First, slap on your neck brace. Then, join Jørgen Sundgot as he reports from Cannes on Samsung's new, rotary 3G handset, the SGH-Z130.
Virtually every handset maker on the block these days has come out with a swivel phone; you know, the kind that has you going cross-eyed when first trying to figure out how it works. Samsung, on the other hand, seems to have taken a particular liking towards screens that rotate clock- or counterclockwise - and at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes this week, the company unveiled its first 3G handset to make use of the concept, the SGH-Z130.
 | | Samsung SGH-Z130 |
Sporting the typical Samsung build quality, the SGH-Z130 is modestly attractive with its two-tone colour scheme and tapering design. Despite being relatively small, it accomodates a roomy display which, with its rotating functionality, is the centerpiece of the unit. As one might expect from Samsung, the quality of the display is superb both in- and outdoors, but the fact that several navigational keypads rotate with it can be a bit confusing.
In fact, not only the display, but the entire upper front half of the handset rotates counterclockwise from a vertical position to a horizontal position. With it comes the navigational pad, send and receive keys and two soft buttons, and although the user interface automagically reorients itself, the on-screen soft key tags - naturally - don't. Resultingly, navigation proved a tad tedious as I found myself constantly head-tilting to compensate - but at least the navigational pad remapped when rotating the screen.
 | | Samsung SGH-Z130 |
Regardless of orentation, the SGH-Z130 proved highly responsive when carrying out all of its assigned tasks, including playing back video content - however unfortunately, I wasn't able to have the video call functionality demonstrated. Still, the 1.3 MP camera of the device appeared to offer an above-par image sensor, although the viewfinder could benefit from a minor speed upgrade.
As for the keypad of the handset, this was fully adequate, and conveniently also included a blue backlight. Other features of the handset worth mentioning include support for Bluetooth, as well as 64-chord polyphonic ringtones and an audio player with support for MP3, AAC and AAC+. For both of the latter, audio quality was surprisingly good.
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