Samsung Pixon12 M8910 Review

Interface:

As we've seen with the Samsung Jet, the widget-friendly TouchWiz 2.0 interface brings back some of the old with a mix of new features. The Samsung Pixon12 M8910 has to be one of the smoothest running TouchWiz handsets we've used because there is little slowdown or lag during operation. From placing widgets to the home screen to the transition effects used in moving through the menus, it's responsive and quick with little wait time. Even unlocking your phone has a unique experience attached to it because you can make a gesture on screen instead of pressing the dedicated button – it's a nice touch and beats having to hold down the button to unlock. In addition, you can assign the gestures to perform other tasks like launching an app or speed dialing a number from the locked position. We  enjoyed how well Samsung utilized transition effects throughout the phone – it adds some eye candy to the polished interface.

Speaking of home screens, there are three to move through by swiping the screen from side to side. Widgets that you place on specific screens will be retained if you go back to it – so you can essentially group them depending on your taste. The list is ever growing when it comes to the amount of widgets now offered – you can download additional to really personalize your phone.



Similarly to the latest TouchWiz devices we've used, the main menu separated into three different screens that are switched between by sliding a finger. All phone functions are available in them, which eliminates the need of sub menus (say, Organizer to host the Alarm or Calendar etc.). If you don't like the default locations of each icon, you can press the top right corner button to move them around.




Phonebook:

There are a couple of ways you can call specific contacts in your phonebook – either the standard way of accessing them through the menus or using the photo contacts. The latter of the two makes for an alternate way of calling people by using a photo, which can be tagged for specific contacts, and then touched to make the call. Flipping through the photo contacts was smooth and responsive – requiring swiping gestures to move through the photos. The memory of the Samsung Pixon12 M8910 allows for up to 2,000 contacts with an eclectic mix of information such as phone numbers, email addresses, web sites, and nicknames, which can be added.




Organizer:

As with other recent TouchWiz 2.0 devices, we are greeted to the same tools that are expected to be on the device. These items include the Calendar, Alarm Clock, Timer, Stopwatch, Voice Recorder, Converter, Calculator, Memo, Task, and Wold Clock. We won't go into much detail with each one because they are the same exact ones we've seen on the Samsung Jet. Best of all, most of these tools have widgets associated to them so you can quickly launch one directly from the home screen.




Now the Samsung Pixon12 blurs the line of almost being a smartphone because of its multi-tasking capabilities. Pressing and holding down on the middle hardware button launches the task manager which shows the current running applications. There are two views that you can choose from – either the 3D view that allows you to swipe from window to window or the grid view. Being able to move between applications on this device is a plus and we found ourselves constantly using the 3D view just because it's neat looking.