Look, Design, Feel (7/10)

Samsung Corby S3650 has a unique, eye catching design. It fits perfectly inside the palm of your hand with its small size (103mm x 56.5mm dimensions). Light weight (92 grams), somewhat oval, 12mm girth, and uncomplicated, the Corby is one fantastic plastic. The screen is smooth with very few hardware functions. The shape is perfect for a tight grip and its lack of edges allows it to slip smoothly into a side pocket.

The front side is filled with 2.8" of screen. There is no hardware keypad nor QWERTY. At the bottom the Call key is on the left and the End Call on the right. The middle features the Back button. The mouthpiece is small and positioned at the bottom.

The top side of the Corby is slick bare. The bottom is the same except for a small slit indentation for opening the battery panel.

The right side of the phone has the lock button for the touchscreen and the shutter button. The left side is where the volume controls are, and a cover strip for the headset/data cable plug-in port, and the charger port. On the top left side, there is a lanyard eyelet for strings or chains.

The back side features the camera lens and loud speaker. A distinctive semi-circular design all over the back panel adds a subtle modern touch.

Features (8/10)

Corby has a 2 megapixel camera with smile detection, and fixed focus, but no autofocus or flash. Other features include video recording at 15fps, FM radio, 90MB storage, Quad-band GSM/EDGE, and a microSD card slot up to 8GB. Some Corby phones are WiFi ready (Corby S3650W) but come with no free storage, which must be purchased separately. Corby S3650W has no WiFi connection but does include storage. This compromise keeps the price relatively the same. Corby offers three homescreens that can be filled with widgets and java apps located at the right side tray of the screen.

To access a widget, one must simply drag the icons and position them anywhere on the homescreen. A cool feature will automatically align the widgets when the Corby is shaken. All manipulations are done by the thumb, as there are no other hardware keys for specific functions.

The phonebook can store up to 2000 contacts. The Photo Contacts are designed as a fun way of retrieving the phone list. Stacks of photos can each be assigned a number, URL, email, and call / send message functions. Corby has a separate editor for emails, and a shared one for SMS and MMS. Office document attachments up to 5MB can be accommodated and viewed. . This comfort is brought upon by the built-in office document viewer which supports Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and Word files.

One of the highlights of the Corby is the inclusion of popular networking widgets, such as Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Flickr, and Twitter. This allows checking messages in real-time, chatting or adding friends, poking a friend, tweeting, reading your friends' posts, and adding a photo. It is enough to cover social networking needs, mobile style. Login details can also be saved for easy access.

A widget caters solely to the music player. This allows the user to sort out songs by author, genre, or album, and to have the option to stop, pause, play, fast forward, rewind, or shuffle tracks. The video player supports MP4 files.

Samsung concocted their own Delfin web browser, perfect for Samsung handsets. It supports Flash and Java sites, including YouTube videos. Usual phone features like clock, calculator, notes, alarm, and calendar are onboard. Games are limited. Corby has a few trial installations like Pyramid, Diamond, Brain Challenge, Asphalt 4, Monopoly, and Crazy Penguin Catapult. The games vary depending on the manufacturer location.

Connectivity (7/10)

Corby boasts great call reception, crisp voice quality, and no call drops. Talk time record is up to approximately 3 hours or 200 minutes. Although Corby claims up to 2.4Mbs data speed, the internet connection which runs on EDGE or WiFi (Corby S3650W) proves only moderate, but suitable.

Performance (7/10)

The 2 megapixel camera has a maxed out 1600 x 1200 pixels image resolution. Depending on the light (natural or indoor), photos or videos taken can be unsatisfactory, like an obvious amateur shot, but good enough to upload directly to YouTube or Picasa. Accessing files from the memory card is swift. In less than 20 seconds, photos or files stored in the card, up to 16GB MicroSD, are recognized by the handset. The radio widget has a solid feel and has complete functions that can easily replace an mp3 player. The Corby loudspeaker functions well. Whether the unit is supported with EDGE or WiFi, surfing the net will run in moderate speed, but adequate nonetheless.

Value for Money (9/10)

A low priced touchscreen is always a gem. Opt for the WiFi enabled Corby (Corby S3650W) and buy separate storage to complete the package. It's a sure powerhouse unit for uncomplicated users. Simple, small, fun, and easy to use, not to mention the 2 extra Fashion Jackets (casing) included in the box. Corby is definitely worth the price, and will surely put a smile on your face.

Pros

• Cheap price compared to other touchscreen phones with similar features

• Small, light, and it comes with 2 extra colourful casings

• Efficiently reads and presents documents from Word, Excel, PDF files

• Radio/music player is functional enough to replace an mp3 player

• No fuss, simple, and curved handset

Cons

• No smart dialing

• No phonebook integration from social networks

• No hardware buttons for quick access to other functions

• Low 2 megapixel camera

• Acceptable, but not excellent, video performance