Samsung Gravity Smart in Sapphire Blue
By Samuel Cook on October 27th, 2011
Overall the phone has a pleasing aesthetic, with curved corners and a rounded shape giving it a sleek appeal. It isn’t as stylish as other phones out there, but it does manage to keep a healthy balance between style and a compact, durable design. If anything, the design is mostly geared towards a younger audience or those that wish for a more basic smartphone with the physical QWERTY keyboard option.
The phone measures 4.5 inches in height, 2.3 inches in width and is 0.6 inch deep. It weighs a total of 4.6 ounces, an excusable weight given its added slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Sitting neatly on the front of the phone is its 3.2 inch touch-screen display. It supports a QVGA resolution of 420x380 which is more than enough to make the display colourful and sharp. Sure it isn’t the highest resolution currently on the market, but for a budget phone of this variety and size it is both expected and appropriate.
Also, though the screen could do with being slightly bigger, the need for a larger on-screen keyboard is mitigated by the presence of the physical keyboard. The screen size is comfortable enough for a basic virtual keyboard, whilst the physical keyboard is the more suitable option for large amounts of typing.
The phone’s keyboard slides out to the left. It is laid out in four rows, with spacious gaps left between the keys. The keys are elevated enough to give them a defined feel and their textured finish makes typing comfortable and tactile. The sliding mechanism is smooth and locks into place easily each way. However, whilst the positioning of peoples fingers may differ, there is a noticeable awkwardness with the keyboard’s spacebar. It is positioned slightly to the right and is not properly centralised with the keyboard. As a result it can become awkward for those who are use to touch-typing.
The Android experience is pretty standard, with both the usual Android and Google apps featured on the phone. The user also has the ability to access over 250,000 apps through the Android market.
Powering the phone is a respectable 800MHz processor. Admittedly it lacks the seamless speeds of the higher end smartphones, but it does perform all the required tasks at a consistent level, with very little lag or slowdown.
Built into the Gravity Smart is a 3-megapixel camera. It is a budget phone so the relatively low hardware is understandable. It does however have LED flash capability. Overall, the pictures produced are of an average quality.
