Samsung Jet

Here’s the review from CNET

By Damian Koh, CNET Asia
Jun 30, 2009

When Samsung says it has a feature phone that's even smarter than a smartphone, that only goads us to put that to the test. After all, that's a pretty bold claim to make. The touchscreen handset packs an 800MHz processor, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync support (this is a first for a Samsung non-smartphone device) and a raft of wireless connectivity features. Our review uncovers if the Jet is really that smart beneath the hype.

Design

The Jet is compact, pocket-friendly and the buttons are well-defined with good travel. Disappointingly, it invites fingerprint smudges too easily. From the side, the front and back of the chassis taper to a point on the bottom edge. The side profile resembles a flattened speeding bullet, possibly a fitting appearance for the speedy 800MHz processor inside.
The real gem, however, lies in the details, starting with the hexagonal button below the screen, which resembles a 3D cube instead of a regular flat key. It has a clear plastic layer on top with a reflective mirror acting as the base--a very elegant design we must say.
Around the back is a hologram of red "railings", visible only when the phone is tilted at certain angles. It's gimmicky, but we like the little touches Samsung has added on the Jet. The micro-USB port and 3.5mm audio jack sit along the top, while the keylock, Media Gate (more on that later) and camera shutter are on the right. On the opposite side is the volume button.

Features

The Jet runs on TouchWiz 2.0, an updated version of the touchscreen user interface seen on earlier phones like the F480. There are three home screens, similar to the Android operating system, and you can drag widgets onto these "pages". Each page operates independently. This means it's possible to have the same app on all three screens, even though we reckon no one would do that. One thing to note is that it's not possible to scroll vertically on the home screens, so you're limited to the 3.1-inch, 800 x 480-pixel AMOLED display. Larger widgets take up more space and you may end up being able to fit only one app on a page.
There are two types of widgets on the Jet: The offline ones and those that require an Internet connection. The latter group comprises news, weather and search apps. The Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Photobucket, Flicker, Picasa and Friendster widgets are merely Web links, so these are considered offline apps. Admittedly, the variety of widgets is still limited at this moment (34 are preinstalled). And while the widget platform is interesting, other smartphone operating systems have been around for a long time and third-party programs are readily available on the Web. The one thing we'd like to see is a software development kit (SDK) for the platform as this may dramatically increase the potential of the system if developers catch on.
A few other novelties come with TouchWiz 2.0. These include the Media Gate 3D user interface and Motion Gate. The former is reminiscent of LG's 3D S-Class cube interface and HTC's TouchFlo 3D. There's a shortcut button on the side of the phone to access Media Gate which is simply an onscreen cube suspended in midair. You can swipe and rotate it to get to six multimedia programs such as music player and the Web browser. The irony is that Samsung also provides a row of onscreen shortcuts at the bottom of the display. We find the latter more useful (and faster) in getting to the apps. When you swipe to the browser on the cube, you flick up or down to cycle through your bookmarks. Likewise in Album where you can quickly scroll through photo snaps like a pack of cards.
The motion recognition engine Motion Gate is more interactive. We can shake the device to end applications and double-tap to play music and take pictures, but our experience with it fell short. This is because Motion Gate is accessible only via a separate menu by holding down the Media Gate button to get to the two assigned shortcuts. This means that if you use the standard music player from the phone's main menu, you can't snap/tilt to switch tracks. Or if you activate the camera by holding down the shutter key, the double-tap feature wouldn't work. We think these are innovative features, but it's really a showcase of what Samsung can do with the built-in accelerometer rather than being useful and intuitive apps. Still, it's a good attempt even if we find the implementation lacking.
We like the Etiquette pause and Speaker call accelerometer-based functions on the Jet. The former is common enough these days and lets you mute the phone when you face it down. The Speaker call function is a little more unique and smart. Moving the phone away from the face during a call and placing it on a flat surface automatically activates the speakerphone. This worked without a hitch during our review.
There's also a new tap-and-slide zooming feature which Samsung has introduced on the phone. This isn't as intuitive as pinching and stretching on the iPhone, but it works (even though it takes a few moments to get used to it) and that's good. Smart Unlock, which we saw earlier on the Samsung Star, is also implemented here. This lets you unlock the phone by writing a predetermined letter onscreen.
Like the home screen, the main menu is now spread over three pages as well. This is similar to the iPhone interface except that you don't have an option to rearrange the icons. The good thing about this layout is you no longer need to have sub-menus. For example, you may need to go into Organizer to access certain apps on some devices. With this interface, you can get to the programs directly. The Jet doesn't have a physical keypad, so text input is via the onscreen alphanumeric pad or a QWERTY keyboard when you rotate the device sideways.