If the F490 played video at full screen and came with more comprehensive video file support, like the LG Viewty, all you would have to do is stuff in a large capacity microSD and bingo, instant phone-PMP. Incidentally, 240 x 320 is the maximum resolution you can transform video to using the bundled Media Manager, which seems like a slight case of someone not paying attention at Samsung.
Media transfer to the 130MB on board memory can only be made be via Samsung's bundled PC Studio 3 software. It works, but by crikey it's slow. Nine 160kb/s MP3 tracks, about 45MB in total, took over 20 minutes to transfer across. With an SD card in place you can drag and drop using MS Explorer, which works fine and your hair won't turn grey while you are doing it.
The flash is still an LED which is about much use as a chocolate teapot
The MicroSD card can be hot-swapped, but you have to remove the back cover to do it, which seems like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory - though by way of slight redemption you can change the SIM without having to yank the battery out.
Once you have loaded your tunes the F490 proves a more than capable music player. Though lacking anything in the way of EQ modifiers or bass boosters, the sound produced is punchy and focused and can be cranked up to a decent volume without coming apart at the seams. Extra marks for Samsung for giving the F490 a 3.5mm headphones jack alongside the proprietary port that the supplied hands free rig plugs into and the capacity to set up playlists on the hoof. As you might expect audio file support extends to ACC, ACC+, MP3 and WMA.
The F490's camera is a 5 megapixel job, up from the rather lacklustre 3.2 megapixel item on the F700. The flash is still an LED which is about much use as a chocolate teapot, but in good light we found the F490 to be a decent little snapper. For a direct comparison with another popular 5 megapixel camera phone we took the F490 and a Sony Ericsson K850i out into The Register's Versailles-like private gardens and snapped some pictures of our surroundings.
COMMENTS
Review has missed a few things.
I've got this phone and at first it was great however there are more issues.
The screen is difficult to see in daylight.
The answering method is annoying to get used to as it can be multiple key presses to answer and end calls.
There are very few extras available for this phone and I've not yet found a game that works with the touch screen.
Two extra good points. The annoying beep's can be turned off and you can watch videos in full screen you just need to get some other free software to do the conversion
Hey Gildas
We invented the imperial system before "you Yanks" went and messed it up, so the identity conflict is just between the British and European cultures, nowt to do with you...
If it's anything like the F700...
I had the F700 for about a month, and I've just sold it and gone back to my N73.
The slider forever caught on my pocket, activating the screen. Many's the time I took it out to find it surfing Vodafone Live.
The UI just doesn't make sense... the Samsung interface just isn't logical. Perhaps I just I'm just used to Nokia, as I am with touch screens from my iTouch - the Samsung just can't compare, it's very unpredictable and inaccurate. This is of course assuming it uses the same screen as the F700.
The F series really are best avoided for some of the better LG, Nokia and Sony offerings.
imperial / metric
mixing metric and imperial is what makes you Brits so lovably eccentric, probably all a part of you not knowing if you want to be part of Europe or the USA!
"How big's you TV?"
"about 80cm wide by 60 tall, 32inch screen"
"how much is gas in the UK?
"About £1.25 a litre"
"and your speed limit?"
"70mph"
wasn't this what put a recent Mars probe into the ground at several hundred mph (kph)?
photos
I prefer the samsung photos to the sony ones. They have more detail. Like the van in the last photo that's much clearer with the samsung.
