Samsung Corby WIFI S3653W Review - Philippine Price - 5 Things to Love About the Phone !

Samsung Corby WIFI S3653W Review
Written and submitted by Arriane of Wanderr*Girl



*Thanks, Arriane. :) I really appreciate it. Thank you for sharing your review with our readers. :)

(Want to have your gadget review published on TechPinas? Email it to us at events.nobounds@gmail.com)

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I'm no gadget expert, so don't expect anything highly technical and extremely specific in this review. If you want something comprehensive, Phone Arena and GSM Arena both have fantastic articles about the Samsung Corby S3650. As you will find out, S3650 (the original Corby) is basically the same as S3653W; the latter just has wi-fi.

My review will just focus on the 5 things that made me absolutely fall in love with the Samsung Corby Wifi (S3653W).

You can find a short video version of the review at the bottom of this post!

I just got my Corby in Cupid Pink last Thursday at the Glorietta 4 Automatic Centre (Makati) for PhP 9950. I've been lusting for this for soooo long, ever since reading rumors on the internet about this wi-fi version.

And it was worth the wait :) I can barely keep my hands off it!


THE 5 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT THE SAMSUNG CORBY S3653W

1) The Cartoon UI: Quirky font and illustrations

This is the first time I've ever seen this kind of font on any phone, and I love it. Of course, the adult reviewers think it's illegible, but the cute (and very Korean-ish) font suits the young audience this phone targets. (My friends say it's very me, and I hope they're not referring to my maturity level.) ;)

There are two cartoon fonts you can choose from, but you can also choose to switch back to the plain old classic font if you prefer to be... boring.

2) Pop-up SNS for Facebook and Twitter addicts

A unique feature is that there are special widgets for social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Flickr, Picasa and Photobucket. I daresay I over-update my Twitter and Facebook, so this to me is a major plus. :)

Note: Just make sure to put your default connection to the wi-fi you use the most (i.e. home connection) -- because the default would be that of your network wi-fi, which would mean extra charges to your phone bill.

3) It has wi-fi! Need I say more?

As I said, the internet has been abuzz with rumors of the Corby wi-fi as early as December and I'm glad I waited it out. I was considering getting the CorbyPRO vs. the S3650 because some of the Pro's features are upgraded (i.e. 3MP camera), it has wi-fi, and a QWERTY keyboard.

HOWEVER, I didn't like that it only came in red and black, and I really wanted a pink phone, plus it didn't have the cartoon UI (yes, I got tween mentality, I'm very much aware of that hehe).

4) Battery life that goes on forever (okay, not really)

I finally replaced my 3-year-old Nokia N73 because it's battery life had dwindled to almost unusable: it would only last me 8 hours at most, and much less when I made calls.

But the Corby's battery life blew me away--it lasted for 4 WHOLE DAYS! And that's with heavy usage: I made calls, I used the wi-fi and the browser a lot, I experimented with the music player and settings... and yes, four whole days before it got depleted.

According to Phone Arena, the Corby "offers 9hrs of continuous talk time and keeps the handset operational for up to 15 days in standby". Wow.

5) Customizable screens compared to iPhone

There are three home screens which you can load with the widgets you ACTUALLY NEED. Unlike the iPhone where you can get overwhelmed with so many apps you don't actually use, this one is very basic and straight-to-the-point.

Personally, I put my 'Create Message' widget on my main screen, the calendar on the second, and the memo and inbox on the third. The rest of the widgets stay in the pop-up tray on the left.



HONORABLE MENTION: OTHER NIFTY FEATURES

- Smart Unlock
By drawing pre-assigned letters (any letter from A to Z) on my unlock screen, I can do any of the following:
a) unlock the touch screen,
b) unlock AND dial a number (speed dial), or
c) unlock AND open an application.

- Delete messages easily and efficiently
Unlike Nokia phones where you would have to go to every individual message and delete it; or mark certain messages then delete all these marked ones, the Corby offers a much faster alternative. You go to your inbox, press delete on the lower right corner, and you check the box next to ALL the messages you want to delete. This is extremely useful especially for someone who accumulates a lot of messages over time and gets too lazy to manage her inbox. Yes, me.

- Fake calls
Verbatim from the user manual: "You can simulate an incoming call when you want to get out of meetings or unwanted conversations. You can also make it appear as if you are talking on the phone by playing back a recorded voice."
LOL sneaky! I have yet to find the situation where I would need to use this, but it's nice to know it's there! ;) So when you press and hold the lower volume button on the right side of the phone, the fake call gets activated. Depending on how long you set the timer, it will ring after, say, 10 seconds for the fake incoming call. Genius! :P

- Find music
I know this is application is also on most new phones, but it still amuses me! You open the app, place the speaker next to your music source, and it identifies the song for you! Yay for useless apps! *u*


THE INSIGNIFICANT FACTORS

The camera is lackluster, but I don't think anybody uses their phone for a camera anymore. Well, unless for emergency situations, and the 2MP quality suffices for those. Other than that, I have my Canon G11 :)

It's audio playback on the other hand is awesome! As you can read here, it outperforms a lot of its competitors. Now if I could just figure out where its complimentary earphones can be attached... ;__; However, my iTouch and I are also inseparable, so I don't think I'll be using this as a music player.

So as you can see, those two things (camera and music) didn't really affect my choice. But if you plan to use the Corby for music and photos, you really should buy a microSD card to store songs and images.


CONCLUSION

It's cute, fun and quirky; this is for the kids, tweens, teens, and the feeling-young. I'm also getting the vibe that this is a tad bit too girly for the boys.

If the iPhone is too cool/serious (and not to mention expensive) for you, this is a great cheap alternative. It offers the basic things that you have with the iPhone except games. (If you're big on games, bad news--all the ones here are trial versions. No game apps! The Bubble Wrap Popping game would've been nice.)

At 9,950 pesos (approx. US $215) for a cute, trendy, touchscreen and wi-fi phone -- this is definitely value for your money.

Stand out from the sea of iPhones! I assure you, THE Corby is bound to get you intrigued looks and compliments everywhere.

Please forgive the trying-to-be-enthusiastic voice.
I filmed this at past midnight, all in one shot. Was too lazy to do it over ;)

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