Samsung Craft Review

Multimedia:

Boasting a 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera in its housing, picture quality was average at best with this shooter. Granted, we adore the myriad of options that are traditionally found with Samsung's camera interfaces, the images it produces as a simple point and shoot doesn't radiate anything jaw dropping. Although outdoor images did come out with mediocre detail, color reproduction was a bit more on the bland side. Conversely, there is a fair amount of noise which can be seen in images taken indoors with poor lighting. Luckily, the LED flash does remedy the issue, but it leaves the shot looking rather over-exposed.





Sporting a maximum shooting resolution of 640x480 and a capture rate of 15fps, video recording with the Craft won't produce the stunning memories saved with some HD equipped handsets. However, the fair amount of detail it's able to capture, combined with the tolerable frame rate, should prove adequate enough for most people.

Samsung Craft Sample Video:




Following accordingly with other handsets, the music player's presentation on the Craft is what you expect. It displays the album cover, track information, and some on-screen controls. We're happy to find some level of personalization with its three skin offerings that'll provide you a visualization (with the earphones connected), displaying lyrics, and your normal layout. Audio quality from its speaker was average at best since it wasn't terribly loud on the highest setting – but isn't riddled with any strained tones.


AMOLED displays are probably the best when it comes down to video playback, and the Craft fits the bill perfectly. Although it stuttered briefly after initially loading one of our test videos, which is encoded in MPEG-4 800 x 480 resolution, it soon was able to play it flawlessly without any hiccups. Colors naturally explode and the smooth rate it's able to run just makes the entire experience breath-taking.


Light users should suffice with the handset's 165MB of internal storage, but it can undoubtedly be supplemented with microSD cards up to 32GB in size.


Internet and Connectivity:

The Samsung Craft is a tri-band CDMA (800/1700/1900 MHz) device with its sole uniqueness found in its dual-band LTE connectivity (1700/2100 MHz). Currently, Las Vegas is the only market to have a live LTE network up and running, but its expansion will continue to other larger markets very shortly. As for 3G access, which still might not be prevalent in most areas, the handset is equipped to support 1xEV-DO rev.0. However, you can resort to using its Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g for a faster connection if you can't tolerate its slower cellular data one. In addition, it packs Bluetooth 2.1 to enable other wireless devices to connect with it.

Despite having the ability to reach some ridiculous speeds with LTE, the web browsing experience doesn't translate like something that one would think a next-generation device should exhibit. Even though we are connected via Wi-Fi, the MetroWEB browser, which is in fact the POLARIS Browser version 6.2, didn't provide a worthwhile experience to make it supremely better over other handsets. At times it just seemed to struggle to have a consistent experience and didn't properly load everything. Sure it has kinetic scrolling, but when its inconsistent speed is either super smooth or terribly choppy, it doesn't leave us with a good impression. Ultimately, the web browsing experience is indeed a test in itself, but when it's packing support for LTE speeds, we'd question whether or not it's a viable solution for those who look for lighting speeds with web browsing.