Samsung SCH-220 Code – silver (MetroPCS) preview

Samsung, as you all know is a company which is constantly working on the high end mobile phones. It has recently revealed its new phone Samsung SCH-i220 Code which is a Windows 6.1 mobile, though Windows 6.5 Mobiles are manufactured by other companies. This shows that the Samsung is lagging behind with the technologies. I hope this doesn’t distract the customers who are always willing to have a trusted brand in their hand. Code has a keyboard which is easy to employ, sleek in design and has a decent performance with good call quality.

Samsung Code can be availed for $299.99 with a monthly prepaid plan of $50 which embraces limitless text, data and voice. This phone is $100 less than that of RIM Blackberry Curve 8330. The chassis of the Code is very much eye catching with slim silhouette and dark metallic gray in color. Code weighs around 3.6oz with 0.5 thickness and 2.3in width. The overall length of the mobile is 4.6inches. Thus it fits into your pant pouches without being much colossal and thereby gives comfort when held in hand.

The Samsung Code features a non touch display which is 2.4in QVGA which has a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. The images and the texts look bright and clear but it vanishes off in dazzling sunlight. Various themes, background images, layouts of home screen and so on are available to customize the Home screen. One named Samsung WizPro Home Screen Layout is very much helpful in providing the toolbar at the bottom of the page through which you can scroll many apps which are used commonly viz., favorite contacts, multimedia and calendar.

Below the display you can find out a keypad (directional) which is used for navigating the menus. It is also used as a scroll wheel which skins a centre pick knob. Call and end/ power keys are soft and are present along with the back button which is used to perform single handed functions and a shortcut key to go back to Home. The QWERTY keypad of the Code is easy to operate. The buttons on the keypad are neither rigid nor very soft when pushed and thus gives a comfy feeling while typing. Messaging and mailing is not at all a problem with those big buttons. Keyboard will never be a problem while choosing amongst the other devices.

To the left side of the phone is the volume rocker and to the right is the shortcut key for user-programmable along with the 3.5mm jack for headphone and also the microUSB port. At the back of the device is the self portrait mirror and camera with a slot for microSD behind the battery flap. Code is packed with a USB cable, AC adapter, reference material and a software CD. Code is powered with the Windows 6.1 Mobile Standard edition which doesn’t provide the improvised internet browsing and refurbished layout for Home Screen.

Voice recorder, RSS reader, notepad, measurement converter, PDF viewer, stop watch and a calculator are some of the productivity tools which are all offered with the MS Office mobile suite. To optimize the usage of memory, there is task manager which helps in switching between the end tasks and apps and thus renders the performance of a smart phone. MS Direct Push technology for automatic synchronization with outlook calendar, contacts via an Exchange servers, tasks and real time e-mail deliveries can be availed for being a Windows phone. IMAP and POP3 email accounts can be configured to access directly from the device. Samsung Code has its individual set up wizard which helps in keeping a direct link with AOL, Comcast, Gmail and Yahoo.

The Samsung code is featured with speed dials, conference calls, three-way calls, voice dials and a speakerphone. You can store the contacts and addresses as many you want only till the memory is available. You can even assign a group ID; customize ring tones or photos for particular callers. Even you can input the email ID’s, landline numbers with the same contacts. On board you have GPS / A-GPS and Bluetooth. With Metro Navigator, you can find your destination without seeing because it is guided by the voice. Bluetooth profile comprises of hands free kit, object push, personal area networking, A2DP for stereo Bluetooth, audio / video remote control, basic printing, file transfer and phonebook access. There is no Wi-Fi integrated in the Code but it is capable of possessing 3G EV-DO.

Though Code is an average scorer in providing the multimedia facilities, it supports MPEG-4, WMV, MP3, WAV, AAC and WMA files. There is a 2MP camera from which you can record the videos too and also some editing options are available. The quality of picture is quite impressive and the images looked enriched with colors and were sharp in spite of glowing light. When made a phone call, you can hear to the person clearly without any distortions but speaker phone is not that much promising. A major stuff to be noted in this phone is that the overall performance is good. There is Li-Ion battery with a 6hrs of talk time and the stand by time of 12.5 days.