With the constant influx of fashion phones, is producing a pretty handset enough to make it stand out from the crowd? Samsung doesn't think so and has gone a step further with the E530 by giving the chic clamshell functional female-centric features, which proves beauty doesn't have to be just skin-deep.
Design
Measuring 86mm by 43mm by 26mm the "valentine" pink E530 is compact but not quite svelte enough for the catwalk, though at a mere 85 grams it could give the supermodel Motorola RAZR V3 a weight complex. The girly yet sporty flip phone is a curveous egg-shape, complete with white accents on either side of the rubberised pink body. It comes with a contrasting pink suedette wrist strap and carry pouch with a clear window to keep the external display in view.
Features
While the appearance of the E530 is a significant selling point -- ie "I want it because it's pink" -- Samsung's girly gadget is definitely not superficial. Absolutely packed with features, one wonders how they all fit into such a tiny package.
The E530 boasts a 262K-colour TFT LCD on the inside and an extremely bright 65K-colour OLED external screen which can be set to remain lit up -- making it very easy to see from a distance, in your bag, and in the dark.
Then add: a megapixel camera with flash LED, 4x digital zoom and contrast adjustment and one hour of video recording; a music player with MP3, AAC, and AAC+ support (though unfortunately we found no pre-loaded music); voice recorder; bluetooth connectivity; 64 polyphonic ringtones; a personal organiser; and an extremely impressive 88.5MB of internal storage to make up for the lack of an expansion slot. This girl can multi-task.
Now, no one says guys can't have a pink phone -- but the Women's Life application suite sends a not-so-subtle hint with offerings such as Fragrance type, where you can input your details and find out which scent suits you; Biorhythm, which reveals your physical, emotional and intellectual state on a daily or monthly basis; calorie counter; shopping list tool; and Height/Weight ratio, a function that was actually tested by a male friend who then got upset because "Your phone said I was fat".
Probably the most unique inclusion of the Women's Life suite is the Pink calendar, which always seems to raise an eyebrow or provoke a smirk upon notice. Introduced on the pimped-out dimonte encrusted T500, this function keeps track of your cycle, and will let you know the best time to conceive -- or when to avoid it. While dedicated to testing the phone's functions and capabilities, we didn't go as far as seeing how accurate the schedule is -- "Samsung got me pregnant!" isn't something we ever imagined escaping our lips.
Performance
Apart from the lack of complete Pink Calendar testing, the E530 handles its touted features quite well. Having the camera shortcut situated on the side of the body often resulted in the not-uncommon mishap of taking photos from inside a bag or pocket. However the image quality was impressive, and the flash improved our attempts at night-shot, if not resulting in a perfect picture.
While the matching pouch protects the handset and makes it a funky little package to carry around, the microphone is not strong enough to produce a decent ring volume from inside. We often missed calls because the sound was muffled. Missed calls were also hard to trace as they're only displayed momentarily before being hidden within the call menu. Another gripe during our review period was the tendancy for the phone to cut out after 30 seconds on a call. We're not sure if this was a service issue, but it occurred in multiple locations, where other handsets fared fine.
Overall we were pleased with the pretty little pink phone, despite a few performance issues. The feature-packed and fun-to-use E530 will appeal to anyone looking for a cute and convenient phone.
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