Samsung Mobile Phone Blog

As potential users might well deduce from its name, Samsung’s new device the Ch@t B3410W is a new mobile phone fully dedicated to messaging and chatting across a wide range of platforms. To this end Samsung has provided integral applications in order to fully support a full range of social networking sites such as Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and Flickr.

The device itself seems to be squarely aimed at mid-range users and includes the useful dual keyboard capability of both touchscreen keypad and full integral QWERTY keyboard, in line with many of the new top-end mobile phone devices on the market now. The integral QWERTY keyboard is a slide-put device which becomes apparent when the user slides the phone open ready for use. The keys themselves are well-appointed and are spaced enough apart to facilitate user-friendliness despite the overall compact design.

In terms of network connectivity it seems that the Ch@t has fallen a little behind the competition, as it only supports 2G connectivity currently whilst many smartphones on the market now support both 2G and 3G. It appears to be this way due to the fact that Samsung has decided to concentrate solely on the messaging side of things and have cut back on some of the other specs – presumably also to reduce the eventual cost that will be passed on to the customer. Many users do feel, however, that the inclusion of 3G capability would have definitely enhanced user experience – especially with regards to Web browsing and overall general connectivity.

Fortunately to compensate for the lack of 3G Samsung have included decent Wi-Fi support. Additionally the device supports Class 10 GPRS and EDGE, which provide the user with speeds of 32-48 kbps and 236/8 kbps, respectively. For data transfer the Ch@t comes equipped with both USB and Bluetooth which can transfer data to and from compatible handsets and laptop devices with ease, and it also supports 850/900/1800/1900 Quad-band GSM networks.

The Ch@t initially offers an internal memory capacity of 1/2GB, which will easily help the user to store up to 1,000 phone book entries in addition to other files and will also display up to 30 received and dialled calls as well as missed calls. If these capacities are not sufficient users may opt to take advantage of the handset’s integral microSD TransFlash card slot as well through which the internal memory can be boosted to a much more significant 16 GB.

In terms of appearance, the Ch@t is fairly appealing to most coming in sleek black. Sliding the device to the right horizontally will reveal the device’s in-built QWERTY keyboard, which is very responsive, allowing for fairly fast and user-friendly typing and messaging on the device’s 2.6-inch screen. The on-screen touch-pad is also decent featuring TouchWiz UI2.0, which is generally perceived as quite good although admittedly it does have its detractors to some heavy users.

The phone is also fairly light at 113.7 grams, and with dimensions of 103×52.5×16.2 mm can easily be slipped into a pocket for quick, comfortable and secure transportation. It also comes complete with an integral camera, fairly de rigueur these days even for a mid-range smartphone. Even so the Ch@t’s 2-megapixel lens is a slight let-down compared to other phones on the market, although it does come complete with a range of fairly useful functions such as an auto focus facility and the camera is also capable of recording video at QVGA at 13fps. The Ch@t also features a stereo FM radio, a music player that supports a good range of files (MP3, WAV, eAAC, WMA, MP4, H.263&4) as well as the ability to download games from the Net. It even has Google Search and, all in all, is a fairly decent performer for a mid-range phone despite one or two lower-than-expected specifications.