Latest Phones

The Good: The Samsung T409 is a mid-range phone with a simple feature set, featuring internal and external displays, a 1.3 megapixel camera, support for e-mail and the most popular instant messaging clients and a WiFi receiver for connecting to pre-configured wireless networks.  For ease of use the phone has a number of programmable shortcut keys and a hotlist where five ‘favourite numbers’ can be listed for easy dialling.

The Bad: Despite a wide range of photographic options, the T409’s camera is disappointing with pictures appearing washed out and hazy.  The speakerphone also suffers from poor sound quality.

The Bottom Line: This phone’s greatest asset has to be, without doubt, the wireless connectivity which allows users to browse the web, make and receive VoIP calls thus saving money, particularly on long distance calls.  The phone is simple yet effective and is more than suitable for business and leisure consumers alike.

The Good: This is a tri-band flip phone identical to the Samsung SGH-309 with the addition of Bluetooth and a different color scheme.  It has a VGA camera on board with a variety of photographic options and picture resolutions.  The phone can also be customized via a number of operational and thematic settings.  Call quality is excellent both through the earpiece and when using the speakerphone.

The Bad: The phone is very pricy for the feature set.  Both displays are hard to see especially in bright light.  The keys are small and rather flat, making dialling by feel difficult and causing frequent mis-dials.  Standby time is also disappointingly short, lasting just 3 days despite the rated 9.

The Bottom Line: This phone isn’t likely to win any beauty or technology awards anytime soon, and those wanting anything more than super call quality should probably look elsewhere.