Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Jane decided she didn't like her old mobile. It was too "blokey" apparently. Not too sure what that means, but I'm told it's not a good thing.
Rather than take my advice again on what mobile she should have, she did her own browsing armed with the basic spec of camera and Bluetooth. When I enquired which model she had settled upon the answer was simply "the pink one". Oh dear.
Further interrogation revealed it to be this one:
It couldn't be more obviously girly (it's got a built-in calorie counter, shopping list and a program that determines your ideal "fragrance type"). And when you dial a phone number on the SGH-E530 each digit is displayed on the screen in a different "happy" colour.
I find it interesting to see that it has only taken the manufacturers 20 years to realise that half the population they are designing for aren't male and to tailor a device towards that market.
Having had a quick play on it I have to say I am very impressed, sure the screen seems small (especially in comparison to my SPV C550) but by and large it seems well made, responsive and easy to use. Even the more advanced features that are clearly not designed to be used by the, ahem, target market, are easy to set up. For example. although no sync cable or PIM software is provided in the box I was able to download software from Samsung's website and have it Bluetooth synchronising with Jane's Outlook account in far less time than it took me to get my SPV C550 to do the same thing. The camera seems adequate and the phone does all the usual WAP, MMS, voice memo, customisable wallpapers etc. I'm not sure how much use the MP3 player will get with no way of expanding the onboard memory, but Jane's happy with her Shuffle anyway.
Oh and it comes with a cute fuscia pink carry case that even Jane says is too girly and refuses to use.
In summary: I'd have this phone if it wasn't pink and I could change the system colours. Yes, I know they do a blue one, but everyone would just point and say "that's the blue version of the girliest phone on the planet". Not sure that "Samsung SGH-E530" is quite the most attractive model number, clearly a lot of thought went in to "feminising" this product just up to the point where they decided what to call it.
If your missus, girlfriend, sister needs a new phone - this is the one.
Jane says: "It's the best phone EVER."
