	92.1	0.0035	0.011	-95.0
Samsung M8800 Pixon	+0.54, -1.25	-86.4	85.7	0.0048	0.0165	-38.3
Sony Ericsson W995	+0.04, -0.40	-89.1	89.0	0.0033	0.048	-88.7

A pretty decent camera indeed

The Samsung S8000 Jet is equipped with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera that can take photos with a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1920 pixels. A dual LED flash is supposed to improve the low-light capabilities of the handset but as one might expect it hardly has a spectacular effect.

The camera also has a number of nice built-in features including the Samsung proprietary wide dynamic range option, the anti-shake digital image stabilization, geotagging, face detection, smile shot as well as viewfinder gridlines.

The camera interface is nicely touch-optimized and is certainly one of the most comfortable camera interfaces on a touchscreen device so far. The only complaint is that the auto focus settings are not visible in the viewfinder but are instead buried in the 3rd screen of the settings menu . Since this is one of the most frequently used controls it's pretty strange that Samsung didn't give it a more convenient place.

The camera user interface

The camera snaps photos quite quickly and is ready for the next photo without much delay. Disabling the automatic preview reduces the shot-to-shot time even further and makes taking photos with the Jet a very enjoyable experience.

As far as the image quality is concerned we are very pleased with the Samsung S8000 Jet camera results. The images have nice contrast, precise colors and good amount of resolved detail. The noise suppression algorithm is very mature, resulting in relatively noise-free photos, without too much fine detail loss. It still eradicates all detail in fine foliage, for example but we have seen cameraphones do far worse. Here go the samples so you can see for yourselves.

Samsung S8000 Jet camera sample photos

Synthetic resolution

We also snapped our resolution chart with the Samsung S8000 Jet Star. You can check out what that test is all about here.

Samsung S8000 Jet resolution chart photo • 100% crops

As you can see the Samsung S8000 Jet fails to deliver as much detail as the Nokia N97, while its noise reduction is obviously more aggressive. Still the difference between the two devices isn't too great so it probably won't even be noticeable in most cases.

Nokia N97

Nokia N97 resolution chart photo • 100% crops

Video recording - D1@30fps

The Samsung S8000 Jet can record D1 videos at 30 frames per second but unlike some phones where the video looks choppy even at 30 frames (some of the frames are interpolated so it's not really 30fps), this is pretty decent with vibrant colors and high levels of detail.

The camcorder viewfinder

Unfortunately the compression applied to the videos is a bit too strong, even at the highest quality setting, resulting in some artifacts.

Here goes a sample video for you to check out.

The S8000 Jet is also capable of recording slow motion video shot in QVGA resolution at 120fps. The quality of those isn't really impressive however with even more artifacts visible.

The general camera performance of the Samsung S8000 Jet is good, although of course it is no match for the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD or the M8910 Pixon12 imaging monsters.

Connectivity packs it all

The Samsung S8000 Jet is perfectly usable worldwide with its quad-band GSM support. The 3G network compatibility is not as complete with just the 900/2100 bands supported. The phone provides 3.6 Mbps HSDPA speeds.

Bluetooth is also available and comes with A2DP, which is no news on even lower end phones.

The microUSB port is quite welcome as it's a lot more popular than the proprietary port the previous gen Samsung phones used to come with. You can set up the phone to connect in mass storage mode or PC suite mode (Media player) or to prompt each time it's connected.

In mass storage mode it gives access to the memory card but not to the internal memory and you cannot use the phone for calls or data in this mode.

To round it all off, the Samsung S8000 Jet is WLAN enabled. It sports a nice Wi-Fi manager that makes it easy to add an access point to your list, while throwing some nice graphics in the same time. The problem is that you need to update each application's profile every time you want to use it with a different access point.

The Wi-Fi manager

This means that if you are at work and you have set your browser to use your office WLAN, you will have to reach for the profiles when you go home and switch to your own network, or if you want to use it over 3G. We really hope Samsung will come up with a more intuitive solution to automatically handle the networks currently available.

Almost perfect web browser

Samsung S8000 Jet is among the pioneers of the new WebKit-based Dolfin web browser, which is an in-house developed application. With full Flash support and the new one-finger zooming, it is one of the finest web browsers we have seen so far (especially on a feature phone).

The new web browser allows up to 5 pages to be open at the same time. Multiple downloads in the background are also supported and there is also a built-in AdBlocker. Unluckily, it tends to run out of resources pretty fast, displaying a warning with only three not really heavy sites opened at once. We cannot quite see it managing the promised five pages but we don't really use that many on a cell phone anyway.

The web browser is just great

The one-finger zooming works like a charm. Of course you can also rely on double tapping a block of text or an image and the handset will automatically zoom in on it. Another double tap and you are back to the previous zoom level.

On top of Flash and Java support, the new web browser also offers kinetic scrolling and fullscreen view mode. In all fairness, the kinetic scrolling is somewhat bumpy and not as smooth as on the iPhone but it still does the job. The lack of auto-complete when typing the address of already browsed websites is a bit of a letdown, though.

One of the Jet's web browser coolest features is the full Flash support, including Flash video

Organizer in full gear

The Samsung S8000 Jet has a good number of useful time-managing applications.

For starters, the calendar offers three views - daily, weekly and monthly. You can choose which calendar view should be default and you can pick the starting day of the week - the options are Monday or Sunday. However, with the Jet there are only two types of events available in the calendar. You can set the starting date and time of the event and set an alarm to act as a reminder.

The calendar is pretty standard

The alarm is widely customizable. You can set up to 10 alarms, each with the following configurable options - custom ringtone, volume, repetition days and name.

You can set up to 10 alarms with the Jet

The calculator of the Samsung S8000 is pretty much as basic as it gets. Among the other organizer offerings are a voice recorder, a world time application and a unit converter. The voice recorder limit is 60 minutes. A countdown timer and a stopwatch come in useful too.

Some more of the Jet's organizer apps

There are also to-do and memo applications for taking down tasks and notes. You can also use the memo widget to place a memo on the homescreen where you're unlikely to forget it. The widget and the application are separate so don't expect your memos to automatically pop up on screen. There's a to-do widget as well.

The Video editor also deserves a mention. It can handle videos of up to D1 resolution and there's the option to edit them - trimming, splitting or inserting text. You can even use photos instead of videos - you just set the time for them to be on screen (from 1 to 30 seconds).

The world clock allows you to quickly check out the time in any given time zone around the world.

The world clock app

Finally, one of the most important applications of the Samsung S8000 Jet organizer is the office document viewer that supports Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDF files. It's an application developed by Access and is one of the nicest additions to the software package.

The document reader is one of the nicest we have seen

The document viewer is quick enough when opening files; however, panning is rather slow. The document viewer also works in landscape mode (once again, rotating the screen automatically), which makes reading a little easier.