Samsung
C5212 is a good attempt as far
as Dual SIMs are concerned. Here is my review:
Big
Display screen with low pixel
numbers: 2.2 inches, 262 K TFT with 176 x 220 pixels. For
this screen
size, pixels count must be 240 x 320 pixels. But ofcourse, the video
playback is still far better than Samsung E250. You can't feel the
low pixels when using Opera Mini on C5212.
Phone
Profiles: Now, you have profiles
like Normal, Silent, Driving, Meeting, Outdoor, Offline with option
to edit one or create your own profile. Call alert type/ Messages
also has Vibrate + Melody simultaneously and you can assign any MP3
file (included your FM recorded MP3 files) as Messages/ Email/ caller
tones directly from memory card.
Feature-Rich
Phonebook: Select any
phonebook entry and you will see options like View, Search (by name,
number, address), Create contact (phone, SIM1, SIM2), Voice call,
Send message (SMS/ MMS/ Email), Edit, Duplicate, Delete (selected,
multiple, all), Input language, Save in My files, Add contact to
(create group, update), Send namecard via (message, email,
bluetooth), My namecard, Add to speed dial, Copy to SIM (Selected,
all), Move to SIM (Selected, all), List by (first name, last name),
Service number (SIM1, SIM2), Copy to FDN contacts (SIM1, SIM2), Print
via Bluetooth, Settings {1.Speed dial, 2.Save new contacts to...
[always ask, phone, SIM1, SIM2],
3. View phonebook from (all, phone
memory, SIM memory), 4.Order of display name, 5. Own numbers}
Select
a phonebook entry then select
"Edit/ Add details". Then you can add : 1 name card, 1
nickname, 10 phone numbers (mobile private, mobile business, landline
private, landline business, fax, other), 2 email addresses (email
private or email business), 1 URL, 1 DTMF, Additional info, Number
and street address (with postcode, town name, county name, country
name), company name, Job title, date of birth, caller image (directly
from memory card), caller ringtone (directly from memory card),
message tone (also mp3's from memory card) etc.
FM
Radio Recording: You can record FM
Radio programs/ songs as 60 minutes long MP3 files on internal memory
or memory card at audio bitrate of 128 kbps/ 16khz sample rate/ mono
channel. The recorded MP3 files have good
loudness and acceptable clear sound quality for conversation
programs/ talk shows recording purposes.
Phone
Call Recording: You can record
incoming/ outcoming phone calls as 60 minutes long AMR files. Just
make or receive a phone call then go to "Options" and
select Option # 8 which is "Conv. Record". You can pause/
resume the recording during the process.
Both
SIMs active: Believe me, C5212
dual SIM features are better than China mobiles because it has two
transcievers with two IMEI numbers and both the SIM's are active and
online, no matter which SIM is assigned as default.
When
I am talking to someone on SIM1
and another person is calling me on SIM2, then I gets a pop-up
message on screen with other person's name (if his name is saved on
my phonebook) or his phone number and with options to "Accept"
or "Reject" the phone call.
To
make a phone call, select any
phonebook entry OR type any phone number and press "SIM
Selection" button present in right hand side to switch over the
SIMs (from SIM1 to SIM2 or SIM2 to SIM1). Then make the phone call.
To send SMS/ Email, write your message then press "SIM
Selection" button to switch over the SIMs. You don't need to
restart your mobile.
Full
Screen Video Playback: C5212 can
play MP4 and 3GP videos in full screen landscape mode. During
playback, press # key to switch over to full screen mode.
Ideal
MP4 video file must be encoded at Video bitrate=192kbps, Frame Size=176x144 pixels FPS=15, Audio bitrate=64kbps, Audio sample
rate=22khz, in order to make it compatible with C5212 mobile. Encoded
video files at higher than above settings would show "Not
supported content" popup message.
Minimize
of FM Radio/ Audio Player: You
can minimize both the FM Radio and Audio Player. During minimize
mode, you can do many other tasks like writing/ sending
messages,read/ edit phonebook, bluetooth file transfer, internet
browsing, play JAVA games/ softwares (like play FM Radio or MP3
files alongwith Opera Mini web browser!). During using Opera Mini,
you can still control the volume of audio files through side volume
keys.
Minimize
of JAVA Game/ Software: What
if you have received an important SMS during web browsing of Opera
Mini and you don't want to close Opera Mini? Simply press "END"
call red button. You will see two options: 1. Hold JAVA Application
2. Exit. Just select option # 1 and you are on home screen with text
line "Press OK to retrieve Opera Mini". You can see JAVA
icon in red colour in upper middle position of screen which indicates
a minimized JAVA application. Only one JAVA application can be
minimised at a time. After reading/ replying your SMS, press center
"OK" key to retrieve Opera Mini again with the same web
page that you were seeing before minimization. This is like a bonus
feature for C5212 in mid-low end mobile family.
EDGE
on both SIM Slots: Both the SIM
slots (SIM1/ SIM2) are EDGE class 10 supported. You can assign
any SIM network for
default internet connection. Like if you have set SIM1 for default
for messages/ phone calls then you can also assign SIM2 as your
default EDGE network (which was impossible in D780 mobile). Also this
is possible to select "activating SIM" everytime you start
connecting to internet via WAP Browser or Opera Mini web browser.
Default
Memory Setting: You can assign
default memory as Phone memory or Memory card for Camera, Camcorder,
Voice recorder, FM radio, Bluetooth, WAP downloads, Message downloads
(for attached items of Emails/ MMS etc).
Mixed
reaction about WAP Browser: The
WAP browser is NetFront v 3.4 with VIRTUAL mouse pointer. You can see
or delete browsing history, Cookie options, JavaScript option,
display image option, play sound option, smart-Fit view mode or
Desktop view mode, virtual mouse pointer (ON / OFF). You can save
images present on displayed web page on memory card. All above
features are good but I was very disappointed to see that It still
doesn't support video streaming (like rtsp). So, no "YouTube"
video streaming is possible.
Battery
backup: Battery duration is excellent for me (more than 2
days or
approx 50 hours) although I also use Opera Mini for approx 1 hour, FM
radio/ recording for approx 30 minutes, MP3 player for approx 30
minutes, 1 or 2 phone calls, 4 or 5 text messages, email checking on
daily basis.
I have been used many Samsung mobiles
before like X700, D500, D600, E200, E250, D900, J150 and I can tell
you that C5212 has better battery backup time than above mentioned
Samsung mobiles.
Mass
Storage Mode: Unlike previous
models, when you plugin C5212 through USB cable with PC, the Windows
will show two removable drives under "My Computer" section.
One is Memory card and other is internal memory (in my case, it is
54.3 MB total internal memory).
Easy
JAVA Games installation: Place JAR
and JAD files in the same folder on memory card and select JAD file
then select "Options/ Install". It's so simple! By default,
maximum JAR size is 400KB but you can increase it to even 4MB by
entering a simple code *#52828378#. Works well to install large JAR
files.
No
Document viewer: Disappointed but
atleast I can read/ edit txt files from Opera Mini 1.27 mod.
Menu
Transition Effect: It has two effects. Door
and Slider.
You can switch off this feature.
Improved
File Manager: Unlike previous
Samsung models, now it has better and improved file manager. Open "My
files" folder and you will see phone's folders. Press left
or
right navigation keys to switch between phone or memory
card's
folders.
Now
you can view any photo in landscape
fullscreen size directly from memory card. Open any image. Press left
or right navigation keys to go to next
or previous image. No need to
press "Back"
soft key. Press "OK"
center key to
view image in landscape fullscreen size. Under fullscreen mode, press Up or
Down navigation keys to go to next
or previous image. You
can zoom-in
or
zoom-out pictures in fullscreen
mode by pressing side
volume keys. When you are under zoom mode, you will see a small
rectangle window on upper left corner of screen to see the actual
position. Previously, this was impossible in Samsung mobiles i.e
D600, D900 etc.
Assign
photos/ ringtones from card:
This is new for Samsung mobiles. Now there is not any such
restriction that files must be present on internal memory for caller
image/ ringtone use. You can assign photos and audio files for
phonebook entries (caller image, caller ringtone)/ message tones
(SMS, MMS, Email) directly from memory card.
Camera/
Camcorder Quality: It has 1.3
megapixel camera and MP4 video recorder just like my previous Samsung
E200 mobile. You can save photos and videos directly into memory
card's desired folders. The quality of still photos is good but the
video quality is poor and just average.
Advanced
Image Editor: I am surprised
about the features of Image Editor of Samsung C5212. If you have used
"Irfan View" image editor software on PC, you will see many
similar features in Image Editor of C5212. Some features are:
(c)
Warp (Warp vertically, Bloat bottom
(small), Small balloons, Balloon, Warp randomly, Bloat centre, Wart
at the bottom, Bloat bottom (large), Warp in the centre, Warp with
speed)
Under
Customize
setting, Enter Width
value (100—1280), Height
value (100—1280), Constrain
proportions
(off or on)
Rotate
(in all 4 directions)
Flip
(left, right, up, down)
4.
Crop: Select the area or adjust the
area size or shape it. Then save this new cropped image.
5.
Insert:(a)
Frame (20 frames
available), (b)
Image (any jpg photo with options Resize, Move and
rotate), (c)
Clip Art (40 cliparts are available), (d)
Emoticons (30
are available), (e)
Text (type in 5 languages like English, French,
Arabic, Urdu, Persian upto 20 alphabets long text line with option to
Resize. Rotate, Font style as Bold or Italic, Font Colour selection
from 9 colours).
6.
Set as (Wallpaper, Caller image)
7.
Send via Message, Email or Bluetooth
8.
Print via USB or Bluetooth
Timer
application in background: Set
the timer and start it. Then press "Back"
softkey to
minimize it. Now do your normal work and when time will come, the
timer application will start the alarm or vibrate in silent profile.
Advantages:
Big
screen size (2.2 inches), default
memory settings, feature-rich phonebook, Music player & FM
Radio
both works alongwith Opera Mini,Fullscreen video playback with 3gp/
MP4 files,Assign images/audio files for phone caller directly from
memory card, Assign MP3 for messages from card, Fullscreen images
with zoom from memory card, EDGE class 10 support on both SIMs slots,
16GB MicroSD also works well, best dual SIM features, FM radio
recording as 128kbps MP3 file upto 1 hour per file on card, phone
call/ video recording on card, phone profiles with offline profile, 3
themes present, random wallpapers, Menu Transition Effect (Slide,
Door), JSR 75/ 135 API supported, Two digital clocks with two
different cities on home screen, Clock timer works on background,
Advanced Image Editor, excellent battery backup approx 50 hours with
both SIMs active.
Disadvantages:
Low pixels (176 x 220) with big screen, No document viewer, No rtsp
video streaming,No support to start camera from JAVA midlet, slightly
slower than my previous E200/ J150 mobiles, New PC Studio is slower
than version3, user guide has not even 40% of information about it's
features!
