Samsung Giorgio Armani Review

Introduction:

In the last few years we’ve seen the mobile phone manufacturers cooperate with other companies to deliver higher quality technology, design or features, and such examples include brands like Carl Zeiss (lens manufacturer), Google (software) and in the 2007 – Prada and Armani (fashion brands). The latter is what we have here – a cooperation between Samsung and Armani resulting in the GIORGIO ARMANI phone which clearly comes as a rival of the PRADA by LG.


In its box, you’ll find all standard accessories and some that are untypical. In addition to the AC charger, USB cable, headphones, CD with connectivity software, memory card and user manuals, there are also two carrying pouches: one for the accessories and one for the phone itself. If you prefer to use a hard leather case, there is one also, but we will not recommend it because it is ugly, big and inconvenient to use.

Design:

You will definitely notice the Armani phone ones you see it. It is different but in the good way: as it can be expected from a phone branded under the Armani name, it is highly stylish and pleasant both for the eye and the hand. It is very small and thin, comes in unique color and has metal battery cover, which helps for both the great feel and look.



Having in mind it is slim candybar with touch screen that occupies most of the front side, it reminds us of the other fashion-phone – the LG PRADA. Still, the Giorgio Armani is smaller and slimmer and instead of black comes in unique color scheme.

Model	Dimension (Inches)	Dimension (mm)	Weight (oz)	Weight (Gramms)
Samsung Giorgio Armani	3.44" x 2.14" x 0.41"	87.5 x 54.5 x 10.5	2.99	85
LG Prada	3.88" x 2.12" x 0.48"	99 x 54 x 12	2.99	85

You can compare the Samsung Giorgio Armani with many other phones, using PhoneArena's Visual Size Compare tool.


Almost the entire front side is occupied by the touch sensitive 2.6 inch display with QVGA resolution. It is surrounded by dark-colored area covered with one-piece glass, and below is the GIOGIO ARMANI logo, while the one of Samsung is only on the back. This once again reminds us of the PRADA phone by LG, as both phones show the fashion brand label on their fronts. The display is used for controlling of the device as both numeric and navigation keys are missing. It responds to the touch of a finger by the electricity that runs over the skin, so must be used with finger only, not with any artificial pointer (pen for example). Although it is far from being as responsive as the display of the iPhone, it is good in this respect for most people and it will be rare to touch it without response. We say for most people, because there are some who are exceptions and the display reacts worse to their touch. With standard display that is activated by the physical touch, there isn't such case.

The display is good enough for the purpose of the phone and the preloaded images look very well on it. Still, once you are out, prepare to manage with some visibility issues, especially if it is not clean but covered with fingerprints.


Below the Armani logo there are the two and only buttons on this side. Logically for a phone, they are the two receivers (SEND and END keys) which are in silver, to be easily noticed as they don't have backlight. Still, this creates pleasant contrast and doesn't hurt the design in any way.

On the metal surface on the left are the protruding volume rocker and the microSD slot while on the right are the camera key, hold (lock/unlock) button and the slot for charger/cable connection. As expected, all they are part of the design, and our only complaint is that if you don't look directly at the right side, there is a possibility to press the camera key instead of the almost flat HOLD. It is unpleasant to wait for the camera to start when you actually want to lock the device; Samsung may have avoided that if the HOLD button was in the place of the connector and vice verse.


Once again just as in the PRADA, the camera rather ruins the look of the back side. Although here it is less noticeable than in the LG phone, we still think it could be "hidden" better, as in the KRZR K1 from Motorola for example. Additionally, it is slightly bulging, which makes it the first and probably only drawback of the design.