Samsung i550: New GPS navigator

If you thought Nokia was the only one to offer you the GPS navigator, you might be in for a surprise...

The Samsung i550, the new GPS-enabled smart phone, has already caught attention....

Smart and simply black - Samsungs i550 is one of the slimmest smartphones around, and it is quite light and pocketable. It is also taller than most phones, and its plastic body may not appeal to all but it makes it a sturdy piece.

The large 2.6-inch screen is bright, and the information is fairly visible in sunlight. It has a track ball similar to the Blackberry Pearl - this one accepts only a single input every time one rolls a finger on it.

The keypad buttons are very thin and well-spaced, and there are hot keys for the internet and for GPS.

While the Symbian OS in this smart phone will make Nokia users feel right at home, one of the highlights is the GPS module with its built-in maps. Its Route 66 mapping application is similar to the one available in the Nokia 6110 Navigator.

The navigation interface is clearly visible even from a distance and voice prompts help you while driving around.

There is a 3 megapixel autofocus camera and video recording and you have a microSD expandable memory slot to up the existing 150 MB storage.

Connectivity is taken care of with wi-fi and EDEG, and HSDPA enables a 100MB file to be transferred in 23 seconds. Headphones can be plugged in to the 3.5mm jack to listen to FM radio, and the battery lasts for a little over two days, but continuous use of GPS will exhaust the phone in three hours.

Comparatively speaking, Nokia N95 is available for the same price now. The N95 wins in the imaging section since it is armed with a higher-resolution 5-mega-pixel sensor. The Samsung i550 is slimmer and has a better battery life.

For a smartphone with a good GPS mapping capability, and general multi-media usage, we give it a 4.