Heya,
Well, it’s been well and truly long enough since I got my groovy new phone. I’ve had plenty of time to have make an unbiased and full appraisal.
True.
But I actually have not got around to reading the entire instruction manual yet. And may not, in the foreseeable future.
I’m writing the review anyway.
Here goes.
The Samsung F480i* (color: coral pink) is pretty damn groovy. It’s kind of like an iPhone for people who are cheap don’t have iPhones, what with it’s touch screen and minimal buttonage. It’s simple to use, and the screen is responsive enough to not be annoying, in either regard- not too touchy, not too tough.
Obviously, there is no Samsung App Store. Instead, Samsung has Widgets. This excited me at first, thinking I’d have a kinship with these widgets, because I use widgets on Blogger. Not true. Blogger widgets and Samsung widgets have very little in common. And there is no Twitter widget. Why, I cannot imagine, given there is a FaceBook widget, a YouTube widget, a widget for something called Friendster, a Google widget, and for some God unknown reason, a MySpace widget. For the 300 teenagers who still use MySpace, I suppose. The ones who don’t have iPhones.
The Twitter widget may actually be a downloadable widget in the Widgets Version 2 widget, which is a widget inside the More Widgets widget. But I have not got around to downloading that particular widget as yet.
Confused?
Me too.
Whatever.
The camera on this phone is pretty fail compared to Nokia’s Carl Zeiss representation, but hey, it has a few features guaranteed to keep you amused for hours.. Such as the ‘Smile’ mode, which automatically takes a photo when someone smiles. It’s only really useful for novelty purposes, but that still deserves a mention.Or the mosaic widget feature, which takes a photo, then puts another photo in a thought bubbles or a butterfly or a doodads like that. Erm, like this.
The best feautrure of the Samsung 480 is, without a doubt, the Fake Call feature. Yes, that’s right the Fake Call feature. I’m not making this up. Boring meeting? Bad blind date? The Samsung has the simple solution. Hold down the secret button (I’m not telling you which one, just in case I get to meet you In Real Life and I need to get away in a hurry) and voila!! Ten seconds later, the phone rings. You can even pre-record a message- like someone saying ‘Your cat has been in a terrible accident, come quickly!!’- that will play when you answer your Fake Call.
Awesomeness.
So, after much consideration a few days usage, I’ve decided to give this phone 3 out of a possible 5 jellybeans on the RRSAHM ranking-stuff-scale. The Samsung F480i is OK. But, ya know, it’s no iPhone**. Even if it does have an “i” in it’s name. (Which I’m fairly sure is ilLlegal because you can’t even name your kid iSobelle is this iAge. It’s trademarked. iTrue. Maybe).
*Obviously, not a sponsored post. Do you really think anyone would endorse this…? No, me either.
**And I promise, this is my last bitter-because- I-don’t-have-an-iPhone-post. Really. OK? OK. 
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I have been searching for an opportunity to use my fake call app, but my hub really frowns on my going on blind dates… dangit.
Also, can you put in the name that shows up on the screen as the "caller I.d. ?" Mine says 'Barack Obama'.
I hope I get to use it soon.
Well, at least its an upgrade. That fake call feature is pretty cool. I just want a phone with a decent camera. Sounds like your camera has some neat features!
They should pay you for this post, Lori. Really they should. Heehee.
No longer commenting from my EVO. Too bloody annoying.
I always feel sorry for people who do not have iPhones – but hey – someone has to keep the other phone companies in business. So – well doe for your contribution!
That bloody fake call feature!! I didn;t even know it existed until I realised that the person who had been calling and then hanging up on me with a private number was actually just me sitting on my phone!LOL
I have this phone. I love it. And since I don't have a camera I even like the camera. but there is a secret button. hmmmm, I must look. I can't believe you won't tell. Maybe my phone is older. (1 year) I'm going to go look now.