Samsung Corby S3650 Review

Introduction and Design:

As the old saying goes, everything new is well-forgotten old. As a whole, the dictum hardly ever applies to the cell phone world, but every now and then we see manufacturers resort to bygone concepts of far-off days. For an instance, handsets with design allowing people to easily change the overall look of their device via various panels and covers were all the rage in the first few years of the new millennium and major part of the mainstream product range of Nokia and Siemens came with this particular feature as it was. The same concept has made a big comeback recently and we are talking about the latest trend of manufacturers providing ample personalization options. Say, HTC allows you to customize your Tattoo by ordering unique back panel or as it is in the case of the Nexus One, you´re presented with the opportunity to have the back of your new cell phone engraved to your own taste. The handset that we are going to introduce in this review is the forefather of Samsung´s youthful series, the Corby S3650. Regardless of whether or not it´s the replaceable panels or something else that has helped the handset to gain serious popularity, the truth is more than 3 million units have been sold in the first three months on the market.

As a whole, the Samsung Corby S3650 stakes on motley colours to attract the attention of youngsters, but the box also contains a black panel that we happen to like a lot, since it creates an enjoyable colour contrast against the buttons located on either side. Aside from the one that comes boxed, the manufacturer also offers many that can be additionally purchased and we have to say some of them are truly spectacular to look at, just keep in mind that the overall appearance of the buttons on either side of the phone cannot be altered, meaning you better take the fact into consideration when picking out a panel to your own liking. While we´re at it, we need to point out the mentioned buttons feature quite a pleasing travel and we didn’t encounter any issues with any of them. Unfortunately, the Samsung Corby doesn’t come with standard ports and is charged via the manufacturer´s proprietary connector that you can also use to plug in a pair of headphones – the USB cable is conspicuous in its absence, but it´s a good thing the box contains an adapter to 3.5mm jack to help you to easily connect an earphone set.





One of the cool aspects of the Samsung Corby S3650 is the handset integrates capacitive display. It measures 2.8 inches, has QVGA native resolution and all told, although it doesn’t exactly offer image quality that can be referred to as out of this world, it features truly proper sensitivity, so using it feels really enjoyable. The device is quite compact, albeit not nearly as much as the LG Pop GD510.



You can compare the Samsung Corby S3650 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

As a whole, the Samsung Corby S3650 is a likeable and compact model, designed with kids and youngsters in mind. We do like the fact that, while it´s an affordable handset, it doesn’t feel cheap in your hand. The option to easily alter its overall look makes for a nice extra feature as well.

Software and Functionality:

It is not only the outer appearance of the Samsung Corby S3650 that can be personalized. The TouchWiz interface offers three separate home screen pages, where you can place various widgets. We have already commented on the sad fact that most active applications are of no real use these days, but in the case of the Corby and similarly to Samsung´s latest models, there are extra widgets designed for social networking that make up the so-called Pop-up SNS interface. The applications show you whether or not you´ve got new messages from your online buddies as well as the current online status of each person, although, frankly, they change so fast that you can hardly keep up really. Once you´ve selected a widget, you get to the mobile page of the relevant social network. The widgets are rather large, so if you feel like following your Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts, you´ll quickly run out of free space. Keep in mind that the applications are inaccessible only from the home screen.



The cool-looking youthful theme that we first saw on the prototype is available and it doesn’t change the font by default, which is good really, since the previous version was able to render virtually any text downright illegible. The main menu consists of several separate pages and you are disallowed to rearrange their icons.



The Samsung Corby S3650 allows for creation of text and multimedia messages as well as emails and you write using standard, alphanumeric screen layout that works in portrait mode only, and there is no QWERTY version at all. Initially we felt rather displeased at the fact, but after several tests we found out we were able to write quite faster than when using a hardware alphanumeric keyboard, which is a good thing. Moreover, you can always take advantage of T9 and type away even more quickly plus, a landscape QWERTY on such a small screen would have been really uncomfortable to use anyway.



The internet browser of the Samsung Corby S3650 is WebKit-based and controlled in pretty much the same way as the version the Samsung Jet S8000 is equipped with – you zoom in and out on things by keeping your finger pressed against the screen, which is handy. Pages visualize properly, but without their embedded Flash elements. As a whole the browser is quite capable really, but is of limited use, since the Corby doesn’t support high-speed internet connectivity – what you get is GPRS/EDGE only.



We need to point out that the Samsung Corby S3650 is a really snappy handset on the overall. We have seen the TouchWiz interface stutter and freeze on quite a few higher-end models, but such issues are quite rare with the Corby.

Camera and multimedia:

You shouldn’t expect awesome image quality of the 2-megapixel camera of the Samsung Corby S3650 that doesn’t sport either autofocus or flash. We would qualify it as “bearably horrible”, because although images taken with it feature acceptable colors, they lack enough details and, more often than not, are rather blurry. Still, it´s a good thing that you can capture snapshots extremely fast, so you will be able to take quite a few in a snap… meaning the chances are some of them will be relatively adequate. The situation is almost identical with the video capture functionality – you take clips at QVGA resolution and 15 frame per second. There is no overwhelming stuttering, but the overall quality is mediocre.





The Samsung Corby S3650 proved to be quite a pleasing surprise in terms of audio playback. The player offers ample filtering options and several equalizer presets that do affect the overall sound quality. The boxed headset is proper and delivers sound with enjoyable loudness and quality, provided it´s not going at full blast. The adapter will allow you to plug in another pair easily and during the tests we yielded even better results when using one of our sets, even with the volume at its maximum setting.



The Samsung Corby S3650 plays MPEG4 videos with QVGA resolution only and while the playback quality is not exactly superior, we didn’t notice any artefacts or issues affecting the image quality. Unfortunately, our unit came without preinstalled games.

Performance and Conclusion:

The in-call quality is slightly above average. We like the fact that the sound packs some punch and we were able to hear our callers even in noisy places, plus they didn’t seem to have any problems either. We were somewhat annoyed at the voice sharpness and the more or less surreal ring to them, but fortunately, they remained utterly intelligible.

The battery is truly robust, offers 9hrs of continuous talk time and keeps the handset operational for up to 15 days in standby, which is a whole lot better than what the arch-rival of the Corby, the LG Pop GD510 delivers.

It is truly hard to say which of the two models is better, the Samsung Corby S3650 or the LG Pop GD510. They are among the best handsets with affordable price-tags on the market today – the Corby is cheaper, comes with more capable browser and better audio playback quality. Its design is, however, more childish and the camera is worse. We like the overall look of the LG Pop GD510 better, but that doesn’t mean the Corby doesn’t have its own, unique charm.

If you are on the lookout for a handset for a kid or young person (or you are lucky enough to be one of them) and intend to use the device for talking, listening to music and (eventually) accessing social networks, the Samsung Corby S3650 is a great option. If you need more high-tech features like Wi-Fi and capable camera, consider the Samsung S5560 and LG GT505 that are also affordable.

Samsung Corby S3650 Video Review: