Samsung Ch@t 335 Review

Introduction:

The Samsung Ch@t 335, also known as the Samsung S3350, is a candybar portrait QWERTY handset, designed with heavy texters in mind. You not only get a BlackBerry-esque keyboard, but to suit your web needs, the phone comes with Wi-Fi on board, as suggested by the proud “WiFi” logo at the front.

Its most lovable feature, however, is that it is a very affordable handset that might end up in the pockets of many people, who type a lot on their phones. Is it well-equipped for thumb gymnastics? Read on to find out...

Design:

The first thing you notice when you hold the Samsung Ch@t 335 is that it is fairly thin, but not remarkably so. It feels well in the hand, the phone is very light, since the casing is all-plastic, and the back cover has a pattern that improves the grip. The phone has tapered edges, which helps additionally for a comfortable fit.



You can compare the Samsung Ch@t 335 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

In a world of huge screens, the 2.4-inch TFT display with a modest resolution of 320 x 240 might not even make it to a mid-range device, but for your basic texting/calling needs it works like a charm. When it comes to viewing angles, the TFT screen is pretty average. It's not touch sensitive, but navigation is nevertheless fluid due to the optical trackpad. It is pretty sensitive by default, but you can customize the sensitivity, so you get very functional navigation. You also get two function keys flanking the D-pad, along with Send and End buttons at both ends of the navigation area underneath the screen.


In the Samsung Ch@t 335 we have a pretty BlackBerry-esque full QWERTY keyboard. There is no other word to describe the keys, which mimic the familiar edged style you might have seen on a RIM handset. The keys are similarly tilted to the left on the left half of the keyboard, while the right side tilts to the right making it very easy to type. The Samsung Ch@t 335 is however slightly narrower in size than your usual BlackBerry Curve, which means that the keys are smaller as well. If your hands are on the large side, you might want to check out the typing experience yourself before you get it, as this could be an issue. Key travel is deep enough, but dialing a number quickly is a pain with the small buttons, on top of that you have to hold a key to get in number mode.


On top there is a 3.5mm standard headphone jack, and a lid-protected microUSB slot for charging/syncing the handset. On the right you have the very conveniently placed and distinct volume rocker. The back houses a humble 2-megapixel camera, and the speaker grill. Pop the back cover open to add your own microSD storage card, which is hot-swappable. The 1000mAh battery is replaceable as well.

Interface and Functionality:

Samsung's proprietary interface may fall short to all the smart phones out there, but comparing with feature phones, it is actually pretty simple to master, and gets the job done. You can choose from three themes for the UI when setting up the phone – blue, beige, and green. There is no social networking integration in your contacts list, of course, the phone just can't handle that, but the homescreen sports dedicated Facebook and Twitter clients, as well as shortcuts to messaging and communication apps. The phone sports a pretty convenient email wizard, and a combined inbox for both your emails, and your text messages.


There is also a Communications hub, which integrates different means of getting in touch, like IM (MSN, Yahoo and Palringo), said Facebook and Twitter clients, as well as access to additional services like Picasa, Flickr, and Photobucket. Given that the phone's main purpose is to keep you connected, we found messaging very streamlined.

It is not only messaging, though. The Samsung Ch@t 335 comes with an Organizer section, which includes a pretty rich Calendar app, as well as Alarms, Memo, Task, World clock and Calculator apps, plus a built-in file browser.

To unlock the handset you have to reach out and hold the Alt key down left on the keyboard, which is similar to what other QWERTY candybars ask you to do. The very same keyboard is a gamechanger for productivity. Samsung allows custom actions for all of the keys, which means that you can quickly access pretty much every function with a single push of a key. Again, if you have bigger hands, better sharpen your thumbs' nails, since the Samsung Ch@t 335 is a pretty smallish device for comfortable typing.



Internet, Connectivity and Software:

A 2.4-inch screen just doesn't pair with quality browsing and the Samsung Ch@t 335 does nothing to change that. Your standard mobile browser from the dark ages of dumbphones doesn't allow much. The trackpad is used to scroll the page up and down, but even mobile versions of the pages render pretty slowly while scrolling. For zooming you can use the volume rocker, but, overall, if the website you visit is not simple, or doesn't have a mobile version, you will be getting the “not enough memory” message all too often. At least you can browse for free via Wi-Fi, which is something for a phone at this price point.

As we mentioned earlier, the handset also comes with a microUSB port, which you can use to easily sync your media with the phone through Samsung's Kies manager – an elegant iTunes-like solution for your Ch@t 335. The handset could also be connected in mass storage mode, allowing you to drag and drop your files without dealing with additional software.

In terms of apps, you can rely on the Samsung Apps download center, or the pre-installed applications. The Apps section includes Google, which takes you directly to the search engine's home page, Games (mostly Java-based trial versions), Voice recorder, Dictionary, Timer and a Stopwatch. In there are also the apps for managing the Wi-Fi connection, Bluetooth and the FM Radio – yes, we have a pretty good set of connectivity options in the Samsung Ch@t 335, but for data connections you will be on EDGE, no 3G radio in there.



Camera and Multimedia:

The Samsung Ch@t 335 is the successor to the similarly looking Ch@t 322. And camera is one department where change has happened, bumping the resolution from 1.3MP to 2MP. There are a couple of options in the interface, such as adjusting the white balance, brightness or resolution, as well as adding simple effects like Sepia to your shots.


The flashless snapper on the Ch@t 335 doesn't promise much, but take a look at the sample pictures we took on a sunny day. The pictures lack detail, as you would expect, but have high contrast and nicely saturated colors. Indoor shots are pretty noisy, but usable if you have a well-lit environment.


Video recording with the Samsung Ch@t 335 is not worth the sentence we are writing about it - QCIF 176x144 resolution at 15fps, good only for watching on the phone's display. When it comes to the image gallery, though, we liked the way you could easily fit photos on the screen, and flip them with the trackpad.

Samsung Ch@t 335 Sample Video:



Sound mind tells us that media playback on a 2.4 inch screen is limited to audio and images. Audio playback was satisfying, with strong and reasonably clear sound from the loudspeaker, and the music player even has a few equalizer presets you can use, not to mention that FM radio is also on board. For the movie enthusiasts out there we did try to run differently encoded videos, to find support for MPEG-4 files only, at around the native resolution of the screen.

Performance and Conclusion:

Call quality with the Samsung Ch@t 335 is good, with loud and clear voices in the earpiece on our side. The other party said they can also hear us well, but the higher tones come out a bit distorted and unnatural. The handset is rated for the very good 12 hours of talk time, and 21 days on standby, one of the clear benefits of feature phones before smartphones.

The Samsung Ch@t 335 is no doubt inspired by RIM's BlackBerry line of QWERTY candybars, for which it seems there will always be market. It lacks many BlackBerry features, most notably - a fully functional smart OS and a decent browser, but its similar design and welcoming price could lure many.

Moreover, the phone offers a pretty decent set of connectivity options with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and FM radio, so you get what you pay for, and even a bit more. It is a device largely oriented towards a lot of typing, as exemplified by the number of combined messaging and communications apps in it. Thus the main selling point is the keyboard and, while it is quite comfortable, its smaller size makes typing much slower than on a regular BlackBerry, or some other QWERTY candybars.

Looking around for alternatives, we spot the Nokia C3, which is in the same price point, and has a similar physical portrait QWERTY keyboard.

Software version of the reviewed unit: S3350XXJK6, CSC: S3350OXCJK2

Samsung Ch@t 335 Video Review: