Samsung E590 review: Simple on purpose
Designwise, the Samsung E590 is stunningly different from pretty much everything you would expect in a modern mobile phone. Yet, its armory includes a high-quality TFT display and a decent 3 megapixel camera. Plus, it's delightfully minimalist and comes at a relatively low price. All in all, though not a seducer, the Samsung E590 is a downright square deal. You are more than welcome to take the official GSMArena tour of the Samsung E590. Clean-cut and low-key, the Samsung E590 invokes mixed feelings and is definitely not an eye-catcher. We are all used to shiny plastic and metal in fashionable handsets produced under various brands. The Samsung E950 is nothing like it; in fact it's nothing like any other mobile phone on the market. This is a designer handset, but by no means in-your-face. User-friendliness, great display and a nice camera - all packed into a minimalist bar-shaped body. It looks more like a child's toy. We need not tell you, looks can be deceptive. The design of E590 was entrusted to the Jasper Morrison studio, renowned for the clean shapes and simplicity of their designs. You can see the portfolio of the JM Office for Design at their web site. The Samsung E590 is not a high-end, nor a fashion phone. Fair enough, many people will consider it when looking for a budget cameraphone. And you have our word, it is worthy of being called a cameraphone. But more on that is to come later. Currently, the E590 is available in two colors: black or white. We personally favor the black one, but that's just us. The Samsung E590 measures 94 x 42 x 13.5 mm and weighs the meager 65 g. It's a really compact handset - it slips unnoticeably into you shirt or trouser pocket, though it's not even nearly as slim as the current record holder - the Samsung U100, which stands at no more than 5.9 mm. The earpiece grill can be seen just above the 1.8" TFT display. When you zoom in on the keypad, you can see how stylish the keys' shape is. The central correction (C) is right under the navigation joystick, pushing the middle column of alpha-numeric keys down. The left side of the handset features a volume rocker, the microSD memory card slot and the universal port for connecting the charger, the headset, or the data cable. In the lower left corner an eyelet can be seen - it is used for fastening a neck or wrist strap. The right side of the handset features only the camera-specific keys, much like a regular digital camera. Here we find the camera mode key, the capture key, and a rocker key that is used for zooming in and out. The zoom keys are a really nice touch, but the phone sports only digital zooming, which one hardly uses, as it produces only crops of the real image. The camera mode key switches between still camera and camcorder. It's a real pity it only gets used in the camera application. It would have been nice if this key had some other function in the phone interface, when the camera is not on. The same goes for the zoom keys, too. The camera shutter key has two press levels - a halfway press for focusing and exposure locking, followed by a full press which actually takes the picture. This half-shutter mode is available in Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot handsets but it appears in a Samsung handset for the first time. The top part of the handset features no controls at all, and the only thing that marks the bottom is the microphone pinhole. The backside of the Samsung E590 follows the same minimalist design and only the camera lens sticks out. The lens itself is recessed so there's no risk of scratching the protecting glass, but we ended up leaving a smudgy finger over it ever too often, as the handset is so small. There's no flash or a self-portrait mirror. Speaking of small, holding it in hand will give you a nice perspective. Back to the rear panel, opening the battery cover with a simple slide unveils the standard Samsung Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 800 mAh. The battery is quoted at 300 hours of standby time and 4 hours of talk time. In reality the battery will give you a good 4 days of moderate use. The Samsung E590 has a relatively small 1.9" TFT display with a resolution of 210 x 210 pixels. It's not a groundbreaking resolution, but the display is really fine. The legibility under direct sunlight is alright, but we've seen better displays by Nokia. The handset features the so-called Sunlight mode to improve visibility, but this mode is only available in the camera interface. The Samsung E950 (don't get the E950 and E590 mixed up), which we reviewed recently had that option throughout the whole user interface. We liked the keypad of the Samsung E590 very much with its big rounded keys with ample space between them. Typing is easy and the keys have excellent tactile feedback. Navigation is entrusted to a joystick, which is not common for the South Korean company. We suppose the Jasper Morrison studio is pretty much responsible for it. The joystick is comfortable enough, no reason for grudges.
Official photos: black and white versionKey features:
Main disadvantages:
Beyond the toy-like image
Samsung E590
The earpiece grill • the keys are all ergonomically rounded
The volume rocker is again large and rounded • the universal port and the memory card slot follow suit • the protective caps are somewhat hard to open
Dedicated zoom keys are right next to the shutter key • there's also a shooting mode key
Top side is bare • the microphone pinhole on the bottom side
Minimalist back panel with bulging camera lens
The handset is really compact by any standard
Removing the battery cover • the Li-Ion battery • SIM card slotSmall but fine
Display and keypad in the dark • the keypad has an even white backlighting
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