Samsung's Jet has a lot going for it, but Samsung has decided to focus attention on the 800Mhz processor that beats at its heart. This, says Samsung, gives it the ability to play back multimedia well, deliver a fast, responsive user interface, and generally cope with applications with aplomb. We found this to be the case, with the phone doing a good job of playing back multimedia files including both DivX and XviD movies.

But the Jet is about more than the processor. It has a good quality OLED screen, a presentable 5-megapixel camera, FM radio from which you can record, Wi-Fi, GPS and 3G in its features list. And for those who want a fairly flashy phone to use at work, it supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync.

There is a 3.5mm headset slot on the top edge for your music listening requirements. The supplied headset is also two-piece so you can use it for hands-free calling and still have your own headset as well.

There is 2GB of built-in memory and a microSD card slot for adding more. The handset even supports TV-Out, though you don't get the required cable in the box.

The Jet benefits from a quite sleek design. Measuring 109 x 53 x 12mm and weighing 110g it isn't all that different from any number of other fully touch capable handsets doing the rounds at the moment, but it does nonetheless look attractive. The casing does feel a bit plasticy in the hand, but this is forgiveable because the screen looks superb.

At 3.1 inches and offering 480 x 800 pixels it delivers the goods well. Samsung's TouchWiz interface is here. This relies on you sweeping between three different home screens which you can fill with widgets that you draw onto the screen from a side bar.

We can't see the point of the cube you open up when you press a side button, though. This rotates under the finger to show various multimedia aspects of the handset: FM radio, video player, games, Internet, music player and album. Yes, it provides shortcuts, but it feels somewhat unnecessary to us.

Touch responsiveness is good. We particularly like the zoom feature when you are Web browsing. Hold one finger on the screen and use the other to push on a zoom icon: upwards to zoom in, downwards to zoom out. It works when viewing pictures too. Text entry is possible thanks to a full QWERTY keyboard in wide screen mode. An accelerometer ensures the screen flips as you turn the phone in your hand. The accelerometer can also be used to move between applications by shaking the phone. It works, but really we'd rather just tap at the screen.

Sitting above the screen is a camera for two-way video calling, while the main camera, which shoots at 5-megapixels, is on the back. There is a dual LED flash and auto focus as well as a range of other goodies including face, blink and smile detection, geo-tagging and a panorama mode. But there's no macro shooting mode.

Verdict
There is a lot to like about the Samsung Jet. Ignore the fancy cube interface (which is easily done), forget about shaking to switch apps (also easy to do), and concentrate on the core features, and this is a well put together and serviceable handset.

Company: Samsung

Tags: touchwiz wi-fi microsd android divx samsung iphone universal serial bus