Samsung Replenish Review
By Ruben Corbo on October 31st, 2011
One of the phone’s most valued characteristics is of course its physical keyboard. The phone’s design and layout is nothing we haven’t seen before, though it seems that Samsung has decided to place more emphasis on screen size over a spaciously laid out keyboard. The user will have the option of choosing between the screen’s virtual keyboard and the added convenience of a physical keyboard.
A total of 82 percent of the phone is crafted from recyclable materials. It is a candy bar design which, despite its relatively bland shape and color, remains attractive and appealing. The top of the phone is curved to give it some needed diversity. The phone measures 4.8 inches in height, 2.4 inches in width and is 0.5 inch thick. It weighs a total of 4.1 ounces. It has a black finish with silver accents and backlit keypad keys.
Dominating the greater portion of the phone’s front is its 2.8 inch QVGA touch screen, supporting 16 million colors and a resolution of 240x320. Admittedly, the resolution is a bit low for smartphones and a screen of this size, being more common on feature phones. However, generally the lower resolution isn’t noticeable.
The size of the screen is adequate considering the phones overall size, though it does mean that the usability of the onscreen virtual keyboard is limited. In addition, web browsing can become irritating as it takes time to glide through web pages.
The phone’s physical keyboard takes up the smaller portion of the device, with a four-row design and backlit keys. Each key is nicely elevated above the keyboard’s surface which makes typing smooth and easy. However, its biggest shortfall is within the lack of space left between each key.
Clearly to accommodate for the screen’s size the keyboard was required to be smaller. This might not bother some, but for anyone who is use to touch-typing with spacious keyboards or for those with more clumsy fingers, typing on the Replenish’s keyboard can become awkward.
The Android 2.2 operating system that ships with the phone is good enough to meet all the phone’s needs. It doesn’t have quite the same features as the latest 2.3 Gingerbread OS, but does enough to give a good smartphone experience. Being Android, all the core Google applications are included. Additional applications can be downloaded through the Android Market.
Built into the phone is a 2-megapixel camera. The camera doesn’t offer much else in terms of features, but it does have video recording capability and software to allow the user to optimize how their photos are taken. The photos produced are of an average quality.
