Samsung Chat 322 Review (C 3222)

Samsung Chat 322 (C3222) is a dual sim, QWERTY key padded multimedia phone claims to be specifically developed for avid business and social networking users. Priced at Rs. 4500 I can’t say this is a marvellous piece of technology but it is a one good blend of art and technology.

The package contains a battery, Charger, Headset, PC studio CD, Datacable and a free 1 GB memory card.

On the features side this phone boasts a 220X176 TFT screen (2.2 inch). The resolution and pixel clarity are appreciably good. Bluetooth 2.1, USB 2.0, GPRS, EDGE add to the connectivity aspects of the phone.

One other great feature of the phone is its track pad. Not a track ball as you would get with a blackberry, this track pad is exactly like a mouse pad in Laptop and  is a fun to play with. The feel of the track pad is so good and its touch response too. Also you can adjust the sensitivity of the  pad.

A 1000mAh battery claims to have a standby time of 588 hours but to me it’s the actual is lower with my frequent usage of browser and IM applications. And talk time of the phone is around 12 hours.

The phone has dedicated applications for Facebook, Twitter and community applications for Orkut, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, and Friendster. The IM programs available on default are MSN, Yahoo Chat and Palringo multi chat client. But mind you none of the application can be run in background so you can’t stay online in a chat client while you want to read a sms, or even change the music track since there are no dedicated music keys too.

The Netfront browser deployed with the phone is good laying out web pages for the phone’s screen but the track pad response is sluggish in the browser mode which made me frown my eyes.

The phone has around 50 MB inbuilt memory which includes a 4.5 MB dedicated space for applications. Mind you this means you can install apps only up to this limit. The external memory can be up to 8 GB. As for the third party apps, I can’t install Opera on the phone the best mobile browser on earth to me. Also Gmail application failed to sign in though it installed successfully. Also Google Maps was not able to show my current location on phone though other features are displayed well. But what good a map can do if you can’t identify where you stand in it?

Keys in the QWERTY pad are little small that are difficult to operate with my broader fingers but I’m getting used to them and its not a bigger problem. In fact the keys are specifically designed to operate with both hands.

Signal reception seems to be one other bigger advantage for the phone. As my other phones picked signals of strength for the same SIM on 3-5 point range, this one lingered mostly in 5. Call quality too is good and I don’t find many noises on the call but the person in the opposite end reported the call was not clear while I am on move.  Sound quality very good and the out speaker though is not very loud, it can make a good audible music. But the earphones are really good at effects even though they seem to look like cheap ones.  If you ask me the track pad, Signal reception and Sound quality alone are worth for the money.

The phone includes a 1.3 MP camera with Camcorder. Picture clarity is very good for a 1.3 MP camera but this could have been at least a 2 MP camera as 1.3 seems to be outdated these days. Further details on the camera are below.

Shooting Mode                 : Single, Mosaic, Continuous, Frame

Picture Resolution           : 1280x960, 640x480, 320x240

Brightness Adjustment : Yes

Timer                                    : Yes 0, 2, 5, 10 secs

White balance                   : Auto, Daylight, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy

Night Mode                        : Yes

A 3.5 mm jack and micro USB says the phone is universally compatible with new standards for these ports.

Though the phone misses many good features, I would say you it has more than what you would expect from a budget phone. If you are a profound business user you can go for the phone but to those social networking pals who want to stay online all time, I would advise you against this. Buy it and you wont regret doing this.

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Yesterday i happened to test the 5.1 channel output of the phone and its really better. Also the sound effects are far better compared to Nokia 5800. The preset equalizer does a decent job and various settings too are good.  Actually I'm beginning to like this mobile... :-)